Lanarkshire Country Lass

Great photo of the incredible Hallbar Tower by Colin Sinnett - I remember exploring around this tower when it was still a ruin many moons ago. How many of you know about this quintessential tower house, hidden in the heart of the Clyde Valley?

@Fluffy_LeMonde Fantastic ❤️

It's the fourth annual event of What's that nesting in the greenhouse I am delighted to report that this year its a hedgehog!! 🦔🦔🦔 Kindest hurcheon blessings to you all

Ever wondered what the Gorbals and Ancient Rome have in common? Join Dr Alan Leslie at Fairfield Heritage Centre to find out. Free tickets are available via Eventbrite on the link below. eventbrite.co.uk/e/nothing-new-…

My story in today’s @heraldscotland - how a prehistoric arrow found its way back to an East Kilbride archer.

Dendrochronology adds a different angle to archaeology, but an important one. From identifying ages of trees within a site or landscape can inform without written words.

When is a stone not a stone? 🪨 Our Avon Gorge site at Chatelherault Country Park had people working in the area 2000 years ago. Iron Age faceted cobbles used for crushing, grinding, hammering, and polishing have been identified from the site by a lithics specialist.

Wish I could, should be digging that weekend.

This beautiful old church was highlighted in our group page this week due to the link to the Somervilles of Cambusnethan, who owned the land where Cambusnethan Priory is for centuries. It is for sale now and there is an appeal to save it for the community

So pleased we finally have something that has attached a rough date to the site. Did have a feeling the site was untouched and pretty well undisturbed.

At the crest of the hill between Kirkfieldbank and Lanark stands a place still known as Steel’s Cross. Its name preserves the memory of John Steel of Waterhead farm near Lesmahagow, a Covenanter whose story is one of endurance, violence, and remarkable escape. In 1684, Steel’s wife, Marion, gave birth to a child. Learning that persecuted Covenanter ministers were hiding in the Lanark area, Steel set out to find one who could baptise the baby. With him went Archibald Stewart of Underbank, near Crossford. As they neared the top of the hill from Kirkfieldbank to Lanark, they were recognised by people who knew them to be Covenanters. Stewart was quickly overpowered, knocked to the ground, and taken captive. Steel, however, was a strong and athletic man, and he might well have escaped had fate not turned against him. The miller from nearby Mouse Mill, having seen Steel pass and followed him, struck him down with his rynd—the iron bar used to support an upper millstone. The blow was so severe that Steel appeared to be dead. Believing him finished, the attackers abandoned his body and continued on to Lanark with Stewart as their prisoner, already celebrating the 1,000 merks promised for Steel’s capture. But Steel was not dead. The bitter cold stemmed his bleeding, and somehow he found the strength to drag himself down the steep bank toward the River Clyde. Crossing the river on the ice, he hid among the broom on the Corehouse side, at a spot known as Boathill. When the men later returned from Lanark to collect the body they expected to find, it had vanished. Furious, the soldiers turned on the miller and beat him brutally for letting their prize slip away. Still concealed in the brushwood, Steel faced another strange moment in his ordeal. A white pony appeared and stood gazing at him. Fearing the animal might draw attention to his hiding place, he tried to drive it off. Yet as evening fell, the pony remained nearby, quietly grazing. At last, Steel climbed onto its back and rode home to Waterhead. From there, he made his way to his hiding place on Mennock Hill. No owner for the pony was ever discovered, despite every effort to find one. It stayed at Waterhead for the rest of its life, dying there of old age. Steel himself survived, though not unscarred. He carried on his head the marks of the miller’s attack for the rest of his days. His companion, Archibald Stewart, was taken to Glasgow, where he was tried, convicted for being a Covenanter, and hanged. Learn more about the Covenanters on one of our tours. Scottish Reformation Tours. Christ Centred, Christian Led, Custom Tours. reformationtours.org

@lasercow @OssianLore @Fluffy_LeMonde If you check out @CluthaArchaeo on here and Facebook you will see what else we are looking at as Clutha.

@OssianLore @Fluffy_LeMonde Also had a den in woods near our house in a strange mound I always meant to go back and investigate, as there were large shaped stones under the surface. Turns out it was the lost Eddlewood Castle! digitscotland.com/lost-lanarkshi…

Yew tracking in the remnants of Hamilton Low Parks with @Fluffy_LeMonde. Originally a sprawling designed landscape, and setting of Hamilton Palace, it’s now a mere shadow of what it was. Albeit a rather beautiful shadow.

After podcast training at Hamilton Townhouse today, we nipped up to see the relocated Netherton Cross. Sadly eroding. See comments for 3d model from @GovanStones and link to Guard website for site report just next to M74.

Beautiful day for a wander from Crieff and up otherside of the valley

People who have read Upon A White Horse may like to know that Ian Jackson, the geologist who I met at Sycamore Gap, has started a podcast series: Reading Rocks. It's on Spotify, Apple, Amazon and Audible. From what I've heard so far, it's very engaging and informative.

@OssianLore @alisonthewliss Doubt they have considered the impact on local residents at all.

@alisonthewliss Huge! Tho you could fit two of them on the wasteland that was Ravenscraig. Maybe NL realised the optics of actual industry being replaced by warehouses with overblown power, water, and cooling requirements was a little to close to the bone ...but doubt it was that thoughtful

There is a datacentre the size of Chapelhall (!!) being waved through the North Lanarkshire planning system for the nearby South Lanridge Farm 🤖

Absolutely shocking that the impact on the local natural environment and local residents has not been taken into consideration. They use the green belt area daily. Some moved there because they had nature walks on their doorstep. 😡 bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@Fluffy_LeMonde Very frustrating

@SMacGal Direct quote "We're not issuing any new TPO's"

There’s heras fencing up around the Muirhead Oaks and a tree squad on site. It looks like they’re been cut down for an AI data centre. Me and the dug enroute to find out more.

Cartland at 39 metres tall, 9 meters higher than Menai Suspension bridge. Telford knew that Cartland tall towers had worked, so then built Menai towers, albeit slightly shorter. #Lanarkshireandproud

Watching Countryfile. Cartland Bridge just outside Lanark was built in 1822 to a Thomas Telford design. Once the highest bridge over inland water. In 1826 he designed the Menai Bridge in Wales, connecting Anglesey to the mainland. #bbccountryfile