Gatherings: Past and Present: Proceedings from the 2013 Archaeology of Gatherings International Conference at IT Sligo, Ireland 9781407314587, 9781407344607

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________ Fiona Beglane is a Lecturer of Archaeology at the Institute of Technology, Sligo and a consultant zooarchaeologist. Her research interests focus on zooarchaeology, medieval hunting, landscape and settlement and the use of scientific techniques in archaeology. She has a particular interest in integrating scientific and social/cultural interpretations of archaeology and in examining the interaction between humans and animals. Contributors Ian Armit, Edel Barry, Fiona Beglane, Julie M. Bond, James Bonsall, Chris Carey, Robert M. Chapple, Julia E. M. Cussans, Stephen Davis, Stephen J. Dockrill, Heather Gimson, Patrick Gleeson, Hans K. Hognestad, Jo T. McKenzie, Clark McPhail, Una MacConville, Caitríona Moore, Sam Moore, Louise Nugent, Elizabeth Richley, Stuart Tyson Smith

BAR  S2832  2017   BEGLANE (Ed.)   GATHERINGS: PAST AND PRESENT

The Archaeology of Gatherings was a thematic international conference to bring together a range of speakers from different disciplines. It took place at the Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland, between 25 and 27 October 2013 during the year of ‘The Gathering’, an Irish government initiative to engage with the worldwide diaspora. The aim of the conference and of this volume was to take a multidisciplinary approach in order to explore the structures, material culture and psychology behind gatherings of people. This volume thus seeks to contribute to the study of varied types of temporary gatherings both from the contemporary world and from the past. Through time people have gathered together for many reasons, including religious and political assemblies, social interaction and to exchange commodities and ideas. While some of these gatherings occurred in particular buildings or arenas, many were outdoors and temporary, and may have left only limited material evidence of their occurrence. It is therefore hoped that this multidisciplinary approach will provide insight into these sometimes ephemeral events and their remains.

Gatherings: Past and Present Proceedings from the 2013 Archaeology of Gatherings International Conference at IT Sligo, Ireland Edited by

Fiona Beglane

BAR International Series 2832 9 781407 314587

B A R

2017

Gatherings: Past and Present Proceedings from the 2013 Archaeology of Gatherings International Conference at IT Sligo, Ireland

Edited by

Fiona Beglane

BAR International Series 2832 2017

Published in 2017 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR International Series 2832 Gatherings: Past and Present © The editor and contributors severally 2017 Cover image Passage tombs at Carrowkeel, Co. Sligo, Ireland at sunset. Image: Sam Moore. The Authors’ moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in  any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. ISBN 9781407314587 paperback ISBN 9781407344607 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407314587 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Contents Chapter

Page List of Contributors List of Illustrations List of Tables Preface and Acknowledgements Fiona Beglane

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Gatherings Past and Present: An Introduction Sam Moore and Fiona Beglane

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Gatherings of the Living and the Dead Near-to-Death Experiences: Gatherings of the Living and the Dead Una MacConville

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Gatherings of Faith: Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland Louise Nugent

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Aeridheacht and Excursions: Gatherings and the Social Impact of Irish Railways, 1850–1960 Edel Barry

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Passionate Gatherings: The Global Sociality of Football Hans K. Hognestad

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Festivals and Feasting Food, Gatherings and Social Power: Case Studies in Feasting and Community Gatherings in Iron Age Scotland Julia E. M. Cussans, Stephen J. Dockrill, Ian Armit, Julie M. Bond and Jo T. McKenzie Scouting for Boys: Prospection and Autoethnography Methods to Map the Archaeology of a Jamboree James Bonsall, Robert M. Chapple and Heather Gimson Power and Gatherings Gathering the Nations: Towards an Archaeology of Assembly in Early Medieval Ireland Patrick Gleeson

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31 43

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A History of Gathering at the Hill of Ward, Co. Meath Stephen Davis, Chris Carey, Caitríona Moore and Elizabeth Richley

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Colonial Gatherings: The Presentation of Inu in New Kingdom Egypt and the British Imperial Durbar: A Comparison Stuart Tyson Smith

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Concluding Paper Collective Actions Within and Between Gatherings Clark McPhail

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List of Contributors Ian Armit is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Bradford. His research interests focus on the social archaeology of Iron Age Europe, prehistoric art, funerary archaeology and the study of conflict and violence in nonstate societies. He currently directs research projects in the UK and south-east Europe. Edel Barry is a buildings archaeologist with particular interest in the archaeology of industry and transport, and in the social archaeology of the industrial period. She has considerable experience in field archaeology, as well as having worked on a number of NIAH county and city surveys. She completed MPhil research on the Archaeology of Narrow Gauge Railways in Munster at University College Cork in 2010, and received the Association for Industrial Archaeology dissertation award for this in 2011. Fiona Beglane is a Lecturer of Archaeology at the Institute of Technology, Sligo and a consultant zooarchaeologist. Her research interests focus on zooarchaeology, medieval hunting, landscape and settlement and the use of scientific techniques in archaeology. She has a particular interest in integrating scientific and social/cultural interpretations of archaeology and in examining the interaction between humans and animals. Julie M. Bond is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bradford. He research interests lay in the North Atlantic region, with particular focus on palaeoeconomy, the social and ritual use of animals, continuity and change in the subsistence base of settlements and Viking settlement. She is currently directing the Gateway to the Atlantic Project alongside Steve Dockrill. James Bonsall lectures in archaeological geophysics at IT Sligo and is a director of Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics, Ireland. James' research interests focus on the use of novel technologies to detect archaeological features beneath the soil. He is particularly interested in examining legacy prospection and excavation data to develop new strategies that assess archaeological features in challenging environments. James was a Sixer in the 3rd Oulton Broad Cub Scout group and went on to join the 14th Lowestoft Scout Troop. Chris Carey is a Senior Lecturer in Geography and Archaeology at the University of Brighton, where he is the course leader for the Archaeology and Geography degree. He previously worked as a research assistant at the Universities of Birmingham and Exeter. Chris is currently working on a range of research projects, including mapping of prehistoric landscapes in Britain and Ireland, and undertook the first phase of geomagnetic survey at Tlachtga in 2012. Robert M Chapple is a Recovering Archaeologist based in Northern Ireland. Although no longer active in commercial archaeology, he maintains a number of research interests, including the Irish Radiocarbon & Dendrochronological Dates project. He also blogs on a wide variety of archaeological topics at http://rmchapple.blogspot.com. Robert rose to the rank of Patrol Leader at 4th Galway, Craughwell Scout Group and went on to receive The Chief Scout's Award, the highest decoration for a serving member of the Scout Association of Ireland. Julia E. M. Cussans is an archaeozoologist working for Archaeological Solutions in Suffolk. She gained her PhD from the University of Bradford in 2010 and is on the managing committee of the Association for Environmental Archaeology. Her main research interests are in Scotland and the North Atlantic and in the East of England. Stephen Davis is a lecturer in archaeology at University College Dublin. He specialises in both environmental archaeology and archaeological remote sensing, with a particular focus on landscape archaeology. For much of the last decade he has been working in the Boyne Valley, both at Brú na Bóinne and at the Hill of Ward, focusing on lidarbased prospection, geophysical survey and excavation. Stephen J. Dockrill is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bradford, where his research has focused on the archaeology of North Atlantic Britain. He is an active member of two international research collaboratives, the North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation (NABO) and the Global Human Ecodynamics Alliance (GHEA). He is currently directing the Gateway to the Atlantic Project investigating the archaeology of the Island of Rousay, Orkney. Heather Gimson is a director of Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics, Ireland. Heather carries out geophysical surveys for infrastructure projects, community archaeology, conservation plans and research, with a focus on high resolution techniques to detect small-scale archaeological features which are often overlooked by conventional archaeological methods. Her particular interest is using geophysical methods to map the structural details of medieval

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walled towns in Ireland. Heather rose to the rank of Patrol Leader and gained an Adult Leadership Qualification with the 3rd Baldock Group Guides. Patrick Gleeson is a lecturer in medieval archaeology in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University. His research interests include the archaeology, landscape and history of later prehistoric and early medieval Europe, with a focus on rulership, governance and kingdoms in early medieval north-western Europe. Hans K. Hognestad is a social anthropologist and works as an associate professor at the Department of Sport and Outdoor-Life Studies at the University College of South-East Norway. He has a special research interest in football studies and has published widely on globalisation, identity and social practices within the modern game of football and especially among different fan cultures. Jo T. McKenzie is a geoarchaeologist and prehistorian, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Bradford. She project managed and co-authored the publication of the Broxmouth hillfort excavations, East Lothian, and is coauthoring the publication of the Iron Age site of High Pasture Cave, Skye. Her key research areas are the application of micromorphological techniques to complex on-site deposits, and ceramic petrology. She is currently a geoarchaeological specialist for the Neolithic excavations at the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney. Clark McPhail is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He studies the life course of temporary convivial, religious, political and sport gatherings. He has examined the assembling processes that produce them, the dispersing processes that bring them to an end, and, the alternating and varied individual and collective actions that comprise the gatherings themselves. Una MacConville is a sociologist specialising in end of life matters. She has expertise in health, social and cultural research and resource development with a particular focus on making specialist knowledge accessible to diverse audiences. With her publishing partner, Wordwell Ltd., she is actively involved in Archaeology Ireland, History Ireland and Books Ireland magazines, all which are focused on bringing authoritative and up to date information to a wide audience in an accessible manner. http://www.unamacconville.com. Caitríona Moore is a graduate of the School of Archaeology UCD, and is a freelance archaeologist and an established specialist within Irish wetland archaeology. She has held a senior role on several high profile projects and directed the excavations at the Hill of Ward in 2014-2015. Sam Moore is a lecturer of archaeology at the Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland and a consultant archaeologist. His research interests are in prehistory in general and Irish passage tombs specifically; physical and mental landscapes; the archaeology and anthropology of death; and the cultural re-use of monuments. Louise Nugent has been working as a commercial archaeologist since 2001. She has a degree in Celtic Studies and Archaeology and a MA in Celtic Studies from University College Cork. In 2009 she completed a doctoral thesis Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland AD 600-1600 at the School of Archaeology, University College Dublin. Her main research interests are medieval pilgrimage and religion. She also writes a blog about medieval and modern pilgrimage in Ireland: http://pilgrimagemedievalireland.com. Elizabeth Richley is a PhD student at the University of Southampton, where her research focuses on the Roman harbour of Portus. She undertook extensive GPR and earth resistance survey at the Hill of Ward in 2013. Stuart Tyson Smith is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research focuses on the dynamics of colonialism and cultural interactions between ancient Egypt and Nubia, exploring aspects of ethnicity and other axes of identity, ceramics and foodways, legitimisation and ideology, society and economy, sealings and administration, and funerary practice. He is also an active field archaeologist, currently directing an excavation at Tombos in Sudanese Nubia.

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List of Illustrations Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2 Figure 3.1 Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 4.3 Figure 4.4 Figure 4.5 Figure 4.6 Figure 5.1 Figure 5.2 Figure 5.3 Figure 6.1 Figure 6.2 Figure 6.3 Figure 6.4 Figure 6.5 Figure 7.1 Figure 7.2

Figure 7.3 Figure 7.4 Figure 8.1 Figure 8.2

Figure 8.3 Figure 9.1 Figure 9.2 Figure 9.3 Figure 9.4

The belongings of Nour, a refugee from Syria, taken at the Kara Tempe Camp, Lesbos, Greece September 2015. Small bag of personal documents, a rosary (gift from his friend; he does not let the cross touch the floor), a watch (from his girlfriend; it broke during the journey), Syrian flag, Palestinian charm, silver and wooden bracelets (gifts from friends), guitar picks (one also a gift from a friend), cell phone and Syrian SIM card, photo ID, one black t-shirt. © Tyler Jump and International Rescue Committee. Figure 1.2: Aerial view of the Black Rock City at the Burning Man Festival, Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA in 2010. Image Kyle Harmon (Creative Commons Licence). Figure 3.1: 1st ed. OS 6inch map of Map of Kildare town showing likely bounds of termon © Ordnance Survey Ireland / Government of Ireland. Copyright Permit No. MP 003716. Drummond Report Map. © The British Library Board. Maps 145.e.29. Plan of Castlegregory Station. Redrawn by author after Irish Railway Record Society Archive. Golf Links Hotel, Lahinch, railway and wagon visible in foreground. Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. Poster advertising excursion to Kilkee. © Irish Railway Record Society Archive. Passengers waiting for a train. © Clare Library Local Studies. Special at Lahinch Railway Station. © Irish Railway Record Archive A mural of the Arsenal FC club crest at the Backyard dance club in Lusaka, Zambia, reveal a strong connection to the global sociality of the game. People in Edinburgh gathering in the streets to watch the open bus team parade and celebrate the 2012 Scottish cup win for Heart of Midlothian FC. Emirates stadium, home of Arsenal FC, London, and an example of the new commodified game. Map of Scotland showing the location of Old Scatness and Broxmouth. Old Scatness Phase 4 cattle body part representation as a percentage of expected frequency. Old Scatness Phase 4 sheep body part representation as a percentage of expected frequency. Percentage representation of butchery marks from Phase 4 at Old Scatness. Percentage representation of butchery marks from Phase 5 at Old Scatness. Map of Portumna indicating the jamboree sub-camps and cess pits. Left, the 4th Galway, Craughwell Tribal Gateway, modelled on that of the reconstructed crannog at Craggaunowen, Co. Clare, below right. Top right, the Conan Gate. Photo credits to William Fahy, Scout Leader (left), Chapple family collection (top right) and © John Hinde Archive ® (bottom right). Magnetometer interpretation. Isolated point response >3nT map high contrast zones of activity across the site (brown), areas of burning (orange). The location of cess pits (green) and the post-medieval remains of Portumna Demesne (blue) can also be seen. Torrential rain turned the ‘roads’ into rivers of mud (inset). Spontaneous mud-wrestling broke out amongst the juveniles as a novel form of entertainment. Folksongs were sung and the event was often referred to as ‘Port-mud-na ’85’. The ring-barrow atop Silliothill with outline preserved by the ring of trees, looking southwest. Map showing the approximate extent of the royal demesne of Óenach Carmain in Carnalway and Coughlanstown parishes and the main sites discussed in the text (after MacCotter forthcoming). Note the proximity of the burial complexes and barrows to the estate/landscape boundary, as well as Dún Ailinne and important conversion period churches of Jago and Kilcullen. Map showing the correlation between c.118 assembly landscapes (following Gleeson 2014a, 808– 916) and c.136 excavated locations of early medieval burial. ‘Toponymic’ sites are assembly places indicated mainly by an amenable toponym. Location map showing of the Hill of Ward within Ireland and sites mentioned in text © Ordnance Survey Ireland/Government of Ireland. Copyright Permit No. MP 005416. Analytical hillshade model of lidar data from the Hill of Ward, Co. Meath. Paired, curving embankments are clearly visible to the north of the hill. a) Tlachtga; b) Curving embankments; c) Deserted settlement (ME030-034----); d) Embanked enclosure (ME030-035----) Rathmore (north) and Wardstown (south) deserted settlements, with partial possible routeway between the two marked. Solid line denotes recorded routeway with dashed line as possible continuation. © Ordnance Survey Ireland/Government of Ireland. Copyright Permit No. MP 005416. 100-point viewshed analysis from within Rathcairn embanked enclosure, with observer height set to zero, highlighting interior vs. exterior space. Surviving banks at the site are in the order of 30 cm in height.

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Figure 9.5

Figure 9.6 Figure 9.7 Figure 9.8 Figure 10.1 Figure 10.2 Figure 10.3 Figure 10.4 Figure 10.5 Figure 10.6 Figure 10.7 Figure 10.8 Figure 10.9 Figure 10.10 Figure 11.1 Figure 11.2

Hill of Ward, Co. Meath. Top: Magnetic gradiometry data overlain on lidar basemap; Bottom: Earth resistance data overlain on lidar hillshade. In both cases darker shades equate to higher values. Red arrows in resistivity data indicate (a) southern enclosure ditch cut; (b) interrupted geological striation from present monument; (c) uninterrupted striation within southern enclosure. Bottom: geomagnetic survey in the immediate environs of Tlachtga. Conjoined/overlapping enclosures at Freestone Hill, Co. Kilkenny (top – aerial photograph courtesy S. Dowling) and Hill of Slane, Co. Meath (bottom – lidar hillshade model, courtesy C. Brady) comparable to the example at the Hill of Ward. 16-direction lidar-derived hillshade of the trivallate ringfort at Lissallow, Rathbeg, Co. Roscommon. Central platform clearly visible. Cumulative viewshed analysis from 48 classified passage tombs recorded within the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP). High-visibility locations marked in brown; low-visibility areas in blue. © Ordnance Survey Ireland / Government of Ireland. Copyright Permit No. MP 005416. The 1877 Durbar from the Illustrated London News, February 10, 1877. The Lower Nubian delegation for a “Presentation of Inu” to Tutankhamen, from the tomb of the Viceroy of Kush (Nubia) Huy (Davies 1926, Pl. XXVIII). Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society, London. The 1911 Durbar of King George V and Queen Mary. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery. Robert Bulwar Lytton, Viceroy of India, in 1891. Courtesy of the University of Glasgow. The “Presentation of Inu” to Akhenaton (c. 1340 BC), from the tomb of Meryra II at Amarna (Davies 1905, Pl. XXXVII). Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society. London. Hekanefer, Prince of Miam (Aniba), bows before Tutankhamen in the tomb of the Viceroy of Kush Huy (Davies 1926, Plate XXVII). Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society, London. One half of a stereoscopic image of native princes in the Grand State Entry at the 1903 Delhi Durbar. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. 27th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry, 1839 (Bevan 1839, 10). The Prince of Tehkhet Djehutyhotep and his wife Tentnub depicted as Egyptians in their tomb in Nubia, National Museum, Khartoum, photo by author. Sayaji Rao III, Gaekwad of Baroda, in 1919. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Life course of temporary gatherings. Proportion participating in four elementary forms of collective action over 55 observation minutes (OMs) at 10 minute interval.

List of Tables Table 2.1 Table 2.2 Table 2.3 Table 2.4 Table 4.1 Table 6.1 Table 6.2 Table 6.3 Table 6.4 Table 6.5 Table 11.1

Professional occupations of respondents. Professional experience in end-of-life health care. Occupational location of respondents. Range of near-to-death experiences. Company Name Abbreviations. NISP figures for Iron Age phases at Old Scatness (Cussans & Bond 2015). Quantification of complete bones and complete proximal and distal ends of bones as a percentage of NISP from Phases 4 and 5 at Old Scatness. NISP figures for all phases at Broxmouth. Sex determination of pig lower canines from Broxmouth. Comparison of pig fore- and hindlimb fragments from Broxmouth. Platform actions solicited prior to OMs & EFCA recorded by observers during OMs.

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Preface and Acknowledgements 2013 was the year of The Gathering, an Irish government initiative that aimed to encourage tourists and more specifically the diaspora of emigrants and their descendants to visit Ireland. As a result, towns, villages and community groups all around the country organised over 5000 Gathering events, bringing locals together with visitors who were drawn by a common place of origin, surname or pure curiosity about the ‘aul sod’. At the Institute of Technology, Sligo, in Ireland, Sam Moore and myself began to muse on the idea of gatherings in the past and present. Being archaeologists, on a practical note we considered how were they organised? What preparations and infrastructure were needed? What traces would remain after they had finished? Then, turning to a more philosophical train of thought we wondered what constituted a gathering? What were the ostensible reasons for them, and what hidden and unexpected meanings were attached to them? From these thoughts were born the idea of investigating the Archaeology of Gatherings. We realised from the start that the project would need multidisciplinary input from archaeologists, historians and sociologists if we were to understand this most enduring of human phenomena. On the weekend of 25 - 27 October 2013 we hosted the Archaeology of Gatherings conference at the Institute of Technology, Sligo. Over 100 delegates from all corners of the globe gathered, discussed and debated, and this fully peer-reviewed volume is the final result. The revised papers benefited both from the comments of the peerreviewers but also from the collective willingness of the contributors to share their original drafts, creating interesting synergies across time and space. As a group we are proud to present eleven papers ranging from the theoretical to the practical and that examine Gatherings dating from the prehistoric through to the modern period. A large number of thanks are in order. Firstly, a thank-you to my conference co-organiser, Sam Moore, and to our able assistants Bridget Brennan, Ursula Garner and Sarah Levick. We also had a great team of hard-working volunteers on the conference weekend: Rory Connolly, Ciaran Davis, Richard Gallagher and Alan Healy. I must also send heartfelt thanks to the other session chairs: Sam Moore and Catriona McKenzie and to all the speakers, including the two keynotes, Professor Mike Parker-Pearson and Professor Clark McPhail. In editing this volume, I acknowledge that not all speakers could contribute a paper and thank the authors for their excellent papers and the peer-reviewers for guiding the discussion. James Bonsall, Rita Mhig Fhionnghaile and Sam Moore have all helped to keep the show on the road, and BAR Publishing have brought it to fruition. The project could not have been undertaken without our major sponsor The Gathering, facilitated through Sligo County Council. Further financial and in-kind sponsorship was generously provided by Beta Analytic, Faílte Ireland, the Institute of Technology, Sligo, and Wordwell. Thanks are also due to those individuals and institutions that generously allowed their images to be used in this volume, in many cases at no charge. Finally, on a personal note, my partner Ed has uncomplainingly put up with me spending weekends and evenings emailing and editing when I should have been more sociable: sorry and thank you!

Fiona Beglane

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Chapter 1 Gatherings Past and Present: An Introduction Sam Moore1 and Fiona Beglane2 1

Department of Environmental Science, Institute of Technology, Sligo, 2Centre for Environmental Research, Innovation and Sustainability, Department of Environmental Science, Institute of Technology, Sligo E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Over the course of time people have gathered together for reasons including religious assemblies, social interaction and to exchange commodities and ideas. Specific examples can include, but are not limited to sporting and entertainment events, festivals, funerals, inauguration ceremonies, warfare, negotiations and political protests. Some of these gatherings or assemblies may be at specific designated locales in particular buildings or arenas, but many may be outdoors and temporary, and may leave only limited material evidence of their occurrence. This paper demonstrates the ways in which studying crowds and crowd behaviour, the practicalities involved in creating different forms of camps, archaeological and sociological research can all provide evidence that can contribute to the study of varied types of temporary gatherings both from the contemporary world and from the past. Keywords: Archaeology, gatherings, assemblies, crowds, crowd behaviour, camps Waterloo battlefield (Pollard 2015), Woodstock (Bennett 2004), the Burning Man Festival (White 2013), Auschwitz (Myers 2008) and the Olympics (Raschke 2002). In terms of archaeology, many permanent architectural sites lend themselves to being identified as the sites of gatherings, including theatres (Nielsen 2002), arenas (Kyle 2001), plazas (Moore 1996), religious edifices ranging from temple complexes to simple shrines (Humphrey and Vitebsky 2003) and even domestic spaces used for entertaining and commensal meals (Pollock 2015, 7). In most cases however, the specific locations of historical gatherings have been lost or have at best been recorded or remembered in a vague manner, possibly even with several different locations associated with particular events. This is mainly due to the nature of the gatherings, which were often outdoors and temporary, and so would leave little material evidence behind. This can be clearly seen in battlefield archaeology where sites are often incorrectly located or remembered despite being the location of important events (e.g. Foard and Curry 2013). Since virtually every archaeological site involves material evidence left by more than one person, almost any archaeological site could be defined as a gathering place. As such, a meaningful discussion of gatherings must focus on specific events, often with a defined timescale or duration. In recent years a growing number of archaeologists have been actively seeking and identifying a range of assembly sites and places of gatherings. Several of these were speakers at the Archaeology of Gatherings conference and have contributed to this volume.

