Now, Where Was I???

[endlessrarities]

Huzzah!

We have LiveJournal!!!!

It feels like an eternity since I last posted anything.  It's been an exhausting week, too.  We've survived the Boss's absence (almost!  There's still one more day to go!!) - the last, most pressing crisis managed to resolve itself by lunchtime today and now all I have to do is destress and chill out.  Easier said than done...

The last couple of days were hard work.  On Wednesday, I went south with a colleague to carry out a survey of a 19th century mill in South Lanarkshire.  It was one of the most dilapidated buildings I've ever seen, but it's on the verge of being restored now (which is excellent news!) and it was a joy to work with.  But because it was very complex (four phases of construction), recording it properly made for a long day.  A very long day.  We finished at 6pm, and then it was a 2 hour drive home.

The weather was, however, glorious.  This was the view from the office:-

And this is a view of the office:-

You can see the collapsed roof at the rear of the structure - one of the walls was teetering on the brink of collapse, too, which is why we were relieved that the weather was good.  395 photographs were taken, and copious notes scribbled down by Yours Truly.  Now I have to write a report, though unfortunately due to the state of the structure I will not be able to include 'rubble-built lean-to shed with catslide roof', because the catslide roof is now absent.  Oh dear, I've always wanted to use the word 'catslide roof; in a report.  Or 'catslide dormer' at the very least...

Wednesday's marathon building recording session was then followed by yesterday's dendrochronology workshop,  This was thoroughly enjoyable, and highly informative.  We had a morning workshop, in which I learned all about how to recognise material suitable for dendro-dating, and the appropriate sampling strategies to be employed during excavations (in other words, your chances of getting anything suitable for dating are slim to negligible...).

The workshop was followed by a fieldtrip to an ancient oak forest, which, in typically Scottish fashion, was conducted in the pouring rain.  It took us to the estate of Dalkeith in East Lothian.  A possession of the Scotts of Buccleugh, the mansion is currently used as a field school for the University of Winsconsin (!):-

Wow.  Fancy having that as your away-campus...

And the trees?  They were rather fascinating, too.  So far they've been dated back to the mid-17th century (and the older ones are not necessarily that big, either).  But the most interesting tree of the day was this one:-

Called the 'Michael' oak, this tree is anecdotally linked with King James IV.  It was supposedly used to provide timber for Scotland's pride and joy 'The Great Michael'. Its multiple-stemmed character is believed to result from coppicing in the long distant past.

The 'Great Michael' was our mega-warship:  bigger than the Mary Rose and earlier, too, but sadly lost to history as it had to be sold off to the French when the Scots ran out of money following James IV's death at Flodden. 

It was last heard of rotting on a French beach, a sad relic of James IV's naval pretensions.... 

But the 'Michael' oak lives on.  All that's needed now is a wee spot of dendrochronology to find out exactly what age it is - fingers crossed that our workshop organiser gets permission to core it and find out the answer to the mystery:-

And now it's Friday - and this time next week, I'll be in the Lake District.

I can't wait...
 

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I'd love to get a closer look at that mill!

Enjoy the lakes.

Btw, it seems like forever, but was only a few days back that I posted some pics around Cambusbarron/St Ninians near to my MiL's house in Torbrex which no one much has been able to see 'cos of all the LJ issues.

http://cmcmck.livejournal.com/164036.html

[technophobe1975.livejournal.com]

I hope they get the chance to check the tree, it would be fascinating to find out exactly how old it is.

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

I love old oaks. I worked in several parks with old oaks in Calif. I don't know if they were as old as these but they had character. I could feel History and Life seeping out of them.

Beautiful views! I'm glad the boss is back, I hope you're able to destress now.