Roscommon Reconstructions

Knockranny Court Tomb

Mihanboy, Portal Tomb    

Some pieces commissioned by Roscommon County Council with funding from the Community Monuments Fund 2020 last year, #CMF20. One is of a Court tomb and the other Portal tomb found in the county. It shows the possible other uses of tombs suggested by archaeologists, other than the usual ritual/burial uses. 

Tombs of the Neolithic and beyond, are most often focused on the tomb part of their name. But there was only ever a small amount ever buried in these places. This raises the question of what did they do with the other people but more importantly for here, is what were the other uses for these sites if burial was only a small part? These sites were often very visible and obvious important to the community, so we have focused here on the communal possibilities of these tombs.

Knockranny Court tomb

Archaeological evidence shows that burials at these sites was only part of their story, as often they only contain a handful of burials, most likely sacred bones, rather than representative of population at large. These sites were often placed near the farmland of the builders sites and often placed in areas already sacred, either with previous activity or natural features. A tradition of narration would have been probable and mostly genealogical, perhaps using the landscape as a prompt in narration. Here we show this as the site is being used as a teaching tool. To teach the new generation about their ancestors and the world they inhabit, and their place in it.  

As for the tombs themselves, court tombs generally had long cairns, usually trapzoidal or rectangular. 25-35m is the common while 40-60m is unusual. Usually the tombs had corbelled roofs, and cairn covering, though there is suggestions that they may have been roofed by timbers too. Courts are often aligned to the rising sun, mostly facing east in the west of Ireland.

Mihanboy Portal Tomb

Portal tombs werent built as tombs as such but were there to display the large stone and show impressive feats of engineering. With the capstone often balanced on the most delicate small points of the uprights supporting it. Usually the upper surface was left natural and weathered while the underside was shaped and dressed. 

These sites may also have been places of ceremony, as liminal spaces between the living and the dead. The perception perhaps that the ancestors weren’t far off and inaccessible but still active. People could have entered a trance like state, to meet these ancestors. Hallucinogenic agents may have been used to reach these transcendent states. Not necessarily though, as long periods of dancing, load music and chanting have been known to induce hallucinations, or another world experience. During these ceremonies they could have had a strong emotional experience separate from the every day life, allowing society to break out of its bonds, for people to act in ways they would not usually.

The clothing  in both of these are based on the alpine find of Otzi, a wounded man who died crossing the alps and was frozen for millennia. Besides this these clothes were altered and added to based on evidence from historical & modern evidence from hunter gather & farming groups around the world. There is also an element of local in the clothing, with local animals of the time used, like fox, bear, wolf, goat, dexter cow etc.

Óenach Cruachain- early medieval seasonal assembly at Rathcroghan

Final painting

Model made using displacements maps from scans of landscape

I am so proud to show you a recent piece commissioned by the Rathcroghan Visitor Centre. It shows rathcroghan during the early middle ages at a time of a seasonal assembly or Óenach. Painted over a 3D model using displacement maps from scans of the landscape for accuracy and based on research into early medieval archaeology it was an absolute joy having a chance to create a greater early medieval irish landscape like this. 

 Its an amazing area, you have so much archaeology in one area, both old and newer. From prehistory you have the iron age barrows, daithi mound and standing stone, the linear earthworks called the Mucklaghs (shown on the left),  a courtomb and the rathcroghan mound, which I have done a reconstruction of myself in the past for Roscommon Co Co. From the early middle ages you have cashels (stone walled ringforts), raths(earthen bank ringforts) of various sizes, from one bank to multiple and their adjoining field systems based on excavated examples. You can also see a small church and its enclosure shown on the lower right of the image. In my opinion, its a perfect example of Irish early medieval life, the respect for the old, still living on and adapted to by the new.

Moybologue signs up!

 

Signs up in Moybologue! Great to see the work in situ. See below for more information

https://www.facebook.com/moybologue/posts/3670654116299010

Close ups of Moybologue Motte & bailey

Since it was asked for, here are some closeups of Moybologue, showing the aspects in more detail. The overall layout and features were based on discussions with  Moybologue Historical Society and the evidence they had gathered from papers, aerial photography, historic photographs and various scans of the landscape.

Some notes, the houses outside of the Motte & Bailey are based on evidence of native Irish creat houses, these newcomers often had the natives living with or near them. The half timber houses within the bailey are cruck houses, which literary evidence points to being here as well.

