Here is another example of gaelic poetry from Mara:
Is mise Dùn Naomhaig, I am called Dunyvaig,
Tha mi mòr, I am big
Tha mi casteal, I am a castle,
Tha mi fuar, I am cold,
Tha i dorcha, It is dark,
Tha mi cunnartach, I am dangerous,
Tha mi dubh agus donn. I am black and brown.
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We have been using our Castle art to create Gaelic Poetry using the vocabulary we have been learning. Our poems were written as if we were the castle; how we felt, what we looked like. We wrote the poems out and then used Chatterpix to record our poetry. Here is Caitidh’s poem:
Is mise Dùn Naomhaig, I am called Dunyvaig,
Tha mi làidir, tha mi stoirm, I am strong, I am stormy,
Tha mi dubh agus donn, I am black and brown,
Tha mi seachd ceud bliadhna, I am seven hundred years old,
Tha mi fuar agus fliuch, I am cold and wet,
Tha mi brònach, tha mi garbh, I am sad, I am wild,
Tha mi mòr, tha mi fada, I am big, I am long,
Tha mi dorcha. I am dark.
As part of our Dunyvaig topic we have been learning about what castles looked like at that time and some of their key features. We looked at lots of examples of castles and used what we knew to create our own impressions of Dunyvaig Castle using pen and pencil and oil pastels. You can see some of the results below.
BY HOLLY
BY ELLEN
BY ORLA
We have been learning the gaelic song Birlinn Ghoraidh Chróbhain as part of our Dunyvaig learning. Godred Croven was one of the earliest settlers on Islay and probably used Dunyvaig as a base.
When the mighty Norwegian King Harold Hardrada was killed in battle in 1066, his Chief of Staff was Goraidh Crobhan (Godred of the white hand), who escaped and made his way to the Island of Islay, where his reputation as a clever and fearless warrior had gone before him. Men flocked to join him, and he was victorious in his battle with Fingal, King of Man and the Isles. He also fought successfully against Malcolm Canmore. In our animation you can see him travelling a Birlinn to Islay from the Isle of Man.
Ghoraidh Chróbhain is best known on Islay in a legend where he cleverly kills a dragon that was eating people and cattle, so we decided to have him slay a sea monster in our video, xan you spot it? He died in 1095 as a result of the plague that was sweeping the area and is said to be buried on Islay.
We used stop motion animation to film the story of the song, and also recorded us singing along. We hope you enjoy the animation!
Here are the words:
Hóbhan na hóbhan hó, hi horó na hùbhan,
Hóbhan na hóbhan hó, Air Birlinn Ghoraidh Chrobhain
Fichead sonn air cùl nan ràmh,
Fichead buille lùghmhor,
Siùbhlaidh ì mar eun a’ snàmh,
Is sìoban thonn ‘ga sgiùrsadh.
Suas i sheòid air bàrr nan tonn !
Sìos gu ìochdar sùigh i !
Suas an ceòl is togaibh fonn,
Tha Mac an Righ ‘ga stiuireadh !
Dh’ fhàg sinn Manainn mòr nan tòrr,
Eireann a’ tighinn dlùth dhuinn,
Air Ile-an-Fheòir tha sinn an tòir
Ged dh’ èireas tonnan dùbh-ghorm.
Translation:
Hóvan, na hóvan ho,
Hee horó, na hóvan,
Hóvan, na hóvan ho
The barge of Gorrie Cróvan
Behind the oars, a score so brave,
A lusty score to row her,
She sails away like bird on wave,
While foaming seas lash o’er her.
Up she goes on ocean wave !
Down the surge she wails O,
Sing away; the chorus, raise,
A royal prince; he sails her !
The towers of Man we leave away,
Old Erin’s hills we hail O,
On Islay’s shore her course we lay
Though billows roar and rave O.”
On Monday 20th August we went to Dunyvaig. We met Darko Markovic who showed us around the site. First he showed us a burned down house, which they said might have been used for fighting.
After that we were shown a rock with a hole in it which was filled with water. They thought it might have been for taking shells off scallops. Then we went to the front of the Dunyvaig castle where we saw two destroyed houses. We were also told the back story of Dunyvaig castle and we were told that it was good at defending attacks because of its placement and the material it’s made of.However one day it got destroyed by cannons and muskets.
Next we went and started to clean some dirt off a dug out rectangle next to a destroyed house and a sea gate used for boats to get in and for people living in Dunyvaig to escape in an emergency.
We put the dirt in buckets and then when the buckets were full we would give them to some people doing the dig and they would empty the buckets then give us the buckets back to fill up again. To do this we were separated into groups. My group was in a rectangle and the over group was like a curved rectangle. In both of the groups we had our own areas to clean bits of dirt, and we were protective over our areas as we made a competition and whoever filled up their buckets first would win, but we didn’t have time to fill up our buckets completely.
After walking down to a table next to a tent which was used to put in things they were using to dig or things they found in the dig someone showed us some things that they had found in the dig, such as a piece of wood that could have been used to put string through and some rocks from the time of Dunyvaig. After seeing the rocks and other items which were handed around we left the Dunyvaig site and went back to the school. I really enjoyed it.
