Colouring the Nation: A New In-Depth Study of the Turkey Red Pattern Books in the National Museums Scotland

Abstract

The production of Turkey red dyed and printed cottons was a major industry in the west of Scotland, particularly in the mid- to late nineteenth century. Although the extensive works were pulled down in the second half of the twentieth century, our knowledge of this industry is significantly aided by the survival of approximately 200 pattern books, now housed in the National Museums Scotland. These pattern books, examined along with business papers, exhibition catalogues and the Board of Trade Design Registers, are the foundation for a new study into the wider Scottish decorative textile industry. The ongoing examination of these pattern books has shown the variety and longevity of Turkey red dyed and printed patterns, as well as providing insights into wider aspects of the textile industry, including issues of design, manufacture and trade.     

Between archives and the site: the 19th-century iron and steel industry in the Monklands,Central Scotland

Abstract

A case is made that attention should shift from the archaeology of process, guided largely by the archival evidence, to the archaeology of practice by scrutinizing the material record. Holistic Context Analysis applied to the industrial soils and finds at Moffat Upper Steam Forge has led to a more coherent and realistic picture of construction and demolition at the site, as well as of its puddling industry, than could be learned from the historical narrative of the iron and steel industry in the Monklands, the most industrialized part of Scotland in the 19th century.     

The Slate Quarries at Easdale,Argyllshire, Scotland

Abstract

In this article the author draws attention to the little-known slate industry that flourished in the Slate Islands off the west coast of Scotland. From small beginnings in the 17th century, the industry reached a peak around 1900, before declining to extinction in the 1960s. Attention is focused on the unusual location of some of the quarries—below sea-level—and of their consequent vulnerability to natural disasters.     

Problematizing silences in intangible heritage: unsettling historical records of women in protests

Abstract

This paper addresses questions of women’s visibility in constructed histories, as well as levels of recognition concerning their participation in politics through historical narratives. In particular, historical narratives representing women in protest in the context of waterfront heritage zones associated with the shipbuilding industry are examined, based on examples of two public art projects: Strong Women of the Clydeside: Protests and Suffragettes from Govan’s Hidden Histories led by the artist t s Beall in the Govan area of Glasgow, Scotland and Shipyard is a Woman by Arteria Association and Metropolitanka in Gdansk, Poland.     

An Early Eighteenth Century Scottish Saltwork: Arran,c.1710 – 1735

Abstract

Historians have paid little attention to Scotland's salt industry. The few physical traces of its existence have not been seriously examined and interpreted by industrial archaeologists. This article presents some new material about saltmaking on the west coast of Scotland but more importantly it argues that the site under review here, on Arran in the Firth of Clyde, represents the earliest known upstanding remains of the type of saltwork which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ranged along both shores of the river Forth, from where the bulk of Scotland's salt production came.     

This Sporting Cloth: Tweed,Gender and Fashion 1860–1900

Abstract

This article explores the manufacturing, design and consumption of tweed cloth in relation to issues of gender in the late nineteenth century. It focuses on tweed produced on mainland Scotland by factory methods and the wider influence of that industry on woollen manufacturers in other areas of Britain. Exploring the history of this textile reveals the shifting ambiguities linked to male and female social and sartorial identities and the gender coding of tweed in the late nineteenth century.     

A Survey of Scottish Windpumps

Abstract

In the past, considerable attention has been paid by industrial archaeologists to conventional windmills, but little time has been devoted to wind pumps which, during the early decades of the twentieth century, became popular throughout Scotland. This paper attempts, using information gained from the Scottish Industrial Archaeology Survey's (SIAS) survey of Scottish windmills, to shed more light upon the spread of wind pumps throughout Scotland. The paper deals briefly with the wind pump manufacturers, and the geographical distribution of the pumps found during the survey. Much of the text is then devoted to the windpumps themselves, which are illustrated with a number of diagrams. The study was promoted not only by the knowledge that wind˙ pumps were much neglected artefacts, but also by the fact that they are now rapidly disappearing from the Scottish countryside.     

Fishing: Evidence for Seasonality and Processing of Fish for Preservation in the Northern Isles of Scotland During the Iron Age and Norse Times

Abstract

Evidence from fish remains recovered from two sites in the Northern Isles of Scotland is compared to modern data on fish ecology and ethnographic evidence to assess seasonality in terms of resource availability and its implications for economic activities.     

