CONTENTS
Our visits are listed here chronologically. See the end of this page for
a list by topic.
Dumbarton Rock,
a volcanic plug of basalt where the River Leven flows into the River Clyde,
was the centre of the kingdom of Strathclyde from the fifth century AD. In 870
it endured a four month siege before surrendering to the Vikings. Dumbarton
was incorporated into Scotland in 1034. It was an important royal castle in
medieval Scotland serving as a stronghold and a port of entry in the west. In
1548, the castle protected the infant Mary Queen of Scots for several months
before her removal by sea to France. The threats posed by the Jacobites and
the French in the eighteenth century caused new fortifications and defences
to be built, accounting for most of the existing structures. From the summit
of "Rock of the Britons" there are splendid views of the Clyde estuary.
Glasgow
Glasgow Cathedral has never been unroofed
since it was constructed in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries
and has been a place of worship for more than 800 years. The Gothic architecture
features pointed arches, vaulting, and an open timber roof in the nave. The
lower church contains the shrine of St. Mungo, patron saint of Glasgow who died
in 603.
Provand's Lordship is the oldest house in Glasgow,
built in 1471. This house and Glasgow Cathedral are the only survivors of the
medieval town.
The People's Palace in Glasgow Green
is now a local and social history museum. The attached Winter Gardens were constructed
in 1898 and contain an exotic plant display.
The Burrell Collection was amassed by one man,
Sir William Burrell (1861-1958). A shipbuilder who sold his fleet during World
War I, he spent the rest of his life amassing an art collection with concentrations
in medieval glass and tapestries, Chinese ceramics, and nineteenth century French
paintings as well as objects from Egypt, Greece, Italy and the Near East. He
bequeathed the collection to his native city of Glasgow with the condition that
it be housed "in a rural setting far removed from the atmospheric pollution
of urban conurbations, not less than 16 miles from the Royal Exchange."
The modern gallery of wood, glass, and sandstone was opened in Pollok
Park in 1983 and incorporates rooms from Burrell's Hutton Castle home.
Science and the Environment Class
Cross the Campsie Fells and compare water quality
as a function of geology and land use. Measure pH and conductivity for the lowland
Endrick Water and highland streams that empty
into Loch Lomond.
Stirling
The Wallace Monument commemorates William Wallace
(1270-1305), who led the resistance against the English and achieved victory
at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. Robert
the Bruce (1274-1329) and the Scots defeated at Bannockburn
a numerically superior English force lead by Edward II in 1314. The National
Trust for Scotland has an interpretive center. An independent Scotland was recognized
by the Declaration of Arbroath (1320) and the Treaty of Northampton (1328).
Owing to its strategic importance in controlling the passage northward, Stirling
Castle was attacked and counterattacked by both the English and the Scots
during the wars of independence. Under the Stuarts, Stirling Castle became a
permanent royal residence. James III (1451-1488) built the Great Hall as a meeting
place for Parliament and other state occasions. James IV, a renaissance prince
and contemporary of Henry VIII and Francois I, initiated building of the Palace
Block and James V finished the building of the Palace. His daughter, Mary, Queen
of Scots (1542-1587), was crowned in the Chapel Royal in 1543. Her son, James
VI, rebuilt the Chapel Royal for the baptism of his own son, Prince Henry, in
1594. With the accession of James VI to the throne of England in 1603, Stirling
ceased to be a royal residence. A new display shows how the castle kitchen would have functioned in the sixteenth
century. Elevations in the King's Knot
seen from the castle show traces of a formal garden, perhaps dating from 1628.
Science and the Environment Class
Wanlockhead has long been a center
of lead mining. For 300 hundred years galena (lead sulfide) was mined and smelted
locally and environmental effects linger on. The Loch Nell Mine (1710-1860)
is open for guided tours as are miner's cottages and the library. This highest
village in Scotland contains a Lead Mining Museum with many fine mineral specimens
of local origin.
Reading Party at Montrose
Castle Campbell located in Dollar Glen
in the Ochil Hills was the chief Lowland stronghold of the Campbell Earls of
Argyle from the fifteenth century until the castle was burned in 1654. It was
built for security, to look impressive as a conspicuous statement of the wealth
and power of the lord within, and to provide the accommodation required by a
member of the senior nobility within easy reach of the royal castles at Stirling
and Edinburgh.
Aberlemno Stones were carved by Picts in
the sixth or seventh century and show crosses, beasts, and battles as well as
abstract symbols such as a crescent, V-rod, Z-rod or double disc.
Edzell Castle was built in the sixteenth century
and its formal walled garden was layed out in 1604 by Sir David Lindsay. The
garden is the product of Renaissance ideas. The sculptured wall panels portray
the Planetary Dieties, the Liberal Arts, and the Cardinal Virtues. The hedges
spell out the Lindsay motto, "Dum spiro spero" (while I breathe I
hope).
The White and Brown Caterthuns are iron-age
hill-top forts circled by ruined stone walls and ditches.
Crathes Castle is a fine sixteenth century
tower house. The Horn of Leys in the High Hall is the token bestowing the land
on the Burnett family given to them in 1323 by Robert the Bruce following Bannockburn.
The painted ceilings, covered over when plasterwork became the fashion, are
now restored and are some of the best examples in existence.
Dunnottar Castle is set on a promontory with
sheer cliffs above the North Sea on three sides. It was the last castle to remain
in Royalist hands during the Commonwealth and during an eight month seige in
1651-1652 by Cromwell's troops, the Scottish crown, sceptre, and sword were
smuggled out and hidden.
