Memories of Gallowgate Reading your news article ‘Evidence of Glasgow’s medieval expansion uncovered at Gallowgate’ (CA 429) reminded me of previous work carried out in the area as part of the Youth Opportunities Scheme in the late 1970s and early…
REVIEW BY JODY JOY Many books have been written about the ancient Celts, whether from the standpoint of a shared identity across a connected Europe, or a more sceptical perspective, arguing for regional diversity and more complicated histories. This book…
REVIEW BY STEVE TIBBLE Writing a major new popular history about the Great Siege of Malta of 1565, in which the Knights Hospitaller – a Catholic military order – saw off a four-month assault by the Ottoman Empire, is no…
Joe Flatman explores over half a century of reports from the past.
Excavations at a site believed to have been used as a ‘summerhouse’ by Alasdair Ruadh ‘Maclain’ MacDonald, chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe from 1646 to 1692, have revealed a coin hoard underneath the grand fireplace. The University of Glasgow…
Evidence of a possible prehistoric ring ditch was also identified at the site
REVIEW BY DAVID PORTER This is a hefty (913 pages!) study, which is not restricted to ‘modern’ Germany but extends to cover the military history of Switzerland and the Holy Roman/Austrian/Austro-Hungarian empires. (The author makes the point that national identity…
What buddies could you prefer to a faithful wife? What brothers can you imagine skipping out on her for? A wife’s more trustworthy than friends, more faithful than a brother, and a beautiful bride even beats your mom for loyalty.
At a time when even the highest-value coin in regular circulation (£2) will sometimes hardly cover the cost of a cup of coffee, it is refreshing to be transported back to an era when coins were generally much higher in…
How did medieval villagers understand the world around them? Stephen Mileson and Stuart Brookes addressed this question in a research project and recently published book. Here Stephen reports on their findings, and how they met the challenges of uncovering the perceptions and sense of identity of ordinary rural people in the past.
It is hard to disagree with the astronomers. They clearly felt that naming a single lunar crater after Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc in 1935 was insufficient and, in 1993, honoured him again, this time with an asteroid. But astronomy is…
Between 1563 and 1736, around 4000 people were accused of witchcraft in Scotland – the highest persecution rate across Europe.
The origins of the imposing East Sussex hill figure known as the Long Man of Wilmington have long posed a mystery for archaeologists. Rodney Castleden discusses recent research suggesting a Tudor date for the monument – and a possible political message.