On Monday 20th August P6/7 from Port Ellen went to Dunyvaig castle. It was a really fun adventure and we saw lots of artifacts. The first they showed us was a piece of a cannon ball. They passed around little bones in a bag and there was three other bags, in the next bag was a piece of pottery the pottery had a wavy pattern on it. In the next bag there was very fragile shells so we had to be carefull the shells were clean but they still had a bit of brown round the bottom rim. In the last bag there was musket ball out of a musket gun; the bullet was small and round, a little bit smaller than a normal bullet. The cannon ball was all rusted over and broken in half we got told they wouldnt be a perfect circle it would just have to be the right size to shoot out a cannon. Overall the day was good and it was a good adventure.
Aaron and Jack
On Thursday 23rd March primary 5/6/7 walked to the ruins of Kilbride Chapel in order to survey it as part of the Islay Heritage Schools Project. For this project all the schools on Islay visited the Giant’s Grave earlier in the year and then worked with Reading University to choose a monument close to their school which they would then adopt and survey to find out more about it. Port Ellen’s site was Kilbride chapel and they surveyed the site using geophysics, archaeology photography, scale drawing and by making a documentary.
Rob showed us how to do the geophysics; there was machine and that went into the ground with electricity to see if they could find anything else about the land around the Chapel. The geophysics worked by sending an electrical current through the ground and if there was a higher reading then there was a rock under the ground this is because it takes more energy to get through the rock. If there was a lower reading that means that there would of been water because it didn’t use lots of energy to get through it. To use the geophysics you would stick both spikes into the ground and wait for a beep then move onto the next spot a certain distance away. We were all glad that people from the University Of Reading to come over and help us as they were very interesting and taught us lots. The data we gathered from the geophysics will actually be used in the final report on the site which is very exciting.
We were also doing archaeology photography with Alex. Before you take the picture you have to remember two things. The first thing to remember is you need to put the measuring stick onto where you are taking a picture of so you have a scale to know how big the things in the photo are, and you have to remember to use the right size measuring stick. The other thing to remember is to put a chalkboard with the sites name, where it is, what it is and what direction it is taken from. You also need to put a north arrow pointing to north. You have to fill in a register after taking a picture. You have to write the site name and the description from the chalkboard, what direction it was from and lots more. This is so that people in the future know what it was about. The site name was KIL17 for Kilbride chapel in 2017. We enjoyed taking accurate photos.
We were also did photography and filming and you had to put up a big 5m pole to sit the camera on and you have to make sure that the camera is screwed on properly so it won’t fall off. The archaeologists helped us with all of this. We also made a documentary and it was about what we were doing at Kilbride Chapel and we had to use a radio microphone to record. Showing us how to do things properly is one of the reasons Islay Heritage is so good.
The last activity we did was making an accurate scale drawing of the chapel with Darko. We did this by measuring all the sides and scaling it down properly on graph paper with a scale of 1:50. The picture looked really cool and showed us what the chapel looks like-it had really thick walls and was a lot smaller than we thought it would be. We checked our drawing was correct using a GPS positioning pole. We learned lots of new skills and at the end we got to see the results of the geophysics in school and it showed that there might have been an enclosure around the chapel and we were the people who found out that evidence which was very exciting! We then drew pictures of what we thought it might have been like in the past before it fell down.
We want to say thank you to Islay Heritage because they have helped us with all our archaeological digs and surveys by showing us what you need to know to be an archaeologist . We have also found out lots more about our local heritage and know that Islay is an amazing place with lots of history waiting to be discovered. Without them none of this learning would have been possible and they have helped us know more about where we live and what it used to be like. We appreciate all the help we get from Islay Heritage. THANK YOU ISLAY HERITAGE!
By Kaitlyn and Rowan
On the 25th of August, Port Ellen Primary along with their teacher Mrs Clark, Mr Gairns, Mrs Logan and Struan’s dad Mr Colthart, went to a fascinating archaeological trip to the Giant’s Grave. We were going there because we really wanted to learn about Islay History. As we got onto the bus, I was filling up with excitement. We were in the bus for quite a while until we got to Nerabus. As we got off the bus, I couldn’t wait to start walking to the Giant’s Grave. Also, Professor Steven Mithin walked with us.
On the trip, we walked one hour and ten minutes to the Giant’s Grave. Before we got there, my friend Abi fell into a big stream and got soaking wet. When we were all set we started walking again. On the way, we saw loads of blood red and white mushrooms. They looked really interesting. Finally we got to the Giant’s Grave. I thought it looked amazing and very inspiring. It was as peaceful as the sun crawling up a hill. As we were strolling to the heart of the dig I gazed at the awesome rocks forming the Giant’s grave.
After we had our break, we got up and circled around the Grave. We listened to the archaeologists from Reading University explain about the Giant’s Grave and what they think it used to be six thousand years ago. After they told us about the Grave, we split up and got into partners to work with the archaeologists to help with the Grave. Rebecca and me went to Tom who told us that he worked in the muddiest corner to dig out the peaty mud that could be burying important artifacts. We got a shovel and started to dig the icky sticky mud.
When we were told to move we really enjoyed helping Tom with the mud and digging. When we moved over we went to a lady named Sarah who helped us take pictures of the site with her. We learned that it was a hard job getting the right angles when you take the pictures. We also took stalk photos when we creep up to the others and take pictures of them. Then, with a heavy heart, we went back to the others and sat in the gazebo. We listened to a Dendrochronologist speak about his job as a person who looks at tree rings on the trunk to see how old it is. I thought that was fascinating that you could calculate how old a tree is by looking at the lines.
After we had our lunch, we said goodbye to the people there and we left the Giant’s grave. I really enjoyed myself and I really hope that I could meet them again soon on a different dig. I thought that the dig was phenomenal and I really hope to go again.
By Kaya Middleton P7
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