{"id":780,"date":"2026-05-12T08:09:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/?p=780"},"modified":"2026-05-12T08:09:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:09:46","slug":"boundaries-routes-and-place-names-in-early-medieval-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/?p=780","title":{"rendered":"Boundaries, routes and place-names in Early medieval Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thursday 7th<\/sup> May meeting at Tyneside Irish Centre, Newcastle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Max Adams<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two thematically-linked papers were considered by the group: \u2018Boundaries, routes and sculptured stones in Early Medieval Scotland\u2019 (2004) by Pamela O\u2019Neill; and \u2018Seventh-century Iona abbots in Scottish place-names\u2019 (1999) by Simon Taylor.  The common theme was the status of ecclesiastical field monuments and saints\u2019 names as territorial and routeway markers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deb Haycock mapped O\u2019Neill\u2019s clusters of significant cross-inscribed slabs and high crosses in several zones: Tayside, Strathearn and Strath Tay; on the Tarbat Peninsula; on Islay and between Whithorn and Jedburgh.\u00a0 O\u2019Neill considered that highly decorated cross slabs stood in significant relation to centres of ecclesiastical power \u2013 she might have added secular power, too – and that they may also have made visible key routeways and coastal landing places.\u00a0 We thought that some of her anticipated journeys were overly-ambitious, if possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was pointed out that she did not consider their relation to prehistoric features in the same landscapes, and the case of the Magh Tochuir of Inishowen in County Donegal was raised \u2013 an area familiar to many members of the group from BSG fieldwork there.\u00a0 The Magh Tochuir or Plain of the Causeway is overlooked by four prehistoric hilltop enclosures, each one of which is associated with one or more early Christian crosses and\/or monastic sites: evidence of deep-time continuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The group considered how many of these clusters stood on putative routeways between Ireland and Iona, and Iona and Lindisfarne; the conclusion we drew was that there must have been many alternate routes already in existence before the conversion of Northumbria in the 630s; pilgrims and inter-monastic travellers would have followed routes known to salters, drovers and messengers through passes and across navigable waterways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon Taylor\u2019s paper considered names relating to several abbots succeeding St Columba on Iona but focused on a single routeway, that between the Forth Estuary and Lindisfarne, across the Lammermuir hills, using place-names relating to Ionan Abbot  St Baith\u00e9ne and other field monuments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group drew the conclusion that several types of field and documentary evidence might bring these themes together to develop a coherent theory about monuments and routeways in the North.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next Meeting Thursday May 21st<\/sup>.\u00a0 New members and the curious are welcome to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday 7th May meeting at Tyneside Irish Centre, Newcastle By Max Adams Two thematically-linked papers were considered by the group: \u2018Boundaries, routes and sculptured stones in Early Medieval Scotland\u2019 (2004) by Pamela O\u2019Neill; and \u2018Seventh-century Iona abbots in Scottish place-names\u2019 (1999) by Simon Taylor.  The common theme was the status of ecclesiastical field monuments and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bernicesblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}