Royal Scottish geographical society

Conflict and Change in the Countryside. By Guy M. Robinson, 237 × 162 mm, xxvi + 482 pp, Belhaven, London, 1990, pbk, ISBN 1–85293–044–6, £14.95.

The Third Statistical Account of Scotland: The County of West Lothian. Edited by Patrick Cadell, 230 × 145 mm, 377 pp, Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1992, hbk, £37.50.

The Third Statistical Account of Scotland: The County of Roxburgh. Edited by John Herdman, 230 × 145 mm, 368 pp, Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1992, hbk, £37.50.     

David Evans & Co. The Last of the Old London Textile Printers

Abstract

The Glasgow 'Tobacco Lords' were the subject of a classic study, but there has been no overall survey of their successors, the Scottish cotton masters. This article draws on a rich and surprisingly underused source, the wills and probate inventories of Scottish cotton merchants and manufacturers, to give a fuller picture of a group, which played a key role in Scotland's early industrialisation. It also casts light on the early decline of the cotton industry in Scotland by demonstrating how, as profits declined, the cotton masters, who had always had diverse business interests, began to move into more lucrative areas of investment, such as coal mining, iron manufacturing, railways, shipping and overseas trade.     

Not Quite an Insider—A Scottish Perspective on a Future Coronation

Abstract

Post devolution, Scotland is ‘a bit different’, but how does that relate to a coronation? A Scottish sense of exclusion from the English establishment's assumptions of UK dominance might be a way into developing forms that are more widely inclusive. In this article, two distinctively Scottish models—of sovereignty and of being a national church—are offered as bases for exploring the shape of a coronation that tries to express who we all are. The theological understanding of sovereignty which was a key contribution from the churches to the debate on devolution sees the sovereignty of God entrusted to the community of the realm, and entrusted by that community to whatever institutions they deem appropriate; this might be a starting point for planning a coronation. The self-understanding of the Church of Scotland as a national church cherishing its independence from state control and with less ‘stake’ in the monarchy might prompt a different church-state relationship to be expressed in a coronation.     

Rewilding – A New Paradigm for Nature Conservation in Scotland?

Abstract

Rewilding is a strategy for the conservation of complete, self-sustaining ecosystems, primarily involving the protection and, where necessary, reintroduction, of populations of keystone species in large, connected reserve networks. A potential method of preserving ecosystem functions and biodiversity, it is now receiving a great deal of practical and political attention, particularly in North America. In Scotland, where many native species have been extirpated in the relatively recent past, rewilding has clear relevance and may provide an overarching set of objectives for current programmes of native woodland restoration and species reintroductions. Nevertheless, rewilding is not widely used as a term or strategy in Scottish conservation. This review considers the development of the concept and its possible application in Scotland, and identifies substantial scope for rewilding, in terms of the restoration and protection of large areas of wild land, and of the reintroduction of native species which have been driven to extinction by human activity. As the environmental, social and economic benefits which are likely to result from a programme of rewilding in Scotland outweigh the potential drawbacks, the adoption of rewilding is recommended as one aim of environmental policy.     

"In need of care and attention" Local authorities and the implementation of the Scottish NHS Act, 1948–1960

Abstract

This article looks at the influence and reaction of Scottish local authorities in the implementation of the NHS (Scotland) Act, 1947. It examines the implementation of the Act through local authorities and the problems encountered in co-ordinating the NHS. Furthermore, it considers the problems encountered through the lack of clear dividing lines of responsibility between the three administrative areas of the NHS. It proposes that local authorities were seen as service providers within the NHS and were unable to assert any influence over the implementation of the NHS, apart from within their own health service sphere. The implementation of the Scottish NHS Act was full of inconsistencies and problems and was not as smooth as many historians would argue. The impact on patient care was the provision of an uneven service throughout Scotland.     

