HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Objects earn place in new e-book
The world’s oldest football and a statue of King Robert the Bruce, both in Stirling, are part of a list of fascinating objects being celebrated for their role in shaping Scotland’s history.
The 500-year-old ball, found in Mary Queen of Scots’ chamber during renovations at Stirling Castle in 1981, and the famous statue of the Bruce on horseback at Bannockburn Heritage Centre, are included in a new e-book “The History of Scotland in 25 Objects”.
Compiled by an expert panel for the 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology, the 25 objects cover over 5000 years of Scottish history and span the length and breadth of the country.
Items were chosen based on chronological and geographic spread alongside their individual interesting stories. The final 25 were chosen by an expert panel that included representatives from Historic Environment Scotland, National Museums of Scotland, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and VisitScotland.
VisitScotland hopes visitors will go on a trail this summer to discover as many of the objects as possible and in turn discover more about Scotland’s fascinating past.
Michael McGinnes, collections manager at the Smith, where the football can be viewed, said: “Football is the most popular sport in the world, so the significance of this object goes beyond Scotland and beyond Britain – it has global significance.”
Scott McMaster, the NTS’s property manager for the Battle of Bannockburn centre, site of the statue, said: “Although Pilkington Jackson’s masterpiece only dates to 1964, it has become one of the enduring images of Scotland. The famous likeness of Bruce on his war horse was unveiled to the public by HM The Queen for the 650th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn. Fifty years later, in June 2014, it was one of the greatest sights of my life to see the statue restored to its original burnished bronze finish after painstaking conservation work.”
Liz Buchanan, regional partnerships director at VisitScotland, said: “Stirling has been at the centre of Scotland’s story down the centuries, so it’s right that the area should be represented by two of the treasures on this list of objects,”
The national tourism organisation is encouraging the public to suggest their own ideas for objects that have played a part in Scotland’s history that haven’t been included in the list. Suggestions can be made on social media using the hashtags #25objects and #hha2017.
The oldest object on the list is a barbed harpoon point (originally found in the Macarthur Cave, Oban) that dates back to the Middle Stone Age, and the most modern Dolly the Sheep – the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell – who is currently housed at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Scotland’s Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology began on January 1. To date, hundreds of events have happened across the country.
Scotland’s History in 25 Objects is now available to download at http:// ebooks.visitscotland.com/25-objects/