“The charm placed of Brigit
About her neat, about her kine,
About her horses, about her goats,
About her sheep, about her lambs:
Each day and each night
In heat and cold
Each early and late
In darkness and light;
To keep them from marsh,
To keep them from rock,
To keep them from pit,
To keep them from bank…”
from ‘Carmina Gadelica’ number 368, Carmichael , p.339/40.
Officers from Skye Fire and Rescue free a heifer trapped in an old peat bank, BBC Scotland news.
“According to tradition the monks of Lindores named Mungrey ‘Our Lady’s Bog’. It later became known as Our Lady’s Bog (Groome’s Gazetteer iv, 449), until 1847, when the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway Co. opened the new station and chose Ladybank as the new name. After this the old name gradually fell into disuse (Gillin and Reid 1979, 28, 44)…”
‘Place Names of Fife. Volume 4’ Taylor, Tyas. 2010
‘Madonna on a Grassy Bank.’ Albrecht Durer, engraving, 1503.
Sundew.
At the nature reserve.
Wet.
You find lots of stuff on the peat moors.
In 1582 an inventory was taken of the rentals of Kilwinning Abbey in Ayrshire that included:
“850l. 3s. 4d in money; 8 bolls, 1 firlot of wheat; 14 chalder, 1 boll, 3 firlots, 3 pecks of bear; 67 chalders, 9 bolls, and 3 pecks of meal; 40 stones of cheese; 13 stirks; 140 capons; 100 hens; 4 hogsheads of wine; and 9 fathoms of a peat stack.”
George Chalmers, ‘Caledonia’ Vol 111, p.485, Cadell & Davies 1824
Peat Bank, June.
This little bird’s road led it into our house today.
Delighted to report the peat brown wren was released unharmed. It felt beautifully soft in my hands.
If you’re firing up the barbie …
Robin A Crawford 