This time last week, we returned from the old village at Glenan after the graft of unearthing some of the buildings after so many years of neglect. There was a healthy feeling that came through the work, a force that felt good in the body; it’s still with me.
[Image courtesy of Andy Jepson, Archaeology Scotland, 2025.]
We would like to extend our thanks to all who participated in the site vegetation and conservation assessment days with Archaeology Scotland over those two days. There was a mountain of organic matter, which; would sit well on the old lazybeds you can make out in the winter.
[Image courtesy of Andy Jepson, Archaeology Scotland, 2025.]
Pulling back the vegetation revealed some interesting features, including a window & there was a clear difference on the corners between the horizontally stacked stone walls of the houses, with the vertically stacked ‘walls’ of the field boundaries accompanying each holding. Listening to Phil Richardson, we wondered about whether some of the gable ends would be taken down each winter to let the cow in & then rebuilt.
[Image courtesy of Andy Jepson, Archaeology Scotland, 2025]
We also ‘discovered’ a great terraced section above the large paddock area that is walled on three sides; we thought it’d make a great spot to camp.
[Image courtesy of Andy Jepson, Archaeology Scotland, 2025.]
A particularly powerful moment was when Andy Jepsom gathered the group inside one of the houses, & read out the names, profession and ages of the three families that lived there in the 1841 census. It was heart-warming to think of the nine children who lived there running barefoot between farm and fishing place, playing among and participating in all the chores that make up rural life on the peninsula.
[Map reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence.]
We have lots more events coming up with Archaeology Scotland this year, but I wanted to make a special mention of the two events taking place on Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th September; where they will be asking members what is important to them and what they might like to do next.
We can’t stress enough that we really want to hear the views of members to steer which way we take forward what has been unearthed this year for future cultural interpretation and activities at Glenan. There are many paths we could take with Year Two of our adopt-a-monument scheme, and we want to make sure the ones we choose represent the interests and ambitions of our membership.
Interested parties can view the background to the project with an agreed shared list of priorities between Friends of Glenan Wood & Archaeology Scotland here.
Thanks to Jim Hunter for bringing his huge stepladder and camera along to take some excellent photography.
A full list of our forthcoming events can be found at glenanwood.org.uk/whats-on
All the best for the gathering season ahead,
Rhyddian for Friends of Glenan Wood
