Bucholie Castle

 After leaving the Orkneys we traveled by ferry to Thurso at the northern most tip of mainland Britain. From there we travelled by bus with professional dry stone waller George Gunn as our guide, to a remote spot on the rocky east coast of Caithness. 

There is ruined castle there called Bucholie which was owned from the time of king Robert the Bruce to 1661 by ancestors of Farley Mowat. Just before he died Farley was writing about his visit back to this unique dry stone structure back in 1961 with his wife Claire. 

My wife Mary, who had been working for Farley over the last few years putting his typewritten material into digital format,  remembered the section of his writing that mentioned where our group would be travelling and thought it would be a wonderful thing to have us visit the castle, and with Claire's permission, actually have some of Farley's last writings read to the group on our trip.

Last Monday, on the continuing tour of 'Old Stones', our group of thirteen hearty adventurers hiked nearly a mile over thick soggy heather brush, much of it along a formidable and beautiful coast, in order to make our way to Farley's castle, which is well hidden and almost impossible to get to.



After I scrambled up the side of the castle (where there had once been a drawbridge) and into the arched opening on the west face, Fred the bravest of the others, joined me. Getting inside into Brocholie involved carefully making a leap across a very narrow gap that with a 100 foot drop both sides into the sea. The others preferred to wait on the other side.



From that vantage point standing in the ruin I had the great privilege of then reading aloud from Farley's unpublished manuscript describing the historic details and layout of the castle. 


The others ( standing well back from the cliff listening to the passage I read ) told me later they were not only able to see and hear, but also imagine, all that Farley would have wanted to share if he had been there himself.

Stone Foundation Symposium 2016

              
























This is going to be one stone event you should not miss.stonefoundation.org symposium 2016

Brough of Birsay.

You have to wait for the tide to get there from here!

On Saturday we also visited the Brough of Birsay, a 21 hectar tidal island located around 13 miles north of Stromness Scotland. This ancient seat of Norse power on the Orkneys is separated from the Point o' Buckquoy on the Mainland, by the waters of Brough Sound - a distance of approximately 262 yards.

The sea completely surrounds the island twice a day due to tidal action so access to the Brough is restricted to a few hours each day, at either side of low tide, when a causeway across to the other side is visible to walk on. This not only meant the island had a prime defensive position, but was also an ideal base for sea travel south, north and east.

The earliest settlement on the Brough is thought to date from the fifth century AD and the Picts took to the island in the seventh century AD and by the ninth century it had been taken over, and built over, by the Norse.

Most of the remains seen on the Brough today date from its final, Norse, period of use - giving buildings ranging from 800-1200AD.

The Brough is more enjoyable than most sites to walk around and explore because there are no barricades or annoying roped off areas. The look of the ancient dry laid stonework, which is surprisingly clean and tidy looking, is enhanced by the lush carpet of green caressing the whole site and butting up to all the contours of the walls   

Visiting the place felt cozy and familiar, almost like coming home, one I came back to many many years ago.

The Ancient Circuit Board of Brogdar

It seems that the archaeological remains of the Ness of Brogdar in the Orkney's viewed from the air have a peculiar like'ness' to other things when considered on a different scale - things like this electrical circuit board for instance.

What would miniature archaeologists exploring near the surface of this archaic circuit board think that they had uncovered? A sacred temple? A stellar observatory ? An ancient calendar devised to predict the seasons?

Comparing Vaulted Stone Chambers

We visited this impressive dry laid 'dove cote' on Saturday. Although Rendall Doocot isn't an ancient Neolithic tomb it's still impressively old (1648) and particularly inspiring for its shape and commanding profile on the Orkney landscape. We saw it off in the distance from our small tour bus and just had to go look closer.

Pierre and I bent down and went through the stone opening to see inside. The pattern of corbelled dry stone vaulting had a network of niches built into the ceiling for pigeons to nest in. 

Then, yesterday morning we visited another dry stone chamber. Maes Howe has a commanding presence on the landscape too with its unusual large mound shape protruding above the undulating but decidedly flatter surrounding Orkney countryside. 

