2. A boat out of water?

Do we have the image of a West Highland galley marooned a long way from the sea on our Angus Stone in Balquhidder, as discussed in Blog 1? You couldn’t pick a more diagnostic symbol of Late Medieval West Coast iconography than a galley. These were the vessels of lords and chiefs, sometimes of mixed Gaelic/Norse descent, which raided and traded along the coastlines of Scotland and Ireland. They were symbols of status, power, and control of resources - they were expensive in the context of the West Highlands. 

Galleys or lymphad (a corruption of Scottish Gaelic long-fhata) were similar to earlier Scandinavian longships. They were single-masted with square sails (see images below), but unlike Scandinavian longships, which had side-rudders, the rudder was attached to the stern. An early 1600s Scottish manuscript described larger galleys as having 18-24 oars and smaller vessels called birlinn having between 12-18 oars. The Gaelic word bìrlinn (Scots birlinn) may have come from a Norse word for a small cargo ship (although others have argued it derives from a Middle English word for a pole, spar or tent-sill). Denis Rixson, whose book The West Highland Galley is a great read, describes birlinn as “small, general purpose cargo boats that could double as a troop-carrier.”  These small galleys were not only used to carry men, goods and to carry-off cattle, but also for fishing.

Birlinn were clinker built and could operate under sail or oar, be dragged up beaches, or penetrate sea lochs at speed. The replica Aileach, built in the 1990s of larch resting on oak frames, allows us to imagine a birlinn at sea. More information on Galley Aileach, now on permanent display at  Kildonan Museum, South Uist, can be found here.

Birlinn replica, Galley Aileach. Credit: Galley Aileach  © wikimediacommons; https://www.mullofkintyre.org/

Little extant material evidence of a birlinn has survived and the design of the Aileach replica had to be based on rather restrictive evidence obtained from symbols found carved on grave-slabs, effigies, free-standing crosses and graffiti, see Kilchattan Old Parish Church, Isle of Luing (here) and also Creagan, Appin. 

If there is a possible birlinn on our Angus grave-slab in Balquhidder, it is crude and simplistic. We can compare it with the image of a galley (below right), found on a memorial at Ardchattan Priory, on the banks of Loch Etive, north-east of Oban.

1. Photogrammetry image still of the Angus Stone, Balquhidder. Credit: Andrew B. Powell

2. Cross-shaft dedicated to Prior Eugenius MacDougall (1500), Ardchattan Priory, Lorn. Credit: Elaine Black

As you can see, the simplicity of the Angus image makes it difficult to identify much more than a hint of the features one would expect on a birlinn carving. Is there a trace of a straighter stern post at one end for a rudder to be attached?  Does the shape of the rigging at the top of the mast hint at the position (if not the shape) of an oval or round protuberance at the top of the mast which was pierced to take a halyard and as a seat for other ropes? If our putative galley on the Angus Stone is too schematic to suggest a birlinn specifically, might it be an attempt at a generic image of a galley?

A few preliminary musings below, but more research is required. If you have anything to contribute, do get in touch.

•     The stone commemorates a particular cleric (or his patron) whose family originally came from the west. To date, the Angus Stone is one of only two grave-slabs in Balquhidder kirkyard bearing a human image (the other being Rob Roy). This suggests he was someone of significance in the community.

•   Balquhidder is a glen that looks both east and west. In the medieval period, it was a parish in the diocese of Dunblane, which lies 45 miles to the south-east. Further research into the records may prove worthwhile. Is there a hint of fragmentary initials on the middle of the Angus Stone or are the marks natural? It is in any case difficult to determine when initials were first carved on grave-slabs, which were often re-used.

•     Carved stones with galleys are sometimes found associated with churchmen on the West Coast, such as on the lower part of a medieval cross-shaft at Ardchattan Priory, dedicated to Prior Eugenius MacDougall (see photograph above) or Abbot Mackinnon’s cross, Iona (see here).  However, to date there are no known examples of a carving of a galley on a priest’s vestments.

•     Galley carvings on grave-markers and crosses are associated with churches, but they also seem to represent a secular sense of place and a shared naval heritage. Is the putative galley on the Angus Stone a visual reference to a common past of families migrating with Campbell expansion from the historic district of Lorn in the west to Balquhidder in the Late 1400 - 1500s? 

• As early as the 13th century, a galley was a heraldic device used by MacDougall, and later Stewart, Lords Of Lorn. However, in 1470 Colin Campbell, Ist Earl of Argyll, acquired the Lordship of Lorn partly through marriage and, in 1475, he was appointed King’s lieutenant, a jurisdiction which extended as far east as Balquhidder. The Galley of Lorn was from this date incorporated into the Coat of Arms of both the Earl of Argyll and the Campbells of Glenorchy, who were major players in the region and built a castle at nearby Edinample.

  And finally…….

•   Previous illustrations of the Angus Stone do not show the curved line which indicates a hull, mast and stays of a possible galley. These were originally interpreted as features of a priest’s vestments. Photogrammetry not only revealed a possible hull, it also showed that the overall shape of this putative boat closely matches the form and decoration of a set of priestly robes depicted on a number of West Highland medieval carvings. Was the sculptor, in what seems quite a simple carving, deliberately combining two distinct elements of iconography - a West Coast galley, and a distinctive feature of West Coast priestly vestments?

Whether we are looking simply at a priest’s robes, or robes with a putative galley, there is a suggestion of a West Coast influence on some of the grave-slabs in Balquhidder. Earlier antiquarians seem to have thought so. James Drummond, for example, included illustrations of five Old Kirk grave-slabs (including the one covering Rob Roy’s grave) in his 1881 Sculptured Monuments in Iona and the West Highlands.

In Blog 3 “A glen that looks west ” we will explore this further.

  * With thanks to Denis Rixon who has given generously of his time and knowledge towards the writing of this blog.

Further Reading

The Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland (1975), Argyll Vol. 2 Lorn, page 298, Fig.248.

J. Drummond (1881) Sculptured Monuments in Iona and the West Highlands (Llanerch Publishers).

D. McWhannell (2017) ‘Sailing Times in the Norse Gaelic Seaways’ in P Martin (ed)Castles and Galleys A Reassessment of the Historic Galley Castles of the Norse Gaelic Seaways (Islands Book Trust), page 47.

D. Rixson (1998) The West Highland Galley (Birlinn Ltd).

K. A .Steer & J .W. M. Bannerman (eds) (1977) Late Medieval Monumental Sculpture in the West Highlands. The Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, page 29.