Islay Seal

 

 

 

 

P67 at Port Ellen have been recreating a letter from the time of Dunyvaig castle. They had to imagine a letter that might have been written and had a seal attached.  This is because there was a seal from 1593 discovered at this years dig at the castle; seals were used with wax to seal letters to make them official.  We have been using a seal in class to add to our letters, which we have aged using cold tea.  We melted wax in a spoon over a candle and then used a tree of life seal to imprint in the wax.  We think they look very authentic!

Dunyvaig Letter

We have been learning about Dunyvaig Castle.  Our class did a lot of research and had learned what life was like in Dunyvaig castle.  Also what they wore and what they did in a castle.  We also went to the dig at Dunyvaig and include some of the facts we learned.  After our weeks of research we had to imagine we were someone in a castle writing a letter to a family member or a close friend. When we wrote the letters some of us wrote it from the time 1593 which someone at Dunyvaig found a seal with that date on it.  All of us used all the facts we had learned through are topic about Dunyvaig into our letter and when we went to the dig.  A few people in are class choose a mother or a father but the other people choose some people like Lord Campbell.

Dear Daughter,

I have regretted switching clans this place is falling to bits. Because of those attacks from Lord Campbell. At the moment our leader is planning in the great hall are next attack on the Campbell! So many soldiers have been tacking out of the war and have been sent to the wise woman. If I was them I would not go and see her people have went in with two arms and have come out with one. Our leader is so mad with Lord Campbell.

Today the hunters have come back to the castle with a magnificent deer for dinner tonight. They were very quiet on their horse with the long bow ready to shoot. Everyone was setting the Great Hall up for the feast tonight. The minstrels were ready to sing and dance. At the moment my favourite song is Birlinn Ghoraidh Chrobhain.Finaly they have put the dear on the spit over the burning hot fire and ready to eat.

Yesterday we had a terrible storm we needed five men to close the sea gate. All of our Birlinn got destroyed our lead was so annoyed he said “What are we going to do if the Campbell’s attack us we have no escape boats until next week! “When the storm wa s happening all of the women went up to the solar room to sew a tapestry. It was a beautiful tapestry the embroidery thread added some colour into the castle. Currently everyone is really busies since that storm carpenters are making some more Birlinn in case of a battle. And the Black Smiths are making daggers, swords and spears. That is all for now I will keep you up to date with what is happening. 

Your Loving Mother                                                                       

 

 

 

Primary 123 Recreate Dunyvaig Castle

We have all been learning about life in castles at Port Ellen this term following our exciting trips to Dunyvaig Castle to take part in the archaeological dig.  Primary 123 have made their own castles with working drawbridges from paper, and they have been researching what people who lived in the castles did.  Here is a clip explaining their work.

Finlaggan

On Wendnesday 29th August we went on a bus to go to Finlaggan. When we got there our class was the first to go and see all of the old buildings and island in the middle of the Loch.  When we were finished outside we went inside to see a lot of old things that the Lords of the Isles would use and other things they used in the medieval times and the family tree of one of the familys that lived there and facts about Finlaggan. When we were done that we got back on the bus but the bus was leaking oil so we had to drive to mundells yard to get a new bus and came back to school.

I enjoyed learning facts about Finlaggan and the best part was when we got there.

Dunyvaig Castle

On the 20th of August P6/7 went to Dunyvaig castle. First we got our water proofs and welly boots and got on the bus to the castle up at Laguvulin. We stopped at the path and walked down a hill where we saw the castle. At the end of the hill there was a big grass hill that was slippery but luckily nobody fell. When we went down we met Darko Markovic who gave us a tour. He showed us a big rock with a hole that someone carved. We all tried to find out what it was some people thought it was to wash their hands.

After that a girl called Lauren showed us some artefacts they have found while digging; they found glass, a smoking pipe, a musket bullet, some bones and a cannonball, which was very interesting. Then we split up and went to different trenches; my group went to the sea gate trench and we had to scrape off crumbs of dirt to make the dirt nice and smooth. You could see lots of different Colors. After that we walked up the hill then the bus came and we went all the way back to school.

Our Trip to Dunyvaig castle

Firstly we were going into school to get ready for Dunyvaig.  We got waterproofs on and then hopped on the bus and went to Dunyvaig. It couldn’t get to the exact location so we had to walk the rest of the way there. Then when we were there a person showed us the castle in Dunyvaig which was built a few hundred years ago. Then in about 300 years it got bombed so now it is a ruin which looks quite cool but you can’t get in it because it is dangerous. But then later then someone showed us some things that they used in that time. The person showed us all the artefacts that they found in Dunyvaig.  They looked old and as well they showed us a huge old cannon ball. It was fired at the war at Dunyvaig which was destroyed in the war and they showed us little things in a bag so it doesn’t break.

And then they showed us the castle but we couldn’t go in it.  The castle had windows a door and even a sea gate where the fish were bought in to the other side of the castle.  There were people transporting things from other countries to trade them for something from Dunyvaig.  And then we had a break and then we started digging for things and I tried to dig and dig. And then I dug even more and more so then my arms would get tried but I kept going but all I found was stones and moss. I had no luck but I was still going then I actually though that they would be a landslide so did the people near me.  And then eventually we had to go back to school so we had to walk up a hill. I felt quite tired going up the hill and at the top the bus was there and we went back to school and had lunch.

At a Dig

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.

 

Dunyvaig Trench Digging!

On Monday 20th August Port Ellen Primary School went to Dunyvaig to do an archaeological dig. So our school went in separate groups to the dig and we all found something cool but very common to find like rainbow colored slate, quartz and mortar to hold the stone from the castle together. When digging up the trenches you would be very uncomfortable because you’re kneeling on rocks.  We used trowels and shovels and cleared a level.  It was interesting.

Dunyvaig Artifacts

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

Kilbride Chapel

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