Reflections on Past, Present and Future

Hoorah!  My conference requirements for 2012 are now over, and I can now concentrate on being a writer again!!

I didn't really learn much that was new today, but it was a great refresher course which put various disparate bits of knowledge together that I've accumulated over the past couple of decades (!).  The conference was held in the Burrell Collection, hosted by Glasgow Archaeological Society and dedicated to The Clyde.  It was mainly modern in its subject matter - with much said about the improvement of the river, and the history of the mercantile and industrial centres on its banks - Glasgow, Greenock, Port Glasgow, but there were a couple of papers on earlier aspects, such as crannogs.

I had my writer's hat on for one particular paper dedicated to Dumbarton Castle, which features in Novel #2.  Guess I'll have to do a bit of rewriting now, as it doesn't seem to be laid out the way I'd anticipated.  Ah, well.  These things are sent to try us. 

But after seeing endless views of Dumbarton Castle from land, from sea, and from the air,  there's no excuse for my not returning to those missing pages of MS I've been bewailing over the last couple of weeks, because - you've guessed it!!- they feature none other than Dumbarton Castle!!!

Must put nose to grindstone... Must put nose to grindstone....

I have returned.  Our holiday was excellent, though at times it seriously felt as if The Powers That Be really can't be bothered to promote tourism in England.  Over the last few years, the little tourist information centres that proliferated in the market towns and which were a Godsend for vistors have all been closed, and if it hadn't been for a bit of detective work and dedication on our part, we wouldn't even have picked this destination.

What's even more depressing was the number of people who said to us, "Oh, so you're on holiday in Wantage.  You must be visiting family then."  And when we responded with 'well, no, we're here to SEE the place,' they'd just blink and go, 'Oh! That's interesting. What on earth made you come here?'

Sigh.... 

Here's a photo.  Sadly, I haven't done the market place in Wantage much justice because it was raining a lot of the time, and on the days when the sun came out, it was full of random people who cluttered up the views as if they owned the place (which they probably did!!).  I'm sorry about the lack of images, because the place, though filled with modern 19th century shopfronts, was very picturesque:-

Okay, after a slight hiccup in posting, here's the finished version!!!

A bit of industrial archaeology now...

Our recent trip up north took us home via the island of Seil, where we hoped to find accomodation. Unfortunately, there was scarcely a B & B to found there, so we ended up exploring Kilmelford.

We found a lovely place to stay, a Georgian building which was once attached to a former gunpowder works, much of which has now been restored as a leisure/up-market holiday complex.  Information relating to this complex is sketchy, to say the least - the CANMORE entry is miminalist, unfortunately, so I'm going to have to rake through my memory and try and recollect what I read in the RCAHMS Lorn volume, which had a marvellous write-up of the site.

The gunpowder works were established in the late nineteenth century, and operations ceased in 1877, I think it was, after an explosion caused substantial damage to the infrastructure (can't remember if there were any recorded casualties - I'd be surprised if there weren't...). The owners also had links with the Bonawe Ironworks, if I remember right. 

The site was devoted to the production of gunpowder, which - as any industrial archaeologist with an interest in munitions or artillery can tell you - is a combination of charcoal, saltpetre and sulphur. 

All powder mills - whatever the age - have similar elements.  Areas where raw materials are received, areas where the component ingredients are mixed and transformed into the finished product, and areas where the finished product is stored prior to being sent out to the consumer.  The processing buildings often include incorporating mills, grinding mills, etcetera, which in many cases use machinery similar to that seen in any other industrial building, particularly those involved in large scale food/drink production.  But the dead giveaway is the use of copper instead of iron in the metalwork (no sparks, you see), and the presence of blast banks/blast walls around the buildings where the explosive materials are handled and stored.

The modern holiday complex occupies the area of the service buildings - manager's house, worker's houses, stables, stores, supply stores.  Spotting the new builds amongst the earlier structures is quite tricky, because everything's been restored so nicely!  When I first snooped around this place, I didn't know about the powder works, and I was perplexed.  I knew this wasn't a farmsteading - it was too big.  But there was nothing explicitly industrial that leapt out at me, and the possibility that this was once a gunpowder works just didn't cross my mind:-




The process buildings (or what's left of them...)  are located further up the hillside behind the service area. They sit on the edge of a narrow gorge, and they're serviced by a lade which allowed the milling mechanisms to be run by water power.  At the lower end of this complex, these ruins can be seen:-

 




And then there's mysterious set of footings in its sunken setting, which must surely be one of the processing houses:-

It's over.  The next installment of the Grand Tour has been and gone, I have returned, etcetera.

Carcassone certainly lived up to expectations.  I'd wanted to see it ever since I saw the walled city featured in a Tour de France stage, and though it did bear more than a fleeting resemblance to Lord Farquhar's place in Shrek, it was well worth a detailed exploration.  Its critics may deride it as a tourist trap and a medieval theme park, but there's more to the place than meets the eye, I'm pleased to say.

The highpoints of the holiday?  Apart from the monuments, that is...  Well, the French people themselves were great - very kind, very hospitable and remarkably tolerant of my ham-fisted attempts to murder their language.  The food deserves a special mention, too, especially the pastries, the crepes, and the ice cream.  Faced with a seemingly endless supply of French onion soup, pizzas (often with added goats' cheese, which my system just can't handle...) and omelettes, I baled out of my regular vegetarian diet virtually immediately, I regret to say.  The ducks of Languedoc will hate me for partaking of the famous cassoulet, but when in France, do what the French do, I suppose...