Also shown is the church and its graveyard which I did a ground view of before, also attached here. The fields are based on remaining field ridge and furrow fields in the UK.

The Motte tower is based on research into the evidence from Ireland and in Europe like the Bayeux tapestry among others. The same goes for the features within the bailey, like the main hall and below it, the training ground for soldiers as well as an interior orchard etc. While the design of the gatehouse is based on evidence from medieval illustrated manuscripts from France.

Moybologue medieval historic landscape reconstruction

Recently I had the absolute pleasure to work once more with the Moybologue Historical Society and with Cavan county council they commissioned me to return to Moybologue. Previously I had done a reconstruction of the church and graveyard as it looked later in the middle ages. This time I was hired to depict the 12th century motte and bailey, field system, church and graveyard and greater enclosure surrounding both. You can also see outside the motte & bailey a series of huts which are native Irish creats and associated crofts/gardens.

The illustration was based on research I partook into what original source material from illustrated manuscripts like Bayeux tapestry described, contemporary descriptions, archaeological evidence in Ireland & Britain and articles on the site itself. It was started in 3D to reconstruct the structures and I used displacement maps for the surrounding the landscape. These were based off aerial photography, historic photographs and various scans of the landscape which Moybologue provided and had commissioned separately. There was also some concept sketching to explore various options, before the final painting was developed adding colour, texture, light and life to the final reconstruction. I hope ye enjoy, more about this here in Moybologue Historical societys facebook page:

shorturl.at/ijlzX

Behind the Scenes- the 3D in Archaeological Illustration

3D Model of later Richmond castle provided by English Heritage and below my paint over of earlier Richmond castle with later features in 3D model removed

3D Model of Scollands Hall provided by English Heritage and my paint over

Putton Lane- 3D model provided by Context One archaeology and my paint over

In archaeology, accuracy is of paramount importance, so much so that some clients I work with make a 3D model inhouse, some more detailed than others, and give it to me to paint over.

This is such an important part that usually when my clients dont do this stage themselves, I do it myself by building a model, these days in blender. Sometimes if they have extra detail like scans of the wider landscape, I even make displacement maps for the ground plane to get the contours of the landscape correct. For those of you who dont know, displacement maps are greyscale (a scale of greys between and white) images which you can paint, and then put that ontop of a 3D model to change the models geometry without having to model, great for natural landscapes.

I then take these 3D models and add the light, texture and figures. I start usually by drawing over the model to work out the  perspective of the camera lens, sometimes even going as far as getting the wider cone of vision. This allows me to tweak the model to a better perspective if the image requires it. I then do a paint over of this to get the colour and light and general feel, and then this is finished up with textures and figures to give it more life and realism.

Roman Birdoswald- Hadrian wall

Birdoswald East Gatehouse

Birdoswald West Gatehouse

Early Birdoswald Barracks

Late Birdoswald Barracks

Lighting and colour options for the East Gatehouse- painted in Photoshop

3D models created by English Heritage 

A series of illustrations done for English heritage in 2018. It was done for a guidebook on Birdoswald Barracks along the Hadrian wall. Expert advice given by Carlos Lemos and historians of English heritage. Illustrations showing the east and west gatehouses and also smaller illustrations of the barracks in the 1st century AD and then later in its history, in the 3rd century AD. Working with English Heritage is great teamwork, as they provide the 3D models, and the expert advice and you add light, colour, additional texture, figures and story and together with feedback from them, create the final putting it all this together.

More about Birdoswald can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banna_(Birdoswald)

Podington Medieval Manor reconstruction

Recently I had the honor of reconstructing what the 12th-13th century medieval manor of Podington may have looked like. Done on behalf of Context One Archaeology who excavated the manor near the coast of dorset, off Putton Lane, just outside Weymouth. Expert guidance given by the kind and enthusiastic Dr. Cheryl Green with further guidance given by the rest of the team at Context One Archaeology

The main house was a large cross passage house, across from this a single cell open hall structure, which interestingly had an infant burial beneath, a common practice in the medieval period. The third building shown here is another stone building, there was another building but this was a ruin at this time and behind the middle building shown here so not visible.

The walls were of a local stone called cornbrash with forest marble as quoin stones. The roof tiles were cotswold slates, capped by more elaborate inverted V shaped ridge tiles, with triangular knife cut crests in a cocks cromb effect, these were partly glazed giving a thin olive green colour.