This 5000 year old structure is not that different from the Rendall dovecote, in that it too has a small entrance that you have to duck down to get through, an impressive corbelled vaulted roof when you look up inside, and several openings (niches ?) set into the inner walls. However experts agree that Maes Howe probably wasn't built for pigeons.

Carved into the stones, on the chamber walls there are ancient marks reckoned to be Viking graffiti, written by Norse men seeking shelter there a good 4000 years later than the time period when scientists believe it was originally constructed. 

Many of these historic 'runes' scratched on the walls have been painstakingly decoded. Our guide rather apologetically translated some of them for us as we huddled there listening expectantly in the dimly lit chamber. 

I guess we'd all hoped for something more profound. 

None of the translations gave any clue to the actual purpose of this impressive stone structure nor alluded in any way to the chamber's obvious importance historically. 

Thousands of people come here day after day and are informed that the ancient Viking writings, when translated, say things like "I can carve my initials in stone better than anyone else" and "Gretchen is hot!"

Uncovering the big Ness of Brodgar

We had hoped to see the Ness of Brodgar on our 'Old Stones' tour of Scotland.

There's plenty of fascinating information written about it on several good web sites including this one.  www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/nessofbrodgar/ 

Experts are saying that this 5000 year old network of dry stone structures that has been uncovered used to be some sort of large a temple complex.

A lot of the pics on the internet showing the recent excavations there look something like the photo above.

Unfortunately when we arrived there it had been recently covered over and looked a bit 'messy'. 

Apparently the structure is being protected until the team returns to uncover more mysteries ( along with all the tarps and rubber tires )

Never mind we've seen plenty of other wonderful old stone structures here in Orkney, which I'm planning to post photos and details of in the next few days.

The Ring of Brodgar

We visited a world famous Neolithic standing stone ring yesterday afternoon. The Ring of Brodgar in Orkney Scotland is the third largest henge in the British Isles.

Perhaps my crock wasn't the best thing to put in the photo to give a sense of the scale of this mysterious prehistoric structure. 

What the actual structure signifies is definitely a matter of conjecture. 

Based on all the new archaeological findings there are some surprising interpretations of what actually went on here 5000 years ago. Visitors should be prepared for the unexpected when approaching any of the several megalithic structures in and around the Ness of Brodgar .

To 'be' or 'not to be' there

Our flight path two days ago

We did better yesterday.

To 'be' or 'not to be' (there)?
There is the question .
At some point we are not just getting there, we are in a state of totally being there.
With all the our flight delays, we've done a lot of extra traveling just to get to Scotland
It seems to have been about 'getting there' so far and while getting there is good, it is very obviously different from being there.
Being there is timeless
Being, and everything to do with being there, is way more real, more meaningful.

The in the in-flight film 'Being There' suggests that life is just a state of mind.My question is,  is it possible to completely do away with not being there ?"

Stones have got all this sort of thing covered. They are very there .
I think it's wrong for instance to talk about how long standing stones and ancient stone circles have been there.
Surely they just continue in a permanent state of being there ,
They are grounded in being.
They are very good at being there .Perhaps they are waiting for us to transcend always trying to get there and merely enter that state of being there that they exude .
It's not a process
It's more about restraint , it's more like the opposite of a process, it's much more solid than that

Anyway after a long day of travelling. we are glad to be here now at least in Glasgow. 

Rocky trip

A dozen or so of us are off to Scotland today for the second time in 12 hours. The ten day 'Old Stone' tour where we will be exploring dry stone walls, stone castles, stone circles, standing stones and underground stone chambers as well as some exciting new (old?) archeological sites on the Orkneys, got off to a rocky start when the plane we were on last night turned back over Northern Quebec. Generator problems was the official word from the captain. 

Despite this minor setback we remain confident things will go smoothly from here on and we all look forward to the next part of the trip - getting there.  Stay tuned for lots of photos and interesting discussion (and conjecture) about the historic details concerning some of the ancient places we will eventually be visiting.