The Archaeology of Gatherings was the title of a conference held in the Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland in October 2013. It was hosted by Applied Archaeology, in the School of Science, as a thematic international conference which brought together a range of speakers from different academic disciplines: predominantly archaeologists, historians and sociologists. The aim of the conference was to explore the material culture and psychology behind gatherings of people. The year 2013 had been deemed the year of ‘The Gathering’ in Ireland (Fáilte Ireland 2013). This was a tourism initiative aimed primarily at the Irish diaspora, to encourage them to return to Ireland and take part in some of the 5,000 events organised throughout the country. It is estimated that between 250,000 and 275,000 extra visitors came to Ireland in that year. As the conference organisers we chose to examine this theme to explore why and how people over millennia have come together, often in large numbers, for religious assemblies, social interaction, to exchange commodities and ideas, along with other reasons such as farewells, wakes, political opposition and inaugurations. Both today and in the past, gatherings of people in a variety of locations were, and continue to be, common events around the globe. Fairs and markets; secular and religious festivals; political rallies and demonstrations; riots and parades; sporting, theatrical and musical events; battles and POW camps; weddings, funerals and feasts are all types of gatherings. Some of these have been well documented and are internationally significant, including the Hajj (Porter and Saif 2013), the Kumbh Mela (MacLean 2008), the Greenham Common Peace camps (Fiorato 2010), the Occupy Movement camps (Massey and Snyder 2012), the World Cup (Giulianotti 1999), the

The term ‘gathering’ is defined in the Concise English Dictionary (Stevenson and Waite 2011) as ‘an assembly, or meeting, especially held for a specific purpose’. This

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Moore and Beglane broad definition can be assigned to many aspects of human behaviour and of sociality, collaboration, communication, reciprocity and teaching among human groups, all of which have been essential parts of evolution (e.g. Ginitis 2000; Moll and Tomasello 2007). Indeed, cultural anthropology has at its essence the idea that humans live in bounded gatherings of people or as individuals interacting with one another and their environment (Palmer et al. 1997; Bowles et al. 2003). A number of sociologists use the term ‘gathering’, rather than ‘crowd’, and believe it to be a more neutral and useful concept (McPhail, this volume; 1991; 2008; McPhail and Wohlstein 1983). McPhail (2011, 104) defines gatherings as opportunities for two or more people to act collectively in a common location in space and time, and he dismisses any suggestion that crowds and crowd behaviour are made up of unanimous and continuous action by actors with similar motives. He notes that the majority of gatherings are temporary in nature and differentiates them from what he terms ‘continuous gatherings’ such as those associated with forced, institutionalised or compulsory assemblies in prisons, military bases, and most contemporary refugee camps. Many sociologists and psychologists, however, discuss the idea of ‘crowds’ and ‘crowd behaviour’, also referred to as collective behaviour, rather than using the term ‘gatherings’ (e.g. Le Bon 1895; Blumer 1969; see Borch 2012 for discussion).

an expressive crowd, and the line between these is not always clear; such as at concerts, sporting events or religious assemblies where the atmosphere created by the audience becomes part of the experience of the event. Acting crowds are gatherings that have more heightened emotions than those in expressive crowds and that focus their attention on a specific action or goal. These can be compared to ‘agoral’ crowds (see below). In certain cases, acting crowds can include rioters and mobs, intensely emotional gatherings that commit or are ready to commit violence, looting or destruction. Acting crowds may also emerge in panic situations such as during a fire, where a gathering can quickly react to a threat or another stimulus with irrational and often self-destructive behaviour. The fifth type of crowd is the protest crowd which gathers in response to a political, social, cultural, or economic issue. The gatherings of people who participate in a sit-in, demonstration or march are examples of this. In addition to these categories and somewhat linked to expressive, acting and protest crowds, is the concept that Biela (1989; 2013) has put forward concerning ‘agoral’ gatherings. He defines these as public gatherings that are predominantly focused on important social issues. Examples are peaceful demonstrations and marches, strikes and events such as Papal visits or the collapse of the Berlin Wall, as well as pilgrimages such as those described by Turner and Turner (1978). Some gatherings contain the potential to transform the wider social world through the collective empowerment of the gathering. Drury and Reicher (2009, 708), two major proponents of this theory, define ‘such empowerment as that positive social psychological transformation, related to a sense of being able to (re)shape the social world, that takes place for members of subordinated groups who overturn (or at least challenge) existing relations of dominance’ (also see Drury et al. 2012).

Crowds can be defined as temporary gatherings of people that are in close enough proximity to each other to be able to interact and that tend to gather with a common shortterm or long-term purpose. Sociologist Herbert Blumer (1969; also see Goode 1992) developed a popular typology of crowds based on their purpose and dynamics. The four types he distinguished are casual crowds, conventional crowds, expressive crowds, and acting crowds. A fifth type, protest crowds, has also been noted by other sociologists (McPhail and Wohlstein 1983). These concepts are potentially useful to archaeologists who may be able to interpret the type of gathering based on material remains. A casual crowd is a gathering of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time. They have no common identity or long-term purpose and can be loosely organised and emerge spontaneously. A gathering of people waiting to cross the street at a pedestrian crossing, or queueing for train tickets are examples of casual crowds. A conventional crowd is a collection of people who gather for a specific purpose. However, the individuals may not interact to any great degree, as these gatherings are often planned in a structured and clearly-defined manner dependent on the situation. They might be attending a funeral, film, play, concert, or lecture. Expressive crowds are a collection of people who gather primarily to demonstrate one or more emotions. Goode (1992, 23) notes that the main purpose of expressive crowds ‘is belonging to the crowd itself. Crowd activity for its members is an end in itself, not just a means’. A conventional crowd may sometimes become

Borch (2006; 2012) traces the development of specific ‘crowd semantics’ such as crowd, mob, plebs, horde, herd, proletariat, multitude etc. and examines the study of collective behaviour, research on revolutionary events and urban unrest, theories of authority and social influence, analyses of mass culture and the mass media. His work explores the history of research on crowds; these were once perceived as irrational, then rational, and more recently as something that needed to be cared for or controlled in terms of crowd management, disaster and disease control (LeBon 1895; Freud 1921; Rudé 1981; McPhail 1991; Helbing et al. 2002; Hughes 2003; Zhan et al. 2008; Fahr and Irlenbusch 2011; Alqaysi and Sreela 2013; Elachola et al. 2015; Petersen et al. 2016). Furthermore, Borch (2012, 303) believes that the socioeconomic and political roles of ‘the spectre of crowds’, i.e. the negative attitudes towards crowds; the problems often associated with the political response to crowds and the sociological theoretical debates associated with them, remain as persistent and 2

Gatherings Past and Present: An Introduction uncomfortable presences in the modern world. A number of the aspects that Borch (2012) outlines in his exploration of collective behaviour, including protest events, urban unrest, the theories of authority and social influence can be also recognised in archaeological work associated with the contemporary past, in which numerous scholars have examined gatherings and the archaeology of places and events that relate to the period of recent or living memory (Graves-Brown 2000; Buchli and Lucas 2001; Harrison and Schofield 2009; 2010; Graves-Brown et al. 2013). Many of these studies have investigated populations that are socially, politically or geographically outside of the dominant power structure or have examined conflict and protest (Harrison and Schofield 2009).

Their belongings, the arrangement of their camps and the difficult choices they make about what to bring and what to leave behind all contribute towards significant narratives on the effects of persecution and warfare on civilians. Temporary gatherings have also been examined by Caraher (2016) who applied a variety of archaeological and architectural methodologies to identify a typology of temporary vernacular architecture associated with shortterm workers at oil production sites in Dakota, USA. He proposes that his methodologies could be applied more widely, for example to the temporary dwellings of soldiers and even Olympic athletes. A similar situation can be seen in the archaeology of protest camps or peace camps. Occasionally, environmental factors preserve material evidence as was the case at the Nevada desert nuclear test site where, using standard archaeological field survey, Beck et al. (2010) identified 771 cultural features created by occupants at the adjacent ‘Peace Camp’; features that were predominantly built from stones taken from the surrounding terrain. In England, Fiorato’s work (2010) examined difficulties inherent in presenting the narratives that are associated both with the large, substantial and monumental remains of the Greenham Common cruise missile base and the more ephemeral, fading material evidence of the associated peace camps. In this case, like Zimmerman (2013), ethnography and field survey were employed in recording the faint remains from the Greenham Common Women’s peace camps (Fiorato 2010; Schofield and Anderton 2000; Marshall et al. 2009). The challenge to create a narrative between two contested materialities such as the Greenham Common Peace Camp and the nearby Cold War remains has similarities to the situation at Skatås, Gothenburg in Sweden described by Persson (2014). The Greenham Common site was primarily converted into a public recreational park and a business park. At Skatås, a rehabilitation camp was set up in May 1945 to facilitate over 550 survivors and refugees from Nazi concentration camps. This was in use for a year, after which it was sold to the city of Gothenburg and became a recreation and sports centre. The centre has been greatly expanded, with over one million visitors a year, most of whom had no idea of its original history. Excavation, survey, mapping, interviews with locals, survivors and their families along with archival research created a new narrative for Skatås. This has shed light on relationships between material culture and people from both the past and the present, thus creating a greater awareness of the history of the site (Persson 2014, 435). Persson’s work highlights how easily the memory of gatherings and the place associated with them can be forgotten even in relation to events of the very recent past.

Figure 1.1: The belongings of Nour, a refugee from Syria, taken at the Kara Tempe Camp, Lesbos, Greece September 2015. Small bag of personal documents, a rosary (gift from his friend; he does not let the cross touch the floor), a watch (from his girlfriend; it broke during the journey), Syrian flag, Palestinian charm, silver and wooden bracelets (gifts from friends), guitar picks (one also a gift from a friend), cell phone and Syrian SIM card, photo ID, one black t-shirt. © Tyler Jump and International Rescue Committee.

Researchers of the contemporary past have combined an array of disciplines, often including ethnography and archaeology, which have provided insights into marginalised contemporary societies through analysis of their material practices. The results have often challenged stereotypical narratives about these marginalised groups and raised issues concerning activism and social policies. The archaeology of homelessness is an area of research that examines gatherings at both short-term camps and organised settlements of the homeless (Zimmerman 2013). The recent International Rescue Committee’s article (September 2015), ‘What is in my bag: What refugees bring when they run for their lives’, examined the often meagre possessions of refugees who had travelled via Turkey to Lesbos, Greece (Figure 1.1). These were mainly essential medicines, mobile phones and money, but also included keepsakes, and objects that reminded people of their past and their cultural identity.

The archaeology of the contemporary past can use ethnography and documentary evidence to evaluate sites associated with temporary gatherings that leave little trace. As noted by Bonsall et al. (this volume), these 3

Moore and Beglane types of gatherings can be extremely difficult to detect archaeologically. The discipline of archaeology concerns itself with the study of the full range of past human experiences through the recovery and analysis of material culture, and applies a wide range of methodologies and theoretical concepts (Renfrew and Bahn 2005). Smith et al. (2012, 7620) argue for the importance of archaeology as a social science stating that the ‘findings of archaeology are now providing an empirically sound account of what people actually did, and how they organized their affairs, in the distant past.’ However, archaeologists can struggle to apply certain methodologies from sociology. For example, McPhail’s (1991) work examined the processes associated with crowds and the lifecycle of gatherings. He identified certain behaviours associated with gatherings that included convergence clusters of acquaintances or kin who gather together; convergent orientation where groups face the same way; collective vocalisation where sounds or noises are made collectively; collective verbalisation where groups simultaneously participate in speech or song; collective gesticulation using body parts to form symbols; collective manipulation of objects and collective locomotion in terms of the direction and rate of movement to and from the gathering event (also see McPhail, this volume). Many of these are almost impossible for an archaeologist to observe, although we can infer some of these when, for example, a stillpracticed religion is the object of the gathering. In the case of Medieval Christianity, orientation, gesticulation, verbalisation, vocalisation, manipulation and crowd behaviour can be inferred based on known ritual actions associated with the liturgy. Further inferences could be made from material remains. For example, a stage in a theatre space or an altar or shrine might suggest convergent orientation; gateways, bounded spaces with entrances or ceremonial routeways may imply collective locomotion and the presence of portable ritual objects in sacred spaces or tokens or insignia associated with a political assembly may provide evidence for collective manipulation. As noted by Baker and Brookes (2015, 3) many gathering events have never been examined archaeologically and numerous difficulties can be encountered by attempting to identify and define material remains associated with them. As stated above, the principal issue with many gathering sites relates to the temporary nature of the event which in turn leaves no trace or only meagre material evidence. White (2013, 595–96) points out that ephemeral sites, such as the Burning Man Festival (see below), raise methodological and interpretative difficulties for archaeologists dealing with any time period due to the challenges of recovering past material evidence of these events given their physical and temporary nature. She suggests that contemporary archaeology has the potential to offer insight for scholars of more ancient temporary gathering sites due to the ability to observe the full life cycle of the event including the practice of site construction, inhabitation and abandonment, so allowing insight into

material culture, organisation and the activities of participants. Recent work from various disciplines may assist archaeological investigations into the identification of the types of temporary gatherings both from the contemporary world and from the past. An example is that by Hailey (2009), who examined all forms of camps and identified three categories: ‘Autonomy’, which relate to temporary camp sites of choice such as The Burning Man Festival, summer campsites and protest camps; ‘Control’, which are camps regulated by structures of power such as military, POW and immigrant camps, and ‘Necessity’, including transient spaces of relief and assistance such as refugee, gypsy and disaster relief camps. He identified patterns among the diverse permutations of camp spaces and saw them as placemaking, through the process of siting, clearing, making and breaking camp. Some of Hailey’s (2009) spatial analysis is similar to work by Frenzel et al. (2014), who used infrastructural analysis to compare the layout of protest camps. They identified recreation/domestic, action, communication and governance infrastructures at protest camps, which come together to create specifically configured camps in a manner similar to White’s (2013) analysis of the Burning Man Festival. They applied three theoretical themes to provide an analysis of each camp. The first of these was ‘Spatiality’; where camps act as temporary home-places, allowing people to converge and share ideas and skills. These function as the representation of the identity of the protest movements, and act as a contested space. Secondly, ‘Affect’, which can change people’s normal experience and how they interact in a way that can create conflicts and affinities between individuals, and in turn shapes communal and political identity. Finally, ‘Autonomy’, is where protest camps are manifestations of a political drive towards a greater condition of self-governance (also see McCurdy et al. 2016). The theoretical concepts of ‘Affect’ and ‘Autonomy’, of course, might not be detectable through material remains, but the works by Hailey (2009) and by Frenzel et al. (2014) provide a possible framework for archaeological investigations of past temporary gatherings. They allow classification of the typology of gathering sites identified archaeologically. Furthermore, they may potentially allow more nuanced interpretation of how the gathering was created and the characteristics of importance to the participants. Exploring the material world of social encounters necessitates an approach that not only examines the created space of sites and monuments, but also of the landscapes in which they are situated (Tilley 1994; Bradley 2000). Some landscapes or locations associated with monumentality or with a complex of monumental sites may contain clues concerning how they may have been used to host large-scale gatherings (see Gleeson, this volume). For gatherings to occur routeways would have been needed to allow people to access the location. These 4

Gatherings Past and Present: An Introduction could include river networks, sea routes, valley passes or controlled movement at gathering sites such as cursus monuments or processual avenues. Distinctiveness of place is another potential element to recognise, including ancient monuments or natural features that may dominate the setting, and often gathering points may be perceived as liminal places; separated from areas of economic and settlement activity or in potential neutral boundary areas. Practical issues also need to be considered such as the requirement to house, feed and water participants at gatherings of any substance; a space large enough for the gathering to be held in; the acoustic properties of the space for the audience, and a mound or platform to allow the audience to view the performers or orators. Symbolic or ceremonial qualities of a place may also hold clues to past gathering events. Places chosen may be reused sites or landscapes containing ancient sites and monuments, perhaps re-appropriating the past or conferring legitimacy (Bradley 2002; Bradley and Williams 1998; Holtorf 1998; FitzPatrick 2004; Roymans 1995). An example par excellence is one of the largest gatherings of people ever recorded in Ireland. In August 1843 ‘The Liberator’, Daniel O’Connell held a rally to call for the repeal of the Act of Union of Great Britain and Ireland, which had created the United Kingdom. O’Connell had previously campaigned for the ending of restrictions on the rights of Roman Catholics to participate fully in civil society, and having succeeded, he turned his attention to the overall political structure of the country. His aim was for Ireland to be an independent country with its own parliament, albeit under the rule of Queen Victoria. This ‘Monster’ rally was held on the Hill of Tara, traditional seat of the high kings of Ireland, and hence a highly symbolic location for a political meeting. It was attended by vast crowds, estimated at anywhere between a few thousand and one million people at a time when the total population numbered some eight million (Newman 1997, xii; Owens 1994).

strategic knowledge and counter-intuitive physical presence’. Some of his observations, along with those of MacConville, suggest that the boundaries between the living and the dead may be permeable and could provide a dynamic conduit for ongoing and continuing relationships and gatherings with the dead. The cause of these visions is disputed but regardless of this they cut across cultures and time, clearly demonstrating the role that they have in providing comfort and a feeling of security. Ultimately, gatherings are about security, feeling that one has a place and a value in society and will be remembered into the future, if not for one's individual actions, then for one’s role in group activities. As such, this ‘final’ gathering is important in understanding human nature and provides a good starting point for the other chapters in the volume. The next chapter, by Nugent, focuses on religious pilgrimage and the resulting gatherings in early medieval Ireland. This contribution includes two Irish case studies; the pilgrimage to the shrine of St Brigit in Kildare and to the mountain pilgrimage site at Croagh Patrick, Co. Mayo. Her work could be said to have a related theme, with pilgrims ultimately seeking to gain entrance to heaven but also travelling and gathering out of ‘devotion to the saints; in quest of healing; as an act of penance; to obtain an indulgence; in some cases, merely to escape the bonds of everyday life’ (Nugent, this volume). She examines ideas of movement and the pageantry that was connected to pilgrimage. These included fairs and markets, linking her work to Gleeson’s analysis of óenaig (this volume). Her work, like that of Stopford (1994), shows how the architecture, physical infrastructure and supply needs of pilgrims are important considerations in the analysis of gatherings at pilgrimage sites. In particular, route ways associated with pilgrimage may have links to existing and/or later trade networks, settlement patterns and access to essential resources such as water and food (Petersen 1994). Barry’s chapter then continues the theme of journeys but moves the reader into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to examine the crucial ways in which the development of the Irish railway network facilitated a variety of gatherings for social, political and again religious reasons. The final chapter in this section is by Hognestad, who looks at how football supporters come together in local, national and international groupings to follow particular teams. A key aspect of this is the way in which group identities can be fluid, with supporters fervently following different teams depending on the competitions and events being held and explores hierarchies of affiliation and identity. Indeed, this type of competitive sports gathering can reflect contention, conflict and notions of freedom within societies and local groups (Rojo-Labaien 2014). The passion for football has even been compared to a religion where the presence of the gods (players and managers to idolise), the believers (fans), a cult centre (the stadium) and an atmosphere ‘which enables the accomplishment of ecstatic experience of sharing between members of a

As the preceding discussion has shown, ‘Gathering’ is a large and diverse topic. In order for society to exist at all, it requires that individuals have gathered together and interacted with each other, if for no other reason than to facilitate reproduction. As such, understanding gatherings that have taken place at different times and in different places can help to shed light on the human condition, and it is for this reason that the volume has been arranged thematically rather than chronologically. The first section, ‘Gatherings of the living and the dead’ draws its title from the opening chapter by MacConville, who examines what is probably the most unusual type of gathering in the volume. She presents evidence for nearto-death experiences in which the dying perceive close friends and relatives, religious figures or bright lights which can ease their way from this world into death. Boyer (2001, 261), an anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist, believes that the dead and the dying can act as a source ‘of intuitions about powerful agents with 5

Moore and Beglane potentially ephemeral nature of the archaeological record and the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to understanding society by integrating archaeology, historical records and folklore/memory. An extreme example of a temporary gathering is The Burning Man Festival (White 2013) (Figure 1.2). This involves the construction of a temporary ‘city’ described as an experiment in community action and art. Since 1990 the festival has been held at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, and it hosts up to 70,000 participants per year. The gathering is populated for only one week of the year but it takes eight weeks to build and then dismantle all traces of the art installations and infrastructure. White (2013, 600– 605) identified various public and private spaces; media and communication camps along with a ‘governance’ infrastructure. At each of the themed camps, laid out in a circular-shaped grid with alphabetised street names around a central circular plaza, there are overlapping areas containing spaces for sleeping, eating, public and private socialising, hygiene and site maintenance. Although each camp differs, there is a degree of material culture that remains similar and consistent, as well as the general infrastructure that is repeated from year to year (White 2013, 607). As with Bonsall et al. (this volume), the ‘leave no trace’ ethos of the Burning Man will make it extremely difficult for any archaeologist to examine this site in the future, although geochemical analysis of soil may lead to the mapping of pollutant zones from the varied camps. By contrast however, some festivals and the gatherings associated with them may be detected archaeologically through the study of discard patterns (e.g. Schofield 2000, 145–48).

community’ (Fulconis and Pache 2014, 177) combine together to create a sacred event. The theme of ‘Festivals and Feasting’ runs through many of the chapters in the volume but also specifically forms the second section. Hayden (2014, 8) defines feasts as ‘any sharing between two or more people of a meal featuring some special foods or unusual quantities of food, i.e. foods or quantities not generally served at daily meals, hosted for a special purpose or occasion’. Gatherings for feasts and festivals appear to date back to early prehistory, and a number of scholars have suggested that the roles of cult centres and feasting activities are linked to the beginnings of farming (e.g. Dietrich et al. 2012; Hayden 1992; Twiss 2008). At Durrington Walls (Parker Pearson et al. 2015), 3.2km northeast of Stonehenge, UK, there is evidence of a ‘campsite’ of up to 1,000 houses, probably seasonally occupied. The material remains suggests that up to 4,000 people gathered here, probably to take part in activities associated with construction and with rituals connected with Stonehenge and the surrounding landscape. From their food remains it appears that they feasted on pig and cattle. The evidence suggests that these gatherings occurred mostly in mid-winter, and that the animals, and possibly their owners, travelled from as far away as Scotland to take part (Parker-Pearson et al. 2015, 51–57, 83–93; Viner et al. 2010). In certain respects, this can be related to the ideas proposed by Silverman (1994, 14), who suggested that pilgrims at Cahuachi, in the Nasca region of Peru were responsible for the construction of the ceremonial and public architecture there. Two papers in particular focus on the evidence or the lack of evidence for specific feasting or festival events taking place. Cussans et al. discuss two case studies in which material remains of gatherings during the Scottish Iron Age have been preserved in the animal bone record for two thousand years. Hayden’s (2014, 8) examination of feasts from a palaeo-political ecological perspective, concentrates on self-serving individuals, who he refers to as ‘aggrandisers’, that use feasts as a key element of expression driven by a desire to accumulate influence and status. Many of these ideas are reflected by Cussans et al., who see the sharing and exchange of food as a means of bringing the community together and establishing and reinforcing power hierarchies. Feasting is often used in this way at funerals, which can be extremely lavish and costly events used to create alliances and as a way for families and allied groups to display information about their social standing (Metcalf and Huntington 1991, 108– 130; Hayden 2009; LeCount and Blitz 2010).

Figure 1.2: Aerial view of the Black Rock City at the Burning Man Festival, Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA in 2010. Image Kyle Harmon (Creative Commons Licence).

