Still feeling the after-effects of my souvenir from Scotland (Covid round 2). Sending healing waves from Surrey.
That should have said mid 15th century. Cathcart was built in c. 1450.
It is discombobulating, isn’t it? I get the same feeling when I see my favourite toy building set in museums, especially as the buildings I constructed were supposed to represent modernism. www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Catego...
At Spynie, considerable effort has gone into shoring and reinforcing the east wall of the tower, with a section of curtain wall rebuilt to buttress the wall, and two of the intra-mural vaults reconstructed to provide additional strengthening.
This (and decades of neglect) caused the collapse of Cathcart Castle in 1979. canmore.org.uk/collection/1...
I was keen to see Spynie as I excavated at Cathcart Castle in 1980-81. Geoff Stell has drawn attention to the cellular construction of some mid 14th-century Scottish towers and their increased vulnerability to collapse, particularly in decay.
A shame. The town is lovely, but the castle is a bit meh due to the scale of rebuilding.
Also seen, the striking Tiffany window in the Kirk at Fyvie, thanks to my old friend Alison Jaffrey who is the Minister here.
Still there, fitfully, but here and on the thready place too.
So I shouldn’t post a photo of the cat that we named after her? Even though it’s Black Cat Appreciation Day!
