In the photo, we’re holding the freshly printed book version of the Research Framework (RF), kindly funded by FLS. Copies are available on request from ScARF. The RF is also available online as a brand new section of the ScARF website here.

Coralie Mills of Dendrochronicle has contributed to several sections of the RF and is the lead author for the sections on dendrochronology in Scottish historic buildings and woodland history. There are also sections on dendrochronology in archaeology, ecology and climate studies, and a special section on dendro-isotope dating, all very accessibly written.

Each section carries Research Recommendations for the future.  You will also find illustrated case studies about the application of dendrochronology to specific projects in Scotland. As well as revealing some exciting results, they highlight how inter-connected all these different fields of dendro-studies are. Cultural heritage is not divorced from nature and climate, and dendrochronology is an especially inter-disciplinary field. Please do explore and use this exciting new resource. We hope that it will encourage greater uptake and support for dendrochronology in Scotland.

You can also find social media coverage of the Scottish Dendro RF and its launch under the hashtag #ScotDendro – including on the various @Dendrochronicle accounts. Dendrochronicle is now on Bluesky as well as the old regulars.

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Not long back from the From Forests to Heritage conference in Helsinki, hats off to the organisers for an excellent event. There was so much wonderful research to hear about from the other contributors, and so much we can learn from the beautiful forest and heritage of our host country, Finland.

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A speech given by Coralie Mills on 23rd October 2021 at the unveiling of the Sir William Wallace Oak Memorial in Port Glasgow. The memorial has been fund-raised for and installed by the Society of William Wallace – for whom the research summarised here was undertaken.

The speech is available as a PDF here – The History of the Wallace Oak – Coralie Mills speech 23 10 2021.

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The Guardian invited Coralie to write about a favourite old wood this week, and while there are many amazing old Scottish woods that I know well, there are fewer that have ready visitor access while retaining an atmosphere of intense wildness, and Caerlaverock Castle Wood was the one that sprung to mind immediately. Dendrochronicle is an admirer of this particular wood through having been invited by HES to undertake a detailed study of the wood to inform their understanding of the two castles’ relationship with the treescape, and to inform new visitor interpretation developments.

A walkover historic woodland assessment of Castle Wood at Caerlaverock was undertaken for HES’ Cultural Resources Team in March 2018, complemented by historic map research. Castle Wood encompasses both the ‘old’ and ‘new’ castle remains and most of their surrounding earthworks, and forms a sub-rectangular block about one kilometre wide. A second phase of work was undertaken in autumn 2019, this time for HES’ interpretation team, to inform new visitor information, and allowed us to pursue some aspects of this fascinating treescape’s history and archaeology in more detail.   As yet, the only publication of this work is a brief entry in the Discovery & Excavation in Scotland annual round up of archaeological projects which is published by our friends at Archaeology Scotland.

LiDAR survey at Caerlaverock by HES revealed a complex palimpsest of old enclosures and field boundaries beneath the tree canopy, and helped us to sub-divide the wood into compartments for the purposes of the assessment. The objective of the historic woodland investigative work was to enhance the understanding of the Property In Care’s relationship with the surrounding wooded landscape and to unravel the story of the evolution of the trees and woods themselves. The assessment embraced the living biocultural heritage, the landscape archaeology and their relationship with the built heritage.

It is as yet uncertain as to who built the ‘old’ castle around 1220; it was abandoned around 1270 when the ‘new’ castle was built, almost certainly by a Maxwell, first noted as lord of Caerlaverock in 1307. The area is believed to have been wooded when the castles were built, at least locally, based on pollen evidence from the old castle ditch sediments. These construction dates are pretty exact, and distinguishable from each other, because they were provided by dendrochronology – by dating remains of oak timber moat bridges which had survived by waterlogging. That work was undertaken by our friends at the Belfast QUB dendro lab a long time ago, in the 1970s and 1980s, when the excavations were ongoing and before Scotland had its own resident dendrochronologists.

So there is pollen evidence for some local scrubby wood around the castles just after the old castle was built but, crucially, as yet there is no pollen work from sediments which accumulated before the old castle was built so we do not know how wooded the environment was before the castles were built. It is Coralie’s view that it was not continuously wooded until very recent times, that it was probably quite an open landscape in the 13th century, with scrubby wood only along burnsides and in the areas that were too wet for agriculture. The oak timber used to build the castle moat bridges was probably brought in from elsewhere, as oak would have needed drier growing conditions than those naturally occurring around the castle sites.

The first castle is beside an old harbour, thought to be contemporary with it, and showing how the shoreline has gradually shifted several hundred metres further south since then. Coastal change is a big part of the complex story of Caerlaverock’s landscape change – and the changes are visible in the archaeological remains, especially as revealed by the Lidar survey, as well as in the natural landscape features.

It is thought that instability and subsidence of the old castle, on its very wet site, led to the decision to build the new triangular castle, only some 50 years later, which still survives in great shape today and is an iconic building that everyone should visit. This remarkable castle has a long complex history which I won’t go into here but is certainly rewarding to read about.  The ‘new’ castle continued to be developed into the early 17^th century until a siege of 1640 rendered it a partial ruin.

