Megalithic shipping and trade routes

[Boreades]

Re Tomnadashan, it seems it was more than one person's Holy Grail:

Re the Holy Grenade of Antioch.

And the LORD spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three.

Seems like the real thing has been found in the sea off Israel

Metal artifacts, the earliest of which are 3,500 years old, were recently presented to the Israel Antiquities Authority by a family that inherited them from their father who passed away ... Among the many artifacts is a hand grenade that was common in Israel during the Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods.

http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_e ... ubj_id=240

[Mick Harper]

Re brochs. I thought they were in lakes but here's one that isn't

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=25929

though it doesn't say whether it used to be.

[TisILeclerc]

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

Mersea dotes and so on.

What better than a Bank Holiday to get the mod and rocker gear out of the megalithic cupboard and get down there for a riot. Safer than Clacton no doubt.

The most easterly causeway island in England, well, Essex innit, and a Saxon, Roman, Norman church with nearby salt workings and other causeway islands in the vicinity. Splash across. They even have a British accordion maker located there and lots of sailing ships.

Famous for its oysters as well.

Oh, and a barrow as well. Did I mention the barrow?

[Boreades]

Gor blimey! Have you gorn and found the Essex version of St.Michael's Mount?
At the opposite end of southern olde-England.
Complete with mods & rockers and causeway?
And whelks and jellied eels?

[TisILeclerc]

Cast not a pearly king before a whelk or a pearly queen before an oyster.

Knees up jellied eels and all that.

[Boreades]

Here's another (and now politically-incorrect) reason why the Outer Hebrides, Orkneys, etc were once so important. Also another date for our diaries.

Whaling in Scotland
A talk with Malcolm Archibald - Museum nan Eilean, Lews Castle
Tuesday 27th September - 7.30pm

The first evidence for whaling in Scotland is from Bronze Age settlements where whalebones were used for constructing and decorating dwelling places.

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

Malcolm Archibald, the author of a book on whale hunters, said it was vital for industry, particularly for the process of making jute fibre in Dundee.
He says: "The blubber, melted into oil from the whales would soften the jute so they could make it into material.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21704519

The kind of activity that could and would have lasted thousands of years before large-scale use of mineral oil derivatives.

Tisi, as our Northern Correspondent, are you able to attend in your best TME uniform/frock/kilt?
See if you can blag a few wee 750ml drams of single malt while you're there?

[TisILeclerc]

I'm TisI not Izzy.

No pink tammies and lipstick for me thank you.

Everyone hunted whales. The Norwegians and their kin still do. And what would sushi be without a good dollop of blubber.

It must have been very dangerous in open boats harpooning a whale. Although that's what they were still doing in the nineteenth century until they invented explosive rocket powered harpoons.

Send me the bus fare and I'll go.

[Boreades]

We won't need to empty the TME piggy bank again.

Concessionary travel for people aged 60+ or with a disability

If you're over 60, or have a disability, you could be eligible for free or subsidised travel to get around Scotland and your local area. The National Entitlement Card allows people aged 60+ and people with a disability to travel for free on local or Scottish long distance buses.

How to apply
Contact your Local Authority or Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) to apply for your National Entitlement Card.

You will need:
A completed application form
A recent photograph
Proof of age or disability
Proof of your current address

Full details of acceptable proofs can be found on the National Entitlement Card website.

http://www.transport.gov.scot/public-tr ... disability

http://www.entitlementcard.org.uk/how-get-your-nec

That should give all of us free travel?

Now then, where did I leave my Scottish passport?

[Mick Harper]

I should like to draw your attention to the Guernsey parish of the Catel. From a megalithic shipping perspective the chief adornment of the Catel is Vazon Bay



This bay, insofar as you can measure the length of a coastline, is three miles long, gently curving, consisting of pure sand and without any rocks obstructing the sea passage from the west. A perfect landing spot for megalithic ships. There are no tidal islands at either end, which is a shame, but there are other notable features of which more anon.

[Perhaps someone with more skills than I could put a map and a proper representation of the bay itself]

[Mick Harper]

But what really catches the attention is the old name of the parish Le Grand Sarrazin. At the operative time, ie before the Crusades, the Saracens were Arabs, though it is reasonable to suppose that Phoenician or even Carthaginian would better fit the bill. But whoever they were it apparently took a lot to get them out since the parish name was changed to Our Lady of Deliverance of the Castel.