Saints Home Stones









Each issue of the Saints and Stones Homepage features a journey to take to explore the Saints and Stones of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. This journey is a one-day trip to the Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber and Henge in Wales, a passage tomb that was built on top of an older circle-henge. It started as a late Neolithic henge or ritual enclosure with a stone circle surrounded by a bank and internal ditch. A later passage grave was built inside the ditch.

Books: Hadrian's Wall: Creating Division by Matthew Symonds. Over its venerable history, Hadrian's Wall has had an undeniable influence in shaping the British landscape, both literally and figuratively. Once thought to be a soft border, recent research has implicated it in the collapse of a farming civilisation centuries in the making, and in fuelling an insurgency characterised by violent upheaval. Examining the everyday impact of the Wall over the three centuries it was in operation, Matthew Symonds sheds new light on its underexplored human story by discussing how the evidence speaks of a hard border scything through a previously open landscape and bringing dramatic change in its wake. The Roman soldiers posted to Hadrian's Wall were overwhelmingly recruits from the empire's occupied territories, and for them the frontier could be a place of fear and magic where supernatural protection was invoked during spells of guard duty. Visited in 2004 and 2006.

Publications/Publishers: The Lintel is "a newsletter all about heritage!" that is issued every three months and focuses on what Historic Environment Scotland's heritage directorate is doing. Its contributors include art and architectural historians, archaeologists and planners as well as specialist technical and support staff. "What we do is always interesting, and may even be controversial at times. Our work is key to increasing knowledge and understanding of Scotland's historic environment and ensuring that it is looked after for generations to come. Whether it's about a newly listed building, advice we've given about change to a historic place, or a newly discovered archaeological site, Lintel is where it will be." Sign up to receive the newsletter.

Websites and Blogs: Bamburgh Bones: St Aidan's Remarkable Journey in Death. Saint Aidan was well-travelled, and something of a pioneer. He journeyed from his native Ireland to Iona on the west coast of Scotland before he famously accepted King Oswald of Northumbria's invitation to convert the pagan English to the new faith. But the Irishman's journey in death was every bit as remarkable as the one he made in life. Bede reports that he fell ill outside his monastic cell in Bamburgh, thought to be the site of the present village church that still bears his name. A tent was erected against the western wall, perhaps because moving him would have hastened his end. He died on the 31st of August 651 A.D. It was the fiery vision of the Irishman's soul being taken up to heaven that is said to have inspired Cuthbert, watching sheep in the Lammermuir Hills at the time, to take holy orders. Click on the website for the rest of the story.

Podcasts: The Picts. In this episode of the BBC radio program In Our Time from 2017, host Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Picts and, to mark its twentieth season, that discussion takes place in front of a student audience at the University of Glasgow, many of them studying this topic. According to Bede, the Picts with the English, Britons, Scots and Latins, formed one of the five nations of Britain, "an island in the ocean formerly called Albion." The Picts is now a label given to the people who lived in Scotland north of the Forth-Clyde line from about 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., from the time of the Romans to the time of the Vikings. They left intricately carved stones, but there are relatively few other traces. Who were they, and what happened to them? And what has been learned in the last twenty years, through archaeology? Guests are Katherine Forsyth of the University of Glasgow, Alex Woolf of the University of St. Andrews, and Gordon Noble of the University of Aberdeen.

Organizations: World Heritage UK is the only organization exclusively focused on World Heritage in the UK, and the only one that is led by the sites themselves. World Heritage sites are so globally special and unique that they are worthy of protecting and celebrating. There are 20 World Heritage sites in England including such sites as Bath Abbey and Stonehenge; 6 World Heritage sites in Scotland such as St. Kilda and the Heart of Neolithic Orkney; 4 World Heritage sites in Wales such as Gwynedd Castles and Town Walls; and one in Northern Ireland; and several sites in the UK's Overseas Teritories. In addition, there are a number of sites in the UK that have been nominated to be World Heritage sites, such as York and the Shetland's Iron Age sites.

Art/Photography/Museums: Britain's Faith Museum. Sitting in the historic Scotland Wing of Auckland Castle in the Durham County town of Bishop Auckland, the Faith Museum spans two floors and "explores the myriad ways in which faith has shaped lives and communities across Britain, inviting visitors to consider how people across history have encountered faith. Leading visitors on a journey through British history, the museum comprises four dynamic gallery spaces with an active programme of changing displays and temporary exhibitions. The Faith Museum showcases over 250 objects from 50 lenders across England, Scotland and Wales, including rarely seen objects, national treasures, personal mementos and contemporary commissions. The museum's story begins 6,000 years ago and takes visitors on a journey through time, considering the ways faith has shaped lives throughout history and continues to do so." The Faith Museum is just one of several heritage attractions, galleries, gardens, and parkland in Bishop Auckland.

Videos: Gobekli to Stonehenge. Readers may recall that the April 2023 Homepage featured the Prehistory Guys (Rupert Soskin and Michael Bott) soliciting support for their next project: a collection of films that will tell the story of the first farmers, the people who were inspired and audacious enough to express themselves in stone, to be megalith builders. They have recently visited Gobekli Tepe, a Neolithic archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey inhabited from c.9500 to at least 8000 BCE. The site is the beginning episode of their project. As they recount their visit, "During the filming for the first leg of Gobekli to Stonehenge, it became overwhelmingly obvious to us that this place wasn't some seasonal cult centre in the middle of nowhere. People, many people, were living here on a more or less permanent basis and the signs of their day-to-day lives are everywhere to see - if you are able to explore the site beyond the areas that normal visitors are confined to. We were privileged to have been given access to the whole site under the guidance of Dr. Lee Clare." Soskin and Bott are looking for continued support as their project moves on to Greece and the Adriatic. Support the project here.

Updates: Featuring updates to the Saints and Stones sites visited in the past:

Iona Visited 2004 and 2007
Old Deer Visited Old Deer Old Kirk 2013

Previous Journeys Pages
Past Journeys Pages

Previous Resources Pages
Past Resources Items


Suggestions, comments, and questions are always welcome.