Based on the Historic Woodland Assessment evidence, our working hypothesis is that small patches of early planted woodland survive at Caerlaverock, often on old boundary features, almost all oak, and it is possible that some trees area as old as the castles themselves. Without any dendrochronological work on the trees however, their age is informed conjecture, based on historic maps and tree form evidence, and many of the oldest candidates survive as rotted stumps only. This medieval wood-bank style landscape is overlain by a much wider patchwork of  oak plantings, mostly subsequently coppiced, on an extended rectangular enclosure footprint which first appears on General Roy’s map of c1750. However, we believe that it goes back much earlier, and was probably created in the early 1600s. Dendrochronology of some of the rarer old single stem oaks, including pollards, from this phase would allow us to establish dating more securely and even reconstruct pollarding dates and cycles.

These bank systems, medieval and early post-medieval, studded with old oaks, are interspersed with semi-natural wet woodlands and even some modern forestry plantations within the old enclosures. The historic planting of oak followed the drier upstanding old boundaries while alder-willow dominated wet woodland persisted in the lower wetter areas in between. Medieval ditches and later era drains were always part of the enclosure system, as drainage was crucial to being able to manage this wet landscape. There is plentiful evidence of continued economic investment in this wood after occupation of the new castle ceased in 1640. The majority of oaks were coppiced, the last cut probably being in the early 19^th century based on approximate ring counts of a couple of fallen stems.

Despite the still-functioning improvement drainage system, much of the woodland is very wet today, making for a rich biodiverse ecosystem and also likely to promote good organic survival of archaeological remains. While coppiced oak is most common, the rarer pollard and maiden forms of oak on some of the boundaries are likely to be rather older, for example on the bank of the bailey to the east of the old castle.  A number of skirted old oaks indicate historic grazing pressure, and 18^th century mapping, the earliest to show any detail, shows a wood with a number of open meadow areas within. However, we found no obvious evidence of there being a deer park here. The form of a substantial curved dyke just west of the old castle, on which many oak coppice stools have grown, was more suggestive of a former sea wall than a park dyke.  The sequence of landscape development could be teased out more certainly with further targeted dendrochronological, archaeological and documentary research assisted by the LiDAR and historic map evidence.

Much more detailed reports have been provided to HES and will in due course appear distilled into new visitor information provision, and, we hope, as a publication. In the meantime we recommend exploring Castle Wood yourself, as soon as Covid-19 regulations allow. It is an incredibly rewarding place to visit for those who like their natural heritage as much as their cultural heritage. Visitor information can be found on the Historic Environment Scotland web-site.

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Delighted to have co-authored this new learning resource on Dendrochronology, recently published by Forestry and Land Scotland, and developed as part of Dendrochronicle’s ‘SESOD’ research programme. It serves as an accessible introduction to the archaeological science of tree-ring dating, using real Scottish archaeology case studies, and with fun activities for use in and out of school. The creative vision by Matt Ritchie (FLS archaeologist) shines through, the illustrations he commissioned are wonderful. My co-authors Marcia Cook and Jennifer Thoms did a great job on the activities and case studies respectively. Truly a team effort, with support from FLS, Archaeology Scotland, HES and of course Dendrochronicle.

The resource is free to download from here:

https://forestryandland.gov.scot/what-we-do/biodiversity-and-conservation/historic-environment-conservation/learning/dendrochronology

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Few people are aware of the massive five-storey timber frame hidden within the tower under the iconic crown spire of St Giles Kirk in the heart of Edinburgh’s old town. Analysis of the tree-ring patterns, the science of dendrochronology, has revealed the early date and unexpected source of these timbers. This was undertaken as part of Dendrochronicle’s SESOD (SE Scotland Oak Dendrochronology) research project to develop the regional native oak tree-ring record. We have sampled timbers in several historic buildings across Edinburgh, the Lothians and the Borders, including St Giles. The SESOD project is ongoing and results will be fully published in due course.

Felling dates and St Giles Kirk building history

Core samples were taken from the timber frame before lockdown. Two felling dates were established from analysis of the cores, in the winters of AD 1453/54 and 1459/60. This gives some very specific dating for the frame which was previously of unknown date.

The timber frame is part of the modification of an earlier tower at St Giles of which some masonry survives, known to have been present by 1387 and on which storks nested in 1416 according to the Scotichronicon, a medieval history of Scotland. This may be the last recorded instance of storks nesting in Britain, topical this year with the first successful hatching of white stork chicks at the Knepp Estate in southern England.

The new dendro-dates show this tower was greatly altered in the mid-15th century at a time when many other structural changes were being made at St Giles. The new dates infer the completion of the crown spire as being after 1460 and probably by 1467 when the church was granted collegiate status from the pope, although the crown spire we see today was repaired and much altered in 1653.

The surprising source of the timber

Even more exciting though was the timber source, revealed through comparison of the St Giles tree-ring data with reference chronologies of known origin. The timbers were brought from one of the last remaining extensive medieval reserves of old growth oak in Scotland, the Royal Forest of Darnaway, in Morayshire, including several from trees over 300 years old when felled. The survival of old growth oak at Darnaway into the mid-15th century is a testament to careful management of the forest by the Earls of Moray over a long period. The St Giles tree-ring data matched extremely closely with data from the late 14th century roof of Randolph’s Hall at Darnaway Castle.

