Stirling and Romans and Glasgow, Oh My!

jmclees /

So, here we go! I’m not much of a travel writer (I won’t speak for my co-author, the esteemed Matthew Morris, though), but let me see what I can say! We had quite the adventure through centuries of history this weekend, travelling to the Northern reaches of the Ancient Roman Empire and then to a place that has seen king and queens crowned, and several of their heads put on display (though not quite in the way you might expect!).

On Saturday, the 16th of February, we all boarded a charter bus bright and early, bound for the castle of Stirling! Stirling Castle is one of the most famous and most important castles in Scottish history. A few posts earlier, Allie, Katie, and Morgan wrote about our good friend William Wallace, as portrayed by Mel Gibson. One of his most famous victories came here, at the Battle of Stirling Bridge (I have that link starting right at the inspirational speech part, for your convenience!). The depiction in the film is interestingly devoid of a bridge, but that’s Hollywood! The earliest surviving parts of the castle were constructed under the rule of Robert II and Robert III of the Stewart line. One of the most fascinating parts of the castle was that head collection mentioned earlier. No, no, this isn’t a grisly version of Madame Tussaud’s! A series of wood carvings presenting the heads of royal family members, figures from Greek mythology, and the Worthies, are preserved in a gallery in Stirling Castle.

A statue dedicated to Robert the Bruce can be seen in the foreground, while the faint outline of the monument to William Wallace is beyond the city through a dense Scottish fog

Stirling switched hands between the English and the Scottish forces multiple times throughout the various Wars of Independence, most notably returning to Scottish control in 1314 after a siege by Edward Bruce, brother of the famous King of Scots, Robert the Bruce. One of the darker moments in the castle’s history came in 1452, when William, the 8th Earl of Douglas, was assassinated! It is believed that King James II and his collaborators defenestrated Sir William because he refused to extricate himself from an unfavorable alliance. Lots more of the castle’s history, such as details of Mary Queen of Scots childhood there, can be found on this timeline!

We all had a blast exploring the castles many buildings, from the great hall to the chapel! There was even a dress up room which, while maybe not tailored to college size people, we took full advantage of to get into the royal spirit! But that wasn’t all we did on our Saturday adventure, as mentioned previously, we traveled back to the time of Ancient Rome.

After visiting the Falkirk Wheel (a massive simplification of the lock system of canals, wherein a boat is literally lifted up in a bathtub full of water to a higher canal in order continue), we set out on a miniature hike towards the Antonine Wall. This was a stretch of wall and accompanying fortifications that ran parallel to Hadrian’s wall, but further north. The majority of these forts were constructed around 140 A.D, and regrettably all that we are left with is the geographic evidence of the settlements: trenches, ditches, and defensive holes. However, the site near Falkirk yielded large amounts of  small archaeological artifacts when it was excavated in the mid-1900’s, and has since been returned to the state it was found in, to remain historical ground upon which we were fortunate to have had the chance to walk.

Unfortunately, the day we visited Stirling and the Roman fort was cloudy and dreary (It seems like that’s always how trips of that nature go). As chance would have it, the day after our Stirling adventure was absolutely gorgeous. A small group of us decided to take advantage of the weather a walk over to visit Holyrood park. Holyrood Park offers one of the best views of the city from the top of Arthur’s peak. The 5 square mile park has been considered a Royal Park since the 11th Century and is right beside the royal residence of Edinburgh, the Palace of Holyroodhouse.  Trent had already visited the park, but because of poor weather and a broken arm, I (Matthew) had yet to visit.

If you ever find yourself in Scotland, I must insist you take time to visit the park. The tall yellow and green grass rolls on for what seems like forever. As your eyes move forward past hill after hill of various shades of green grass you eventually find yourself staring into the sky. While on most days in Edinburgh this would consist of gray and fog, this past Sunday the sky was a wash of ocean blue. White wispy clouds danced low in the skyline as the sun began to fall behind. It was one of the most beautiful and serene spots in the city. Living in the middle of tall buildings and historical architectural masterpieces, it is really easy to forget just how beautiful nature can be.