The section on ‘Power and gatherings’ examines the importance of gatherings as political occasions. One source of information in identifying past gathering places associated with political assembly is the documentary record. Of course, this is not applicable to the prehistoric period where we are wholly reliant on the archaeological evidence, and cannot be wholly relied upon in the historic period. Ireland is in the fortunate position of having a considerable range of medieval Annals and early

Conversely, Bonsall et al. show that virtually all the detectable remains for a gathering of 10,000 scouts over several days in 1985 can disappear in the space of thirty years, with large waste pits, memories and a few photographs being the main surviving evidence. These two extremes of preservation highlight the random and 6

Gatherings Past and Present: An Introduction medieval sources. Within these, the most commonly recorded forms of early medieval institutionalised assembly are the óenaig. Gleeson (this volume) defines them as ‘assemblies which held legal and judicial functions, being associated with the promulgation of laws, and intimately associated with entertainment ... feasting and latterly, the rendering and re-distributing of tribute’ and compares them to the moot or thing in Britain and Scandinavia, known particularly during the seventh to tenth centuries AD (e.g. Sanmark and Semple 2008). Other scholars such as FitzPatrick (2001; 2004; 2012) discuss Gaelic assembly sites with a particular focus on royal inauguration, a theme continued by Schot et al. (2011); and Bhreathnach (2005; 2014) and a potential Irish Iron Age example has been discussed by Warner (2004). ‘The Landscape of Governance’ project examined assembly sites in Britain from the fifth to eleventh centuries AD (Baker and Brookes 2013; 2015), while ‘The Assembly Project’ explored meeting places in northern Europe (AD 400–1500) (Pantos and Semple 2004; Semple and Sanmark 2013). These projects, along with the research being conducted in Ireland, have identified strong connections between cultic activity, collective identity and assemblies. Limited material evidence links meeting places with cemeteries and burials, feasting and the facilitation of tribute distribution in different parts of Europe. Gleeson’s (this volume) Irish case studies examine evidence of landscape features and archaeological sites that provided focal points for political assembly in early medieval Co. Kildare while Davis et al. (this volume) examine the role of the Hill of Ward as a gathering point from prehistory through to the modern period, including a twelfth century synod of Irish kings. This is a good example of continuity of place, where using a particular venue could be seen to confer legitimacy on the gathering. Royal power is also the subject of Tyson Smith’s chapter (this volume) in which he provides a fascinating insight into the similarities and differences between colonial India and ancient Egypt. His work links many of the previous papers by examining exchange, display, feasting and entertainment as features of his gathering case studies. One outcome from this work is that he clearly demonstrates how power can be exercised by manipulating large-scale gatherings to achieve certain political aims.

presentations we also had the opportunity to mingle informally, making friendships and connections that will endure into the future. This volume of peer-reviewed papers provides an opportunity for the authors to discuss their ideas in more detail than was possible within a short oral presentation. For those who were lucky enough to be present, hopefully the selection of papers presented here will serve to enhance your memory of this gathering and the insights gained. For those who were not able to attend, each contribution can be read as a free-standing paper, but they also fit within the thematic whole and so will hopefully provide readers with an appreciation of the larger themes explored. Bibliography Alqaysi, Hiba and Sasi, Sreela. “Detection of Abnormal Behaviour in Dynamic Crowded Gatherings.” In 2013 IEEE Applied Imagery Pattern Recognition Workshop (AIPR): Sensing for Control and Augmentation, 1–6. Washington DC: IEEE, 2013. Baker, John and Brookes, Stuart. “Identifying Outdoor Assembly Sites in Early Medieval England.” Journal of Field Archaeology 40, no. 1 (2015): 3–21. Baker, John and Brookes, Stuart. “Monumentalising the Political Landscape: A Special Class of Anglo-Saxon AssemblySites.” Antiquaries Journal 94, (2013): 147–162. Beck, Colleen; Drollinger Harold and Schofield, John. “Archaeology of Dissent: Landscape and Symbolism at the Nevada Peace Camp.” In Fearsome Heritage: Diverse Legacies of the Cold War, edited by John Schofield and Wayne Cocroft, 297–320. Walnut Creek CA: Left Coast Press, 2010. Bennett, Andy (ed.). Remembering Woodstock. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004. Bhreathnach, Edel (ed.). The Kingship and Landscape of Tara. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005. Bhreathnach, Edel. Ireland in The Medieval World AD 400– 1000: Landscape, Kingship and Religion. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2014.

The final chapter is by McPhail, who applies his sociologically-derived observations of crowd behaviour to a range of case studies and examples. These observations provide a framework for understanding certain aspects of human behaviour and ultimately, that is the aim of the volume.

Biela, Adam. “Agoral Gathering: A New Conception of Collective Behaviour.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 19 (1989): 311–336. Biela, Adam. “Agoral Gatherings Which Have Changed the Political Face of Central and Eastern Europe.” In Beyond Crowd Psychology, edited by Adam Biela, 19–64. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Land Edition, 2013.

The Archaeology of Gatherings conference was an opportunity for over one hundred scholars, students and members of the public to gather, to interact and to exchange ideas about gatherings in the past and in the present. As social beings, we humans respond to the group dynamic, and as well as listening to fascinating

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Moore and Beglane Mass Gatherings.” International Journal of Infectious Diseases 40, (2015): 133–134.

Borch, Christian. “The Exclusion of the Crowd: The Destiny of a Sociological Figure of the Irrational.” European Journal of Social Theory 9, no. 1 (2006): 83–102.

Fahr, René and Irlenbusch, Bernd. “Who Follows the crowd – Groups or Individuals?” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 80, no. 1 (2011): 200–209.

Borch, Christian. The Politics of Crowds: An Alternative History of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Fáilte Ireland. The Gathering Final Report. December 2013. http://www.failteireland.ie/FailteIreland/media/WebsiteStructure /Documents/eZine/TheGathering_FinalReport_JimMiley_Dece mber2013.pdf [Accessed September 2015].

Bowles, Samuel; Choi, Jung-Kyoo and Hopfensitz, Astrid. “The Co-Evolution of Individual Behaviours and Social Institutions.” Journal of Theoretical Biology 223 (2003): 135–147. Boyer, Pascal. Religion Explained: The Human Instincts That Fashion Gods, Spirits and Ancestors. London: William Heinnemann, 2001.

Fiorato, Veronica. “Greenham Common: The Conservation and Management of a Cold War Archetype.” In Fearsome Heritage: Diverse Legacies of the Cold War, edited by John Schofield and Wayne Cocroft, 129–154. Walnut Creek CA: Left Coast Press, 2010.

Bradley, Richard. An Archaeology of Natural Places. London: Routledge, 2000.

FitzPatrick, Elizabeth. “The Gathering Place of Tír Fhiachrach: Archaeological and Folkloric Investigations of Aughris Head, Co. Sligo.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 101C, (2001): 67–105.

Bradley, Richard. The Past in Prehistoric Societies. London: Routledge, 2002 Bradley, Richard and Williams, Howard (eds.). “The Past in the Past: The Reuse of Ancient Monuments.” World Archaeology 30, no. 1 (1998): 1–176.

FitzPatrick, Elizabeth. Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland,c.1100–1600: A Cultural Landscape Study. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2004.

Buchli, Victor and Lucas, Gavin. Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past. London: Routledge, 2001.

FitzPatrick, Elizabeth. “Formaoil na Fiann: Hunting Preserves and Assembly Places in Gaelic Ireland.” Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 32 (2012): 95–118.

Caraher, William. “The Archaeology of the Man Camps: Contingency, Periphery and Late Capitalism.” In The Baaken Goes Boom: Oil and Changing Geographers Of Western North Dakota, edited by William Caraher and Kyle Conway, 181–198. Grand Forks, ND: University of North Dakota Digital Press, 2016.

Foard, Glenn and Curry, Anne. Bosworth 1485: A Battlefield Rediscovered. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2013. Frenzel, Fabian; Feigenbaum, Anna and McCurdy, Patrick. “Protest Camps: An Emerging Field of Social Movement Research.” The Sociological Review 62, no. 3 (2014): 457–474.

Dietrich, Oliver; Heun, Manfred; Notroff, Jens; Schmidt, Klaus and Zarnkow, Martin. “The Role of Cult and Feasting in the Emergence of Neolithic Communities: New Evidence from Göbekli Tepe, South-Eastern Turkey.” Antiquity 86, no. 333 (2012): 674–695.

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Drury, John and Reicher, Steve. “Collective Psychological Empowerment as a Model of Social Change: Researching Crowds and Power.” Journal of Social Issues 65, no. 4 (2009): 707–725.

Fulconis, François and Pache, Gilles. “Football Passion as a Religion: The Four Dimensions of a Sacred Experience.” Society and Business Review 9, no. 2 (2014): 166–185. Ginitis, Herbert. “Strong Reciprocity and Human Sociality.” Journal of Theoretical Biology 206, no. 2 (2000): 169–179.

Drury, John; Reicher, Steve and Stott, Clifford. “The Psychology of Collective Action: Crowds and Change.” In Culture and Social Change: Transforming Society Through the Power of Ideas, edited by Brady Wagnor, Eric Jensen and Julian A. Oldmeadow, 19–38. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Giulianotti, Richard. Football: A Sociology of the Global Game. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999. Goode, Erich. Collective Behaviour. A Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College: Forth Worth TX., 1992.

Elachola, Habida; Assiri, Abdullah; Turkestani, Abdual Hafiz; Sow, Samba S.; Petersen, Eskild; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A. and Memish, Ziad A. “Advancing the Global Health Security Agenda in Light of the 2015 Annual Hajj Pilgrimage and Other

Graves-Brown, Paul. Matter, Materiality and Modern Culture. London: Routledge, 2000.

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Gatherings Past and Present: An Introduction Graves-Brown, Paul; Harrison, Rodney and Piccini, Angela. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Contemporary World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

McCurdy, Patrick; Feigenbaum, Anna and Frenzel, Fabian. “Protest Camps and Repertoires of Contention.” Social Movement Studies 50, no. 1 (2016): 1–8.

Hailey, Charlie. Camps: A Guide to 21st Century Space. Boston MA: The MIT Press, 2009.

MacLean, Kama. Pilgrimage and Power: The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, 1765–1954. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. McPhail, Clark. The Myth of the Madding Crowd. New York: Aldine, 1991.

Harrison, Rodney and Schofield, John. “Archaeo-ethnography, Auto-archaeology: Introducing Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past.” Archaeologies 5, no. 2 (2009): 185–209.

McPhail, Clark. “Gatherings as Patchworks.” Social Psychology Quarterly 71, no. 1 (2008): 1–5.

Harrison, Rodney and Schofield, John. After Modernity: Archaeological Approaches to the Contemporary Past. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

McPhail, Clark. “Crowd Behaviour.” In The Concise Encyclopaedia of Sociology, edited by George Ritzer and J. Michael Ryan, 104. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing, 2011.

Hayden, Brian. “Models of Domestication.” In Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory, edited by Anne Birgitte Gebauer and T. Douglas Price, 11–19. Madison WS: Prehistory Press, 1992.

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Hayden, Brian. “Funerals as Feasts: Why Are They So Important?” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 19, no. 1 (2009): 29–52.

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Gatherings Past and Present: An Introduction Warner, Richard. “Notes on the Inception and Early Development of the Royal Mound in Ireland.” In Assembly Places and Practices in Medieval Europe, edited by Aliki Pantos and Sarah Semple, 27–43. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2004. White, Carolyn. “The Burning Man Festival and the Archaeology of Ephemeral and Temporary Gatherings. ” In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Contemporary World, edited by Paul Graves-Brown and Rodney Harrison, 595–609. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Zhan, Beibei; Monekosso, Dorothy; Remagnino, Paolo; Velastin, Sergio and Xu, Li-Qun. “Crowd Analysis: a Survey.” Machine Vision and Applications 19 (2008): 345–357. Zimmerman, Larry. “Homelessness.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Contemporary World, edited by Paul Graves-Brown and Rodney Harrison, 336–350. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

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Chapter 2 Near-to-Death Experiences: Gatherings of the Living and the Dead Una MacConville Una MacConville & Associates E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: Recent research with Irish health care professionals suggests that more are gathered around the bedside of the dying person than might at first appear to be the case. This research records that visions of deceased relatives and other transcendental experiences do occur, and that, while not everyone will experience them, they are often joyful experiences, frequently bringing a sense of peace and comfort. This paper outlines some key studies and accounts relating to near-to-death experiences and presents results of a recent Irish study on the observations and understandings of health care professionals. In so doing, it raises the question of whether the continuing significance of the ancestral dead in the lives and rituals of the living is because they are perceived to gather and be present at the time of death. Keywords: Ancestral dead, visions, transcendental experiences, deceased relatives. Introduction

Contemporary accounts and research into deathbed visions may seems far removed from archaeological research and discussion, however in this volume Bonsall et al., argue that material remains, such as they are, may tell us very little about gatherings and what they meant to those who gathered and they further suggest that modern events allow some evidence to be transposed to the deep past. In this way an understanding of these deathbed experiences and the body of research that exists about them may offer insights into why the ancestral dead retain their importance for the living. Furthermore, it raises the question of whether the continuing significance of the ancestral dead in the lives and rituals of the living is because they are perceived to gather and be present at the time of death.

Ireland’s State Pathologist, Professor Marie Cassidy, has stated that there is ‘an obsession with death in Ireland’ (MacCormaic 2006). While this may seem a bald statement, it does reflect the views of other commentators writing about Irish attitudes to death, such as Witoszek and Sheeran (1994), who considered funerary rituals and practices as a ‘Theatrum Mortis’, a theatre of the dead. Viewing funerary traditions in this way, as a performance by the living (the actors) for the dead (the audience), reveals an underlying cosmology in Ireland that, according to Witoszek and Sheeran (1994, 7), includes ‘an acute awareness of a powerful realm bordering on the world of the living’. The late poet and philosopher John O’Donoghue echoes these observations on traditions surrounding death and dying in Ireland. O’Donoghue (1999, 256) states that such traditions recognise that the eternal and transient worlds are ‘woven in and through each other’. O’Donoghue also talks about the visions of deceased mothers, grandmothers and other relations, and says that ‘when a person is close to death, the veil between this world and the eternal world is very thin, in some cases the veil is removed for a moment’ (O’Donohue 1999, 256).

Through the understanding and interpretation of mortuary and burial practices the archaeological record attests to the continuing significance of the dead. Amongst other significant personal and societal roles, this may be as a way of remembering or marking the origins of a group or of reinforcing territorial rights. In considering the continuing importance of the dead in the lives of the living, an aspect that has not received much attention, is the range of experiences that can occur close to the time of death. This is understandably so, given their intangible nature.

Recent research conducted by this author and Dr Regina McQuillan, Palliative Medicine Consultant, Beaumont Hospital and St Francis Hospice, with Irish health care professionals, suggests that more are gathered around the bedside of the dying person than might at first appear to be the case. This research records that visions of deceased relatives and other transcendental experiences do occur, and that, while not everyone will experience them, they are often joyful experiences, frequently bringing a sense of peace and comfort.

Deathbed visions are amongst a cluster of experiences that can occur close to the time of death, when the dying person may perceive the presence of deceased relatives. Although difficult to capture, research has been undertaken across the spectrum of transcendental experiences that can occur in connection with death. Some, such as near-death experiences and a sense of presence of the deceased, are easier to capture because the people who undergo them are alive to talk about them. For the most part however, accounts of near-to-

12

Near-to-Death Experiences: Gatherings of the Living and the Dead death experiences, such as deathbed visions, rely upon the observations of family members, relatives and health care professionals.

relatives. Such experiences became widely known, and to an extent normalised, after the publication in 1975 of Dr Raymond Moody’s study Life after life. One of the reasons why more is known about near-death experiences is that the subjects do not die and are consequently able to talk about what they experienced.

In furthering understanding of the continuing significance of deceased ancestors in the lives of the living, it is worth considering whether the ancestral dead continue to be significant because they are perceived to be present and therefore remain as a significant presence that can be utilised for social and political affairs. Hufford (1982) argues that traditional beliefs, such as beliefs in ghosts, have emerged to explain the strange experiences we do have, rather than the more usual view that these beliefs determine the nature of the strange experiences we may have.

After-death experiences include the perception of the deceased by the living in a variety of ways, such as hearing their voice, seeing them or perceiving a familiar smell such as perfume or smoke. After-death experiences very frequently occur shortly after bereavement but can continue for months, or even years. Dr Dewi Rees, a medical doctor, documented these experiences amongst widows in the Welsh/English border area, published in the British Medical Journal as ‘The hallucinations of widowhood’ (Rees 1971). Rees found that almost half of the widows in his study had hallucinatory or paranormal experiences but that it was unusual for them to disclose these experiences, even to close friends and relatives, because of a fear that they would be laughed at or considered insane.

Cooney (2013) has stated that ‘the discovery of isolated human bone or partial inhumed remains of a person occur at what are ostensibly places where people are living, eating and sleeping [and] supports the idea that the boundary between the living and the dead may have been porous’. As well as at significant places, boundaries between the living and the dead may also be believed to be more porous at significant times. Nugent (this volume), records the gatherings on the feast day of St Brigit, whose presence and ability to perform miracles was considered to be at its strongest on this particular day. Hufford (2009) has argued that ‘we don’t have a very good cartography of altered states of consciousness’, but the spectrum of experiences surrounding death has the potential to illuminate some of these boundaries and, in so doing, offer some insights into the continuing significance of the ancestral dead over time and across cultures.

Accounts of after-death experiences have appeared within sociological literature (Howarth 1998; Hallam et al. 1999) in the context of the extension of the social beyond biological death, and they are also present in the folklore record (Bennett 1987; Bennett and Bennett 2000). Indeed, after-death experiences, as described, have become normalised to an extent, as they have been documented as part of the phenomenological experiences of the bereaved (LaGrand 1997; Klass 1999). In addition, they are now incorporated into new models of bereavement theories, such as ‘Continuing bonds’ (Klass et al. 1996), in which it is accepted that people do not ‘let go’ of their loved ones and ‘move on’, as earlier models of bereavement would suggest (Bowlby 1969–80; Worden 1991; Parkes 1996), but instead that they continue their relationships with the deceased, albeit in different forms.

This paper first outlines some of the key studies and accounts relating to these phenomena before presenting results of a recent Irish study on the observations and understandings of health care professionals. In so doing, it raises the question of whether the continuing significance of the ancestral dead in the lives and rituals of the living is because they are perceived to gather and be present at the time of death.

What are less well known are the relatively common experiences that can occur around the time of death— generally in the last 48 hours of life, although some people may have these experiences in the weeks preceding death (Callanan and Keeley 1997, amongst others). The umbrella term, ‘near-to-death experiences’ (Barbato 2009), usefully describes a range of transcendental experiences, perceptions and events which can occur close to the time of death, including an awareness of the time of death, dying dreams and visions, waking from comas to say goodbye to family members, seeing a radiant light and, most frequently, visions of deceased relatives. These experiences have been grouped together under a variety of terms in the past, such as ‘nearing death awareness’ (Callanan and Keeley 1997), ‘Death Bed Experiences’ (DBE) (Brayne et al. 2006) and ‘Death Bed Phenomena’ (DBP) (Brayne et al. 2008), but the term ‘near-to-death experiences’ more clearly

Mapping porous boundaries There are a range of transcendental experiences surrounding death, encompassing near-death experiences, deathbed visions and other phenomena, all considered here under the umbrella term ‘near-to-death experiences’ as well as after-death experiences, which include the ‘sense of presence’ and other impressions of the deceased that are frequently perceived by the bereaved. Many people are familiar with near-death experiences, in which people who are considered clinically dead or close to death can, amongst other things, undergo a feeling of travelling through a tunnel, experience a life review, meet with a spiritual being or see dead people, frequently 13

MacConville identifies the spectrum of related experiences: near-death experiences and after-death experiences.

(SPR undated) The American society was founded in 1885 by a group of scholars and scientists who wanted to explore what was thought of as ‘the uncharted realms of human consciousness’ (ASPR undated). Many of the early participants were pioneers in psychology, psychiatry, physics and astronomy, for example, William James was a founding member and both Freud and Jung were honorary members.

Near-to-death experiences are difficult to capture, as the person experiencing them generally dies within a short space of time. There is therefore a reliance on secondhand accounts from family members and health care professionals who may have these experiences related to them by the dying person or who may have observed them, as visions of deceased relatives can also be shared by family and friends gathered at the bedside of the dying person. Increasing numbers of accounts of these shared experiences are coming to light (Moody 2010), although it is unclear whether this is a new aspect of the phenomenon or simply that people now have the opportunity, or are more willing, to discuss their experiences.

What may be the first systematic study has an interesting Irish connection. Death-bed visions (1926) details research conducted by Sir William Barrett, a Professor of Physics at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin. His interest in apparently arose from the experience of his wife, Lady Florence Barrett, an obstetric surgeon, who witnessed a dying woman’s vision of her deceased father and a sister who had died three weeks previously, unbeknownst to the dying woman.

Although near-to-death experiences are less well known than, for example, near-death experiences, accounts of deathbed visions in particular have been documented for a considerable time. Zaleski (1987) suggests that accounts of these experiences begin around the midnineteenth century. An early reference occurs in The cyclopaedia of anatomy and physiology, published in 1836, where the physician J. A. Symonds, in the course of writing about medical indicators of impending death, describes the deathbed visions of some of his patients. Under the classification ‘signs of approaching death’, he writes: ‘the spectra owe their origin to contemplations of future existence; and consequently that the good man’s last hours are cheered with beatific visions and communion with heavenly visitors’.

A large-scale cross-cultural survey of deathbed observations by physicians and nurses was undertaken by Osis and Haraldsson (1977). The survey was conducted in some north-eastern states of the United States between 1961 and 1964, and a second part was conducted in northern India during 1972−73; both were based on an earlier pilot survey undertaken by Osis, which in turn had been inspired by Sir William Barrett’s work on deathbed visions. The original pilot survey questioned physicians and nurses about the experiences of dying people, particularly concerning hallucinations or visions, and found that the dying did indeed have hallucinations. While some had a pathological origin, in general this was not the case; hallucinations were observed to be different to those caused by mental or physical illness in that they were shorter and more coherent and were related to the experience of dying. In this survey, people who were dying felt that the figures seen had the particular purpose of easing the transition from this world and to ‘take them away’. This survey found 83% experiencing visions of deceased close relatives. In contrast, studies of hallucinations in the general population have found that visions of the living are experienced much more common than visions of the deceased. Osis and Haraldsson (1977) tested for demographic, religious affiliation and psychological factors, such as fear of death, desires and expectations and concluded that factors such as age, sex, education and occupation did not interact significantly.

Unsurprisingly, accounts of deathbed visions also appear in devotional literature, including ‘The dying testimonies of the saved and unsaved’, published in 1898. Here S. B. Shaw documents about 250 deathbed accounts, including visions by the dying of departed relatives, angels, Heaven and Hell. These were gathered from various Protestant devotional sources, and requests for accounts were placed in popular religious papers of the time. A very considerable body of relevant material has appeared in the journals of the societies for psychical research, for example Hyslop’s ‘Visions of the dying’ in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (1907). These societies were founded with a particular interest in exploring the boundaries between religion and science at a time when the natural sciences were making very considerable progress in explaining the world in terms that challenged the traditional, religious views. The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded in London in 1882 and was the first society of its kind, established for the purpose of investigating ‘that large body of debatable phenomena designated by such terms as mesmeric, psychical and spiritualistic’, and to do so ‘in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned enquiry which has enabled science to solve so many problems’

More recently, palliative care physicians conducted a study on deathbed visions in India (Muthumana et al. 2010). While the 1972−73 study collected reports from doctors and nurses, this research was based on family observations of the last days and weeks of a dying family member. In all, 104 families were interviewed; of these, 40 reported ‘unusual experiences and behaviours’ from the person who was dying, with 30 consistent with deathbed visions, such as interacting or speaking with deceased relatives. There were also six cases of reported premonitions of death. As with the earlier study, factors 14

Near-to-Death Experiences: Gatherings of the Living and the Dead such as gender, age and occupation were not found to be significant.

more recently this research has been reported in the New York Times (Hoffman, February 2, 2016)

Frequently, psychic or paranormal research highlights these experiences as a way to provide evidence of existence after death. Ambitious as this is, it is a less than helpful perspective when considering this subject, as it tends to narrow the focus and can alienate people, regardless of the intriguing nature of the experiences. Nevertheless, an increased interest in experiences surrounding death and dying, in which death is understood as more than a medical or legal event (Berger 1967), has renewed the interest in near-to-death experiences, focusing attention more on what these experiences mean to the people who have them and less on the nature of the experiences themselves. Callanan and Keeley (1997) have described a phenomenon, which they termed ‘Nearing Death Awareness’ (NDA), based on their own and other nurses’ experiences of dying patients, whereby some dying people develop an awareness of when they are going to die and experience visions of those already deceased. These experiences seem to be reassuring for patients and carers, although they are rarely discussed by health care professionals (Payne and Langley-Evans 1996; Barbato et al. 1999). Barbato et al. suggest that the paucity of coverage of these experiences arises from a lack of awareness of them or an unwillingness to speak about them. They argue that, as these are common and frequent experiences, it is part of the professional role of palliative care workers to normalise them and to encourage patients and relatives to talk about any unusual event that occurs.

