The Development of Scottish Antiquarian Records: 1600-1800 by Angus Graham
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The development of Scottish antiquarian records: 1600-1800 by Angus Graham purpose Th thif eo s pape revieo t s ri w some early record Scottisf so h antiquities exploro t , e the circumstances that brought these records into being, and to consider the meaning attached to the notion of antiquity in the 17th and 18th centuries. A grearesule sa th f t o tprestig Statisticale th f eo Account of Scotland, commonly callee dth 'Old Statistical Account', as a source of local history, it is easy to assume that its notes on parochial antiquities, though referrin gdecad e onl1790se th th o yf t e o , provid firse eth t Scottish examples of systematic antiquarian recording. Any such assumption, however, is far from the truth, notwithstanding the value of these notes, for certain purposes, to the archaeologists of today, as the collection of facts about antiquity, combined as it originally was with topographical survey and description, stretches back from the time of the Account for a matter of two hundred years presene Th . t stud therefory yma e properly begin wit worha d abou earle tth y topographical surveys, from which antiquarian collections came to be specialised. A suggestive hint of the relationship between these two spheres of activity comes from contemporary developments in Tudor England. Here John Leyland embarked on large-scale topographical description in the 1540s, and readers were ready for Camden's Britannia in 1586. In Scotland (Geogr Coll, fFv ), Timoth2 y Pon alreads twa y activopenine th 17te t eth a hf g centuryo , fiele agaif topographicath o d n i n l survey t thibu ;s work bega assumo nt archaeologican ea l colour when, after Font's death (c 1625), his material went to Sir John Scot of Scotstarvet and, later again, to Sir Robert Gordon of Straloch and his son, the Rev James Gordon, minister of Rothiemay e GordonsTh . ' functiocorreco t e s completd th an wa nt n i materiae e eth us r fo l Scottish sectio Bleau'f no s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the preparation i t publisheno t nbu d until 1654. Straloch's qualification for carrying out such work seems to have rested on 'collections', archaeological as well as purely topographical, which he had made on his own account; and the importance attached to his project is shown by the action of the General Assembly in granting, in 1641, his petition for reports to be submitted by every presbytery (Baillie, 1, 368). The Font-Gordon records next passed through the hands of Sir Robert Sibbald (1641-1728), who had been making 'collections for a geographical and statistical account of Scotland' for some time befor appointments ehi 1682n i , Geographes a , r Scotlanrfo d (DNB, sv). 168n I e 3h advertise dprojeca 'Nea r wtfo Atla Descriptiod san Scotlandf no ' (Geogr Coll,thir fo xix), s 2 d ,an he selected material fro wore m th Pontf ko Gordone ,th othersd swortan s i t .I h noting here that, althoug thiy hb s time Sibbal himsels dwa f producing strictly archaeological evidentl s workwa e ,h y still concerned with 'geographica statisticald an l ' matters oldee , th mucrn i traditions ha . With the addition of some further collections made by Walter Macfarlane of that Ilk (ob. 1767), this whole body of records has been published as Macfarlane's Geographical Collections relating to Scotland, earliee th r descriptions, which refer largel e 16td 17tth han ho y t centuries, appearing 184 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1974-5 mainly in the second volume and the later ones in the first; regarding this later material the editor, Sir Arthur dateMitchelle b than d% t5 ca fal 7 tha ) l,e citv p betweepoint, tth ,2 (o t sou n 172d 1an thesef 1744o d turnn ,i ,an , half between 172 1724d 18th-centure 1an .Th y material consists almost entirel f parisyo h descriptions evidentlys wa d an , supplie informanty db variouf o s s types; most of the anonymouse mar onld positivelan e ,y b foun ca r y attribute ministerso dt . Macfarlane's records thus throw a good deal of light on what antiquities meant, before the middle of the 18th century publia o t , c larger tha circle nth professe f eo d antiquaries. The earlier descriptions (vol 2) are mainly concerned with what might be called guide-book information, bearin naturan go l features, waterways, churches, local econom fortho s d , yan such antiquitie mentionee ar s sa d being fitted into this framework noticeabls i t I . thao eto t certain items , whichbea us antiquarian a r fo , n colou havy ma er been include r othedfo r than anti- quarian reasons r exampleFo . burge th , h cros Nairf dat e swello y th questionn