Developments in flood maps for flood risk management in Scotland

ABSTRACT

Sustainable flood risk management in Scotland is underpinned by the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. Effective delivery of actions to reduce the adverse impact of flooding are dependent on a collaborative approach by Responsible Authorities and a common understanding of flood hazard and risk. Over the last few decades, flood hazard maps have established a prominent role as essential tools in supporting effective flood risk management. They have developed as a result of improved national datasets and advances in computer processing. Improvements in modelling confidence and in the spatial representation of hazard and risk-inform confident actions set out in Flood Risk Management Strategies that coordinate actions supporting adaptation to future hazard conditions. The continued development of the accurate spatial representation of flood hazard and risk is an essential component of enhancing resilience in the face of future climate change.     

Edward II. His Last Months and his Monument

Abstract

Very little site-oriented dendrochronology has been undertaken in Scotland, possibly because of the absence of a locally based dendrochronological facility until recently. However, timbers found during the excavations of several medieval burghs in the late 1970s and 1980s were saved for future analysis and had been stored in museums around the country. During a project to locate suitable samples fir a Scottish tree-ring database the potential of these assemblages was recognised. Although relatively small assemblages, their analysis has expanded and strengthened the tree-ring database within Scotland, thus facilitating future work. Evidence fir synchronous development in the early burghs in the late 12th century and the nature of the woodland resource at times during the medieval period is presented. An 'event horizon' in the early 10th century, signalled by the birth dates of marry of the dated timbers, has been recognised and possible causes are discussed. The projects reported on here were all funded by Historic Scotland.     

The Underdeveloped Historical Dimension of the Study of Community Power Structure

Abstract

This article presents a technique of standardising and coding textual birthplace and occupation strings in the censuses of England and Wales and Scotland, 1851–1911. While the approaches for the two text strings are different, they are both based upon the integration of computer technologies, mathematical methods, and expert knowledge. Both processes are described formally using Structured Analysis and Design Technique methodology. The classification of occupations is defined by two algorithms based on statistical decision theory in order to allocate codes from the original occupation strings. The method of standardising parishes is based on the comparison of original birthplace strings and reference data.     

'To attract the attention of fish as little as possible': An Object-Led Discussion of Three Garments,for Country Wear for Women,Made of Scottish Woollen Cloth,Dating from 1883–1908

Abstract

This article aims to establish the precise social and cultural function of three day costumes, worn by women in Scotland in the 1880–1910 period, all made from heavy-duty woollen cloth, using an object-focused, material culture approach. Discussion is built around Tim Breen's view that things acquire meaning only once woven into cultural debate about the structure of society.     

Medieval Britain in 1962 and 1963

Abstract

The Hammerbeam roof over the great hall of Edinburgh Castle is one of only two high-status roofs surviving on medieval secular buildings in Scotland. In 1999, Historic Scotland recorded the roof structure in advance of cleaning work. Detailed examination of the existing structure and surviving documentation confirms that much of the original timberwork survives, despite later use as a barrack, then as a military hospital, which resulted in many alterations to the structure, including subdivision of its interior. In 1887–92, the building underwent an extensive restoration by the Edinburgh architect Hippolyte Blanc. Its dating has been a matter of dispute among architectural historians, particularly with reference to its stone corbels. Our dendrochronological analysis indicates a construction date of 1509/10: the roof of the great hall of Edinburgh Castle is, therefore, a rare example in Scotland of major timberwork from the reign of James IV (1488–1513). Much of the original carved stone corbel work survives, despite restoration and partial replacement by Blanc, and the iconography of these is contemporary with the roof construction. The decoration of the corbels is therefore among the earliest use of Renaissance ornament in Britain. With the splendour of the roof, they are a small part of the repertoire used to present James IV in the magnificence of a contemporary European monarch.     

The rise and demise of the Irish and Scottish computer hardware industry

This paper examines the dynamics of the computer hardware industry in Ireland and Scotland in a global context, from its inception in the late 1950s to the present. It provides a detailed account of plant openings and closures in both the system assembly and the component manufacturing segment. It describes the development of the computer hardware industry from mainframe assembly, through minicomputer assembly to microcomputer assembly and the shift of system assembly and component production activity to the Far East and Eastern Europe since the mid-1990s. The developments are analysed in terms of Schoenberger's (1997) model of concentrated deconcentration in the context of time-based-competition. It is shown that the model, with substantial qualification, fits the developments since the 1980s.