A recent longitudinal study of hospice patients’ experiences of end-of-life dreams and visions aimed to quantify the frequency of dreams or visions experienced by patients nearing the end of life, and to examine the content and subjective significance of the dreams or visions and their relationship to time/proximity to death (Kerr et al. 2014). Of the fifty nine patients who comprised the final sample of the study, most experienced at least one dream or vision. The most common included deceased friends or relatives and living friends or relatives. Dreams or visions featuring the already deceased friends, relatives and animals/pets were significantly more comforting and became more frequent as people approached death. The study concluded that end-of-life dreams and visions are commonly experienced phenomena during the dying process and may be a profound source of potential meaning and comfort for the dying. The Horizon Research Foundation, based at Southampton General Hospital, conducted a study with an NHS Trust palliative care team in Camden, London. This has reported visions and other phenomena, recognising these as part of the dying process and as of considerable significance to the dying person and carers. Palliative care team members frequently felt ill-prepared and unable to respond appropriately, as well as being reluctant to discuss near-to-death experiences amongst themselves or with others outside the team (Brayne et al. 2006). Another study by this team examined the experiences of elderly residents in a Gloucestershire nursing home as reported by nurses and care assistants, and concluded that they are similar to those described in the Camden palliative care team study (Brayne et al. 2008). Research by this group is ongoing, with studies in hospices and nursing homes in England and hospices in Holland.

Barbato (2009, 17) describes how Aboriginal health care workers, who form part of the palliative care team, speak of visions of deceased relatives or spirits as being common among their peoples when they are ‘finishing up’. According to these health care workers, people or spirits come to lead the person to the ‘other side’. Visions such as these are accepted as part of the normal process of ‘finishing up’ and surviving family members are not at all surprised or perturbed by what they are told or witness. They are reluctant, however, to share these experiences with non-Aboriginal people, for fear that something so significant would be misunderstood, dismissed or medicalised. These visions are respected and honoured by Aboriginal people, for whom they are predictive of death. The visions alert family members to make the prescribed preparations for ‘finishing up’, preparations that are unique not just to that culture but to that person and that tribe

Research in Ireland Research undertaken by this author between 2001 and 2004 to explore lay and professional understandings of a ‘good death’ in Irish palliative care (MacConville 2011) revealed that seeing deceased relatives close to death was a frequent experience, frequent enough for one doctor in the study to remark: ‘if somebody is seeing dead relatives like they are, I assume they are fairly close [to death]’. In 2009 this author conducted a pilot study with Dr Regina McQuillan and based on the study undertaken by the Horizon Research Foundation. This study on staff in a Dublin hospice utilised the UK questionnaire in order to build on this existing work and to identify any similarities and differences in perceptions and understandings of these experiences in this culturally different setting. The

Over the last few years a number of studies have taken place within palliative care settings. Dr Christopher Kerr of the Centre for Hospice and Palliative Care in Buffalo, New York, has completed and published the results of a longitudinal study of hospice patients’ experiences of end-of-life dreams and visions (Kerr et al. 2014) and 15

MacConville questionnaire was used as a way to establish levels of awareness and views regarding these experiences prior to further more in-depth studies in this area and was the first such study within Irish palliative care.

‘The range of experiences … spans a spectrum of [DBE], including visions of deceased relatives, religious/divine figures, individuals waking from comas and a radiant light being experienced … and more, especially at night’.

A more extensive survey was then conducted amongst members of the Irish Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) in 2010. The IAPC is a multi-professional organisation whose membership is open to clinical staff, including doctors, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, managerial staff and volunteers who work or have a professional interest in palliative care throughout Ireland.

Professional occupations of respondents

Number

Nurses

57

Doctors

21

Allied health care professional

This 2010 study, funded by the Irish Hospice Foundation and St Francis Hospice in Dublin, aimed to capture the observations, awareness and views of respondents regarding near-to-death experiences (at the time of the study these were referred to as Deathbed Experience (DBE). As there is sufficient evidence that these form a normal part of the dying experience the purpose of this research was to assess awareness of these experiences amongst health care professionals working in end-of-life care in Ireland and to ascertain ways in which health care professionals could be supported in normalising these experiences for patients and family members.

9

(e.g. Chaplain, Social Worker) Undisclosed

13

Table 2.1: Professional occupations of respondents.

The most common experiences reported were of patients seeing visions of deceased relatives, with a smaller number of people reporting visions of religious figures. One nurse reported that she had also witnessed a close relative, who was dying, having visions of other relatives who had died in the past. This had occurred outside of the hospice environment and the person was not on any analgesics at the time.

The questionnaire comprised sixteen open and closed questions, which sought to establish experiences and perceptions of DBE. It was designed to provide demographic information on participants, their observations of the range of experiences that occurred and their views on whether education regarding these experiences would be beneficial for staff working with terminally-ill patients and their families. The questionnaire was administered to 240 members of the Irish Association of Palliative Care (IAPC). There were 87 valid questionnaires returned, giving a response rate of 33%. Responses were received from nurses, doctors and across a range of professions: social workers, pharmacists, psychologists and physiotherapists (Table 2.1). Respondents were predominantly female health care professionals (85%) with considerable experience in a variety of care settings. The majority of respondents were experienced in end-of-life care (Table 2.2), most (54%) were aged 40 years or older and 40% had cared for between 50 and 150 dying patients in the year prior to taking part in the study; with a further 15% caring for greater numbers. There was, as might be expected, a preponderance of responses from professionals working in specialist palliative care services (Table 2.3). Specialist palliative care enjoys a high nurse/patient ratio in comparison to other health care settings, and given a predominance of females in the nursing profession, this may account for the high number of female respondents. The observations reported in the study (Table 2.4) mirror closely the results from the Horizon Research Foundation in terms of the range of phenomena and their frequency. One nurse in the study observed:

Professional experience in end-of-life health care:

%

5–14 years’ experience

57

15–29 years’ experience

26

less than 5 years’ experience

15

Undisclosed

2

Table 2.2: Professional experience in end-of-life health care.

Deathbed visions can be difficult to capture, as frequently the person can be close to death and may not wish to, or be able to, speak of their experience. One nurse had observed over the years that staring into a corner of the ceiling might be an indicator that the patient is experiencing a vision: ‘I believe [it] does happen, not to everyone but to some people. It is usually a relative coming to help them pass from this world to wherever they go. The patient may stare into a corner in the ceiling when dying; this always made me aware that there was someone else in the room with me’. 16

Near-to-Death Experiences: Gatherings of the Living and the Dead

Occupational location of respondents

%

Palliative care services

64

Hospitals

22

Other care settings (e.g. nursing homes or community services)

12

Undisclosed

2

Range of near-to-death experiences: The percentages refer to particular types of vision(s) /experiences

Table 2.3: Occupational location of respondents.

Another common experience is that, when patients wake from a deep coma before they die, they seem to do so in order to communicate in some significant way with relatives. One nurse talked about an experience that left a lasting impression. Many of the staff who took part in the survey had these experiences related to them by relatives and found that family members are often greatly comforted and reassured by them. While the Capturing the invisible study did mirror the results of the UK studies, in this research respondents were able to make an important and clear distinction between hallucinations, which can be fever- or druginduced, and the visions that belong to near-to-death experiences. This was not specifically reported in the UK studies. In the Irish study, 68% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed, that [DBE] visions have different qualities to drug/fever-induced hallucinations. They were considered to have greater clarity and meaningful associations; they could have a positive effect and bring emotional comfort; and they generally happened close to death:

Reported by patients

Reported by relatives

Visions of deceased relatives

45%

10%

Dying dreams, visions

43%

3%

Seeing people/birds or animals out of the corner of the eye

42%

6%

Person coming out of coma suddenly alert enough to communicate significantly with family/friends

31%

27%

Radiant light experienced by person who is dying

23%

3%

Table 2.4: Range of near-to-death experiences.

Expanding the boundaries After this research was reported in the Irish Medical Times (MacConville 2010) and the Irish Times (Meridith 2011) the author received a number of responses from healthcare professionals and members of the general public. These suggested that, notwithstanding the culturally acceptable language in which this can be facilitated, it is not always easy to talk about these experiences. What was striking from these responses from surviving relatives was the impact these experiences had on people; experiences that in some cases had happened many years previously could still be recalled with outstanding clarity. Some of these included shared deathbed visions, which are now beginning to appear in the literature, (e.g. Moody 2010). In most cases, these experiences had not been shared or spoken about because people were wary of discussing matters that do not fit into a rationalistic view, although this did not diminish their belief in the veracity of their experiences. This mirrors the results of Rees’s (1971) study where widows were reluctant to speak about the ‘sense of presence’ for fear of being considered mad. Hufford (2009) has argued that ‘ordinary people are smarter and more sensible than given credit for by academics and many of the beliefs that people have are not part of the academic worldview’. The increasing volume of research into near-to-death experience will help to normalise these experiences and may encourage people to speak of them, thus increasing our knowledge and understanding.

‘I feel that [they] differ from hallucinations because they do not produce feelings of fear. When discussing them with patients, they always talk very calmly about their experience. I would always ask a patient if the experience was frightening or disturbing for them and I can’t remember anyone saying yes. This is very different from people who experience hallucinations—it is unusual to come across someone who is not disturbed by these’. (Nurse) Irish respondents also differed from their UK counterparts in that they reported that they were able to discuss these experiences with their colleagues. This cultural difference is not a surprising one, partly given the historical role of religious orders in health care and other social institutions in Ireland. While now greatly diminished, this has provided a cultural language in which religious and spiritual concerns are talked about, especially so in palliative care contexts and in relation to death and dying (MacConville 2006; 2011). 17

MacConville The recent, and not so recent, accounts of near-to-death experiences presented here provide an interesting perspective on the continuing importance of deceased family members and friends in the lives of the living in both the present day and the recent past. Although contemporary responses cannot be applied in a blanket fashion to earlier societies, it is clear that at the heart of these experiences, however they are understood and theorised, is a continuing relationship with people who continue to matter, in life and in death. It is perhaps these enduring connections that provide traces of porous boundaries between the living and the dead.

Hallam, Elizabeth; Hockey, Jenny and Howarth, Glennys. Beyond the Body: Death and Social Identity. London: Routledge, 1999. Hoffman, Jan. “A New Vision for Dreams of the Dying.” New York Times, 2 February 2016. Howarth, Glennys. “‘Just Live for Today’. Living, Caring, Ageing and Dying.” Ageing and Society 18 (1998): 673–89. Hufford, David. The Terror that Comes in the Night: an Experience-centred Study of the Supernatural. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

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Hufford, David. “Sleep Paralysis.”: interview with David Hufford. 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDpA0MJx780.

Barbato, Michael. Reflections of a Setting Sun: Healing Experiences Around Death. Barbato: Sydney, 2009.

Hyslop, James H. “Visions of the Dying.” Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 1 (1907):45–55.

Barbato, Michael; Blunden, C., Reid; N., Irwin, H. and Rodriques, P. “Parapsychological Phenomena Near the Time of Death.” Journal of Palliative Care 15, no. 2 (1999): 30–7.

Kerr, Christopher W.; Donnelly, J.P.; Wright, S.T.; Kuszczak, S.M.; Banas, A.; Grant, P.C. and Luczkiewicz, D.L. “End-oflife Dreams and Visions: a Longitudinal Study of Hospice Patients’ Experiences.” Journal of Palliative Medicine 17, no. 3 (2014): 296–303.

Barrett, William. Death-bed Visions. London: Methuen, 1926. Bennett, Gillian. Traditions of Belief: Women, Folklore and the Supernatural Today. London: Penguin, 1987.

Klass, Dennis. The Spiritual Lives of Bereaved Parents. Philadelphia: Brunner/Mazel, 1999.

Bennett, Gillian and Bennett, Kate M. “The Presence of the Dead: an Empirical Study.” Mortality 5, no. 2 (2000): 139–58.

Klass, Dennis.; Silverman, Phyllis and Nickman, Steven. (eds.). Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief. Bristol, PA, and London: Taylor and Francis, 1996.

Berger, Peter. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967.

LaGrand, Louis. After Death Communication: Final Farewells. St Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1997.

Bowlby, John. Attachment and Loss, vols I–III. New York: Basic Books, 1969–80.

MacConville, Una. “Mapping Religion and Spirituality in an Irish Palliative Care Setting.” Omega 53, nos. 1–2 (2006): 137– 52.

Brayne, Susan; Farnham, Chris and Fenwick, Peter. “Deathbed Phenomena and Their Effect on a Palliative Care Team: a Pilot Study.” American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care. JanFeb 23, no. 1 (2006): 17–24.

MacConville, Una. “Surveying Deathbed Phenomena in Irish Palliative Care.” Irish Medical Times, 6 May 2010.

Brayne, Susan; Lovelace, Hilary and Fenwick, Peter. “End-oflife Experiences and the Dying Process in a Gloucestershire Nursing Home as Reported by Nurses and Care Assistants” American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care 25, no. 3 (2008): 195–206.

MacConville, Una. Sociological and Spiritual Aspects of Palliative Care in Ireland: Understandings of a ‘Good Death’. Lampeter: Edwin Mellon Press, 2011. MacCormaic, Ruadhán. “Death on Her Hands.” The Irish Times, 11 November 2006.

Callanan, Margaret and Keeley, Patricia. Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs and Communications of the Dying. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1997.

Meridith, Finola. “Going into the Light.” The Irish Times Healthplus, 22 March 2011. Moody, Raymond. Life After Life. Atlanta: Mockingbird Books, 1975.

Cooney, Gabriel. “Engaging with Prehistoric Life and Death: the Changing Relationship of the Living and the Dead over the Course of Irish Prehistory.” In Death and dying in Ireland, Britain and Europe: Historical Perspectives, edited by J. Kelly and M.A. Lyons, 17–36. Sallins: Irish Academic Press, 2013.

Moody, Raymond. Glimpses of Eternity: an Investigation into Shared Death Experiences. London: Rider, 2010.

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Near-to-Death Experiences: Gatherings of the Living and the Dead Muthumana, S.P..; Kumari, M.; Kellehear, Allan.; Kumar, S. and Moosa, F. “Deathbed Visions from India: a Study of Family Observations in Northern Kerala.” Omega 62, no. 2 (2010): 97– 109. O’Donoghue, John. Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World. New York: Bantam Books, 1999. Osis, Karlis and Haraldsson, Erlendur. At the Hour of Our Death. Norwalk, CT: Hastings House, 1977. Parkes, Colin Murray. Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life, 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 1996. Payne, Sheila and Langley-Evans. “Perceptions of a “Good” Death: a Comparative Study of the Views of Hospice Staff and patients.” Palliative Medicine 10, (1996): 307–12. Rees, Wiliam Dewi. “The Hallucinations of Widowhood.” British Medical Journal 4, October (1971): 37–41. Shaw, Solomon B. The Dying Testimonies of the Saved and Unsaved. Cincinnati: Walter, 1898. Society for Psychical Research. History. http://www.spr.ac.uk/page/history-society-psychical-researchparapsychology. Symonds, James. A. “Signs of Approaching Death.” In The Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, edited by R. Todd, 798–803. London: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper, 1836. Witoszek, Nina and Sheeran, Patrick. The Irish Funerary Tradition, Research Report 4. Social Science Research Centre. University College Galway, 1994. Worden, William. Grief Counselling and Grief Therapy, 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1991. Zaleski, Carol. Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

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Chapter 3 Gatherings of Faith: Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland Louise Nugent Independent Scholar E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: Pilgrimage was one of the most popular types of medieval devotion and resulted in many gatherings at pilgrim sites of local, regional and national importance. Pilgrimage brought men, women and children from all social classes together to venerate the saints and their relics. The feast day of the saint was one of, if not the most, busy times of pilgrimage, with people from a wide geographical area arriving to pray and demonstrate their devotion to the saint, especially at larger shrines. This paper explores the archaeological and historical evidence for pilgrim gatherings in early medieval Ireland, through analysis of the case study sites of Kildare, and Croagh Patrick. Keywords: Pilgrimage, gatherings, Kildare, Croagh Patrick, relics Introduction

established traditions within the community, the desire to fulfil a vow, inquisitiveness, the search for adventure, penance for sin, the desire to experience healing or miracles, and, from the twelfth century onwards, the quest for indulgences (Harbison 1991, 23; Barber 1991, 151).

There are many reasons: social, religious and political, why people in medieval Ireland gathered together, as illustrated in papers by Gleeson (this volume) and Davis (this volume) among others. Within the religious sphere, the act of Christian pilgrimage resulted in countless gatherings of varying size at holy places across the country from the seventh century up to the Reformation.

Despite its popularity and frequency, pilgrimage was rarely recorded in the Irish medieval records. The existing accounts are short on detail and often scattered across centuries, with a greater focus on the pilgrimages of highstatus individuals. Accounts of Irish gatherings for the early and late medieval period are few and far between. This paper will discuss two early medieval accounts of Irish gatherings at the pilgrim sites of Kildare and Croagh Patrick. Due to the paucity of contemporary literary evidence it is necessary to illustrate the two case studies using examples from throughout the medieval and postmedieval periods. The paper will also assess how, if at all, these gatherings help us to understand the wider pilgrim movement in early medieval Ireland.

Christian pilgrimage began in the Holy Land in the centuries following the death of Christ. From an early date pilgrimage was interlinked with the cult of saints. As Christianity and the cult of saints developed, new pilgrim sites were developed and expanded and pre-existing pagan pilgrimages were often reinvented in a new Christian format. Although a personal and individual act, Christian pilgrimage resulted in gatherings ranging from two or three to hundreds and even thousands of people (Stopford 1994, 57). Pilgrim gatherings could be impromptu and unplanned, brought about by the coincidence of pilgrims arriving at the same time at a holy place. Alternatively they could be planned and coordinated events, where pilgrims from a locality, region, or farther afield deliberately gathered at a holy place for important dates such as the saint’s feast day or a particular church festival e.g. Christmas and Easter.

A seventh century pilgrim gathering at Kildare One of the earliest accounts of an Irish gathering of pilgrims is to be found in the seventh-century hagiographical text the Life of St Brigit and relates to the shrine of St Brigit at Kildare. Tradition holds that St Brigit founded a monastery of nuns at Kildare in the fifth century. By the seventh century the site had become an important ecclesiastical settlement comprising of a double monastery of monks and nuns presided over by an abbess and an abbotbishop (Halpin and Newman 2006, 308). Kildare was also the head of a paruchia/federation of churches that stretched across the province of Leinster and had ambitions to become the pre-eminent church in Ireland.

Throughout the early and later medieval period men and women from all social classes engaged in pilgrimage. The pilgrim’s journey could vary in length from a few hours down the road to the grave of a local saint or to a holy well up to epic journeys crossing land and sea to the Holy Land or Rome. The decision to go on pilgrimage was complex and often the result of one or a combination of factors that included faith in God and the saints,

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Gatherings of Faith: Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland There are strong indications that both Brigit and Kildare had Pre-Christian origins (Halpin and Newman 2006, 308). Charles Edwards (2004, 239) suggests that Brigit’s ‘sainthood probably owes much to a carefully managed takeover of the cult of a pagan goddess or goddesses as well as the patronage of the Uí Dúnlaigne’, the ruling dynasty of Leinster at this time. Kildare actively promoted the cult of their founding saint, and, by the seventh century, if not before, Brigit was seen as the pre-eminent saint of Leinster (Charles Edwards 2004, 239).

layout typical of other ecclesiastical sites. The outline of a larger outer enclosure is partially preserved in the street pattern at Nugent St and White Abbey St while the inner monastic enclosure is preserved by the graveyard wall that surrounds the Cathedral church (Figure 3.1) (Halpin and Newman 2006, 310). Pilgrims were drawn to Kildare as this was the burial place of Brigit. Throughout the medieval period the relics of the saint, particularly the corporeal, held a special focus as it was believed that the saint’s essence continued to reside within the relics. According to the seventh century Life the bodies of SS Brigit and Conláed, the first bishop of Kildare, were housed in individual, and elaborately-decorated, shrines which sat on either side of the main altar of the church (Connolly and Picard 1987, 25). From what is known of the layout of other Irish medieval ecclesiastic sites it can be taken for granted that this church described by Cogitosus was at the centre of the settlement (Connolly and Picard 1987, 25–26).

The majority of Irish early medieval ecclesiastical settlements were designed to a set pattern, with a sacred core surrounded by a number of concentric boundaries that were usually defined by a ditch or wall, demarcating areas of decreasing holiness (Edwards 1996, 105–112; Hamlin and Hughes 1977, 54). There are few surviving early medieval features at Kildare but aerial photography and cartography suggest that it was also enclosed and its

Figure 3.1: 1st ed. OS 6inch map of Map of Kildare town showing likely bounds of termon © Ordnance Survey Ireland / Government of Ireland. Copyright Permit No. MP 003716

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Nugent and was a favoured date for gatherings due to a belief that the saint’s presence and abilities to perform miracles were at their strongest on this day and that their prayers and petitions would be more favourably received (Davies 1988, 5–6; Hopper 2006, 108; Sumption 1975, 23–24, 82). On a more practical level, all public holidays were church holy days, so that it was probably easier for ordinary people to travel on these days.

Kildare was unusual in its treatment of the saints’ physical remains. The majority of Irish saints were church founders and they were usually buried in the monastic graveyard close to the main church. The practice of translatio, the removal of the saint’s body from the original grave and the subsequent placing of the body in a new tomb or shrine, making the relics more accessible for veneration, rarely occurred in seventh century Ireland (Thomas 1971, 138; Yeoman 1999, 140). The Irish church did not begin to engage in this practice of translation until the eighth and ninth century. When the practice did occur, the relics were placed in outdoor stone shrines or in metal reliquaries housed in diminutive shrine chapels and often built over the original gravesite of the saint (Ó Carragáin 2003, 130). Tomás Ó Carragáin (2003) has put forward a convincing argument for the deliberate separation between liturgical space and reliquary space during the seventh to ninth centuries, with a continuation of the practice at some sites to the seventeenth century.

Irish pilgrim gatherings focused on the saint’s feast day were not confined to Kildare and gatherings of varying type would have occurred at all Irish pilgrim sites across the centuries. Based on evidence found in the ninth and tenth century Irish annals, Alfred Smyth (1984, 21–22) has put forward a convincing case that many Viking raids on important monasteries coincided with major church festivals such as the saint’s feast day. These raids appear to have been deliberately planned to take advantage of the additional numbers of lay people and pilgrims at the sites. Such events are perhaps ‘…the most striking documentary evidence for popular pilgrimage in early medieval Ireland’ (O’Sullivan and Ó Carragáin 2008, 319). Viking attacks were recorded at Armagh on the feast of St Patrick, its patron saint, on the seventeenth of March in AD 869 (AU), and again in AD 933 (AU) on the feast of St Martin, the ‘…second greatest feast day...’ at Armagh (O’Sullivan and Ó Carragáin 2008, 21). The annals also record that Kildare was raided on the first of February in AD 929 (AU), suggesting a continuity of pilgrimage there (Smyth 1984, 21–22; Ó Carragáin 2003 fn 61; O’Sullivan and Ó Carragáin 2008, 319).

The Life of St Brigit was written c. AD 650 by Cogitosus, a monk at Kildare, and it provides one of the most detailed descriptions of a pilgrim gathering for the entire medieval period in Ireland (Charles Edwards 2004, 438; Bitel 2009, 98). ‘And who can count the different crowds and numberless peoples flocking from all the provinces – some for the abundant feasting, others for the healing of their afflictions, others to watch the pageant of the crowds, others with great gifts and offerings – to join in the solemn celebration of the feast of the saint Brigit who, free from care, cast off the burden of the flesh and followed the lamb of God into the heavenly mansions, having fallen asleep on the first day of the month of February’ (Life of St Brigit, 27).

