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Monthly Archives: November 2014

More about brochs . . .

18 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Brochs, Christianity, defensive structure, drystone, Dun Beag, Dun Telve, Dun Troddan, Picts, Prehistory, stone tower, The problem of the Picts, writing

In my story, The Kelpie King, my protagonist Jack Perry follows a strangely dressed girl into a castle ruin and emerged to find himself in a Pictish village around the time of the introduction of Christianity.

Aberlemno, Angus.

Aberlemno, Angus.

Wow, what an undertaking reader. Sometimes, often, I wonder what on earth was I thinking when I decided to do this. But, I love the story, and love researching the Picts. There is so much to learn, but I find it absolutely fascinating. The trouble is knowing when enough is enough.

So I’ve started with iron age Scotland and the end of the Picts. We know the Picts used and re-used old fortresses.

I’ve been to Sydney to collect and read a book called “The problem of the Picts” edited by TF Wainwright. Photocopied “Picts” by Anna Ritchie.

My research into the Picts and their lives had to begin with where and how they lived, hence the brochs.

Interior of Dun Troddan

Interior of Dun Troddan

Imagine sailing into a wide bay and seeing a huge dark stone round tower on a cliff top. The structure stands about ten metre high and almost as wide. What would this say to those approaching the land.

To me it would say they were strong, intelligent and protected. Powerful and astute.

Dun Troddan

Dun Troddan

Drystone buildings of this size are something to behold, the precision of the stones, the smooth sloping circular walls that were built side by side to form a double skinned structure with stairways spiralling up between the  two walls are a sight to behold. I stood inside those walls and imagined. I climbed to the top. This reader, is something worthy of  note as I am very very afraid of heights. I am known to not even stand on a chair! Dave took photos of me on the top of Dun Beag on Skye because he could not believe I would ignore my fears and climb to examine every angle and detail I could on these magnificent structures.

Entrance

Entrance

The broch has a small entrance with quite a long low tunnel to duck through, one one side there is usually a small chamber, known as a guard chamber. The tunnel opens up into a wide open floor that usually had a hearth in the centre and often a well of some kind too. The inhabitants could stay safely inside for extended periods in both times of bad weather or attack. An opening on the far side would lead to another chamber built into the wall and a stone staircase curving up inside the wall. The stone steps had the dual role of tying the inner and outer walls together.

Guards chamber

Guards chamber

 

Cross section of the inner and outer walls

Cross section of the inner and outer walls

2014-09-24 18.20.11

Steps and upper floor of the chamber between the walls

Examining just a few of the brochs at close quarters was something I’m not likely to ever forget, and I can’t wait to begin writing about Jack and his take on prehistoric life.

 

Are you interested in history? Have you ever, like me, found yourself caught up in imagining what it would be like to have lived in a different era? Please share, I like to know I’m not alone.

Who were the Picts?

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

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Tags

Artisans, Book of the Kells, dark ages, early history, Highland, monasteries, Picti, Picts, Scotland, Vikings

Reader, my writing and research leads me on a merry, if sometimes confusing, trail.

Picts

Much of my reading lately has been centred on the Picts and where and how they lived. Not bad considering the Picts must be the most enigmatic people that I’ve ever heard of.

The Romans called them the “Picti” as in painted ones. Does this mean they loved to paint themselves or portraits? This is the question, and no one can really be sure.

stone image

An anonymous Norwegian said they were little people. “The Picts were little more than pygmies in stature. They worked marvels in the morning and evening building towns, but at midday they entirely lost their strength and lurked through fear in little underground houses.” Really?

The big bad Vikings were afraid of them, and “dared not land because of beings like elves or trolls bearing shining spears”.

Reader I think the Picts were just people, doing their thing, carving rocks and making jewellery. Lets face it, they must have lived a reasonably stable existence to have such well developed artistic skills.

If they were constantly waring they’d hardly have had time to make moulds and cast the beautiful silver pins, chains and brooches we still have today. Not to mention the monumental carved stones that are scattered all over Scotland.

artefacts-main-brooch

Well they wouldn’t, would they?

Apparently they had no written language, but again, there are accounts from Bede that messengers were sent from the Pictish King to an abbot in Northumbrian monasteries asking for advice on Church matters in 710AD. The reply was sent with instructions to be “immediately sent out under public order to all provinces of the Picts to be copied, learned, and adopted”. If it wasn’t sent to the Pictish monasteries, to be forwarded on, then who would it have been sent to.

KellsFol034rChiRhoMonogramkells00

Then there is the Book of the Kells, the illustrated gospels created in a monastery in eastern Pictland. The style is very similar to the Pictish stone carving and other art work, so perhaps they did write, and either no copies remain, or we don’t recognise them as identifiably Pictish. Who knows? Certainly not me, but I do find it endlessly fascinating. So much so, reader, that I’m in dire need of more shelving to contain all the books I’ve been ordering online.

Had you heard of the Picts before I started on about them? I feel like I’ve known of them forever, but then I’ve been researching the far north of Scotland for almost 10 years, so they’ve been on my radar for probably, about, that long.

Paula Beavan Author

Paula Beavan Author

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