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.

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.

Victorian Dublin

This could be any Victorian Quay in Ireland or Britain but I was thinking of Dublin specifically while doing this. I have been studying the 19th century alot in the last few months and looking at its artists, especially Grimshaw, while attempting to see if I can capture that mood and feeling, this my latest attempt

Medieval Battering Ram

Battering rams were one of the many siege engines used in siege warfare in the middle ages, from catapults to siege towers, from underground mines to scaling ladders, sieges were probably some of the toughest fighting there was. Battering rams were probably the oldest form of siege equipment, as all you needed was a big trunk of a tree ( they could even leave the branches on the trunk as grip), sharpened on one end and a couple of men and they could batter down the gates of most prehistoric forts.

By the middle ages however, these were more advanced, and not only used on wooden gates but also on masonry walls. When this was done, they would reinforce the tip with metal in order to make it sharp enough to cause damage. The battering ram was often coated with hides to protect the ram from incendiary arrows and was also housed in order to protect it and its users when it was in use at the walls themselves. Some were known to have no wheels too and be pulled along wooden sleepers to their destination, sometimes with the help of cows to pull it. 

Kilmallock historical Map

A few months ago, I did a map of Kilmallock town in southern Limerick for Abarta Audio Guides. What you see here is just the base, more information, a background etc were done ontop by others. Twas a great commission though, as I have known about Kilmallock for a long time and as a town with so many great historical sites, it deserves way more fame and tourism than it gets. So was glad to do my part to help make that, hopefully, happen.

I just did what you see here, more information, a background etc were done ontop by others. So this is essentially just the base of the map

Closeups of some of the drawings in the map

People of the Easter Rising Illustration

There were three major forces that fought in the Easter Rising on the Irish side; the Irish Citizen Army, the Irish Volunteers and Cumann na mBan. I had only had time for two illustrations of the groups in the 1916 Easter Rising, the latter two. Two of these forces were quite closely related, the Irish Volunteers and Cumann na mBan, kind of male and female sides of the same coin. While the Irish Citizen army were a socialist armed force, originally created to protect workers from police after the Dublin Lockout of 1913. 

Irish Volunteers

After the Ulster Volunteer Force was created in the north to protect the Ulster Protestants from Home Rule (which they believed Home Rule was Rome Rule), the rest of Ireland took a leaf from their book and created the Irish Volunteers. In the case of the Volunteers though they were created to defend Home Rule from possible British aggression rather than oppose. They were started in 1913, originally just training with sticks, they eventually became armed when they smuggled guns into the country in 1914 from Germany, shortly before the breakout of World War I. They were a huge organisation, with close to 200,000 members at their peak. When WWI started, the irish Home Rule party in Westminster supported Britain in the War in return for a promise of Home Rule when the war ended, so most of the 200K Volunteers went to fight for Britain because of it.

But a section of it decided to stay home and not fight for Britain. It was part of that element that made up the bulk of the forces on the  Irish side in 1916, probably only around 1,000 or so members, though there was only about 1,400 in total on the rebel side. They were involved in alot of the key fighting, the most bloody of the battles in Mount Street Bridge, where a handful of Volunteers (17 I think) held off thousands of British soldiers for a day in a tiny area. It was this battle that was to have half of the total of British dead in the Rising, as the British command used the same idiotic tactics as they did in the trenches, sending wave after wave of poor soldier at the enemy, in highly exposed positions as the rebels fired down on them from the protection of the houses.

Cumann na mBan

Setup in 1914, they were very much the female side of the Irish Volunteers, and played a key part in the Easter Rising.  For many women, they saw the rising as an opportunity to win equal rights in a new country, away from the oppression of women in the British Empire. During the rising the Cumann na mBan mostly didnt take part in any of the direct fighting, instead played a supporting role like running messages, tending the wounded etc.

It was in the Irish Citizen Army, that women actually fought in the Rising, mostly under Countess Markievicz in St Stephens green, with Connolly (leader of the Irish Citizen Army) believing alot more in the equality of women than many others. Here women as well as men took up positions in the park. Unfortunatley, showing the lack of military know how of the leaders of the Rising,the park was dreadfully exposed and allowed the British to take over buildings around the park and fire directly down on their exposed positions, kind of the opposite of Mount Street Bridge battle. Eventually they had to retreat to the College of Surgeons nearby and stuck it out there for a few days.  It was Countess Markievicz who was to take over Cumann na mBan after the Rising and revitalise it a new in the following years.