Gathering of the sick at Kildare The Life of St Brigit records that many of the pilgrims who gathered at Kildare had come to be healed. Throughout the medieval period there was a widespread belief that many afflictions, diseases and illnesses were the result of punishment from God (Sumption 1975, 79– 81; Grigbsy 2003, 101; MacDonald 2006, 23). The saints, through their prayers and miracles could help cure and ease the sufferings of the afflicted and pilgrims hoped to gain a respite from pain and illness by offering prayers and visiting the shrines of saints. Elsewhere in the Life of St Brigit, 24–25) Cogitosus mentions a mill stone located at the entrance of the inner enclosure surrounding the church. This mill stone was a relic of Brigit, having been miraculously moved by the saint from the top of a nearby mountain to a mill, and following a number of miracles it was eventually brought to this location ‘…near the doorway of the ornate cashel which surrounds the church where many congregate out of veneration for the most blessed Brigit’s miracles’, (Life of St Brigit, 25). The stone had healing powers and we are told it ‘…drives disease and afflictions from the faithful who touch this stone…’ (Life of St Brigit, 25; Bitel 2009, 148). The mill stone was therefore a focal point in the sacred landscape of Kildare for all pilgrims especially for the sick.

Cogitosus paints a picture of a gathering of vast numbers of pilgrims from all over Ireland. As a high-status site Kildare would have attracted large numbers of pilgrims, but we must be mindful that the Life of St Brigit had a political agenda, to promote Kildare as a metropolitan centre exerting control over the whole of Ireland, and the author likely exaggerates the distances pilgrims travelled. The vast majority of pilgrims were from parts of Leinster where Kildare held direct influence, and, given Kildare’s links with the Úi Dunlaigne it is likely that a large proportion of pilgrims came from their territories. Pilgrims at Kildare on the feast of St Brigit The gathering took place on the 1st of February, the feast day of St Brigit. Medieval historical sources from outside of Ireland suggest the main bursts of pilgrim activities were focused on the saint’s feast day and major church holidays (Nugent 2009, vol. 1, 225; Sumption 1975, 213– 14). The saint’s feast held special importance for pilgrims 22

Gatherings of Faith: Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland Historical sources for many medieval European pilgrim sites suggest, with a few exceptions, that on the whole pilgrims were not normally permitted to touch relics (Sumption 1972, 82). Public exhibitions were rare and confined to the saint’s feast day and other church festivals. Private viewings were the preserve of the rich. Most sick pilgrims never saw the physical relics which healed them; instead they applied to their body dirt, stone or scraps of paper/cloth which had been in contact with the saint or his/her shrine (Sumption 1972, 82).

feast day: they must have surely been filled with excitement, expectations of longed-for miracles, curiosity, as well as feelings of pure devotion. Such feelings were enhanced by liturgy on the feast day, the odours of wax and incense, music, singing and chanting of prayers. The pilgrims would have joined with the religious community in the liturgical celebration. Hymns in honour of the saint were sung and the saint’s Life was read aloud. Those awaiting miracles and healing would have listened carefully to stories of the miracles performed by the saint. Felic Fabri in AD 1483 describes scenes of mass outpourings of emotion at the door of the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem, where pilgrims could be seen wailing and sobbing as they entered the holy shrine (Harpur 2002, 84). Such highly charged situations could lead to problems with crowd control at popular shrines. Accidents due to crushing and trampling by large crowds are recorded at many of the larger shrines (Sumption 1975, 214; Harpur 2002, 87). The relics of Brigit and Conláed do not appear to have been easily accessible; they were separated from the main congregation by a dividing screen. It is not possible to know if pilgrims were able to come into closer contact with the shrine which housed the relics, but Bitel (2009, 156) suggest that some higher status pilgrims may have been permitted access:

Cogitosus’s Life of St Brigit (25) suggests that both healthy and sick pilgrims were allowed access at least to the entrance to the inner enclosure. Beyond this point the corporeal relics of Brigit and Conláed rested in shrines on either side of the altar of the church. Throughout the Christian world, pilgrims were drawn to the relics of the saints and the pilgrims who gathered at Kildare would have desired to get as close to the corporeal relics of Brigit as possible. The level of access to relics was the decision of the host community and would have varied from site to site. Interestingly, three early medieval outdoor reliquaries of the gable-shrine type, at the pilgrim sites of Killabuonia, Killoluaig and Kilpeacan in Co Kerry, had openings called ‘fenestellae’, cut into one of the end/gable pieces. These openings provided access for pilgrims to the relics housed within the shrine, suggesting that some Irish pilgrim sites permitted close contact to relics. The presence of large numbers of pilgrims also raised issues of safety for the shrine and its relics. The theft and attempted theft of relics was rife in medieval Europe and any display of relics provided an opportunity for this type of crime (Geary 1978; Coleman and Elsner 1995, 109; Sumption 1975, 31–35). Individual pilgrims could also damage relics through physical contact. The practice of chipping off pieces of the saint’s tomb and even biting off pieces of relics are well documented from an early date and if such practices continued unchecked then there was potential for the destruction of the shrine (Webb 2000, 85). As a result, over time, control systems were put in place at many shrines.

‘Doors and dividing walls channelled visitors into the building, then – if they were sufficiently important – deeper into the sanctuary, circulating around the tomb with perhaps a touch of, or prayer to the saint, and then led them out of the sanctuary and the church again.’ It is possible that most pilgrims never got further then the nave of the church and they may have been content with seeing the relics or knowing they were located close by. It may be that the mill stone, a sturdy object of stone which could withstand the physical contact of vast numbers of pilgrims compensated for limited access to the saint’s corporeal relics within the church. Rituals of devotion at the Kildare Gathering

Bitel (2009, 145) suggests that Cogitosus’s Life of Brigit was composed so that the readers of the text could follow the path used by pilgrims at the site: the visitors were most likely channelled through the outer enclosure/s into the inner enclosure via the mill stone which sat at its entrance. From this point pilgrims passed into the church. The Life of St Brigit refers to the church having being recently expanded to accommodate lay people, suggesting that at least some of the pilgrims would have been permitted to enter the nave and join in the liturgical celebration of the community (Neuman 2003, 164). It is clear from the text that pilgrims to Kildare were not all equal and once inside they were divided according to social rank and gender. It is not hard to imagine the mix of emotions experienced by the pilgrims on the saint’s

Cogitosus notes that many of the pilgrims to Kildare brought gifts and offerings for the saint. The practice of gift-giving by pilgrims was recorded from as early as the fourth century across the Christian world (Sumption 1975, 154–155). Sources for European pilgrim sites suggest that pilgrims brought and left a wide range of gifts and offerings, including precious metals, jewels, foodstuffs, livestock and coins. Domestic animals such as hens, cows and pigs were brought by pilgrims who lived close by, or purchased by pilgrims at markets and fairs that coincided with the saint’s feast day (Steane 1984, 79; Davies 1988, 58; Harpur 2002 87). Pilgrims also left votive offerings which confirmed their belief in healing and miracles that had occurred or were symbolic of the 23

Nugent sickness which they hoped would be cured by the saint. Cripples who were healed often left crutches behind as proof of their belief in the healing. Other votive offerings included wax candles, while wax and metal models of body parts e.g. arms or legs, representing healed or sick limbs, are recorded at European shrines (Lightbown 1979; Merrifield 1987, 88). It was not uncommon for sailors caught in storms to make vows of pilgrimage to try and escape death. As a result, when fulfilling this vow, many presented votive offerings to the chosen saint. In the year 1307, during the canonisation of St Thomas de Cantilupe of Hereford, a group of Irish sailors presented themselves at the shrine of the saint with a very expensive votive offering of a silver ship. The sailors had been travelling from Ireland to Gascony with a ship full of hides and cloth when they were caught in a storm. Fearing for their lives, the men vowed to make pilgrimage in honour of the saint should they survive their ordeal (O’Neill 1987, 46).

other with concentric circles and the third stone was plain (White Marshall and Rourke 2000, 161). Although there is no evidence for what types of offerings and gifts the pilgrims brought to Kildare, they most likely included foodstuffs such as grain, livestock and precious metal. Those who received cures may also have left behind proof of healing such as crutches and bandages. As Kildare was a high-status shrine with a large catchment area from which pilgrims were drawn, the offerings and gifts of pilgrims would have provided a constant and valuable stream of income. Kildare pilgrim gathering, a good day out Cogitosus tells us that many of those who gathered at Kildare came for the ‘for the abundant feasting’ or ‘to watch the pageant of the crowds’, suggesting there was a strong social component to the pilgrimage (Life of St Brigit, 27). This activity was likely to have occurred away from the sacred core, within the outer enclosures or outside the monastery altogether. Although it is not stated clearly, the provision of the food was most likely the responsibility of the religious community and it is possible that feasting may have been a component of pilgrimage at other large monastic sites. The term ‘pageant of the crowd’ is interesting and open to interpretation. One wonders if Cogitosus is referring to groups of pilgrims arriving at Kildare in family or tribal groups. In early medieval England violence erupted between two villages during their annual procession to the shrine of St Egwin at Evesham Abbey (Jones 2007, 119). European sources also suggest that pilgrims engaging in long distance pilgrimage travelled in communal groups for safety and there is also some evidence to suggest that pilgrims travelled in family groups, and that pilgrimage to long distance or local shrines could become an established family tradition (Webb 2002, 78–79). The term ‘pageant’ may refer to a religious procession incorporating pilgrims and designed to channel them into the sacred heart of the shrine in a controlled manner, or perhaps he is referring to the hustle and bustle of large crowds of pilgrims. It is clear that the pilgrims gathering at Kildare combined religious devotion with secular activities. Accounts from British and Continental shrines suggest the sacred and the profane co-existed comfortably at pilgrim sites. ‘Holy days’ were, for many, holidays and pilgrimage offered a ‘good day out in a world of restricted mobility’ (Webb 2000, 42). Religious activity had been combined with the secular from as early as the fourth century continuing down to the fifteenth, as ‘…noise and vulgarity were part and parcel with the piousness of activity at all major shrines’ (Sumption 1975, 211). By the twelfth century, many European pilgrim sites were associated with fairs that coincided with the saints feast day (Webb 2000, 41; Sumption 1975, 211). The fair, with its air of festivity, added a very secular dimension to the pilgrim experience. Apart from its commercial aspects, fairs were often

The only other direct reference to votive offerings by Irish pilgrims dates to the late fifteenth century and relates to Holy Cross abbey in Co Tipperary. In the year 1488 the papal letters mention ‘…the oblations which are made by the faithful to the wood of the Holy Cross in the church of the same monastery and which are collected by collectors appointed for the purpose’ (Stalley 1987, 115). The presence of the collectors implies that Holy Cross was a well-established pilgrim centre (Stalley 1987, 115) and that the offerings occurred in such a volume that it was necessary to have specific persons designated to collect them and limit the opportunities for theft by pilgrims. Pilgrim offerings rarely survive in the archaeological record. Animals and food stuffs would have been consumed, and precious metals and wax melted down. Tentative evidence for Irish votive offerings has turned up at a small number of pilgrim sites. In the 1820s a small stone lamp was discovered at Temple Brecan/St Brecan’s church at Onaght on Inis Mór, one of the Aran Islands off the coast of Co. Galway. The lamp was found under a large slab with the inscription S[AN]C[T]I BRE[CA]NI, near the church known as Leaba Bhrecáin (St Brecan’s Bed) (Waddell, 1972–73). The lamp is a bi-conical piece of limestone with a slight hollow in the upper surface, bearing the inscription + OR [ÓIT] AR BRAN N AILITHER ‘Pray for Bran the pilgrim’, and may have been deposited by a visiting pilgrim as a devotional practice (Waddell 1972–73, 23). Recent excavations at the medieval pilgrim site of Templeteenaun, in Co Wicklow, suggest that some pilgrims left offerings of water-rolled pebbles on an outdoor altar/leachta at the site (pers. comm. Aidan O Sullivan). Another possible early medieval example of a votive offering was recovered from excavations at High Island, where three pebbles were found in a tenth to twelfth century grave. Two of the pebbles were decorated: one with a cross, the 24

Gatherings of Faith: Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland A twelfth century pilgrim gathering at Croagh Patrick

associated with activities such as games and matchmaking, providing pilgrims with ample opportunities for fun and enjoyment as well as the spiritual benefits of the pilgrimage (Webb 2000, 44; Mate 1996, 59–86; Blanton 2010, 242; Holton 2001, 20; Hen 1995, 234). The elevated numbers of visitors to the pilgrim site on the saint’s feast day provided an opportunity for profits, both for the church and merchants and craftsmen.

In the year AD 1113 another gathering was recorded in the Annals of Ulster (AU) and the Annals of Loch Cé (ALC). This took place on the summit of Croagh Patrick in Co. Mayo (Figure 3.2) and was only recorded because of a freak weather event that resulted in the death of a sizable number of pilgrims: ‘A ball of fire came on the night of the feast of Patrick 17 March on Cruachain Aighle, and destroyed thirty of those fasting’ (AU 1113)

Charles Doherty (1980) puts forward the theory that by the ninth to tenth centuries, many larger Irish monasteries were associated with fairs and markets. Many of the larger monastic sites, such as Armagh, Kells, Kildare and Glendalough, were also pilgrim destinations. Doherty believes these sites developed fixed market places, defined by crosses, and were associated with óenaig, early medieval gatherings which incorporated the fairs (Doherty 1980, 71–83; Barry 1987, 26). It would seem reasonable that to take advantage of increased numbers of pilgrims some of these fairs coincided with the saints feast day and other peak days in the pilgrim calendar.

Croagh Patrick, a conically-shaped mountain on the west coast of Mayo, was a very different pilgrim site from Kildare. Pilgrimage at the site can be traced back to prehistoric times (Corlett 1998). Today the most prominent feature on the summit of the mountain is a small, whitewashed oratory, built in 1905. Other remains include a penitential stone cairn of nineteenth century date, modern hut sites and a small hollow of unknown date known as Leaba Phádraig (St Patrick’s Bed) which has been a focus for pilgrims from at least the nineteenth century (Hughes 1991, 30–31). The summit is enclosed by a stone wall, the remains of which have collapsed inwards. In AD 1839, Otway described the wall as partly intact; today it can only be seen clearly in aerial photographs. Additionally, traces of thirty hut sites are found on the north and west side of the mountain.

Further evidence to support this hypothesis is to be found in the Annals of Ulster (AU) for the year AD 827, which refers to the disruption of the óenach of Colmán Ela of Lynally in Tír Cell by Muiredach mac Ruadrach King of Leinster (Charles Edwards 2004, 557). Lynally was a monastic site founded by St Colmán Ela. It was also a site of early medieval pilgrimage. Lynally is listed in the ninth century Triads of Ireland, alongside the great secular fairs/óenaig of Teltown and Croghan (Charles Edwards 2004, 557; Triads of Ireland, no. 35, 4–5). The feast day of St Colmán Ela on the 26 September was followed exactly a week later, on 3 October, by the feast of his nativity. Charles Edwards (2004, 557) has suggested that the fair was held at Lynally in the week between these two feasts and that it lasted several days, like many later medieval fairs, taking advantage of the pilgrims visiting for either or both occasions. The Irish Life of St Colmán Ela (BNÉ vol. 2, 171–172) states there were three fairs of Erin ‘…the fair of Teltown, the fair of Clonmacnoise, and Land Ela…’ Clonmacnoise was attracting pilgrims from at least the seventh century; the reference to a fair at the site may imply that at the time the Life of St Colmán Ela was written, it was also associated with a fair. If so it is entirely possible that the fair coincided with the saint’s feast day.

Little is known about the early history of this holy mountain but by the seventh century it was associated with St Patrick. Tírechán, writing in the seventh century, claimed that that during Patrick’s mission to the west of Ireland he climbed to the summit of Croagh Patrick and fasted there for forty days and nights (Patrician Texts, 153; Mac Neill 2007, 71–72). The earliest medieval reference to a church on the summit is found in a papal letter dating to AD 1216, dealing with the settlement of a dispute between the archbishops of Tuam and Armagh over a number of churches in Connacht, including Croagh Patrick. The dispute was settled by Pope Innocent III in favour of Tuam (Pontifica. Hibernica vol. 1, 185). Further evidence for the mountain’s spiritual importance during the early medieval period is suggested by the presence of at least four early medieval ecclesiastical sites on and around the mountain ridge (Hughes 2005, 42; Nugent 2009 vol. 2, 118, 125). Archaeological excavations were carried out on the summit in 1994 and 1995 when two of the hut sites and a number of sections of the enclosing wall were excavated. The collapse of the enclosing wall was dated to the early medieval period but it was not possible to attribute the construction of the hut sites or the enclosure to either a prehistoric or early medieval date (Hughes 2005, 34; Walsh 1994). The 1994 season of excavations

Evidence for combining fairs with pilgrimage is also found in seventeenth century records relating to Holy Cross Abbey, Co Tipperary. The mid-seventeenth century Civil Survey (vol. 1, 64) for Tipperary records the existence of two fair days there, on 1 May and 14 September, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The second date coincided with the pilgrimage day at the abbey, which was in possession of a relic of the True Cross (Carville 1973, 107). 25

Nugent uncovered a small, single-room structure located some 25m east of the modern oratory. It has been interpreted by the excavator as an early medieval church (Walsh 1996). The structure had a rectangular plan with an east-west orientation and internal dimensions of 5.6m x 3.5m. No distinguishing architectural features were noted with the exception of part of a doorway of width 0.68m in the east wall. The doorways of early medieval Irish churches are normally located in the west wall. The excavator has suggested that the doorway was built in the east to provide shelter from south-westerly winds (Walsh 1995, 7). The walls, which survived to a maximum height of 1.16m, were built of dry stone rubble and the southern side of the building was dug into bedrock (Walsh 1994, 5; Walsh 1996). The excavator identified signs of corbelling in the south and east walls and suggested that the structure was built in a manner similar to that of the boatshaped oratory at Gallarus Co. Kerry. A charcoal spread within the interior was dated to between AD 430 and AD 890. This date should be taken with caution however, as lower contexts produced sherds of medieval pottery, modern glass and a coin dating to 1978 (Walsh 1994, 7). John O’Donovan recorded the presence of a second possible church of unknown date when visiting the site in 1838. This structure was not identified during the excavations on the summit and it may have been destroyed during construction of the modern church (O’ Flanagan 1927, 216–19).

their souls. From the eleventh and twelfth centuries onwards pilgrimage came to be seen as a form of penance: a way of purging the soul from sin, either a particular sin, or sins in general (Webb 2000, xiv). As early as the sixth century, pilgrimage was introduced by Irish clerics as a penance for offences against the moral and spiritual code of the church (Irish Penitentials; Sumption 1975, 98). However, it was not until the eleventh and twelfth centuries that the expiation of sin and guilt became one of the overriding motives for going on pilgrimage (Sumption 1975, 102–103). The church did not hesitate to impose rigorous pilgrimage for serious sins even to those of high social standing (Hall 1965, 151; Hopper 2002, 126). The historical sources for the later medieval period record the name of one penitential pilgrim. In 1543, Dean Edmund MacCawell of Armagh sent Heneas Mac Nichaill on a penitential pilgrimage to atone for murdering his own son. Mac Nichaill was required to make pilgrimage to fifteen pilgrim sites around Ireland including Croagh Patrick (Gwynn 1946, 268–69). It has been suggested that this itinerary, which must have taken up to a year to complete, was worked out to equal in length some of the famous European pilgrimages (Gywnn, 1946, 269). Pilgrim rituals at Croagh Patrick This brief account of the Croagh Patrick gathering points to a number of established ritual activities engaged in by the pilgrims, such as fasting and performing a prayer vigil. The twelfth century Life of St Patrick by Jocelyn (cited by Hughes 1991, 61) reiterates these rituals at Croagh Patrick, stating that ‘…many are accustomed to spend the night awake and fasting on the mount’.

Gathering at Croagh Patrick As with Kildare, the gathering at Croagh Patrick took place on the saint’s feast day, 17 March. It is impossible to accurately gauge the numbers of people who gathered here or to identify where they came from. Given that thirty people are recorded as dying in AD 1113, it was likely a sizable group. The pilgrims appear to have gathered within the enclosure on the summit, in the open air, outside the church/churches. This was not unusual as at many Irish sites the devotional landscape of the saint was outside of, and sometimes at a distance from the main liturgical church, as for example at the early medieval monastery of St Molaise on Inishmurray, Co Sligo (O’Sullivan and Ó Carragáin 2008, 316–48). The summit of Croagh Patrick is often exposed to very harsh weather conditions so that any pilgrims who came here in winter or spring were at the mercy of the elements. Later references to post medieval and modern pilgrimages show a greater focus on pilgrimage in the summer months, for example the last Friday of July, last Sunday of July and 15 August, but even in summer months the mountain top can experience harsh weather conditions.

Fasting and vigils were a common form of prayer and there are numerous accounts from Europe of pilgrims arriving the day before the feast day and spending the night in vigil (Sumption 1975, 212; Nugent 2001; Metzler 2006, 180). Prayer vigils were common at European pilgrim sites throughout the year, but especially on the eve of, or on the saint’s day. This practice was also likely to have occurred at many Irish pilgrim sites throughout the medieval period (Sumption 1975, 300– 301; Harpur 2002, 84). The aforementioned seventh century Life of Brigit (25–26) tells of a craftsman who during the remodelling and expansion of the church containing Brigit’s relics, was having difficulties accommodating the old door in the new doorframe, and spent the night in prayer by the saint’s tomb to pray for a solution. Fasting was also used as a form of prayer. The act of fasting increased the penitential aspects of the pilgrimage and in the case of Croagh Patrick it also brought pilgrims closer to St Patrick, who fasted for forty days and nights (Patrician Texts, 153). In medieval times fasting was seen as an act of ritual purification. For pilgrims it was necessary to prepare spiritually by fasting or reciting

Pilgrimage and Penance The pilgrims who visited Croagh Patrick did not come to venerate relics, be healed or experience a miracle, and there are no medieval records of healing or miracles at this site. Instead, they came to atone for sins and pray for 26

Gatherings of Faith: Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland prayers or by going to confession prior to contact with the saint’s tomb, relics or holy places (Geary 1994, 170; Finucane 1977, 48). Miracula, collections of stories of post mortem miracles performed by the saints (Walsh 2007, 95) frequently refer to pilgrims fasting and performing vigils as part of the rituals undertaken prior to the miraculous healing by the saint (Ward 1987, 64, 86, 166). In the sixth century, Gregory of Tours recorded that Leunnast of Burges was cured of a cataract after he fasted and prayed in the church of St Martin (Metzler 2006, 142, fn. 116).

to assume a similar demographic was present at Kildare and Croagh Patrick. For those who arrived on the saint’s feast day, the experience must have been more intense than at any other time of the year, when popular shrines became ‘crowded, noisy and chaotic’ places (Harpur 2002, 84). The account of pilgrimage at Kildare suggests that the motives of some Irish pilgrims may also have had a more social aspect and there is no reason to believe a similar situation did not exist across Ireland.

Evidence for the use of fasting by Irish pilgrims is found in the twelfth-century text Betha Colmáin maic Lúacháin/Life of St Colmáin, 52–53). This refers to a holy well created by the saint in the land of Dun Carraig, where pilgrims could only be healed of disease if they fasted next to it. The eleventh/twelfth century satirical tale Aislinge Meic Conglinne/The Vision of Mac Conglinne (114) also suggests fasting was part of the rituals for pilgrims to the monastery of St Finbarr in Cork, ‘…the crowds of Munstermen going to Cork to fast on the feast of Finbarr and Nessan’. There are also two tentative references to fasting at saints’ tombs and relics to seek a cure. The eighth-century Martyrology of Oengus (245) recounts that Adomnán lost an eye as punishment for entering the tomb of St Ciarán ‘…So he fasts regarding it, and his eye is then restored to him’, and in the year AD 1397 the Annals of the Four Masters (AFM) record that:

Pilgrimage, especially to the shrine of a patron saint reinforced lay devotion to the saint. This devotion brought financial rewards such as grants of land and bolstered the status of the site. Pilgrim offerings increased the wealth of religious communities and helped to fund repairs and renovations to monastic buildings. The communal activities of prayer, along with the social aspects of pilgrimage also cemented the bonds within the wider community, especially those under the protection of the patron saint. Despite its financial benefits, pilgrimage could be a disruptive force. Pilgrims could interfere with the liturgical and devotional routines of the shrine, they could even damage relics. It was important for those in charge of the shrines to minimise the disruptions to their religious way of life (Webb 2000, 18). All shrines, especially those located in monasteries, needed to strike a balance between encouraging pilgrimage and protecting and safeguarding their own religious life-style (Webb 2000, 82).

