Defining the Sanctissimus: The Early Medieval Church Enclosures of Pictland

Gordon Noble; Leidy Laura Gonzalez Bojaca; Robin  Worsman; James O'Driscoll

Defining the Sanctissimus: The Early Medieval Church Enclosures of Pictland

Gordon Noble, Leidy Laura Gonzalez Bojaca, Robin Worsman, James O'Driscoll

Archaeology

University of Aberdeen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

This article presents the results of a program of investigation into vallum enclosures around known or suspected early Christian church sites in eastern Scotland. Survey and keyhole excavation results are reported on for four sites: Abersnithock, Aberdeenshire; Migvie, Aberdeenshire; Glamis, Angus; and Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross. At each site a combination of aerial survey, geophysics and evaluative excavation revealed rectilinear or curvilinear
ditched enclosures centering on the position of the church, with radiocarbon dating showing these enclosures are of early medieval date. The significance of the church vallums are discussed including their role as marking the sacred precincts of the early church and the significance of such large enclosures in the early medieval landscapes of Pictland. In addition to the early medieval results, the geophysical survey at Dunkeld revealed part of old Dunkeld town, which was burnt down and abandoned after the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

Original language	English
Journal	Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 13 Sept 2023

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
The fieldwork and writing up of this article were supported by a Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award (RL-2016-069). The survey work at Dunkeld and Glamis was undertaken during Leidy Laura Gonzalez Bojaca’s PhD research, which was also funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Thanks to Sesilia Niehaus, Ewan Campbell, Nick Evans and Anna Ritchie for reading through earlier drafts. As always any opinions/errors are our own.

Keywords

Early Church
vallum
Pictland
early medieval
enclosure

Cite this

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title = "Defining the Sanctissimus: The Early Medieval Church Enclosures of Pictland",

abstract = "This article presents the results of a program of investigation into vallum enclosures around known or suspected early Christian church sites in eastern Scotland. Survey and keyhole excavation results are reported on for four sites: Abersnithock, Aberdeenshire; Migvie, Aberdeenshire; Glamis, Angus; and Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross. At each site a combination of aerial survey, geophysics and evaluative excavation revealed rectilinear or curvilinearditched enclosures centering on the position of the church, with radiocarbon dating showing these enclosures are of early medieval date. The significance of the church vallums are discussed including their role as marking the sacred precincts of the early church and the significance of such large enclosures in the early medieval landscapes of Pictland. In addition to the early medieval results, the geophysical survey at Dunkeld revealed part of old Dunkeld town, which was burnt down and abandoned after the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.",

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note = "Acknowledgements The fieldwork and writing up of this article were supported by a Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award (RL-2016-069). The survey work at Dunkeld and Glamis was undertaken during Leidy Laura Gonzalez Bojaca{\textquoteright}s PhD research, which was also funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Thanks to Sesilia Niehaus, Ewan Campbell, Nick Evans and Anna Ritchie for reading through earlier drafts. As always any opinions/errors are our own.",

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journal = "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland",

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AU - Noble, Gordon

AU - Gonzalez Bojaca, Leidy Laura

AU - Worsman, Robin

AU - O'Driscoll, James

N1 - Acknowledgements The fieldwork and writing up of this article were supported by a Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award (RL-2016-069). The survey work at Dunkeld and Glamis was undertaken during Leidy Laura Gonzalez Bojaca’s PhD research, which was also funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Thanks to Sesilia Niehaus, Ewan Campbell, Nick Evans and Anna Ritchie for reading through earlier drafts. As always any opinions/errors are our own.

PY - 2023/9/13

Y1 - 2023/9/13

N2 - This article presents the results of a program of investigation into vallum enclosures around known or suspected early Christian church sites in eastern Scotland. Survey and keyhole excavation results are reported on for four sites: Abersnithock, Aberdeenshire; Migvie, Aberdeenshire; Glamis, Angus; and Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross. At each site a combination of aerial survey, geophysics and evaluative excavation revealed rectilinear or curvilinearditched enclosures centering on the position of the church, with radiocarbon dating showing these enclosures are of early medieval date. The significance of the church vallums are discussed including their role as marking the sacred precincts of the early church and the significance of such large enclosures in the early medieval landscapes of Pictland. In addition to the early medieval results, the geophysical survey at Dunkeld revealed part of old Dunkeld town, which was burnt down and abandoned after the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

AB - This article presents the results of a program of investigation into vallum enclosures around known or suspected early Christian church sites in eastern Scotland. Survey and keyhole excavation results are reported on for four sites: Abersnithock, Aberdeenshire; Migvie, Aberdeenshire; Glamis, Angus; and Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross. At each site a combination of aerial survey, geophysics and evaluative excavation revealed rectilinear or curvilinearditched enclosures centering on the position of the church, with radiocarbon dating showing these enclosures are of early medieval date. The significance of the church vallums are discussed including their role as marking the sacred precincts of the early church and the significance of such large enclosures in the early medieval landscapes of Pictland. In addition to the early medieval results, the geophysical survey at Dunkeld revealed part of old Dunkeld town, which was burnt down and abandoned after the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

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KW - vallum

KW - Pictland

KW - early medieval

KW - enclosure

M3 - Article

SN - 0081-1564

JO - Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

JF - Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

ER -

Defining the Sanctissimus: The Early Medieval Church Enclosures of Pictland

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Cite this