Out In the Field At Last

We were supposed to go out on site on Friday, but the weather put an end to our plans...

The field survey was rescheduled for today, and the weather was glorious.  This was the view from the 'office' this morning - the Ochil Hills, looking gorgeous.

 

It was a pleasant outing.  The terrain was easy, and those patches of ground that should have been marshy were still frozen solid.  But it's getting obvious that spring's on the way.  There were wolf spiders running around, and there were a few voles, too.

We found a few unrecorded sites, too, but they weren't anything exciting.  Just a few 19th century field banks and walls and the remains of an early 19th century farmsteading.  We had a a fair idea of where it was going to be, but I'd thought from the aerial photographs that all traces of the farmbuildings had been eradicated.  To my delight, one of the structures could still be traced, but it was only 0.3m high at most.

We tried to find a coffee shop in nearby Saline once we'd finished for the day, but had no luck.  So we wound up visting Dollar.

I've got a soft spot for Dollar.  My favourite medieval local anti-hero, Hugh Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Eglinton, got married in Dollar Church.
 

 

This is a view of the ruined church in Dollar.  I'd guess it post-dates Hugh, who was around in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.  The style of the building looks late 16th century in date, with its nice little bell-cote.  But it's probably on the site of the earlier, medieval church.

Hugh's wife Helen was a Campbell.  The Campbells are usually associated with Highland Scotland but they also had extensive holdings around modern Clackmannanshire.  Helen Campbell may have grown up at nearby Castle Campbell, but despite her lowland upbringing, she probably spoke gaelic.  She must have been a strong and long-suffering woman.  She bore her husband a number of children, lived to a considerable age and had to put up with all sorts of nonsense as a result of her husband's political manouevres.  Hugh made an astute choice by allying himself with the powerful Campbell clan, and their influence probably saved his career on several occasions when he messed things up by getting too deeply embroiled in his ongoing feud with the Cunninghame family.

There wasn't time to pay a visit to Castle Campbell, which is a Guardianship Monument in the care of Historic Scotland.  But here's a view of it from the centre of Dollar.  It's a lovely castle, and well worth a visit, though the range to the left appears to be getting worked on at the moment, so it's not quite as aesthetically pleasing as it usually is.
 

 

And, in case you're wondering what the castle looks like in the wider landscape context, here's a picture of it below:-

 

Some day I'll stop getting distracted and get on to the subject of Neolithic long barrows, I promise!!

Out In the Field At Last

We were supposed to go out on site on Friday, but the weather put an end to our plans...

The field survey was rescheduled for today, and the weather was glorious.  This was the view from the 'office' this morning - the Ochil Hills, looking gorgeous.

 

It was a pleasant outing.  The terrain was easy, and those patches of ground that should have been marshy were still frozen solid.  But it's getting obvious that spring's on the way.  There were wolf spiders running around, and there were a few voles, too.

We found a few unrecorded sites, too, but they weren't anything exciting.  Just a few 19th century field banks and walls and the remains of an early 19th century farmsteading.  We had a a fair idea of where it was going to be, but I'd thought from the aerial photographs that all traces of the farmbuildings had been eradicated.  To my delight, one of the structures could still be traced, but it was only 0.3m high at most.

We tried to find a coffee shop in nearby Saline once we'd finished for the day, but had no luck.  So we wound up visting Dollar.

I've got a soft spot for Dollar.  My favourite medieval local anti-hero, Hugh Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Eglinton, got married in Dollar Church.
 

 

This is a view of the ruined church in Dollar.  I'd guess it post-dates Hugh, who was around in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.  The style of the building looks late 16th century in date, with its nice little bell-cote.  But it's probably on the site of the earlier, medieval church.

Hugh's wife Helen was a Campbell.  The Campbells are usually associated with Highland Scotland but they also had extensive holdings around modern Clackmannanshire.  Helen Campbell may have grown up at nearby Castle Campbell, but despite her lowland upbringing, she probably spoke gaelic.  She must have been a strong and long-suffering woman.  She bore her husband a number of children, lived to a considerable age and had to put up with all sorts of nonsense as a result of her husband's political manouevres.  Hugh made an astute choice by allying himself with the powerful Campbell clan, and their influence probably saved his career on several occasions when he messed things up by getting too deeply embroiled in his ongoing feud with the Cunninghame family.

There wasn't time to pay a visit to Castle Campbell, which is a Guardianship Monument in the care of Historic Scotland.  But here's a view of it from the centre of Dollar.  It's a lovely castle, and well worth a visit, though the range to the left appears to be getting worked on at the moment, so it's not quite as aesthetically pleasing as it usually is.
 

 

And, in case you're wondering what the castle looks like in the wider landscape context, here's a picture of it below:-

 

Some day I'll stop getting distracted and get on to the subject of Neolithic long barrows, I promise!!