‘Hugh Mac Mahon recovered his sight by fasting in honour of the Holy Cross of Raphoe, and of the Image of [the Blessed Virgin] Mary at Ath-Trim.’

From contemporary European accounts, we gain a sense that medieval pilgrims were motivated to undertake such journeys for a wide variety of reasons: devotion to the saints; in quest of healing; as an act of penance; to obtain an indulgence; in some cases merely to escape the bonds of everyday life (Webb 2002, 44–77). Underpinning these motives was an absolute faith in the power of God and His saints. The quest for healing and cures for oneself or a loved one was as relevant to the pilgrims of Kildare in the seventh century as it has been to pilgrims across the Christian world throughout the ages. Historical sources confirm that this quest for healing was a continuous motivation for pilgrimage throughout the early and later medieval period and today it continues to be a key concern of many modern pilgrimages. It can be taken as a certainty that pilgrims throughout Ireland went on pilgrimage in search of healing and that all sites with a reputation for healing and miracle would have attracted pilgrims throughout the early and later medieval period.

The surviving accounts of post-medieval pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick suggest a continuation of the penitential theme, with pilgrims climbing the mountain in their bare feet and performing pilgrim stations barefoot or on their bare knees. It is not known if medieval pilgrims to Croagh Patrick climbed the mountain barefoot, but outside Ireland the last stages of pilgrimage were often performed barefoot; some people crawled on their knees, while others endured a fast or a vow of silence or carried stones or chairs around their necks or wore hair shirts (Coleman and Elsner 1995, 110; Ohler 1989, 97; Webb, 2000, xiv; Davies 1988, 50–51). Conclusions The gatherings described above provide a glimpse into the world of Irish early medieval pilgrims and the motivations and rituals they engaged in. Historical sources for medieval Europe suggest pilgrimage was engaged in by people from all social classes. Rich and poor alike embraced this movement, making journeys of varying lengths to holy places, many of which contained sacred relics or the resting places of revered saints (Spencer 1968, 137; Stopford 1994, 57). It is reasonable

The gathering of pilgrims at Croagh Patrick confirms the importance of penitential pilgrimage. With the development of the concept of purgatory, penance provided a strong motive for pilgrimage that continued until the Reformation. The Irish pilgrim landscape 27

Nugent contained many penitential sites such as Lough Derg, Mount Brandon and St Mullins. It seems highly likely that Irish pilgrims, like their European counterparts would have been motivated from at least the twelfth century onwards to carry out penitential pilgrimage as an aid for the salvation of the immortal soul.

Con Manning for his comments on the text and pointing out references to the Irish pilgrims to St Thomas Cantilupe. Thanks also to Damian Sheils and Bob Withers for reading early drafts of this paper. Any errors or omissions that remain are my own.

Bibliography

Finally, these two accounts allude to some of the rituals carried out by Irish pilgrims. The practice of bringing gifts and offerings was an important part of the pilgrimage at Kildare. The bringing of gifts and offerings by pilgrims is recorded at pilgrim sites across the Christian world throughout the early and later medieval period. This practice was a universal tradition within the church and practiced at pilgrim sites across Ireland throughout the medieval era. Pilgrim offerings provided an important stream of income for the church, helping to pay for renovations and repair as well as the building of new churches, shrines etc. and as such would have been actively encouraged.

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Rituals of prayer, vigils and fasting were a general part of the activities of the pilgrims at Croagh Patrick. While the rituals at each site were unique, prayer in the form of fasting would also have been carried out at other sites and probably also by pilgrims in the final stages of their journey. Like fasting, prayer vigils were common at pilgrim sites outside Ireland and there is no reason to believe vigils were not performed at other Irish sites.

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The two pilgrim gatherings described here are sitespecific and separated across centuries. The events at Kildare involve a high status pilgrim site in the seventh century and at Croagh Patrick a penitential pilgrimage in the twelfth century. We must be mindful that the sacred landscape and rituals of each pilgrim site were unique. Certainly at Kildare, the treatment and location of the corporeal relics was not typical, but some aspects of the gatherings such as the reason why pilgrims came together, the timing of the gathering, the search for healing, belief in the heightened power of the saint on his/her feast day, are applicable to other sites throughout the medieval period. Despite the limitations of the evidence, these two accounts help to shed light on pilgrimage in early medieval Ireland and answer some of the questions about the motivations and rituals of early medieval pilgrims in Ireland. Also, by comparing these accounts to what we know of contemporary and later pilgrimage within the wider Christian world, it is clear that there was universality to some aspects of pilgrimage and that some pilgrim rituals were common across the Christian world and transcended the centuries.

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Chapter 4 Aeridheacht and Excursions: Gatherings and the Social Impact of Irish Railways, 1850–1960 Edel Barry Built Heritage Collective Ireland E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: The contribution of the development of the railway network to industry and consequent social change in nineteenth century Ireland is well known. With increased mobility, consumption grew, employment and emigration were affected, vernacular architecture began to change and the Irish landscape was altered both physically and figuratively. The railway system was also a means of gathering, facilitating the assembly of people on a grand scale. The relatively low cost of transport meant that for the first time, mass movement of those from all social classes was feasible. This paper explores how the effect of this can be seen, assessing the impression made by the railway network on the popularity of tourist areas, attendance at sporting fixtures, excursions and political and social events. Aside from increased mobilisation, the level of integration facilitated the spread of new ideas, which had a strong impact on nationalist movements at the close of the nineteenth century. Keywords: Railway, Ireland, tourism, excursion, sport, politics Introduction

nineteenth century, with excursions to popular seaside locations and beauty spots becoming prevalent.

Occasions for gatherings: events which brought together large numbers of people with a common aim abounded in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Ireland. These occasions were usually planned, as distinct from spontaneous events, and ordinarily quite informal, with the minimum of ritual or routine. There was rarely a requirement for specific costumes to be worn or for an event to be carefully choreographed (as described in Smith, this volume) and there was no intention for those occasions which were centred on a spectacle to send out a message. As with the pilgrimages referred to by Nugent (this volume), the attendees of the gatherings examined here were usually personally motivated, with the consequent assemblies ranging from small numbers to hundreds of people with a shared incentive.

A key element which aided the ability of people to attend events that were held on a wider scale to those outside their immediate locality was the gradual but comprehensive development of the transport network from the midnineteenth century onwards. This paper will address the influence of the railway network in Ireland on the assembly of people, focusing on its social impact. Consideration of a railway system brings communication and dispersal to mind, rather than concentration: the spreading of knowledge and ideas, the distribution of goods and services throughout the country, away from ports or traditional urban centres, and most poignantly, the case of emigration. The railway network undeniably contributed to the spread of Irish people worldwide in search of better opportunities. However, the railway network also brought people together, creating increased interconnectedness between far-flung corners of the country, facilitating the assembly of people on a grand scale and with increasing regularity, the effect of which can be seen in increased tourist activity, attendance at sporting fixtures, and political events. While an archaeological survey of the extant remains of a railway can inform us regarding use of materials, financial outlay, etc., it fails to capture the atmosphere or importance of the events it facilitated, as has been explored by Bonsall et al. (this volume). Thus, personal accounts, literary references, and photographs have been employed for the purposes of this paper, with a view to presenting a broader view of gatherings, the contribution of the railway to the development of the social life of the country, and consequently to progress in cultural and political attitudes.

The latter decades of the nineteenth century were a time of political unrest, and in Ireland this was characterised by a burgeoning nationalist and cultural movement. The objectives of groups such as the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and the Gaelic League permeated the zeitgeist of the nation, as was illustrated by large attendances at the regular meetings, events and demonstrations held by them at all levels from grass-roots to national (Mandle 1977, 437; Cleary 1919, 399). Fairs and markets, some of which had been in place for centuries, continued to be noteworthy occasions on a local and a regional scale, and aside from their importance in commercial terms to farming communities, constituted rare opportunities for gathering with neighbours and peers in a social context. In addition, the concept of tourism came into its own in the late

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Barry Transport prior to the railway

Railway Development

In order to understand the impact of the railway system, it is important to be aware of the transport methods which preceded it. Davies (1964, 23) says that, due to the costly and time-consuming nature of transport between main centres in the early nineteenth century, ‘country districts were little developed, communities were often self-contained, and the inhabitants of a village more than a few miles down the road, were, indeed, ‘furriners’.

In 1834 the first railway to open in Ireland reflected the importance of sea transport for an island nation as it connected Dublin to the deeper harbour at Kingstown, now Dun Laoghaire, easing the movement of mail and goods into and out of the capital. Railway construction in Ireland only began in earnest during the mid-1800s, with only 65 miles of track having been laid by 1845 (Lee 1968, 35), but a significant network was in place by 1865, with 1,838 miles of track in operation (Turnock 1998, 12). This increased network ensured that the main centres of the country were connected and could be reached relatively quickly. The lines constructed in this period took advantage of the level terrain and profitable land at the centre of the country, while the areas which had remained unconnected were those, predominantly to the west of the country, which met with difficulties due to inhospitable terrain and tended to remain under-developed. In order to expand the system further, “feeder” or branch lines began to be proposed. These lines not only brought the benefits of the railway network to hitherto-marginalised areas but also facilitated increased traffic on the main lines. They could not avail of the economies of scale which benefited the larger companies and by necessity they were run on a cheaper basis, often constructed as ‘light’ railways, which were built either to the same gauge as standard lines or to a narrower gauge. These were defined by Davies (1964, 25) as lines which were ‘constructed deliberately below the standard of a country’s main line railways for the sake of economy in construction and working and intended to open up a poor district, at the same time producing additional traffic for the main lines’. They were subject to restrictions on speed and weight of rolling stock and locomotives, while additionally being free from many of the elaborate safety measures of main line railways (Davies 1964, 25). In Ireland, those lines which were built under the Tramway and Light Railway Acts of 1860–91 were of both standard and narrow gauge, but the former were often built as branch lines by main line companies, whereas the latter constituted a veritable secondary system (Davies 1964, 67). Approximately 570 miles of narrow gauge railway were constructed in Ireland (Prideaux 1981, 5), and much of this was in place by the end of the nineteenth century. At its peak in 1920, a very substantial network of 3,044 miles was covered by the entire railway system, served by approximately 1,400 stations (Ferris 2008, 160).

The Drummond Commission was established in the early nineteenth century to investigate the level of goods and passenger traffic using existing modes of transport in the country. The second report of the commission was published in 1838, and refers to the carriage of agricultural produce and consumable goods by ‘the common cars of the country’ (Drummond Report 1838, 15). A series of maps were created by Henry Drury Harness to accompany the report. These are an enlightening resource, particularly those depicting the volume of passengers transported by public conveyance and the volume of goods traffic. These maps illustrate the network of connections linking urban centres in the 1830s, appearing to contradict Davies’ (1964) assertion of the insular nature of rural communities, with line thickness used to indicate the numbers of passengers being transported (Figure 4.1). The significance of water transport at the time is evident, with significant imports and exports passing through major city ports such as Dublin, Belfast and Cork, smaller town ports such as Skibbereen and Westport, passenger traffic on the Shannon between Limerick and Kilrush, and internal navigation on the then extensive canal network. Public transport did exist before the railway. Those who could afford it travelled by stage coach, although this was slow: just prior to the inception of rail communication, a journey on the mail coach from Cork to Dublin took eighteen and a half hours (Ó Gráda 1994, 132). The same journey, of 165 miles, could be completed in four hours on the Great Southern & Western Railway (GS&WR) (O’Mahony, 1902, 3). An Italian immigrant, Charles Bianconi, established an extensive and relatively inexpensive network of stage coaches which covered 3,000 miles a day by the late 1830s (Drummond Report 1838, 129). The cost of travelling on one of his coaches, however, while more reasonable than that offered by his competitors, remained out of the reach of the working classes (O’Neill 1973, 92–93). The Drummond Report maps indicate the dominance of certain urban centres over others, with line thickness illustrating the large numbers of passengers travelling to and from Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Belfast, and lower numbers travelling between smaller towns such as Ennis and Kilrush or Ennistymon.

The railway station itself was a focal point within the community and a hub of assembly in its own right. People of the locality gathered there for practical purposes: it was the place where passengers waited together for their trains and where they went to collect packages, newspapers, or produce delivered by the train, but the impromptu nature of their gathering did not negate the inadvertent social outcome. The last station 32

Aeridheacht and Excursions: Gatherings and the Social Impact of Irish Railways, 1850–1960 mistress at Lahinch station, Ann Skerritt (pers. comm. 18/8/2009), spoke of the importance of the station as a focal point in the community even in the latter days of the railway. She recalls how on sunny days, women would come from the town, carrying their knitting, to sit sociably together in the shade of the veranda. One assumes that the workload of housewives in the midtwentieth century made their ‘leisure’ time, still occupied with productivity, all the more precious. This quasispontaneous act of meeting on the platform, without any intent to travel, but in the awareness that given the pleasant weather, others of their peers would have the same notion, exemplifies the ad-lib nature of many of the gatherings which occurred in rural Ireland. The station was a place where visitors were greeted and farewells were said. Eddie Stack, in his short story, Time Passes, describes the expectant and joyous atmosphere on the platform at the station at Ennistymon where families awaited the return of their loved ones for the Christmas

season in the mid-twentieth century, and later, recounts the sense of despondency when the time came for their departure: ‘The green train rolled into the night, and stole Christmas with it’ (Stack 2010, 10). Social Impact As has been mentioned, prior to the advent of railway transport, the cost of public transport was out of reach of the working classes. However, early railway companies in Ireland and Britain also confined their service to the middle classes and upwards: essentially, anyone who could afford the fares. The Railway Regulation Act of 1844 required all railway companies to provide thirdclass facilities and at least one cheap train on a daily basis, stating that ‘the fare or charge for each third class passenger by such train shall not exceed one penny for each mile travelled’ (Railway Regulation Act 1944, c.85). This lower cost of transport meant that, for the first time,

Figure 4.1: Drummond Report Map. © The British Library Board. Maps 145.e.29.

33

Barry mass movement of those from all social classes was feasible, and the uptake of rail transport by less prosperous travellers belied the unsatisfactory service: the Great Southern & Western Railway attempted to discourage third-class travel by providing a ‘Parliamentary’ train which took twelve hours to travel between Dublin and Cork (Mulligan 1983, 60) and in 1850, half of all passengers carried were third class, a number which rose to 93% of total passenger numbers by 1913 (Mulligan 1983, 63). As the value of third-class passengers was recognised, the journey time fell to 7 hours in 1905 (Mulligan 1983, 60). Third-class facilities were provided by all companies, including carriages, which differed from first-class carriages in both size and comfort. Jenkins (1992, 79) refers to the Cork and Muskerry Light Railway (CMLR) First Class Carriage 13 and Third Class Carriage 12, each 29ft (8.8m) in length: they are each listed as seating 30 and 36 passengers respectively. Composite coaches, which incorporated separate first and third-class carriages within one, were introduced in the 1870s (Burton 1983, 142) and represented a significant departure in particular for light railway companies, which required and possessed minimal rolling stock.

the railway played a vital role in facilitating increased independence of movement for women from the closing decades of the nineteenth century. At this point, the suffrage movement in Ireland was in its infancy, perhaps held back somewhat by the burgeoning nationalist struggle that was deemed to be more important, while similarly, in the opening years of the twentieth century Ulster Unionist suffragettes were more focused on defeating Home Rule than on struggling for the right to vote (Kelly 1996). Perhaps the cause of women’s liberation was advanced somewhat by the increasing instances of interactions and discussions between women without the presence of men, afforded by railway companies by the provision of ladies-only waiting rooms and seating. Simmons (1991, 336) believes it to have been ‘more of a gesture than a useful expedient’, actually resulting in increased interaction between the sexes, which nonetheless would have contributed to the increased sense of freedom felt by women in the Victorian era.

The development of the railway also played an important role in the increasing independence of women. Prior to railway transport, it was difficult for women to travel about as they wished as only the wealthiest could afford private coaches, and it was not common for a respectable woman to travel alone in a public stage coach, without a male relative or chaperone to accompany her (Simmons 1991, 333). Some larger railway companies began to provide ‘Ladies Only’ carriages, and separate ladies waiting rooms were commonly included in passenger facilities at stations (Simmons 1991, 334), thereby facilitating travel by ladies on their own. This practice became commonplace, even filtering down to many of the narrow gauge stations of rural Ireland. The Castlegregory terminus of the Tralee and Dingle Light Railway, a rare example of a station building which retains much of its internal fittings, possessed a separate ladies waiting room, as can be seen in Figure 4.2. In the minutes of the West Clare Railway Company, a reference is made to a ladies waiting room at Lahinch station, albeit in a somewhat critical tone. The report to the board bemoans the fact that, amongst other problem with the station, ‘the ladies waiting room is used as a parcels office, and for commercial travellers luggage, and has neither Table nor Chairs – the Lavatories are very dirty’ (Minutes of the WCR Company, 27/5/1896). Despite the good intentions of the companies, it may be deduced from the sparse nature of the room provided at Castlegregory and the unsatisfactory conditions at Lahinch, that some companies were merely paying lip service to convention. At a time when in fact the passenger traffic on these lines was wholly insufficient to merit separate ladies facilities, and clearly the station at Lahinch was also lacking in other facilities. Nevertheless,

Figure 4.2: Plan of Castlegregory Station. Redrawn by author after Irish Railway Record Society Archive.

The railway network thus impacted not only on how people were travelling and facilitated the presence of large crowds at social, sporting and political events, as will be discussed below, but also impacted on who had the ability to travel. The contribution of the railway to increased mobility in the latter decades of the nineteenth century is difficult to measure, as it was in tandem with many other factors. These included the growth in popularity of the bicycle (Smethurst 2015), the reduction in the hours of the working week and the granting of additional holidays which came into practice from the 1870s (Simmons 1991, 291–292). The evolving labour and suffrage movements and development of ideology relating to these also had an effect, and each of these factors combined to contribute to a certain social levelling. By providing an affordable means of transport, in addition to a dedicated service to cater for both working-class passengers and ladies, the railway network actively altered the status quo, which had previously limited both of these groups in where and how they could travel. 34

Aeridheacht and Excursions: Gatherings and the Social Impact of Irish Railways, 1850–1960 Political and cultural events

trains which were put on to carry attendees. An ‘Aeridheacht Mor’ (Big Gathering) at Kilrush in 1911 incorporated ‘stirring addresses’ by various League representatives, and it was boasted that it gave:

Davies’ (1964, 23) remark that the dearth of communication and transport between villages of more than a few miles apart led to inhabitants treating each other as virtual foreigners has already been mentioned. One effect of increased interconnectedness was to reduce regional differences, breaking down distinctions between town and country and creating a national identity. Richards and McKenzie (1988, 24) refer to railways as having ‘facilitated the emergence of nationhood by establishing a national market, a national taste, a national mood’. Increased levels of integration facilitated the spread of new ideas. These resulted from greater numbers of people travelling to and interacting at social events such as sporting fixtures and excursion days, as well as a greater number of people commuting to work or travelling to trade in urban centres. This in turn impacted on everything from the decline of vernacular architecture and the spread of new methods of farming, to the growth of political and social movements such as the Land League or Home Rule.

full heart to the patriotic workers for the resuscitation of the mother tongue and Irish Ireland ideas, and also [provided] a full meed of enjoyment to the big throng in attendance in the exhibition of native song, music, dance, and our National pastimes… The attendance was especially good from the town and surrounding districts; the ladies in delightfully, light summery costumes predominating, while the excursion specials over the West and South Clare railway systems were strongly freighted with passengers from Miltown-Malbay, Ennis, Ennistymon, Kilkee and other stations on the iron road (The Clare Journal and Ennis Advertiser, 25/5/1911). In 1911, members of the Gaelic League were also encouraged to attend the organisation’s Ard Fheis (literally ‘High Assembly’, a term used to refer to group conventions), which that year was held in the Rotunda, Dublin, and was presided over by the president of the League and eventual first President of Ireland, Dr Douglas Hyde. All railway companies issued return tickets at single fares for this event, with tickets lasting a week (The Clare Journal and Ennis Advertiser 22/6/1911), leaving the members with no excuse but to be present. Specific references to the contribution of the railway in carrying crowds of people to events, such as the one above, exemplify the dominance of this means of transport for large scale transport at the time.

Politicians saw the value of the railway for their own selfpromotion, and the concept of the ‘whistle stop tour’, which developed in the US to allow politicians to travel the country meeting voters and canvassing, was popularised in Britain by Mr Gladstone, who in his Midlothian Election campaign of 1879 used the station as a political meeting place. One onlooker referred to the implicit danger created by the crowds vying to meet the politician: ‘there have been some strange scenes at the various stopping places on the west coast route during Mr Gladstone’s journeys and railway officials have not been without anxiety lest some politician or pressman, indiscreet with zeal, should be ground under carriage wheels. The eager crowds catching sight of the venerable statesman’s face … never seemed to think of the peril of the platform edge’ (Pendleton 1894, 30).

The demand for transport to public political meetings is shown through objections to the failure of railway companies to provide special trains for certain such events, while these decisions may reveal the political predilections of the board members of railway companies. A Home Rule Demonstration took place in Dublin in April 1912, but the West Clare Railway did not afford ‘facilities to the people of Clare to attend’. A letter from the Ennistymon Rural District Council was read at the following meeting of the company, protesting against their lack of action (Minutes of the WCR Company, 25/4/1912). The following year, somewhat surprisingly, a special train was run in November for the annual Manchester Martyrs demonstration at Ennis: an event to commemorate the 1867 execution of three members of the republican Fenian movement following the murder of a policeman in Manchester (O’Neill, 2012). The earnings from this amounted to £4.3s.9d (Minutes of the WCR Company, 4/12/1913), suggesting perhaps that it was simply not financially viable for this particular company to run special trains for such events, when receipts from a single fair day in the same year amounted to £83.17s.11d (Minutes of the WCR Company 8/4/1913). The WCR also refused a special train from Kilrush for an evicted tenants demonstration at Ennis, incurring disapproval from Clare County Council (Minutes of the WCR Company,

In the opening years of the twentieth century, organisations such as the Gaelic League, which had been established in 1893 with a view to preserving and reviving the Irish language (Foster 1988, 447–48), presided over a number of events calculated to foster participation in Irish cultural activities and the promotion of the language. According to newspaper accounts of these events, such as that mentioned below, these occasions were advertised as ‘Aeridheacht’, using an archaic Irish word for ‘gathering’, and usually incorporated a programme of athletic competitions, a musical programme and a political demonstration. In addition to being intrinsically social, occasions such as these were employed to stir nationalist political feeling. Advertisements for these events, which were held by local branches in every town throughout the summer months, often included references to special excursion 35

Barry 8/5/1913). Although the railway company was privately owned, it was evidently deemed to have a responsibility to cater for the requirements of its catchment area, in the manner that might be expected from a nationalised company. However, one may assume that, as the shareholders of the railway company were for the most part landowners, they were loath to facilitate a demonstration against their own kind, and perhaps the demonstration was less well attended as a result of the dearth of public transport. The company did, however run a special train from Kilrush to Ennis for a pro-treaty meeting in Ennis on Sunday 30 April 1922, at which the leading politician Michael Collins was the principal speaker. Thereby either betraying where the sympathies of the shareholders lay, or alternatively they may have assumed that this would be a profitable venture for the company. However, this also was ultimately a failed venture as the railway line was torn up on the way, presumably by ‘irregulars’, the term employed to describe armed forces of the anti-treaty side (Share 2006 3), and the train could not proceed beyond Ennistymon (Taylor 1994, 167; Share 2006, 24).

in 1887’ as factors which contributed to its success in this period. In the mid-nineteenth century, sea-bathing came into vogue (Foley 2016, 125) and amenities such as promenades were constructed for the enjoyment and wellbeing of the visitor. A new awareness of, and appreciation for beauty spots became apparent. A note in the Irish Builder (vol 29, no. 665, 252) in September 1887 makes the claim that ‘The opening of the West Clare Railway makes the grandest coasts in the world accessible to the tourist’. Such beauty spots were often a considerable raison d’etre for railway companies, particularly those in unproductive areas. The promotion of, and co-operation with these places is exemplified in the construction of the Blarney terminus of the CMLR on a portion of the grounds of Blarney Castle, which was rented from Sir George Colthurst and Mr Sherrard for this purpose. This station, a modest corrugated-iron building, remains extant nearby the castle. Passengers who wished to visit the castle were admitted at a half-price rate on production of their ticket, and a special entrance to the castle was provided from the station (Jenkins 1992, 10). Blarney was not alone in endeavouring to profit from the increased connections offered by the CMLR. The chairman of the company, Dr Richard Barter, was also the proprietor of St Ann’s hydropathic establishment. Under his auspices, land adjacent to the spa was donated for the construction of a station. Residents of St Ann’s who wished to avail of the facilities of the Muskerry Golf Club, which was established in 1907 and had a direct connection to the spa, were offered reduced fares by the CMLR (O’Leary 2000, 22). The advantages of having a railway station conveniently located to tourist attractions were clearly not lost on either the railway companies or the proprietors of the attractions themselves.