By the mid-fifteenth century most of Scotland’s timber supply had switched from the dwindling native resources to Scandinavia. The majority of dendro-dated historic buildings in Edinburgh and the Lothians have imported Scandinavian timber in them, so this discovery is a rare example of use of scarce, good quality native oak here at this time. Timber would have been transported by sea to Edinburgh, probably through the port of Leith.

Darnaway Forest is known to have supplied timber to other high status Scottish medieval building projects, including Stirling Castle, but this is the most recent example so far detected through dendrochronology and it was not known that Darnaway had supplied St Giles. Shortly after these timbers were felled Darnaway Forest was closed to allow its recovery.

Royal patrons of St Giles Kirk

Amongst the patrons of the extensive mid-15th century construction work at St Giles are James II and, following his untimely death in 1460, his widow Mary of Guelders, who was regent of Scotland between 1460 and 1463 for their son, the infant James III. Their arms appear on shields on The King’s Pillar in the choir of St Giles, interpreted as a tribute to the late king by his devout queen.

The Forest of Darnaway was forfeited to the crown after the defeat of Archibald, the Black Douglas Earl of Moray, at the Battle of Arkinholm in 1455, which may explain why timber from Darnaway was used to build the bell-frame in the tower at St Giles, through this royal patronage.

Although the timber was felled when James II was still alive, its supply to St Giles may have occurred when Mary of Guelders was regent, between 1460-1463, after James’ death in the summer of 1460. This question could be investigated further with more sampling as the precise felling dates are from the lower levels of the structure.

Further evidence which supports the ascertained construction date of the tower are the bells from the tower itself. The oldest surviving ‘Ave’ or ‘Vesper’ bell dates to 1452 and the ‘Great Bell’, which was melted down and re-cast in the 19th century, originally carried the date of 1460. The ‘Great Bell’ was cast in Flanders and bore the royal coat of arms of Geulderland which is possibly further evidence of Mary of Guelders’ influence on the works at St Giles.

Final note
So, while we didn’t find what we were looking for, that is timber grown in SE Scotland, we are thrilled by this discovery. It has provided some really valuable new data to extend the native oak tree-ring coverage for NE Scotland, as well as significant new information about the history of St Giles Kirk and the Forest of Darnaway.

Thanks go to HES for the grant which made this research possible, to St Giles Kirk Session for permission to sample, to John Gilbert for information about Darnaway Forest history and to the many people who have helped with the SESOD project.

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Huge thanks to Joanna Foat, author of ‘Lumberjills’ who made many of these images available.

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Fortunately, dendrochronological work on deadwood from the Old Oaks of Dalkeith Park (see photo) is available to provide the anchor in time, ie the recent end of the new oak reference chronology to be produced by SESOD, with Dalkeith data spanning AD1592-2010. However, only a few trees are older than 1700, and more data from 1700 and earlier is sought.

The project director, Coralie Mills is requesting the help of those who know of any buildings or structures in SE Scotland with old timber which may potentially meet the objectives of SESOD. Coralie can be contacted at coralie.mills@dendrochronicle.co.uk

Assessment visits will be undertaken to the most likely candidates in 2018-19, the first year of the 3-year project. SESOD will concentrate on locating, sampling and analysing oak timbers from selected historic buildings and structures in the Scottish Borders, the Lothians and Edinburgh, in sites where the timber stands a good chance of pre-dating 1700 and being native rather than imported. This will be easiest to predict in medieval buildings built before the great surge in imported timber to the eastern central belt from around 1450. However, away from the coast and where transport was more difficult, we would expect native timber to continue to be used in the late- and post-medieval periods. This was found to be the case at a townhouse on the High Street in Jedburgh which contained native oak felled in AD1667 (see photo). It was only possible to date it by comparison with oak chronologies from the north of England, where local oak was used well into the post-medieval period. Creation of an oak reference chronology for South East Scotland aims to enhance the ‘date-ability’ of historic oak timbers in this region.

SESOD will run over three years, from 2018/19, with archaeology grant support from HES, and partnership working with a range of bodies, including Archaeology Scotland and the Forestry Commission Scotland on outreach and educational aspects. It also has the valuable support of the council archaeologists in the region.

This article first appeared in the Archaeology Scotland magazine, Issue 32, Summer 2018.

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Delighted to receive this early Christmas present, the publication in Vernacular Architecture of our paper on the SCOT2K dendro-dating of native pine historic buildings in Scotland. Using a combination of ring-width and blue intensity measurements, we have dated 20 pine structures from the 15th to the 19th centuries, and from grand castles to modest cruck cottages. While most are in the Highlands, near the native pinewoods, there is also evidence for long distance transport from the medieval period. The discussion considers not only the dendro-dates for the built heritage record but also the implications for historic woodland management, timber use and trade. The full reference and link to the article is given on the Projects and Publications page.

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