“Breid Jean” Connel (1786-1871) was a social carer and delivered bread to old people in the country around Cumbernauld right up until her death. Married to a soldier in the 79th regiment in 1813, she and her husband both fought at the Battle of Waterloo.
I liked this bird’s eye view of Cumbernauld *in progress* (1964).
“interestingly informal”
“maximum privacy in a small space”
“specifically Scottish”
Christian Maclagan (1811-1901) was Scotland’s, and the UK’s 1st female archaeologist. A broch she discovered was lost for 140 years as she couldn’t join the Society of Antiquities of Scotland. It wasn’t until 1901 that Women were admitted to the society, the year she died.
Christian was the first to use stratigraphic field methods for excavation and the importance of sketching every layer of the dig. Augustus Pitt Rivers is generally given the credit, even though Maclagan published 5 years before him.
She also pioneered methods for recording and preserving stone carvings. This one is hers of a Roman stone found near Cumbernauld. She wanted it for a museum but the local laird said no. It lay on a dairy floor for months and was probably lost.
She railed against the sexism she faced from Scottish archaeologists writing: “[because I am] a woman, and therefore unworthy of being a member of any Antiquarian Society”. She sent all her work to London rather than Edinburgh because of it.
You can learn more about Maclagan from TrowelBlazers and from Stirling’s Lost Broch the team who are trying to preserve her legacy and rediscover the “broch sexism lost”.