Even though the dominance of rail travel had begun its gradual decline at the beginning of the 1920s, railways were still influential in their ability to carry large numbers of people over a considerable distance, cheaply and quickly. Incidents such as that described above assert the value of the railways as targets, demonstrating their importance as a means of populating meetings and political events with supporters. Numerous attacks on railheads, ranging from laying barricades across tracks and early versions of ‘tiger’ kidnappings of station workers to the destruction of bridges (Share 2006) occurred throughout the Civil War which followed the signing of the Treaty (Foster 1989, 511) thereby creating huge disruption to what remained at the time the central means of communication in the country (Share 2006, 8).

With the railway network, the possibility of organised group travel came into being. The first example of this was a moral venture (Simmons 1991, 296), when in 1841 in England a businessman and Temperance supporter called Thomas Cook organised a special train on the Midland Counties Railway Company (MCRC) to take a group of about 500 people from Leicester to a Temperance meeting at Loughborough, twelve miles away, for the return rate of a shilling (Hamilton 2005, 37). The concept of the excursion train was born, and Mr Cook was so taken with the success of the venture that he began to organise similar trips on a regular basis. In 1845, he organised his first commercial tour from Leicester to Liverpool (Simmons 1991, 296). The name of Thomas Cook has remained prominent in the travel industry, although he quickly gained competition in the field, not only from other travel agents but also from railway companies themselves.

Tourism The concept of travelling to beauty spots on ‘a journey of pleasure and observation’ (Simmons 1991, 295) had been in existence since the seventeenth century, while the notions of being a ‘tourist’ or engaging in ‘tourism’ came about in the eighteenth century. The health benefits of ’taking the waters’ at spa towns had been realised by the Romans (Cooper 2008, 477), and the therapeutic qualities of the mineral wells in Lisdoonvarna had been ‘known and appreciated for centuries’ (Lewis 1837, 183). Lewis 1837, 183) attributes the poor popularity of the wells at the beginning of the nineteenth century to ‘the bad state of the roads, and the want of proper accommodation’. As a result, it was during the nineteenth century that factors combined in favour of the development of such places. Foley (2016, 75) refers to the peak years of the Lisdoonvarna spa wells occurring between 1880 and 1920, and cites the ‘improved roads, a steamboat service from Galway and the building of the West Clare Railway

As railways companies encouraged leisure travel by offering excursion specials, the growth in facilities in fashionable locations became apparent. Foley (2016, 67) refers to the growth in social facilities ‘in tandem with the curative’ aspects of the spa town of Lisdoonvarna, in 36

Aeridheacht and Excursions: Gatherings and the Social Impact of Irish Railways, 1850–1960 particular the construction of several hotels throughout the nineteenth century. A number of the structures which had their infancy in this period remain extant and operational, and perhaps represent the most fitting vestiges of the mutually-beneficial development of the railway network and of tourist facilities at this time. Throughout Ireland, this is evident in the opening of hotel premises by the railway companies themselves, beginning with the Great Southern Hotel in Killarney, which opened in 1854, and was constructed on land owned by Lord Kenmore, who capitalised by introducing a ‘system of issuing tickets that allowed visitors to tour the lakes, the Torc waterfall and other scenic arts of his demesne’ (Furlong 2003, 164). The GS&WR had yet to reach Killarney at the time so the opening of this hotel was something of a publicity stunt. Not to be outdone, the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) opened its first hotel in the same year: the Transatlantic Hotel, which provided an attractive frontispiece to their Galway terminus (Horgan 2002, 98). The construction of these hotels reflected the growing demand for accommodation in popular tourist locations, and the desire on behalf of the railway companies to capitalise on this demand. In the manner of the great station buildings, the companies sought to provide notable buildings which retained an element of familiarity, giving an impression of solidity and power. The examples mentioned here were constructed in a classical idiom, reminiscent of large country houses.

of travel to the middle and working classes, bringing tourism within their range of affordability.

Figure 4.3: Golf Links Hotel, Lahinch, railway and wagon visible in foreground. Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.

These planned excursions led to large gatherings of people having shared motivation for travelling, arriving together at a pre-destined location (Figure 4.4). Special trains were organised for important public holidays such as Whitsun in June, Easter, or Garland Sunday, which took place on the last Sunday of July. The latter was rooted in pre-Christian tradition and was suppressed by the clergy in the early nineteenth century (Doherty 2004, 130). An account of Garland Sunday in Lahinch in 1814 describes it as being centred on a pilgrimage to the holy well of Saint Bridget, some miles outside the village, where people would assemble to invoke and pray to the saint, before passing the remainder of the night in merriment and moving on to Lahinch for a Sunday of festivities (MacNeill 1962, 276). Later in the nineteenth century the focus shifted from religious to social, with later accounts emphasising the crowds and the atmosphere in the village. In 1897, The Clare Journal and Ennis Advertiser (29/7/1897) refers to entertainments provided by a travelling circus, ‘Aunt Sallies’, shooting galleries, and ‘the various games of chance worked by the usual itinerant speculators who frequent racecourses and similar resorts’. The same piece refers to an influx of ‘hundreds of people…from the surrounding districts, while special trains brought a number of excursionists from Ennis, Miltown-Malbay, Kilrush, and Kilkee, we believe something like eleven hundred tickets being issued for the day on the West and South Clare lines’. The popularity of the day had not diminished many decades later and in 1948 The Clare Champion (31/7/1948) reported that ‘three special trains from Ennis brought 1,300 passengers from Ennis and the intermediate stations’. Aside from a preponderance of amusements and

The Lahinch Golf Hotel was constructed in 1896, following the opening of the Golf Links in 1892 (Figure 4.3). The WCR Company conceded a reduced rate for the carriage of materials for the construction of the building along the line from Cappagh and Kilrush, but declined the request of the Hotel Directors to provide special and exclusive facilities for booking travellers into the hotel (Minutes of the WCR Company, 3/4/1895). Some months later, however, it was agreed that a private avenue could be constructed from the station to the entrance to the hotel (Minutes of the WCR Company, 27/11/1895) suggesting that perhaps the WCR directors were beginning to see the advantages of a mutually beneficial relationship. The construction of hotels such as these provided an important service to the tourist industry in the localities in which they were built, ensuring that some of the visitors remained in the areas for longer than a few hours, and while they were geared towards individual travellers or families as opposed to facilitating gatherings of people, one may assume that these buildings inadvertently assisted in bringing people together in a social context. Excursions Although initially popular holiday destinations were the preserve of the upper classes, access to the railway and the concept of a day excursion opened up the possibilities 37

Barry street entertainment, the day was an important commercial occasion for established businesses: ‘Public houses, shops and restaurants, and, in fact, anyone with anything to dispose of, were kept busy all day’ (Clare Champion 31/7/1948). A brief mention is also made in this report of the ‘large numbers’ of people who made their way to Saint Bridget’s well to perform ‘the traditional “rounds”’ indicating that the customary origins of the feast day had not entirely died out. MacNeill (1962, 275) credits the local train service with helping to preserve the tradition, having ‘ensured that there would be no falling off in attendance in the decades between the pre-mechanical age and this present time of omnibuses and motor cars’. Garland Sunday occurred at a time in the rural calendar when there was something of a lull in the workload, the major tasks of the summer, such as saving the hay and the turf, had usually been completed, and it was time to begin to wind down towards the end of the year. Thus it was an occasion of great relaxation and celebration, as illustrated by the following childhood recollection of a local man: ‘It was a special day for all of the local community, all of the farmers and others of Lahinch… that was their day out. It was often said people would say ‘we’ll see you Garland Sunday’ – that was a common expression’ (The Clare Champion, 24/7/2015, part ii, 1).

appears in The Clare Champion (22/7/1911). This member recounts, in glowing terms, the procession of six or seven hundred members, ‘accompanied by the brass band of the St Patrick’s Total Abstinence Society’, proceeding to Ennis station, where ‘a finely equipped train with eleven carriages, and two powerful engines, full steam up, was lying at the platform’. There was a break at Charleville where the group ‘just stayed long enough to buy all the oranges and apples in the fruit women’s baskets’ before ‘moving onwards to Cork and thence to a bustling Queenstown’. There they encountered a ‘group of seven hundred from the Women’s Holy Family Confraternity of Tralee’ before returning that evening to Ennis. The Temperance movement, which had begun as a national endeavour in the 1840s (Couling 1862, 149) was not affiliated with the Catholic church but at the same time, it benefited from its support, as it contributed to a decline in public drunkenness, particularly noted around Christmas and St Patrick’s Day celebrations (Wheatley 2005, 68). Wheatley refers to a Temperance rally which took place in Longford town in 1910, at which ‘it was claimed that anything from 12,000 to 30,000 people and some 40 bands were in the town on 3 July, including 3,000 brought by special trains from Dublin and 800 from Athlone’ (Wheatley 2005, 68). An excursion of the ‘Forrester’s Club’ is described thus: ‘a saloon carriage was in readiness to convey the party to Ennistymon’, whence it continued to the resort at Lisdoonvarna. A trip was taken to the Cliffs of Moher, where ‘a hasty shower and fog over the sea prevented us enjoying the sea breeze … and to a certain extent obscured our view of the natural scenery of the place which can compare with any part of the world’ (The Clare Champion, 12/8/1911). The party halted at Saint Brigid’s Well and had half an hour to ‘promenade’ at Lahinch before returning to the station. It seems that these excursions were undertaken purely with leisure in mind: the participants, despite belonging to a group with a specific focus, were entirely free from any official procedures while taking part in the excursions described above. These romanticised, evocative descriptions were calculated to advertise the organisations more so than the railway, but effectively describe the atmosphere and spectacles which might have been encountered on any railway excursion around the turn of the century (Figure 4.5). As can be seen from the examples described above, gatherings were seen as being opportunities for commercial gain, not only by the railway companies that facilitated the travel, but also by local business people. This awareness had not only been a recent occurrence: Nugent (this volume), in her discussion of gatherings of pilgrims at designated sites in the twelfth century, indicates that even then local merchants and craftsmen saw the increased numbers of visitors to those sites on saints’ days as providing increased prospects for making a profit.

Figure 4.4: Poster advertising excursion to Kilkee. © Irish Railway Record Society Archive.

A lengthy account of an excursion of the Ennis Holy Family Confraternity, written by one of its members, 38

Aeridheacht and Excursions: Gatherings and the Social Impact of Irish Railways, 1850–1960 Sport

St Patrick’s Day. This ideology was evident on a more local level also. In 1903 the directors of the WCR approved a suggestion by the company manager to sponsor a medal for each of the football and hurling clubs at Lahinch, at a cost of £10 and £20, respectively (Minutes of the WCR Company, 4/12/1903).

The impact of the railway network on leisure time and social activities is manifest in attendances at sporting fixtures. Special train services were arranged for major events, particularly following the inception of the GAA in 1884. When major matches began to be held in Thurles, Cork and Dublin, the railway facilitated the transport of large numbers of spectators to these. It also eased the movement of large groups of spectators to race meetings, football and cricket fixtures, and boating events. Regular advertisements for sporting events appear in newspapers of the time. ‘The Great Athletic Carnival of the South’, for example, was planned for 9 July 1911. The organisers ‘cannot fancy anything more interesting for the people of Clare than to see all that is good in the manhood of the country pitted against each other’, and note that ‘special trains, at cheap fares, will arrive from Limerick, Tuam, Athenry, Kilrush, Kilkee, and intermediate stations’ (The Clare Champion, 17/6/1911). A sports event held in Miltown-Malbay on St Stephen’s Day 1910 was reported as ‘a decided success from every point of view, and were patronised by thousands of spectators’ (The Clare Journal and Ennis Advertiser, 2/1/1911). The railway held the monopoly on large-scale transport at the time, which had the potential to cause problems: in 1910 the Kerry football team refused to travel to the All-Ireland final due to the poor travelling conditions provided by the GS&WR, Louth consequently taking the title by default (The Clare People, 22/9/2009). Gaelic football grew as a spectator sport in the years preceding the First World War, with championships ‘drawing large, paying crowds, often coming in chartered trains to permanent sports grounds (Wheatley 2005, 67).

The minutes of the West Clare Railway Company contain regular references to subscriptions to annual race meetings at Kilrush, Miltown Malbay, Lahinch and Ennistymon, and County Agricultural Shows, as well as requests from committee secretaries to put on excursion trains to serve these events (Figure 4.6). The success of these specials was monitored carefully, with managers’ letters read at meetings reporting on receipts. A hurling match between Clare and Limerick, held in Kilkee on Sunday 28 September 1912 was reported to have earned £35.16s.19d for the WCR (Minutes of the WCR Company, 9/10/1912). In 1911, The Company subscribed £5 to the Kilrush Race Committee (Minutes of the WCR Company, 14/10/1911), and it was later reported that the receipts from the same amounted to £35.9s.4d. £15 was granted to the Miltown Malbay Race committee, the receipts from the previous year amounting to a substantial £202.5s.12d (Minutes of the WCR Company, 18/7/1911). A sports meeting held at Blarney on the 14 August 1887 saw more than 2000 passengers carried on the newly established CMLR, which at that point had insufficient rolling stock. The large numbers necessitated the temporary conversion of goods wagons into passenger carriages. The 2pm train was unable to start due to the weight of its load, and hundreds had their tickets refunded as there simply was not space for the sheer volume of passengers (Jenkins 1992, 13). Sporting fixtures were an integral component of the growing cultural revival. Events such as those described had a strong social element. A sense of community spirit, loyalty and amicable rivalry created a bond between supporters, while displays of skill and technique

Figure 4.5: Passengers waiting for a train. © Clare Library Local Studies.

The value of sports fixtures as a source of revenue for railway companies can be seen in their promotion of these games: most prominently, in the sponsorship of the ‘Railway Cup’ by the GSR in 1926 Table 4.1). This interprovincial prize was subsequently annually played for on

Figure 4.6: Special at Lahinch Railway Station. © Irish Railway Record Archive.

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Barry delighted enthusiasts, and, when combined with the tension resulting from the competitive aspect and the collective shared interest, these elements fostered an atmosphere replete with camaraderie. The sense of shared passion and consequent sense of community has been illustrated by Hognestad (this volume) in reference to fan culture and football. However, the ethos behind these events was not purely recreational in nature, with a considerable crossover, for example, between the GAA and the Nationalist movement (Foster 1989, 454). Gatherings of large groups of people at events such as those detailed above allowed for the dissemination of knowledge and ideology. The significance of such interaction was not underestimated by the British Government, and in a bid to impair the workings of the GAA due to its connections to the Nationalist movement, special excursion trains to GAA fixtures were banned in 1917, although those travelling to race meetings were still permitted (DeBúrca 1999, 108).

greetings on the street and talked with animation over a cup of coffee in an improvised café or over a half-one of port wine or whiskey in the ‘snug’ of a public house’. Without doubt fairs and markets were occasions of considerable importance in both the economic and social life of a town. Ireland remained a predominantly agricultural country until at least the middle of the twentieth century, and the sale of cattle, sheep, pigs and horses was a cornerstone of the economy. From the beginning of the railway era, bulk transport eased the movement of these animals, which had previously often been walked to their destination, losing condition and value en-route. They could now be transported further afield and in larger numbers. Tens of thousands of head of livestock were carried on the WCR annually. A fair held in Ennistymon on the 24 March 1908 holds the record for the greatest number of wagons of livestock transported from the fair, with 156 wagons and nine special trains laid on for the day (Taylor 1994, 59). Fairs and markets were fundamental to the existence of certain towns; these were also clearly lucrative events for railway companies, particularly those, like the WCR, which served agricultural districts. These fairs were frequented mostly by locals, but they also drew buyers from further afield, and the addition of the railway to the equation served to widen the catchment area and broaden the social sphere of these occasions. The negative side of this strong social element was associated with the spending of some, or perhaps all of one’s gains in one of the many public houses which invariably constituted a large component of the commercial enterprises in Irish towns, and O’Connor (2003, 129) refers to the commonplace occurrence of a ‘court day sequel’ to a fair day. ‘As drink flowed old scores, hurts, animosities and vendettas surfaced and for as long as the fairs prevailed, faction and friction were apt to marry’

While for the railway companies, sporting events were veritable golden geese to be capitalised upon accordingly, it is doubtful whether the GAA would have risen beyond a grass-roots organisation were it not for the availability of a nationwide transport network. Regardless of the profit-driven motivation of the companies that provided the transport, the outcome was clearly beneficial to the fans and the organisation. As gatherings they were inherently social occasions, attended by fans driven by a shared mutual interest, competitive spirit and parish and regional loyalty. In addition, the railway contributed to how certain sports were actually played: Torkildsen (2005, 37) refers to ‘mob football’, a game without rules, being played prior to the advent of the railway network, but teams playing against those from other cities necessitated the provision of a fixed system of rules ‘to ensure that they were playing the same game. The rules came in the 1850s following the first Football Association meeting in a London pub’ (Torkildsen 2005, 37)

Conclusions For the inhabitants of Ireland in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, particularly the rural dwellers, life continued much as it had for centuries, although the railway was increasingly providing opportunities for commercial activity, most farming activity was on a self-sufficient basis and therefore life was dominated by work. However, the concept of leisure time came into being in the nineteenth century: innovations including the week-end, the day excursion, the seaside holiday and spectator holidays all came about during the Victorian era (Torkildsen 2005, 36). Although farm workers might have had to rely on intermittent income from the sale of produce, factory or retail workers were no longer confined to growing their own food and instead had cash to spend (Torkildsen 2005, 36). This facilitated their attendance at sporting fixtures, concerts, plays, or travelling on excursion specials to the seaside, allowing them to interact with similarly-minded people and participate in the growing cultural movements. This increased notion of leisure time, coupled with an

Fairs For rural Irish people at the turn of the century, leisure activities and leisure time were still an unusual concept, and as a result many work-related activities had a strong social component. This can be seen most clearly in the concept of the ‘meitheal’, a word referring to cooperation between two or more farmers (O’Dowd 1981, 45), which was often employed for work such as turfcutting or hay-making for which several workers were often required. The favour would be repaid in turn. These events created a strong sense of camaraderie and community amongst the participants, with storytelling and eating around an open fire. In a similar manner, events such as fairs, although ostensibly centred on essential economic activity, were inherently social. O’Connor (2003, 127) refers to the fair as ‘the social occasion par excellence where people met, mingled, and chatted over a drink or a treat. Women exchanged cordial 40

Aeridheacht and Excursions: Gatherings and the Social Impact of Irish Railways, 1850–1960 admittedly-limited disposable income, provided the foundation for a new-found sense of mobility or at least a disposition towards mobility. A variety of opportunities for assembly were availed of. These ranged from planned events such as fairs, or events based on pilgrimage traditions, which had existed for centuries, to events which were organised by any one of a number of culturally- or politically-motivated organisations which had come into being in the latter decades of the nineteenth century. There were also essentially individually-motivated outings resulting in a number of people, admittedly sharing the same intention, being brought together in the same place, initiating an impromptu gathering, such as the growing trend for visits to the seaside or ‘taking the waters’ of a mineral spa. Notwithstanding the prevailing social impetus behind all of these gatherings, such events played a vital role in shaping life in Ireland throughout the struggle for Independence and into the modern era. The GAA, for example, was profoundly and explicitly linked with the nationalist movement, as was evidenced by the large degree of shared membership between the GAA and revolutionary factions such as the Irish Volunteers (DeBúrca 1999, 221). The impromptu gatherings which have been mentioned were not merely glib diversions, as they facilitated increased interaction, and resulted in the dispersal of knowledge and ideas between participants.

Acknowledgements The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Irish Railway Record Society, CIE Archives, Clare County Library Local Studies section, and the National Library of Ireland, in their provision of resources at my disposal for the purposes of this paper. The late Ann Skerritt, last station mistress at Lahinch station, provided a fascinating personal account of her experiences at the station for which I am very grateful. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the several friends and family members who have contributed their proof-reading skills and recommended sources.

Cork & Muskerry Light Railway Great Southern Railway Great Southern & Western Railway Midland Counties Railway Company Midland Great Western Railway West Clare Railway

CMLR GSR GS&WR MCRC MGWR WCR

Table 4.1: Company Name Abbreviations. Bibliography

Primary sources Drummond Report Second Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Consider and Recommend a General System of Railways for Ireland. Thomas Drummond. Dublin: HMSO, 1838.

The provision of a comprehensive railway network was a dynamic influence from the latter half of the nineteenth century. It was through the provision of cheap excursion fares, new facilities and most notably, a widespread network of connections, that the railway influenced how people could travel: the speed at which it was possible, the distances that could be covered, the volumes of people travelling simultaneously, as well as who could travel. Thus, a mutually beneficial association existed between the railway companies and those organisations which co-ordinated these gatherings. Increased possibility for movement over considerable distances facilitated the growth and development of rural towns that might otherwise have succumbed to a slow, but inevitable decline, were it not for their popularity as holiday destinations. The railway also assisted in reviving or maintaining existing events, for example, it brought a new dimension to age-old traditions such as Garland Sunday, ensuring its survival across the transition from a pilgrim ritual to an occasion replete with social intent. This continued popularity of Garland Sunday is somehow representative of the impact of the railway network on gatherings in Ireland at a time of upheaval, with a movement from a predominantly rural, agrarian population to an increasingly urban one, that had a range of new freedoms and opportunities for leisure time. It effectively facilitated large attendances at gatherings until such a time as private transport came into popular use.

Minutes of the WCR Company. Minute books of the West Clare Railway Company.1883 – 1925. Railway Regulations Act. Railway Regulation Act 1944, chapter 85. http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1844/en/act/pub/0085/ print.html,[Accessed 13/10/13]. Newspapers The Clare Champion. The Clare People. The Clare Journal and Ennis Advertiser. The Irish Builder.

Secondary Sources Burton, Anthony. The National Trust Guide to Our Industrial Past. London: George Philip, 1983. DeBúrca, Marcus. The GAA: a hHistory, 2nd ed. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1999.

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Barry O’Connor, Patrick. Fairs and Markets of Ireland: A Cultural Geography, Newcastle West: Oireacht na Mumhan Books. 2003.

Cleary, Arthur E. “The Gaelic League, 1893–1919.” Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 8, no. 31 (1919): 398–408. Cooper, Chris; Fletcher, John; Fyall, Alan; Gilbert, David and Wanhill, Stephen. Tourism: Principles and Practice, 4th ed. Essex: Pearson Education, 2008.

O’Dowd, Anne. Meitheal: A Study of Co-Operative Labour in Rural Ireland. Dublin: Comhairle Bhealoideas Eireann, 1981. O’Leary, Sean. “St Ann’s Hydro.” Old Blarney: Journal of the Blarney and District Historical Society 5, (2000): 3–31.Ó Grada, Cormac. Ireland: A New Economic History 1780–1939. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.

Couling, Samuel. History of the Temperance Movement in Great Britain and Ireland. London: Tweedie, 1862. Davies, W.J.K. Light Railways: Their Rise and Decline. London: Ian Allen, 1964. Doherty, Gillian M. The Irish Ordnance Survey: History, Culture and Memory. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2004.