A sample of some other interesting finds at the site were the holloway shown as a path the behind the houses with a horse and cart on it, these were roads that with heavy use over the centuries started to become deeper until sunken in the ground. There was also signs of ploughing found shown above the houses, fish net weights shown in fish net mending on the corner of the last house right and much more besides.

LondonDerry/Derry 1619 reconstruction on display

My reconstruction of Londonderry/Derry in 1619 that I did back in 2017 is now on display! More here: https://www.facebook.com/thederrywalls/photos/a.374069539394520/1751184665016327/?type=3&theater

Gainsthorpe Deserted Medieval Settlement

Gainsthorpe Deserted Medieval Settlement, is one of the most impressive deserted medieval settlements in the UK, was a piece commissioned by English Heritage a few months back. You may notice the difference of the black shadow central area vs the outlying parts dshown in hatching only. This was done to show the difference between parts under the ownership of English heritage (black shadow areas) vs those in private hands(hatching areas).

This was an amazing site to try to reconstruct, its always a pleasure to get to do full settlements like this. The illustration was started by coming a drone image and maps of the buildings and street overlayed to ensure accuracy. This was then hand drawn over with 3 pt perspective to give elevation and work out texture, form, set dressing etc. The site had such a variety of buildings from; dovecots, to windmills, fishponds, to various forms of farming houses, church and its graveyard, to even a manor house and ancillary buildings in the upper left hand section of the black shadow region.

More can be read about the site here:

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/gainsthorpe-medieval-village/history/

Scollands Hall, Richmond Castle

Another piece done for English Heritage showing the hall in Richmond castle close up and in the 14th century, rather than the earlier 11th century piece shown previously (here https://bit.ly/2nXP2RD). This time we get up close and personal with the people of the 14th century, as they eat and chat in the hall, wait outside before being allowed in or tally the goods downstairs in the store house. All the costume shown is drawn from 14th century material and shows different clothing worn by different classes and genders. Architectural features include the amazing entrances, shutters with panes of glass, chimney & louvre, emblems on the windows themselves, genuine medieval wall paintings in the hall itself and even different stonework around the doorway showing the history of the different phases of building the structure. Being able to do 2 illustrations showing different periods and aspects of one site was great, one that you dont always get to do.

Richmond Castle, English Heritage

Richmond castle as it would have been seen in the 11th Century, commissioned by English Heritage a few months back. The image shows the castle as it would have looked like just after it was first built by the early Norman conquerors of England. It was built by Alan Rufus, Duke of Brittany, to control the north for Normans. And once again shows the term "Norman" shouldnt be used, as it was a northern French invasion of England and all over northern France they came, even Flemish from the lowlands.

This was a great project to work on as English heritage have full time historians who research for your illustration. Which is great as it adds a whole another layer to the image, as that person can spend the time digging deep into the research and so I also learn alot from the experience. So aspects like three different kinds of wattle fencing, several different styles of housing materials, colours of clothing came from this rich research and makes the image much more of a team work experience.

More about the castle can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Castle

Luggershall Market Cross

A black and white sketch I did for English Heritage about a year ago. It was to show a market cross in Luggershall, Wiltshire, UK during market day

Broch of Gurness Boards up!

Some shots of what some of 2 of the final boards look like in Broch of Gurness which I did the illustrations for

Ballintober Castle

Recently I was commissioned by Roscommon County Council to do a reconstruction of how Ballintober castle may have looked like at its peak. Supported with expert advice from Naill Brady and the latest gradiometry, ground penetrating radar survey, geophysics and resistence surveys of the site, we created a reconstruction of what it may have looked like at around the 14th century.

Ballintober is the ancestral castle and its still owned, by the O'Conors of Connaught, who reside in Clonalis House in Castlerea. It is one of a string of great Anglo Norman castles around Roscommon,  including Rindown and Roscommon. It is what is called a 'keepless castle', one where the emphasis was on accommodation in the curtain walls rather than purely on defence.

It has 4 projecting corner towers surrounding a sub-rectangular interior space. Here was see what it may have looked like from within the gate house which was off centre in the bawn. The towers were polygonal and the one in the south west , seen here at the left,was 3 storeys tall and had 2 external projections, one for an exterior stairs and another more accommodation. While the other corner tower seen here is 4 storeys high and eventually become a fortified tower house with still an ornate fireplace there to this day.