The Cairn O'Mount Road traverses a historic pass
to Deeside and was used by Macbeth and Edward I.
The town of Montrose sits on a peninsula between
a tidal basin and the North Sea. It served as our base of operations for nearby
excursions. The House of Dun is a Palladian-style
mansion built in the early eighteenth century and designed by William Adam.
A typical breakfast is egg, bacon, sausage,
and tomato.
We had a picnic in the Fettercairn city park.
The Fettercairn Distillery has produced
single malt Scotch whisky since 1824.
The village of Glamis contains a pictish stone
and Glamis Castle. The fifteenth century
L-shaped core has been added to and altered through the centuries. Glamis has
been the seat of the Strathmore family since 1372. It is the childhood home
of the Queen Mother and the birthplace of Princess Margaret.
Science and the Environment Class
The newly consolidated Scottish Environmental Protection
Agency is responsible for planning, licensing, monitoring, investigating
incidents and recommending prosecutions concerning air and water quality. The
Carbarns Sewage Treatment Works treats municipal
sewage as well as contaminated water from the former Ravenscraig Steel Works.
Science and the Environment Class
The Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre
does environmental radioactivity monitoring, food irradiation monitoring, and
isotope analyses for geology, dating, and environmental studies.
Archaeology Field Trip
Auchindrain Farming Township is an
open-air folklife museum of a group-tenancy farm. Auchindrain stands more or
less as it was in the 1700 and 1800s but has existed much longer than that as
a farming community. The tenants shared arable patches by run-rig. The last
tenant retired in 1962, having lived in the same house as his father and his
grandfather who first occupied it in 1827. The buildings are mostly dry stone
construction, originally having kitchen and byre under one thatched roof supported
by a timber cruck frame.
Inverary Castle (16th century) is home of
the Campbell Dukes of Argyll. The village itself dates from the 1750s when it
was relocated near the castle.
Kilmartin cross (900-1000 AD) and West Highland
grave stones (1200-1400 AD) in the church and yard contain Celtic designs and
effigies of warrior chiefs. A series of burial cairns, the Nether Largie Cairns (2000-3000 BC), stretches linearly
along the Kilmartin Glen. The Temple Wood Stone
Circle (2000 BC) consists of upright stones almost covered by a cairn and
is the site of an earlier circle made of wood.
Glasgow
Bothwell Castle (on the River Clyde in
Uddingston, 9 miles from campus) was built in the late thirteenth century and
was an important stronghold during the Wars of Independence. It was captured
by the English in 1296. It was recaptured by the Scots in 1299 after a fourteen
month seige. It was captured by the English in 1301 after a siege by 7000 men.
On being retaken by the Scots in 1314 after the Battle of Bannockburn the castle
was partially dismantled. The castle was repaired by the English when Edward
III made it his headquarters in 1336, but dismantled again the next year by
the Scots under a scorched earth policy. The Earl of Douglas repaired the castle
in 1362 and made it his chief residence.
The West End includes Glasgow University (Cairncross
House, Bowmont Gardens, and Hillhead Street) and Kelvingrove Art Gallery.
For more information about Glasgow, check out the Places
to Visit page from the Glasgow City Council.
Science and the Environment Class
Half of Scotland's total electricity comes from gas-cooled nuclear reactor power
stations at Hunterston on the Firth of Clyde
and at Torness on the east coast of Scotland. Scottish Nuclear is "proud
of our company, our safety record, our efficiency and the contribution to the
economy and the community" and "keen for everyone to know about it."
Scottish Literature
and History Class met in University Gardens.
Science and the Environment Class
Scottish Agricultural College at Auchincruive
operates a working farm for demonstration and research. Environmental issues
involving cows include both ends of the cow
or silage and slurry.
Archaeology Field Trip
The Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD and conquered lowland England. They
pushed north into Caledonia (Scotland) in the 70s and Agricola defeated
the Caledonian tribes at the battle of Mons Graupius in 84 AD. In the early
120s, under the Emperor Hadrian, the Romans built a stone wall and system
of forts across the north of England. Under Antonius Pius, a turf wall was
built from the Clyde to the Forth in 142-145 AD. The Antonine Wall was held
until about 163 when the emporer Marcus Aurelius withdrew to the line of
Hadrian's Wall. The twenty year occupation was not long or continuous but
does provide an archaeological snapshot of life on the Roman frontier.
The Antonine Wall consists of a turf rampart (4 m high) on a stone base,
a berm (6 m wide), and then a ditch (12 m wide and 4 m deep). Forts or fortletts
were placed at approximately 2 mile intervals along the 37 mile long wall
and linked by a road. The forts contained stone principle buildings. Bath-houses
were either in the fort or an annex.
A bathhouse survives from the fort at Bearsden,
where microscopic examination of the latrine ditch suggests the diet was predominately
vegetarian. Excavation has recovered various artifacts dumped into the well
in the headquarters building at the end of the occupation of the Bar
Hill fort and bathhouse. The earthworks of Rough
Castle have survived better than most; outside the main gate are rows of
defensive pits or lilia. The small fortlett at Kinneil
is more appropriate to the role of the wall as a border crossing customs house
or tollbooth than a solid barrier meant to totally exclude the barbarians on
the other side.
For more information about Romans
in Scotland, check out the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow.
Glasgow
Byres Road is a shopping street near Glasgow
University.
The Botanic Gardens at Byres and Great Western
Roads on the River Kelvin are known for their collections of orchids, begonias,
tree ferns, and the Victorian iron conservatory.
We made it! End of semester Christmas party.
Contents
Click on the words to go to the pictures; click on the ? for a description.