The Dry Stone Archaeological Foundation

Archaeological enthusiasts John and Mark have unearthed a mysterious dry stone structure near Buckhorn Ontario. We are eagerly awaiting the results concerning the carbon dating of this unusual rectangular building. There is a lot of conjecture as to what the early people of Ontario would have used it for. Next month we hope to begin reconstructing it and restore the structure to the way it would have looked when it was first built.

Craigflower Manor Dry Stone Wall Victoria BC

Don't know what this is, but it's pretty and it's growing on the property, so I'm calling this a Craig flower.

This is part way through day one.

This is all the way 'throughs' - day two

Now were really through. 

Seven students, two instructors, two days, eighteen and a half feet of free standing dry basalt stone wall. Thanks to all the students who did such a great job and to Christopher Barclay and the Highland Games Association who organized this event.

Wallaboration

Day one of the Dry Stone Walling Across Canada weekend workshop at the historic heritage Craigflower Manor estate in Victoria, British Columbia. We will be proving again this weekend that beautiful long-lasting stone walls can successfully be built without using any mortar or manufactured stone products, but not without a good mix of friendly collaboration and cooperation. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post to see if we get to the top ! 

Photoshop Glue

I came across this on Pinterest. I'd like to think it's a photoshopped tongue-in-cheek dig at some of the very probably impossible examples of stone balancing being posted out there. Maybe it isn't. If not then, 'very probably impossible' isn't an oxymoron either. 

A Shore Thing

Sometimes when the wind and surf is just right, and you've got the time and the perfect beach, with just the right shape and size stones, you sense the need to do something wild and daring. At times like this you need to create something that momentarily encompasses the potential and excitement you feel just to be alive. 

Or, of course you could do something that's almost as fulfilling, and go kite surfing.

Batter

Batter Makes Everything Better

Things that Stones Expect You to Know # 10

Stones just wanna have fun !

On the final day of our dry stone wall building demonstration at the Victoria Highland Games last weekend, we let some of the stones play around together in the park for a while (with supervision, of course).

Going for a Wall in the Park.

We went for a simple very traditional style dry stone wall in Topaz Park this time at the Victoria Highland Games. It was built with random shaped basalt material from Squamish B.C. 

There was a section of the 16 foot wall we left unfinished so that people could see a cross section of a wall with the  through stones and the hearting revealed.

Even though we were a bit hard to find we were happy with the lovely site we had to work in this year, tucked under a grove of mature trees, away from most of the main events.  

We had a lot of fun talking to the people who did find us and many of the onlookers who came by learned how a proper dry stone wall is built and why we build walls without mortar. 

Some of the repeat visitors to the games told us they were expecting something more dazzling with arches and loops, more like what we built during the big Victoria Day event last year, and the year before. 

I guess we've become our very own hard act to follow.

Not finished yet!

It's good if you have some longer stones to put 'through-stones' along the wall at about knee height. Yesterday we were through-stoning the demonstration wall. But strangely, were not finished yet!

Jose Janecek takes questions from interested visitors to the Victoria Highland Games about what the three through-stones are for.

While the others pack the inside of the wall, Christopher Barclay is scraping the hearting barrel.

Here are some of the happy wallenteers.

Irony

Can you believe it? We're here at the Highland Games in Victoria this weekend, stacking stones, trying to build a simple demonstration dry stone wall and the bagpipers, ( the bagpipers !)  come over and ask us to keep the noise down ! 

Victorian Arch, Wall, Games and Upcoming Workshop

Yesterday I revisited a Gothic arch and a rather challenging herringbone dry stone wall that my students and I created almost ten years ago at Island Stone Landscape Supplies islandstone.ca/?page_id=53 near Victoria BC. 

My good friends Christopher Barclay and Kevin Maloney were there helping at that workshop. 

Next weekend we will be doing another dry stone workshop at the  Craigflower National Historic Site  We will be leaving a permanent dry stone feature (perhaps and arch) for people to enjoy at that estate. It would be good to see some Victorians sign up and participate in this workshop, and if not, at least try to come out to the Victorian Highland Games walling event happening today and tomorrow at Topaz Park Victoria. You can help put in a stone or two.