Battle Of Bannockburn Stirrups Unearthed

Scotsman ^ | 10-17-2003 | George Mair

[blam]

Battle of Bannockburn stirrups unearthed

GEORGE MAIR

ARCHAEOLOGISTS claim to have discovered the first physical evidence of the Battle of Bannockburn.

A pair of horse stirrups, found earlier this year on a flood plain believed by most historians to be the site of the decisive second day of the battle, have been dated to the 14th century.

They were unearthed by Tony Pollard and Neil Oliver, two archaeologists working on the final day of excavations for the forthcoming BBC2 series Two Men in a Trench.

The badly-corroded iron stirrups are thought to have belonged to an English knight, probably one of the 10,000 English invaders killed in the battle.

Laboratory tests carried out at Glasgow University reveal the items, which are not a matching pair, were once coated in shiny metal, suggesting they belonged to a wealthy English knight of the heavy cavalry. They are believed to have been torn off in the heat of battle.

Mr Pollard, 38, said: "The stirrups are the first archaeological finds to be retrieved from the site in 700 years.

"We can only assume that the ground was very muddy at the time.

"Thousands of men would have churned up the land and bucket loads of things would have been dropped.

"The English were routed, and those who survived would have left the field in panic, leaving things like weaponry and armour behind.

"After medieval battles it was common for scavenging to take place. Iron weaponry may also have eroded to nothing in the damp, carse soil, and we are left to discover the little which remains."

The stirrups were discovered after several days scouring fields around the Carse, near Stirling, with metal detectors.

It was only on later examination that their importance became evident. Mr Pollard said: "We didn’t know what they were at first, because they just looked like unusual lumps of iron.

"It was only when we got back to the lab, cleaned them up and had a good close look at them that we saw what they were."

Stirling Council’s regional archaeologist, Lorna Main, who has investigated possible Battle of Bannockburn sites, said:

"They are the first physical evidence ever found from the battle, and they help to substantiate the theory of fighting on the Carse."

[AnAmericanMother]

The Highland dancing is complex and very technical (and exhausting - it's all danced on half point and you never really come down, lots of changes in the air). I retired from that long ago, except for an occasional burst of exuberance in the middle of the eightsome reel. I do still do the Sword Dance (Gille Calum) occasionally because I like it so much, but if I do more than 2 and 1 I get very out of breath.

Scottish Country Dancing is much more fun and more accessible for everybody. The steps are not as complicated, and there are plenty of slow and easy dances for the beginner. At most Highland Games the SCDers invite passersby onto the platform for a simple dance every 4-5 dances or so. Of course, then the hard core folks get up and do something scary like "Irish Rover" ("reel, dammit, reel!"). Demolition Derby! :-D

[concentric circles]

“We fight not for glory not for wealth nor honour
but only and alone we fight for freedom
which no good man surrenders but with his life.”

[Miss Marple]

I suspect you have Scot somewhere in your ancestry, yet undiscovered. The call of the clans and the pipes is a signe of the heritage.

As my clan chief said, "the call of the clans is to the tenth generation."

[blam]

"I have no idea why I have this affinity for the Scottish. Maybe reincarnation?"

LOL, me too and I'm English.

[blam]

North Carolina got it's nick-name "Tarheels' from the early Scots, mid-1700's.

[Amadeo]

"What is the price of daddy's thumbs, boys?"

"Twenty Scottish lives," they answered together.

"And for the fingers?"
"Half a score."

"When they can bend my war-bow, and bring down a squirrel at a hundred paces, I send them to take service under Johnny Copeland, the Lord of the Marches and Governor of Carlisle. By my soul! I would give the rest of my fingers to see the Douglas within arrow-flight of them."

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The White Company



An exceptionally good read indeed!

[Shanda]

While I suspected it was more different than it appeared, I didn't realize it was that hard.

I guess I wouldn't be allowed to do it anyway since I am more Irish and English than Scot.

[Katya]

Ah...you'd be surprised what heritage may hide....here's a link to an article posted here a few weeks back:

Black music from Scotland? It could be the gospel truth
http://www.news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=961062003

[thrcanbonly1]

As long as a hundred of us remain alive we will never be subject to tyrannical domination, because it is not for glory or for riches or honours that we fight, but for freedom alone which no worthy man loses except with his life. Taken from the “Declaration of Arbroath” 1320

[radiohead]

Thanks so much for posting that! Talk about synchronicity! I was just telling a friend about the article but didn't remember enough to do a search.

[AnAmericanMother]

One of the guys in our Scottish country dance group is one hundred percent German. Another guy is Polish. He got this incredibly ugly orange, yellow and red kilt from somewhere (I mean, it is REALLY ugly!) and calls it the "MacKoslosky tartan."

Anybody who wants to learn can get up and dance.

[yarddog]

I think Shanda is acting a little naive. She is the only person I really know on FR and I know for a fact that she can dance.

[Centurion2000]

Bump from an Armstrong clan member :) (50% pure blood)

[tet68]

Stone Mt. Highland Games coming up.
Always try and make the Tattoo on thursday night.
The sound of massed bagpipe bands turns me on.
Unfortunately no "Sheets" tartan.
It is probably the only place in the state today
where "Dixie" can still be heard.

"Gentlemen, turn dem taps to."

Some times the Marine band from Albany comes up, that's a special treat for me.

Flowers of the Forrest and The Nutbrown Maid,
and the Campbell piobrach bump

[AnAmericanMother]

Shouldn't be a problem. Not sure what sort of dance you do, Shanda, but if you have done even social dancing (two step, foxtrot, etc.) SCD will be no problem at all. There are only two basic moving steps and two setting (stationary) steps to learn, the rest is memorizing patterns on the floor. In that sense, it's like square dancing, but you actually dance instead of just shuffling. And you don't have the luxury of a caller! You have to remember it all (or your partner has to shout at you which is O.K. at the Games field but not at the Tartan Ball - at least not until later in the evening when everybody has drink taken)

Highland dancing is another matter, but that is a very specialized form of competitive dancing populated almost entirely by girls 16 and under. It uses the same basic steps as SCD though.

[AnAmericanMother]

Hey, we'll be out at the Games field tomorrow. Look for us around the Scottish Country Dancing platform.

My husband is easy to spot in a crowd. 6'6", 240#, short hair that used to be black and short full beard that used to be red (both are now mostly gray). Gordon (basically the Black Watch w/ yellow overstripe - what the BW calls "the Gordon's yellow streak" LOL) kilt and a genuine marten sporran (he used to make it "talk" for the kids when they were very small. Laff riot. . . . although maybe you had to be there . . .)

The rest of us look pretty average, but I'll have on my MacGregor (red) tartan skirt, my daughter will be wearing my old Atlanta Pipe Band kilt (Ancient MacKenzie wh. is mostly Electric Blue), and my son has outgrown his kilt so heaven knows what we'll be able to find to put him in . . . although I'm sure that Geoffrey Tailor will be happy to accommodate us . . .

[Shanda]

Thanks for the information.

I really was not being modest re:, my dancing ability.

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Note: this topic is from October 17, 2003. Blast from the Past. Never got the template post. :') To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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