And the drawbacks?  The dog poo.  Definitely the dog poo.  Dog poo EVERYWHERE.  Closely followed by the toilets, which weren't the greatest (though these were nothing compared to toilets which stalked my childhood nightmares of French holidays, comprising nothing more than a ceramic tray with a hole in the floor.  SHUDDER!!).  And coming in a close third were the motorists, who were even more idiotic and insane than the ones back home.

Once again, I have done my utmost to seek out the best of what the area has to offer in terms of ancient buildings, monuments, and to take copious photographs for your delectation.  Since I have some grasp of the lingo (albeit a pathetic one!) I've been able to travel off the beaten track to some degree, so I hope I'll be able to give you an insight into the less well-known sites and monuments.  The quality of the built heritage was incredible.  In my week-and-a-bit trip, I managed to tick off the following:-
 
1 medieval walled city
5 fortified towns/villages
At least 13 cathedrals/abbeys/churches/chapels etc. (I lost count!!)
8 medieval castles
Lots and lots of carved stones - Roman & medieval.
A canal
And a Neolithic earthen long barrow.

We also visited a rather spectacular cave, which I think I can safely describe as another site because it produced finds of Late Bronze Age metalwork...

Anyway, I suppose it's my duty to give out the regular endlessrarities heritage awards.  The top three choices were really, really, really difficult, because everything I visited was utterly spectacular, and I was pleasantly surprised (if not astounded!) by what I saw at every turn.  But here we go:-

1) In first place, the medieval walled city of Carcassone.  Why?  Because it's just so big, so vast, and as much a testament to the ambitions of the 19th century antiquarian who made its reconstruction his lifelong goal as it is a reflection of Cathar and French architecture. 

2) The painted medieval ceilings of Lagrasse.  And in fact the painted medieval ceilings, full stop.  Because they appear to be everywhere.

3) The abbey of San-Papoul.  Which was full of magnificent in situ Romanesque carvings. I've had to tie this particular monument with the abbey of Lagrasse, which has a beautifully preserved medieval chapel, complete with tiled floor and painted walls.  I was completely bowled over by both...

Honourable Mentions must go to the castles of Lastours, the abbey of Villalangue, the basilica of Saint Nazaire in Carcassone and Narbonne Cathedral and Bishop's Palace.  With a special award for The Most Seriously Whacky Spaced Out Heritage Exhibition Ever Encountered By This Author going to the Lapidiary Museum in Narbonne for a display and associated sons-et-lumiere show which had me completely bamboozled.  Put it this way: the only other instance where I've felt so completely disorientated was climbing the stairs the Leaning Tower of Pisa...

Anyway, it will be my great delight to share my adventures with you all in the weeks that follows.  In the meantime, here are some pictures of the medieval city of Carcassone to whet your appetites:-

I spent today writing the first of my two Glasgow Water Works papers.  The aim was to finish the shorter of the two papers today: I almost managed it - but at 16.45, I found myself having to get ready for horse-riding.  I had one paragraph to go, and I really, really wanted to finish it but...  I decided to bow out gracefully instead.  As it was, my Microsoft Word decided to misbehave by refusing to shut down, so I was very nearly late.

I did get distracted a couple of times.  I took some time out to read a little bit more about Thomas Telford. Today,  I encountered Thomas Telford the archaeologist (he evidently scraped around a bit in Wroxeter Roman city during his time in Shrewsbury), Thomas Telford the poet (apparently!!), I learned that Mr T was known by his friends by the eminently Scottish name of 'Tam', and that he is buried in Westminster abbey.  I also cam across another tantalising glimpse of the animosity between Telford and John Rennie, with Rennie refusing point blank to work with Telford on a canal job in Scotland, at around the same time as Telford was complaining to James Watt about Mr Rennie's apparent fall-out with him.  But I still can't get to the bottom of the disagreement, though I suspect it may have something to do with the Ardossan canal...

Anyway...  I did get to horse-riding, and Diva was full of va-va-voom throughout.  Then my Pony Club Ma'am Instructress decided that Diva's girth was too slack, and pulled it up a couple of holes, and suddenly Diva decided that she was going to belt around the school like a moron.  Was it something to do with the tight girth? I don't really know.  But she was quite a handful.  We concentrated on trot tonight, but managed to get a left canter on the right rein once again before the end of the lesson.  And yes, she is definitely getting fitter.

I now feel like a stuffed toy who's been put through a mangle.  After last night's workout and today's horse-riding, I'm shattered!

I

It's been a while since I featured my 'View From The Office' slot - which just goes to show how desk-based my work has been just recently (huzzah!!)...

Today, I'm delighted to continue the tradition.  Here, then, is my View not From The Office, but Of The Office.



Anyway, here's a view of the sluice system which carries the river water into the lades and holding ponds (also called voes) which once powered the Catrine Mills.  The arched culvert is particularly nice, and I believe it's part of the late 18th century infrastructure:-

Again, it survives in excellent condition, with the main block standing to gable height.  This particular group of structures housed another engine, which was used to pump compressed air into the mine via hoses.  This was used to operate the mining equipment, giving us one of the earliest examples of hydraulic power use in the country, evidently:-



The small arched passageways at the foot of the building appear to be flues, perhaps associated with stoking the fire to the engines, or perhaps allowing air into the system for use in the hydraulic hoses.  Unfortunately, I'm not an engineer, so the way this might have operated escapes me...




The final structure which makes up the group is this impressive chimney.  It's built of brick, with a mortared rubble section at the base.  It has the date of the mining complex - 1881 - built into it using contrasting brickwork:-