The bawn, had a large rectangular courtyard area with three building surrounding it. One in the south was made of wood, may have been a stables or the like, while the other stone house in the north with buttresses may have been a church. They are unsure what the central stone building may have been. There was more structures in the side, including the covered portico of one seen in the right but the others could not be seen in this angle.

The castle has a fascinating history, it is unsure who built it but it was probably the Normans though some do claim it may have been a Gaelic build but certainly later on it became a stronghold of the O'Conors themselves, as like the rest of Gaelic Ireland they slowly reconquered what was once their inheritance. Sadly for the majority of Gaelic Ireland it was not to last, but amazingly the O'Conors of this area were able to hold onto their lands through the various trials and tribulations after the Tudor conquest on beyond.

Colour sketches

Usually while doing archaeological images for clients, I give them some colour & light options to chose from before moving onto final, this is after the initial stages of course, like research & reference gathering, compositional sketches etc. I find doing sketch options a very rewarding process as it takes better advantage of the team effort a commission is, as it allows the client to have a say and also can lead to some unexpected results that I wouldnt do by myself. For me colour & lighting is the icing on the cake really and really presents the site in a strong way, which is often ignored in archaeological work unfortunately. Its a shame as this kind of lighting is not something out of the world, but the wondrous light of our every day lives and moments in those lives.

Pierowall 17th century church

Pierowall 17th century Presbyterian church, Westray, Orkney Islands, 'Commissioned by Historic Environment Scotland'

Another piece of mine done for Historic Environment Scotland. This time a 17th Century Presbyterian church on the island of Westray, in the Orkney islands. It was an interesting challenge, especially for the researchers over in Historic Environment Scotland, as 17th century churches arent often reconstructed, so they had to do some heavy lifting in the research. The church itself had some lovely tombstones, like the one shown in the chancel here. We missed out on the tombstones in the graveyard, which many did have rich engravings on their fronts but the angle chosen for the image was nicer for the overall site. One would think that such a secluded community would be quite poor but it was actually a major shipping route from the prehistory till now, so members would have been reaped the benefits. That wealth is not shown alot in the church though, as Presbyterians believed in simplicity in the decoration and so walls were left unadorned.

Shamrock House Reconstruction

Shamrock House  Reconstruction, GurnessOrkney; commissioned by HES’

Another illustration commissioned recently by Historic Environment Scotland. This is also set in the Brochs of Gurness history, though at the end of it. This is during the Pict period, somewhat near the end of the Roman era/start of the early middle ages. The Broch had fallen into disuse at this stage and a habitation layer above the Iron Age Broch had this house. It is called Shamrock because of its lobes, a feature of some Pictish houses in the region. As you can see it is only a small house, enough for a family/extended family. The game board is actually a find from the house, how this game would have been played is hard to say but there are a good few of these Pict gaming boards found,

St. Patrick's Medieval church, Moybologue Reconstruction

Recently I was commissioned by Moybologue Historical Society to do a reconstruction St. Patrick's church, at Moybologue, co. Cavan during the middle ages. It shows the church at the height of its use, with its unusual features like an attached Belfry, the several Bullaun stones, and a few early medieval stones. This church was part of a larger community, hinted at here with the motte & bailey silhouetted on the left. You can also see the inclusion of yew trees and an embankment crowned by a fence here, which is was common place in churches during the middle ages and features of the site suggested the same may be true here.

For a hint at the process in making this, Im going to copy and paste Moybologue Historical Society's post here since they did such a fine introduction:

We used historic antiquarian and archaeological articles and reports, descriptions in the national monuments service, historic and modern maps, drone photos and footage, 3D Photogrammetry models as well as data from earth resistance surveys and electrical resistivity tomography to create as close a reconstruction as possible of how the church looked for a modern audience.

Broch of Gurness Entrance Reconstruction

Broch of Gurness Reconstruction, Orkney; commissioned by HES’

Another of the images done for Historic Environment Scotland recently. It shows the Broch later in its history than the previous one I showed, at this stage the Broch had been lowered quite substantially and a sizable village had grown up around it. The entrance to the broch itself is what we wanted to focus on here and the series of lintelled doorways along a path leading to the final doorway at the Broch. One of the theories about Brochs is that they may had some ritual purpose and this framing of the path and the final doorway may have been part of it.