Rebecca surveying the expanse of Edinburgh

For our film this week, we watched Trainspotting. One of Danny Boyle’s most culturally relevant films, based on Scotsman Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name, the film explores urban poverty and drug culture in 1980’s Edinburgh. Revealing a darker side of the cultural wellspring we have been exploring in Edinburgh, Trainspotting still makes great use of the scenery available in the city, notably a chase scene down Victoria and Princes Street during which we all exclaimed “Look! Princes Street!” Interestingly, one of the most challenging questions we’ve wrestled with in our study of Scottish media and culture is that of colonization, union, and independence. The protagonist Mark Renton, as portrayed by Ewan McGregor, has a breaking moment wherein he exclaims how awful it is to be Scottish, and how they “couldn’t even find a decent culture to be colonized by.” This moment contrasts vividly with all other Scottish cinema we’ve viewed so far, which is marked by a distinct sense of pride and honor in Scottish culture. The Happy Lands, a film about the 1926 General Strike of Scottish labor unions, was shown at the Glasgow Film Festival this weekend, which a few of us accompanied some other international students to. It returned strongly to the sense of solidarity and community that dominates images of national Scotland in the media. Glasgow was a whirl in celebration of cinema, with scale models of the infamous Daleks from Doctor Who being rolled down streets amongst the performers out and about!

 

 

Glorious Glasgow

mscholtens /

On February 4 we all left the cultural capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, and arrived in the industrial center of Glasgow. The immediate difference between the two is the lack of topographical landmarks on the scale of Castle Rock and Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh. This would make it quite difficult to navigate the city if we lived here, but luckily we only had to walk 100 yards to the subway station to make our way across the city.

Our first stop in Glasgow was the Sunny Govan Radio Station, in the village of Govan. Govan is a largely working-class district of Glasgow previously known for its shipbuilding industry. However, few ships are actually built there today, and the area has suffered due the reduction of industry and a bad housing market.

Sunny Govan derives its name from a phrase that the poor workers of the town used when asked where they were going on holiday: “Going to ‘Sunny Govan'” meant they were staying home.
Given the unique history of Govan, its inhabitants have a strong identity with its shipyards and industry. However, its proximity to the biggest city in Scotland poses a threat to maintaining this identity. Sunny Govan Radio’s goal is to try to encompass all groups within the community and create a distinct voice within Scotland. To accomplish this task, they try to learn about the lives and views of many of Govan’s people: asylum seekers, students, solicitors and politicians, and even those involved in drugs and gangs. As our guide Heather MacMillan said, the station’s focus is to “emphasize the community,” and “these groups are the celebrities. We are not in the business of promoting the big celebrities.”
In true fashion, they try to play local music as often as possible, even though some music comes from Germany and America. Sunny Govan is currently participating an effort to create a world-wide network of community radio stations and exchange local music and ideas. Heather told us of their recent partnership with a station in Nuremburg. Our meeting ended with five of our students being interviewed live on Sunny Govan Radio.
Lastly, we took an interesting side trip to an old police station and jail where Sunny Govan was first located.
we couldn’t follow everything that Heather was saying (she has a strong Glaswegian accent), but apparently the jail used to briefly hold Nazi leader Rudolf Hess after he parachuted into Britain in 1941. Hess unsuccessfully tried to broker peace with Britain before Nazi Germany invaded Russia.
P.S. As we left the station, the sounds of Beyoncé’s “Halo” followed us out because, no matter how local and/or anti-mainstream someone is, they will always have a soft spot for Beyoncé.

After visiting the prison, we very quickly visited a local wood working shop and hoped on the subway back to the city center so we could see St. Mungo’s Cathedral and the Necropolis. We were very unfortunate that we arrived right as the Cathedral was closing, but the guard allowed us a few minutes inside to appreciate the true scale of the building. As you approach the Cathedral, it is not an imposing building, but it is built into a hillside so as you walk around it, it becomes an impressive feat of engineering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we began the tour of the Necropolis, it began to rain, but we pushed on and learned a great deal about who was buried there and how the Necropolis helps shed light on society in Glasgow during its use. One example of this is how the Jewish community of Glasgow, who had cash in hand, was allowed to purchase a plot on the Necropolis at a time when Jews across Europe were persecuted. This suggests that capitalism may have been the dominant philosophy among Glasgow’s citizens. As we continued up the hill, the rain turned to sleet, and we found ourselves huddled together against a brick wall to escape the conditions. Another tortured hour later we were back in the warmth and after dinner we took a very sleepy train ride back to Edinburgh.

-Michael and Stuart

A picture of Glasgow from the Necropolis on a beautiful sunny day… not when we were there.