ei t n ma a , , hardly have ranke antiquityn a s da churce th ; t Kilpettillha , twice mentioned, pretty certainly owes dit inclusio dramatie overwhelmeth whics n i o nt y wa t hi cwa sandy dthab d Kilmalif an ,o t n a o et agreeably gruesome association wit hdeposia f humao t n bones. Eve nchapea l 'buil f oldo t n i ' Glengarry may have derived its interest from association with the vanished Popery. Antiquities sensr thuiy nou sema come dow somno t e cairns, standing stone stond san e settings, though these last, again somd an , e 'altar stones', probably attracted attentio places na 'pagaf so n worship'. e 18tth hn I century, however greae th , t pioneer antiquaries t wora , k mainl Englandn yi , must have been influencing opinion, and, in the Scottish context, particularly Sir Robert Sibbald. Although these writers represen kina t elite,f do Macfarlane's first volume pointexistence th o st e of humbler antiquaries as well, and to a widening of antiquarian scope. Thus an inspection of this volume's index discloses a considerable group of castles and churches, and here interest has begun to be taken in architectural points - this is true of five churches and two castles, the descriptio Kildrummf no y Castle being creditably thad ful Pitsligf an lto o containing some actual dimensions. Some of the notes on churches cover dedications, sculpture and traditions of pre- Reformation dating, while healing well mentionee sar connection di n with groupe threth f eo . UndifTerentiated, perhaps, from ecclesiastical carvings are the standing stones and stone settings, which are mentioned seven times, as two of the standing stones are described as carved and one of them bears an unmistakable Pictish symbol. A Roman stone at Ardoch, presumably inscribed, is recognised Romao tw d n ,an camp t Callander forta a l d al , san possibl y fore ;th ma t y have been the one at Bochastle, but a suspicion remains that this observer, like some of his successors, was conspicuoumislee th y db s 'Romae esketh n i r n Camp' policies. Less importante itemth e sar prehistoric burials, which are given passing notice in a few passages on cists, 'urns' and large cairns; while the only iron-age fort in the record is the one on Benachie, included probably as much for a piece of scandalous folklore attaching to it as for its antiquarian merit. It thus seems fair to conclude that the general framework of later antiquarian study had already been at least 17te th hf o century d en e .rougheth y b t dou £lite influence again appears in the next stage of Scottish antiquarian development, this time in the early activities of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. The Society, founded in 1780, propounde n ambitioua d s programme comprising historical research conceivee th n i d widest terms, learned discussion conservatioe th d an , f documentno museud san m objectsl al , backe powerfup du l social patronage. mark e t bear1I th l havinf sal o g been imposed from above, Society'doube o n th y tb s founder Eare Buchanth f , circls lo hi enthusiastsf ed o an , evidencd an , e facte seeoe th f b s thin n i tharegiona o sca ttw l accounts, secure course th dthin f i e o s programme published an Society'e th dn i s Transactions, Uphalf o e on lothe e paristh lonaf d ro actualle han ,ar y by Buchan himself; that notably sensible descriptions of some major monuments in Orkney and GRAHAM: THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCOTTISH ANTIQUARIAN RECORDS: 1600-1800 | 185 of other Lewin si respectivele sar distinguisheo s y yb dpersoa Principae th Scote s nth a f so l College in Paris and by a patently reliable fieldworker recording what he had seen himself; and that two of the three contributions by parish ministers2 are wholly conditioned by the Society's policy of promoting all branches of knowledge and not archaeology alone. Thus the paper on Liberton parish page 7 run 9 t devote o st bu s onl liney9 s specificall ancieno yt t monuments- so , called 'obelisks' Haddingtonn o e , whilon pages0 e 8 e th f o ,, contain sectioo sn antiquitiesn no . These accounts are written in terms of local history, economics and social conditions, and points of antiquarian interest only emerge from other contexts, e Egyptiaratheth s a r n workmen's ration onionsf so , radishe garlid san c emerge from Herodotus' accoun Pyramie th f to Cheopsf do . Moreover, no less than 35 of the 50 papers in this volume are concerned with such subjects as literature, language, poetry, music, folklore and documentary records. It thus seems safe to infer that the Society's first publications are less reliable indicators of the current opinions of their day than is much of Sibbald's material for its own earlier phase.