Linlithgow Palace continued...

I felt that the last post was getting too lengthy, so I thought I'd split it up!

The old entrance

3rd Stop: Linlithgow Palace

Approaching the palace via the "new" entrance

This was probably my favorite, just because I have such a weakness for ruined castles. They are so delicious! We learned that there had been a royal residence there since the 12th century! It was mostly destroyed by fire in 1424, and was then rebuilt by James I who had recently returned from captivity and wanted to show off his power. Then it was refurbished in the 1470's by James III, for his queen Margaret of Denmark. The "new" main entrance and a very impressive fountain were built by James V.

James V's entrance

The Fountain

The Great Hall. There were 150 of us in there, and still there was plenty of room.

The light from the window gives this a ghosty effect!

2nd Stop: The Antonine Wall

Before my archaeology class, I had heard of Hadrian's wall, but not of it's northern relation the Antonine Wall. This was built by Hadrian's successor, Antoninus Pius who wanted to expand the empire further into Scotland, probably to gain military prestige. This was around 139 AD.

Unlike Hadrian's wall, this was a turf wall. Only the foundations were of stone.

These were defensive pits which were dug and in which sharpened stakes were concealed.

I am standing on the causeway that leads across the huge ditch dug by the Romans

Looking towards the fort, from the annexe

Second Archaeology Fieldtrip: Glasgow Cathedral!

I hadn't realised that the cathedral was on our list of sites to see in our second field trip. Not that I mind going back at all! The day was cool, rainy and misty, so the atmosphere was quite different from the sunny day I had two weeks ago.

The cover of the well was open today! Our teacher told us that when the church was expanded, the well was incorporated into the wall of the cathedral, but it was, perhaps, an earlier holy well of the area.

Aren't these figures interesting?

These are from the Pulpitum

Also, something I saw this time which I hadn't seen before, very near the cathedral, the oldest house in Glasgow:

Glasgow Green & good-bye to Halloween

I forgot I had some more pictures! Yay! Last Saturday I met up with my friend Rachel and we had lunch on the Glasgow Green and then went to a performance at the Brittania Panopticon. Here is the Glasgow Green - a piece of land that has been common for hundreds of years. It is famous as a place that Glaswegian women used to wash their linen - I think Dorothy Wordsworth comments on it in her Scottish journal.

People's Palace

At the Panopticon there was quite a jolly performance (done in a circa 1910 style) with "magic" acts and the like. Amazingly, though I sat near the back, I was called onto the stage to participate in a witch "execution" by electric knife (perhaps not strictly 1910). I was the witch! Too bad there are no pictures!

This display was outside a shop. I thought it was quite lovely!

I walk along Great Western Road quite often, but only recently noticed a few of these outside the doors of the shops. I am assuming they were for scraping boots? I think they are very interesting!

Haunting Continued

This also - as a poem and in various melodic forms, is also very haunting, along with that frightening, yet thrilling chill that all Celtic fairy and changeling tales possess.

The beautiful poetry of Yeats, in "The Stolen Child" as imagined by the Waterboys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg-oJKYIinQ

And also by Loreena McKennitt (ignore the cheesy pics, and just listen):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIKIZSt28Do

Arthur Rackham fairies

Haunting

It isn't just Halloween, but this time of year that has a haunting quality to it. And hauntings don't always have to be frightening. One of the films that haunts me the most is the 1948 film: A Portrait of Jennie. It is hard for me to see any faults in this film (I'm sure it has many) as I have loved it since I was a little girl. This scene (a beautiful song) is one of those haunting moments. The sound is a little wonky, but I hope you'll enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VPxB9pyuR8

Joseph Cotton & Jennifer Jones in Portrait of Jennie