Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 60

A hoard from Greyfriars Church comprised four axes and two spearheads. Only three axes survive although there are plaster casts of all the objects in the National Museum. An axe from Dunscore and an axe and spearhead from Springfield Hill are also reported. A small slab discovered in East Lomond depicts a bull in a pecked design.

These early nautical maps confine their attention almost exclusively to coastal features, seaports and islands. Political boundaries of countries, states, and kingdoms are altogether omitted, and even their natural frontiers are seldom indicated. The borderland between Scotland and England appears, however, to be one of the exceptions to this rule. This representation takes different forms in the work of different cartographical schools, executed at different dates.

The Eglinton casket is made of whale bone with bronze mountings and is decorated with Celtic interlaced designs carved in fairly high relief. It has much in common with an example from Fife. Some of the design can be paralleled on later medieval West Highland grave slabs and many of these also have depictions of caskets. The Kindrochit brooch was found in the ruins of the castle. It is a flat-ring brooch of a previously unknown type, made of silver with an engraved inscription whose meaning is unclear.

The ruined castle at Balvenie occupied a position of tactical and strategic importance. The article describes construction phases in the 13th, 15th and 16th centuries demonstrating that the castle evolved from a primitive and purely military castle of enciente into a fortified residence.

A number of stone-built long cists within a long mound were excavated. Graves 1-4 were contained within square or nearly square settings of stone, in the form of a kerb, either built, or composed. of slabs set on edge. The burials were made in cists, and the cists were surrounded and covered with boulders and stones, with a top layer of white quartzite pebbles covering all. Each cist contained a single individual, although in the same enclosure there might be one or more cists.\r\nIn graves 5 and 6 the outer construction and shape differ. In each case the inner receptacle for the burials consisted of a sub-oval stone-lined chamber or large built cist, in which there were two or more burials, but the external form of the monument might be either rectangular or circular. The only artefact was a bronze chain around the neck of one of the individuals. There is evidence to suggest that burial took place over an extended period.

An account of three seals all of which show a stag-head accompanied by a lesser figure of one kind or another between the stag's horns. Although in two cases the owners are identified as Ralph Westhouse and Nicolas de Galway no references to either man have been traced. The owner of the third seal found at Epsom is unknown.

Inchcolm Abbey which is situated on an island in the Forth is the only monastery extant in Scotland which shows the complete arrangement of the establishment. A detailed account of the development of the monastery from its foundation in 1123 to its\r\ndissolution in the 16th century is presented with accompanying plans and sections. Documentary references are also considered.

Evidence of Bronze Age occupation was recovered in the form of pottery, charcoal and heat-cracked stones. A saddle quern and part of a jet armlet are likely to be of Iron Age date. Mediaeval activity comprised a substantial earthwork which probably functioned as a sheep-fold. A post-medieval silver button and a brass shoe-buckle were also recovered.

The cross is mentioned in a charter of 1316. It is a flat cross of stone and turf which was intended to mark one end of an episcopal property.

Report on excavation of a Viking fortified residence which comprised a primitive 'keep' with at least two buildings in the courtyard which were identified as a drinking hall and a bathroom. Much of the stonework had been robbed out and only one or two courses survived. It stands at the end of Gernaness peninsula.

The document, now held in Register House, Edinburgh, petitioned against the Book of Common Prayer, better known now as Laud's Liturgy, the Book of Canons, and the archbishops and bishops. The author presents a detailed account of the early history and constitution of the Reformed Church of Scotland to explain the reasons for the grievances.

The Guthrie Bell, so-called because it was preserved for many years at Guthrie Castle, Forfarshire, is an early Christian quadrangular bell made of iron contained within a shrine made of bronze plates. It is argued that because the bell in enshrined it was of some importance and may have belonged to a Celtic saint with a probable date in the 8th century or earlier.