The Llyfr Aneirin (henceforth LA), now housed in the National Library of Wales (Cardiff MS 2.81), is one of the most celebrated but controversial collections of early Welsh poetry. LA contains the famous elegies collectively referred to as Y Gododdin, four interpolations and four gorchanau. Y Gododdin is the … Continue reading “THE LLYFR ANEIRIN AND THE PLACE-NAMES OF Y GODODDIN (Kelly A. Kilpatrick)” →
Black Cleft of the Shouting. The site of a spectacular rock avalanche on Beinn Alligin, Torridon, estimated to have occurred four thousand years ago. It was believed by some to be haunted, probably due to the magnificent echo. The massive … Continue reading “Eag Dhubh na h-Èigheachd” →
An article in the Autumn 2017 issue of this Newsletter outlined the Leverhulme-funded REELS project (‘Recovering the Earliest English Language in Scotland: evidence from place-names’), and explained that one of the main outputs would be an online … Continue reading “AN ONLINE RESOURCE FOR BERWICKSHIRE PLACE-NAMES (Carole Hough)” →
This paper at the Perth conference was an introduction to the five-year Leverhulme Trust funded ‘Comparative Kingship: the early medieval Kingdoms of Northern Britain and Ireland’ project led by Dr Gordon Noble in the Archaeology department of the University of … Continue reading “PLACES AND LANDSCAPES OF POWER: ‘COMPARATIVE KINGSHIP: THE EARLY MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS OF NORTHERN BRITAIN AND IRELAND’ (Nicholas Evans)” →
The recent publication of The Place-Names of Kinross-shire (Shaun Tyas 2017) has served to highlight the fascinating macrotoponomy of the former county of Kinross, an area of Central Scotland surrounded by hills with Loch Leven as its chief water feature. … Continue reading “FROM THRAPPLE HOLE TO DUDGEON TREE – THE HYDRONYMS AND SHORELINE TOPONYMS OF LOCH LEVEN, KINROSS-SHIRE (David Munro)” →
Looking north from the isolated landmark of Tinto Hill, over the rolling landscape of mid Lanarkshire, to Greater Glasgow with the Campsie Fells (towards the right) and southern fringes of the Highlands in the distance. Motherwell is on the right … Continue reading “Tinto Hill” →
Prof Elizabeth FitzPatrick of NUI Galway has carried out a detailed study of formaoil (early formáel) names in Ireland, appearing in 35 townland names[1]. It refers to hunting grounds, in some cases identifiable as preserves of early medieval kingdoms and … Continue reading “FORMAOIL IN SCOTLAND (Bill Patterson)” →
