Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 49

The forts are circular drystone structures. A description of the sites in the area is accompanied by plans of the surviving remains. The excavation of the fort at Borenich aimed to determine the nature of the structure, the quality of the masonry, whether it possessed chambers, the type of door or doors and to recover datable artefacts. The entrance passage was in two sections, the outer narrow, the inner wider, the division being caused by two door checks, one at each side. The checks\r\nconsisted of fairly heavy flat stones bxiilt in at right angles to the line\r\nof the passage. The wall was ten feet in thickness and of basic construction and there was no evidence of chambers. Three fireplaces were identified. Artefacts included a quern, unidentified iron objects, a bone pin and a spindle whorl.

The dun or fort is a mound with a flat top and sides covered by tumbled stones. It is a rough circle with a maximum diameter of 56 feet. The work done on the fort has consisted of clearing the tumbled stones away from what remains of the walls, and of excavating part of the interior. Very little evidence of the wall construction survives although a thickness of 10 feet is estimated. Two possible floor levels were identified in the interior along with a possible internal wall division. Charcoal, bone, burnt stone and a piece of iron slag were recovered along with two possible strike-a-lights.

The church is dedicated to the Celtic saint Maelrubha. Of Irish royal lineage, he is said to have been born in AD 642, and to have ultimately reached Applecross about 673 by way of Iona. His Ross-shire churches may therefore have been founded at the end of the seventh century, or at the beginning of the eighth. He is said to have died in 722. The few documentary references to the church are presented along with an architectural account. An elaborate floriated cross survives in the churchyard. A second stone has a fine large wheel-cross head carving. The sacrament house was rediscovered in 1908 and probably dates from the 15th century.

The fragments of mediaeval stained glass were found on the top of the vaulting of the south aisle of the nave of Holyrood Abbey Church during repairs to the roof in 1909. They are extremely significant as very little stained glass has survived from mediaeval Scotland. A very brief account of the history and development of mediaeval stained glass is presented and this is followed by a summary of the surviving material in Scotland. At Holyrood there are fragments of glass of two or more of the small lancet windows which at one time existed in the clerestorey on the south side of the nave. One of these windows seems to have belonged to the end of the thirteenth\r\ncentury, another to the beginning of the fourteenth. It is likely that the glass was made in York.

An account of excavation of the fortified settlement. The fortifications encircle almost all of the hill measuring nearly half a mile long and 330 yards in diameter and comprise two distinct phases of construction. At least five gateways have been identified. Five trenches were excavated and recovered evidence for multiple phases of occupation. Features in the interior included the foundations for buildings and hearths. The report presents details of the pottery assemblage, personal ornaments, glass vessels, harness mountings, weapons, tools, mould, crucibles and coins.

The article presents new information on the architectural development of St Andrew's Cathedral. Discoveries including an early English decorated capital, an effigy of a stonemason and fragments of a Celtic cross-slab are described. Newly discovered features of St Andrew's Castle are also considered.

The article considers early stone bridges from the Roman period, mediaeval wooden bridges, ancient Scottish and Irish bridges, gateways to bridges and the information which can be derived from old illustrations and representations on seals.

The Dalmeny sarcophagus has animal carvings in bold relief at both ends. On the side there is a line of figures standing under an arcading of Norman style, whose arches and supporting columns were more or less clearly indicated at different points in the\r\nworn sculpture. This is believed to be a representation of Christ and the twelve Apostles, six placed on each side of the central figure of our Lord. The lid of the sarcophagus does not survive. The churchyard also contains a number of elaborate table-stones, a large representation of the symbolic designs common to the Lothians, and a few headstones. In the old churchyard of Edzell parish are a number of finely\r\nornamented tombstones, dating from the eighteenth century, several architectural features of the pre-Reformation church and a sculptured slab. At Lethnot there are two very elaborate table-stones and eight erect stones, all dating from or near to 1750. There are three massive inscribed stones at Stracathro.

This collection includes a coinage die of the fourteenth century, a medal die of the\r\nsixteenth century, and a considerable number of both coinage and medal dies of the seventeenth century. The collection contains in all 163 matrices, puncheons, and dies which can be divided into those for coins, medals, tradesmen's tokens and sundry small punches.

In 1677 the bell was sent abroad to be mended. The ornamentation, which consists of grapes and vine leaves, is of a kind not uncommon on bells made in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century. When the bell was sent to be recast the original French inscription of 1595 was reproduced (badly) and a second inscription in Dutch was added.