Author name: Acfa Editor

ACFA member Kenneth Tomory has carried out research in the Hamilton archives and has produced this booklet of information. He has kindly given permission for it to be freely available here.

There was a good turn-out of members for the AGM, the business of which went smoothly. We said goodbye to three committee members, Ewen Smith and Ken Tomory who retired, and Margaret Gardiner who had served a full six years but has generously agreed to remain as a co-opted member with an interest in fund-raising. Chairperson Janie Munro expressed the committee’s and her personal thanks to the three for their service and support for the work of the committee.

Libby King, Christine McDiarmid and Iain Ross Wallace were elected as committee members bringing a mix of former experience and fresh blood.

Janie Munro presented the annual report which can be read here Annual-Report-2023-1

The winners of the annual photography competition were announced. Full results and all the entries an be seen here Members’ Photography Competition 2023 . The overall winner was Simon Davies with his aerial view of the Grimsay Wheelhouse.

Alison Sheridan, eminent Neolithic expert and friend of ACFA, following the death of Lionel Masters undertook to bring his work at the early Neolithic cairns of Lochill and Slewcairn to publication. She and other colleagues have produced this interim account/report of the excavations which you can read here. ACFA is indebted to her, her colleagues and funders, all noted in the paper, for their support in recognising Lionel’s work on these important sites in Dumfries and Galloway.

Survey Director of the Thorntonhall project, Susan Hunter, and members Ian Marshall, Janie Munro and Christine McDiarmid carried out a drawn survey of a rare site, a waulk mill. The mill on the River Cart was last recorded in use in 1830 but may date from as early as the 17th century. Consisting of a lade and two buildings, the mill and a possible house, the site lies on a flood plain and is in a ruinous condition. Waulk mills used the power of water to operate hammers that pounded cloth or leather to process and soften it. View more pictures in the Gallery.

Up until now only members have had the privilege of accessing our newsletters but we have decided we can’t keep all the fun to ourselves. Recent newsletters will still only be available to members, a perk of membership if you like, but here is our newsletter archive, a treasure house of personal reminiscences, reviews, essays and much more – lose yourself.

A new series of online lectures began with Eddie Stewart’s talk Past the Shieling, through the town. Watch it here.

Dates for future talks available in Events.

The second of this year’s Zoom talks was given by Colin Davenport from Bannockburn House Trust on the archaeology of the grounds of the house. Watch it here

See all our previous Zoom talks on our Youtube channel

It was a great pleasure to be able to hold our first in-person AGM for two years. There was a good attendance and the formal part of the event passed uneventfully including the approval of the meeting for the recommendations from the short-life working group for the future development of ACFA. Great enthusiasm was demonstrated for the proposal of sub-committees looking at publicity and recruitment, and training with a number of people coming forward to join them.

After an excellent buffet lunch there were the customary presentations by members of recent archaeological activity. Dugie MacInnes updated us on the Tiree, Halterburn and Luing surveys, Ailsa Smith gave a presentation on the Hynish Lines project, Susan Hunter showed highlights from the ongoing survey at Thorntonhall and Irene Dayer talked about a previously unrecorded rock art and extraction site near Balfron which she has worked on as part of her Masters’ studies at Glasgow University.

Photography Competition Results

This year’s overall winner, and recipient of the ACFA Quaich, was Chris Morrison.

Category winners were Simon Davies, Drone (top left), Christine McDiarmid, Humour (top right), Fred Hay, International (bottom left), and Chris Morrison, Home (bottom right).