Glenochar: a Bastle and its Fermtoun |
Glenochar was the winner of the 1997 Pitt Rivers Award for amateur Archaeologists. Here we see the long-term excavations of a 17th century settlement in the lowlands of Scotland, meticulously carried out by the local museum trust, under its director, Tam Ward (see front cover photo)
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The closing years of the independent Scottish kingdom were turbulent times in the Anglo-Scottish borders. When in 1603, King James VI of Scotland became James I of England, one of his major steps was to impose law and order on the border country and to put down the border reivers who were terrorising the area. This lawlessness led to the construction of bastles, that is small fortified houses - the word is analogous to the French word bastille.
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| Recently a bastle and its surrounding fermtoun has been excavated in South-west Scotland by an amateur group led by Tam Ward and the Biggar Museum Trust. This reconstruction drawing by John Borland shows the site in the 17th century from the same position as the photo above. The bastle is the two-storied building at the centre, and it is surrounded by its "fermtoun", a collection of long-houses of the type well-known in England in the Middle Ages.
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| What is a Bastle? Forward to the next page! |
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