O’Mahony, John. The Sunny Side of Ireland: How to See it by the Great Southern and Western Railway, 2nd ed. Dublin: Thom & Co., 1902.

Ferris, Tom. Irish Railways: A New History. Dublin: Gill & Macmillian, 2008.

O’Neill, Joseph. The Manchester Martyrs. Cork: Mercier Press, 2012.

Foley, Ronan. Healing Waters: Therapeutic Landscapes in Historic and Contemporary Ireland. Oxford: Routledge, 2016.

O’Neill, Thomas P. “Bianconi and his Cars.” In Travel and Transport in Ireland, edited by Kevin B. Nowlan, 82–95. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1973.

Foster, Robert F. Modern Ireland 1600–1972. London: Penguin Books, 1989.

Pendleton, John. Our Railways: Their Origin, Development, Incident and Romance, vol. 1. London Paris & Melbourne: Cassell & Company Ltd, 1894.

Furlong, Irene. “Frederick W. Crossley: Irish Turn-of theCentury Tourism Pioneer.” In Irish History: a Research Yearbook, no. 2, edited by Joost Augusteijn and Mary-Ann Lyons, 162–176. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2003.

Prideaux, John Denys Charles Anstice. The Irish Narrow Gauge Railway. Newton Abbott: David & Charles, 1981. Richards, Jeffrey and MacKenzie, John M. The Railway Station: A Social History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Hamilton, Jill. Thomas Cook: The Holiday – Maker. Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2005. Horgan, Donal. The Victorian Visitor in Ireland: Irish Tourism 1840–1910. Cork: Imagimedia, 2002.

Share, Bernard. In Time of Civil War: The Conflict on the Irish Railways 1922–23. Cork: Collins Press, 2006.

Jenkins, Stanley C. The Cork and Muskerry Light Railway. Oxford: The Oakwood Press, 1992.

Simmons, Jack. The Victorian Railway. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991.

Kelly, Vivien. “Irish Suffragettes at the Time of the Home Rule Crisis.” History Ireland 4, no. 1 (1996):33–38. Lee, Joseph. “The Railways in the Irish Economy.” In The Formation of the Irish Economy, edited by Louis M. Cullen. Cork: Mercier Press, 1968.

Smethurst, Paul. The Bicycle – Towards a Global History. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Stack, Eddie. Short Stories, 2nd ed. Galway: Tintaun, 2010.

Lewis, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: Lewis, 1837.

Taylor, Patrick. The West Clare Railway. Brighton: Plateway Press, 1994.

MacNeill, Maire. The Festival of Lughnasa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962.

Torkildsen, George. Leisure and Recreation Management, 4th ed. Oxford: Routledge, 2005.

Mandle, William F. “The I.R.B. and the Beginnings of the Gaelic Athletic Association.” Irish Historical Studies 20, no. 80 (1977): 418–438.

Turnock, David. An Historical Geography of Railways in Great Britain and Ireland. Ashgate: Aldershot, 1998. Wheatley, Michael. Nationalism and the Irish Party: Provincial Ireland 1910–1916. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Mulligan, Fergus. One Hundred and Fifty Years of Irish Railways. Belfast: Appletree Press, 1983.

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Chapter 5 Passionate Gatherings: The Global Sociality of Football Hans K. Hognestad University College of Southeast Norway E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: Football is a major arena for social gatherings in societies all over the world, forging questions of identity and sociality in a highly globalised sporting culture. While commodification has altered football’s cultural practices during the last decades, a strong continuity in the sociality of match-day rituals is also evident. While commercialisation has changed footballing habits and also the subjective experiences of supporters, there are aspects of football’s social practices that seem to change slowly. Conflict and local rivalry continue to dominate as platforms for generating identities, while socially, fans continue to drink, sing and sometimes fight around games. Hence, when we talk about how the game has been ‘hypercommodified’ it is still necessary to contextualise and particularise both styles of activism and styles of support within the sociality of the gatherings that the game provides. The way fans relate to several clubs should be read as a combination of media transmittance and more physical explorations and social networking between football communities. While it is increasingly difficult to make simple divisions between an authentic local culture of football and the commodified global business side of the game, it is possible to predict a development in which global neoliberal market strategies will increasingly be suited to the pressures of ‘localism’ inspired by footballing communities that are struggling to keep control of the football clubs they cherish. In a globalised world, football maintains a strong sense of identity attached to place, the stadium, while the sociality of its supporters constitutes a complex web of embodied and mediated gatherings. Keywords: Football, identity, sociality, globalisation Introduction

social rituals of football may entail actions and behaviours which appeal to its spectators not only because something is at stake, for example win, lose, championship, relegation etc., but also because of the physical proximity and the bodily performances of players on the pitch and the fans in the stands. Typically ’a good atmosphere’, in which not only the players but also the spectators contribute, is key for judging the quality of the total football experience among its fans and commentators.

From the development of what we may refer to as modern sports (Guttmann, 1994) over a century ago, the social drama of male, professional football (soccer) has held a privileged position in many nations. Since the game evolved from a British origin during the nineteenth century, football clubs have become dominant symbols of civic and national identities on a global scale. As a consequence, millions of people in different parts of the world, predominantly men, share a passion for not only the same game, but also in some cases for the same team. Top clubs from the dominant European leagues are currently global reference points, which structure social gatherings globally during the games on offer during a season. This is true whether it occurs together with friends in front of a TV, in a bar in Lusaka or inside a stadium in London (Millward, 2011).

In this chapter I shall delve into some examples of how conditions for these bodily performances have changed for football fans during the past couple of decades, drawing primarily on my own studies in Norway and in Britain since 1992. While the fan cultures of football are intertwined in the commodification of the game, the politics of football identities are also increasingly shaped by bonds of mutuality and transnational networks.

While concepts of gatherings are applied most widely in historical, and indeed pre-historical, studies this chapter analyses aspects of meaning attached to the modern gatherings of the global game of football. In modern societies it can be argued that for many, football offers a bodily sociality and a sense of community that is quite unique in societies driven by calls for individualisation (Russell, 1997, 64; Holt, 1992, 172). Judith Butler (2015:8) argues that the concerted bodily enactment of gatherings with political prerogatives tends to signify a lot more than what is actually expressed. Similarly, the

From intense fans to detached flaneurs For the last quarter of a century football fandom has developed into a sign of cultural sophistication for the educated classes, evident in the many super stadiums designed to attract the tastes of highbrow spectators. There is significant cultural capital embedded in the game and this is evident also in the numerous ‘home-made’ football fanzines and fan biographies published in the same period including When Saturday Comes (from

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Hognestad 1986- present) and Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch (1992). Simultaneously the elite levels of the game have gone through a dramatic commodification in societies structured around a global capitalism. This is evident in the sales of television rights for the screening of matches from the most popular leagues to a global audience. The English Premier League (EPL) is the biggest league in terms of finance and global access. For the 2016–17 season every club in the EPL will receive a minimum of £100 million from the current television deal (BBC, 2016). These processes have altered the social practices for many fans over a relatively short period of time. With global TV coverage of games, football may be used as a modern example of a globalised variety of gathering (Figure 5.1). However, while these gatherings may appear to be similar in different parts of the world, football thrives on the intense interest and passion embedded in the expression of local identities and experiences of topophilia (Bale, 1991). It is possible to view this development as a move from a community-based subculture to a global cultural reference point and a mega business, involving media and transnational corporate ownership structures. Richard Giulianotti (2002, 29) has labelled these processes in football as examples of hypercommodification.

decades the top professional game has been dictated by high capitalist principles, evident both in terms of multinational ownership structures, new, modern, allseated stadiums, higher ticket prices and options for watching an almost endless amount of pay-per-view live games on TV or streamed via the internet from all over the world. How have these global processes changed the life of fans? Traditionally loyal fans would turn up to support their team unconditionally, in contrast to assumed ‘fair weather fans’ who would only turn up for big games in the sun. From the early 1990s, the notion of ’supporting your team’ became just as evident in the purchase of the latest replica top or other items from the new football fashion industry. Richard Giulianotti’s (2002) taxonomy of football spectators evolving between two basic binary oppositions; traditional-consumer and hot-cool, framed within a conceptualisation of thin and thick solidarity, appears as an apt conceptual tool for understanding the shifting characteristics of the various allegiances between club communities and different types of spectators. In this taxonomy, Giulianotti (2002) presents ‘the supporter’ as a hot and traditional spectator who has a long term emotional relationship with a football club. He, and sometimes she, might offer more than just vocal support during games by buying shares in the club and also expensive supporter gear from the club shop. The supporter is usually a season ticket holder, travels to away games and spends a considerable amount of his income on supporting the team. This attitude can be seen as the basis from which football clubs have, for decades, generated, and sometimes exaggerated, their status as symbolic icons for a local community or ethnic group. For a supporter the latter position is far more important than issues of financial instability. A supporter defines him- or herself as part of a ‘we’ marked by what Giulianotti (2002, 34) calls ‘a thick solidarity’, in which children are socialised into the club through primary relations to parents and siblings. For a supporter, players and managers may be adored and cherished, but they generally come and go on a professional basis. Therefore, the supporters generally see themselves as the most legitimate emotional stakeholders. They constitute a subcultural community in which the stadium stands out as a symbolic representation of the club.

Figure 5.1: A mural of the Arsenal FC club crest at the Backyard dance club in Lusaka, Zambia, reveal a strong connection to the global sociality of the game.

After a period in which the culture and the business of football had gone through dramatic structural changes and with a focus on the complex interconnections between local and global communities, Giulianotti introduced Robertson’s term ‘glocalization’ to football studies (Giulianotti and Robertson, 2009). It is common to date the dawn of the modern, commodified game to 1992 when the English Premier League was established and the American-Australian owned BSkyB media corporation purchased exclusive rights to screen live matches and also to some to extent dictate the timing of fixtures. This marked the beginning of a new era as many other leagues in Europe followed suit and adopted similar marketing and media strategies. For more than two

However, the commodification of the game has to some extent dislocated players and club officials from supporters. This has left the fans to experience their club and its traditions mostly through the purchase of replica tops and a variety of other club merchandise, alongside subscriptions to commercial TV channels and web sites streaming live games. A fan is more likely to accept the rules of the free market if s/he realises that the club depends on great financial contributions in order to exist at the desired level of professionalism while enabling the club to generate sufficient cash to purchase good players. 44

Passionate Gatherings: The Global Sociality of Football By transforming spectators into consumer-oriented fanidentities clubs run the risk of seeing fans drift away to other markets, should their marketing strategies fail. This is evident also in the way current star footballers have become fully integrated into celebrity culture. For example, football’s new markets, particularly in Asia, have seen the rise of fans of individual players like Christiano Ronaldo rather than clubs and their adhering communities. Hence the ‘fan category’ threatens to break into a more liquid flaneur, guided first and foremost by a consumerist orientation that can satisfy his or her shifting tastes and desire for new experiences. Hence the flaneur can also stand out as a symbol of football’s recent move from being widely considered to be a working-class cultural activity, to becoming a source for generating cultural capital for a much broader population.

end of May 2016. The club is owned and run by the supporters. Ironically and impressively, the club will now be in the same division as the old club that was moved to Milton Keynes for business purposes. Should such movements be seen as examples of a naive local heroism, as argued by Andrews and Ritzer (2007), or should we see them as genuine, influential responses to the commodification of the game? This author first came into studies of football supporters when, as part of my thesis in social anthropology, I travelled to Edinburgh to conduct a study among the supporters of Heart of Midlothian. The year was 1992. The English Premier League had just been established alongside Sky Sports, the broadcasting company that became a driving force in the money-spinning era football was about to enter, but football in general was at a threshold at this time in Europe. Three years after the Hillsborough disaster and the subsequent Taylor Report (1990) on ground redevelopment, British clubs were faced with the prospect of substantial and financially demanding modernisations. In the case of Hearts, their chairman at the time, the late Wallace Mercer, had proposed a takeover of local rivals Hibernians (Hibs) to create a new ‘Edinburgh United’. Instead of two clubs whose stadiums had been located since the 1880s in the inner-city townships of Leith and Gorgie respectively, this new, single club would have a stadium outside the city centre. The proposal stirred strong sentiments among both sets of supporters at the time, and their united protests eventually led to all such plans being put to rest. The two traditional rivals from the Scottish capital are among the oldest clubs in the world, founded in 1874 and 1878 respectively, and both eventually decided to modernise their old stadiums after a series of attempts at relocating their inner city stadiums to sites outside the city. In my studies of Hearts fans I was at the time looking for supporters who showed their commitment by regular match attendances and active participation in the social rituals of a match day routine (Figure 5.2). Back then it would probably have been hard to understand what a football flaneur could be, but ‘glory hunters’ was a term for describing spectators who would only chase the successful teams. In Edinburgh it was often used to describe locals who would travel to Glasgow to follow the big teams, Celtic or Rangers, rather than support one of the local teams, Hibs or Hearts (Hognestad, 1995).

Stadium disasters and franchising The passionate struggle for symbolic victory in the stands, expressed, for instance, through chants and on the pitch in terms of a winning result, has on numerous occasions been accompanied by fights between rival supporters, with ‘symbolic hatred’ flowing into riots, and sometimes into serious violence, or ‘hooliganism’ (Armstrong, 1998). Some of the most serious incidents of crowd disasters in the history of the game were caused by poor facilities and/or poor policing, as was the case at the famous Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989, where 96 supporters of Liverpool FC died (Darby, Johnes and Mellor, 2005). These accidents also happened as a result of dense crowds taking part in the often-intense social drama of a football match. In a more general way, Victor Turner (1974, 35) points to this tragic aspect of most social dramas when he reminds us that… ‘In the social drama [...] stress is dominantly laid upon loyalty and obligation, as much as interest, and the course of events may then have a tragic quality’. The rise in independent fanzines in Britain from the late 1980s and the establishment of independent supporters clubs, should be contextualised as grassroots responses to a crisis within the game caused by a mix of disasters and the subsequent proposals for modernisation of old, outdated stadiums, ownership issues and a general commodification of the game. For example, when the owners’ proposal to move Wimbledon FC from their base in London to a stadium in Milton Keynes, 84km (56 miles) north of the English capital was sanctioned by the English Football Association in June 2002, it took just a few days for a group of supporters to found a new club, AFC Wimbledon (Millward, 2011: 99). This followed a season marked by protests and boycotts against what the former supporters saw as putting franchising over community concerns. AFC Wimbledon started at level 9 of the English league system in 2002 and, after five promotions in nine years, was promoted to the professional league in 2011. Currently the club is playing in the third tier (League 1) after gaining promotion at the

The political and moral aspects of support were at that time expressed in various protests and demonstrations against the owners and through the numerous fanzines that had started to appear in club communities all over Britain from around 1990. These fanzines were written and produced in a punk inspired ‘do it yourself’ style at low cost, usually with the aid of a photo copy machine (Haynes, 1995). Some fanzines were aware of how clubs tried to attract new and more wealthy spectators, a policy against which the fanzines expressed considerable resistance. At Hearts, Wallace Mercer was known to be a 45

Hognestad local supporter of the Conservative Party. A defeat at home to Airdrie in December 1992 triggered around 1000 supporters to line up outside the boardroom at Tynecastle Park to show their dissent at the way the club was run. For an outsider, the protests must have resembled a Socialist Workers strike from a bygone age, as chants of ‘You’re just a fat Tory bastard’ and ‘You stole our money’ were aimed towards the bar of the board room where Mercer and his wife tried to enjoy some post-match socialising (Hognestad, 1995). The co-editor of Dead Ball, a Hearts fanzine that existed between 1990 and 1992, described the visions and proposals for a multipurpose stadium situated outside the city centre as a ‘post-modern nightmare’, in tune with popular academic lingo at the time, referring to the multitude of ‘leisureactivities’ the stadium would be endowed with. This is not dissimilar to a lot of fan reactions at the time and in the nearly two decades that have passed since then. After environmentalist groups also voiced their protests against relocation to a green-belt site outside the city, Hearts finally announced in December 1992 that they were in fact planning to redevelop Tynecastle into a smaller allseated stadium (Hognestad, 1995). Since 1993, Hearts have knocked down three stands of the old stadium and replaced them with new, modern all seated stands.

the ground in the early 1990s. Normal match-day routines were still evident in the number of crowded pubs and social clubs around the stadium as supporters revelled in the extended social rituals of an important game. I had agreed to meet a friend and a former research subject after the game, in a pub called The Diggers. As I entered I found my friend with the same co-drinkers and fellow supporters from back in 1993, standing more or less in the same spot, about three metres from the exit door. They were all eighteen years older, and one of his friends had brought his son along, as he was now old enough to enter licensed premises, showing lines of continuity and heritage in support. That apart, time had stood more or less still. The bar staff served the same types of mostly locally-brewed ales, the walls were adorned with the same photographs, all illustrating the history of Hearts FC and the interior colours still matched those of the Hearts strip; maroon and white. So, in the age hypercommodification, there are oases of status quo to be found in the world of football. During my first field trip to Edinburgh I was shown a cherished collector’s item from a Hearts supporter who proudly pulled up a booklet with a fixture list from the 1895–96 season. At the end of the booklet there were several advertisements. One of them was for the ‘Midlothian Arms’, which, he told me, was the old name for the Tynecastle Arms, located just outside the Hearts ground. The ad read: ‘Before and after games, enjoy our fine selection of wines, spirits and ales’ In many places, as a social ritual football has changed as little as the rules of the game itself. Male participation in the extended social rituals before and after games has been passed down through generations (Collins and Vamplew, 2002). However, in Britain, the Taylor Report meant that a number of clubs did decide to relocate to more suburban locations, which, in turn, has also altered the practices around games as stadiums outside city centres generally have poorer social and physical infrastructures. While the two Edinburgh rivals decided to stay at the locations of their old stadiums, moving forward to the time of writing in 2016, it is not difficult to find examples of new stadiums which to some may appear as realisations of the ‘post-modern nightmares’ depicted by the fanzine editor some two decades ago. Indeed, a visit to Arsenal FC’s new ground in London, whilst relocated remarkably close to their old ground at Highbury, can be read as something of a symbol of the new era, with a cool, state-of-the-art design and facilities tailored for comfortable consumption on match days, be it inside the ground or in the adjacent ‘Arsenal World’, a shopping centre designed to cater for all tastes in footballing fashion and expressions of Arsenal allegiance (Figure 5.3). With a name identical to that of a major sponsor, the Arab airline company Emirates, one could easily argue that Arsenal’s new stadium, along with most new football stadiums built in recent decades, resembles a ‘non-place’, a term introduced by the French anthropologist Marc Auge (1995) to describe the lack of culture-specific

Figure 5.2: People in Edinburgh gathering in the streets to watch the open bus team parade and celebrate the 2012 Scottish cup win for Heart of Midlothian FC.

There are further plans for redeveloping their old main stand, built in 1914 and designed by the legendary architect Archibald Leith (Inglis 1987), in order to expand their current 17.500 capacity. While the new ground has, in certain ways, altered match-day experiences from the days of predominantly standing terraces, it is also possible to locate striking similarities in the sociality taking place before, during and after games. A visit to Tynecastle Park for the New Year’s derby match against local rivals Hibernian on 1 January 2011 revealed an atmosphere and a level of noise which was by no means less partisan and intense than that witnessed in 46

Passionate Gatherings: The Global Sociality of Football significance attached to transient physical spaces such as airports, supermarkets, hotel rooms and motorways. This alignment to new football stadiums is thought provoking and relevant, yet we need to contextualise these global impacts on spectator practices. Examples of ‘localism’ and culture specific dialogues in chants and crowd practices in the modern game of football also prevail within the global club communities. For example, Arsenal Football club initiated the ‘Arsenalisation’ project in order to prevent cultural alienation among its dedicated fans. This meant moving objects and making references to the old ground and to their history in the walls of the new stadium (Smith Wergeland, 2012). Similarly, a club perhaps symbolising the ‘casino capitalism’ of the modern game more than any, Manchester City, have named a main stand of their new Etihad stadium after a heroic player from the past: Colin Bell, who played for the club between 1966 and 1979.

commodification of the game that evolved from the 1990s, especially in the mediated fandom of long distance supporters of English football clubs. In Scandinavia, and especially in Norway, football fans have for decades developed parallel allegiances to one local Norwegian team and one English team. The historical background for this mediated fandom and huge transnational support for English clubs is of particular interest in understanding this globalisation and commodification of football. While television and the internet allow many fans to indulge in virtual consumption of football (Hjelseth, 2006), the more recent business of specialised football pubs have opened up additional collective ways of experiencing and consuming football. Along with the dawn of budget airline companies and new media technologies, these have, to a significant degree, altered the accessibility of other football leagues since the early 1990s and, as a consequence, the sociality of fan practices. The Scandinavian branch of Liverpool’s supporters club has a pub guide on their web site, listing more than 300 pubs in Norway recommended specifically for supporters of Liverpool (Official Supporters Club Norway, no date). On top of this, the guide also recommends dozens of pubs and bars abroad, based on recommendations from travelling supporters, from The Faroe Islands via the Philippines to Peru! Hence this is part of a global phenomenon in which the brewing industries have expanded their traditional business of serving pre- and post-match drinks for football revelers going to games in a stadium, to exploiting a market of supporters watching games on TV in pubs. Supporters of various teams turn up, most of whom will be wearing replica tops and other symbols of specific club allegiance. Games are announced on the internet and, on busy days in the busiest pubs, where four or five games are screened simultaneously, one can even get information on which corner of the bar will be showing which game during the next week or so.

Figure 5.3: Emirates stadium, home of Arsenal FC, London, and an example of the new commodified game.

While the rituals and dramas of the game at different levels have many similarities, it is also not difficult to note striking differences in the ritual practices of the game, sometimes even within the same city. In August 2010 I travelled to London to watch two pre-season friendly matches; Millwall vs Hearts on one day and Arsenal vs Celtic the next. The leap from the The New Den, Millwall’s home ground, to that of Arsenal was like time travel, moving between a vibrant crowd in a small stadium with basic facilities to a more leisurely and consumerist-oriented crowd in a giant stadium, with a state-of-the-art design that expressed wealth more than anything.

Football pubs provide opportunities for a far more public and community-based kind of long distance support as fans turn up supporting their teams with or without club colours, creating a collective, social basis for support. The originally individual, idiosyncratic orientation around support for English teams has given way to more collective ways. This is akin to that of supporting a local club, central to which is a licenced premises and a shared consumption of beer. Bohemen is a football pub located in Oslo city centre. Typically it is exclusively frequented by local fans of Vålerenga who particularly use it before and after games in the domestic league, yet it has an inclusive profile with regards to fans of foreign teams. Oslo-based fans of a variety of English clubs use this pub as a social meeting point for watching games, while the transnational following of the politically leftist-oriented German club St. Pauli is evident as around a dozen Vålerenga fans gather regularly to watch and support their German team during televised games from the Bundesliga. The pub is known for its multicultural profile

Virtual and physical sociality in the pub Outside Britain, the hedonistic rituals of drinking in connection with football games are a rather new phenomenon. In Norway, it is possible to locate the dawn of drinking rituals around regular club games with the 47

Hognestad and games from the Italian and Spanish leagues are also known to attract a substantial number of customers/fans. Hence, the pub is a place where supporters of the local club mingle with a variety of other fans, of which Norwegian fans of English clubs dominate the scene. In February 2011, on a very busy night in the Bohemen, the weekly Wednesday evening sports quiz took place as a local derby from Hamburg in Germany kicked off on the screens, which was being followed by around ten Norwegian fans of FC St. Pauli. However, the main event of the evening was the Champions League game between Arsenal and Barcelona. As it turned out, Arsenals own TV-channel, Arsenal TV, had turned up with a crew to film and interview some of the circa 100 Arsenal fans present, as part of a documentary about long-distance Arsenal fans. The TV crew had been hired in Milano in Italy, and they documented the celebrations, of Oslobased Arsenal fans watching their team turn a 1–0 deficit to a 2–1 win.

Such conflicts point to interesting contestations about notions of good and bad support and issues related to hegemonic fan moralities. Current public discourses on football and globalisation in Norway take various shapes and positions. The influence of supporter movements has developed from zero to substantial in the last twenty years. Most supporter clubs for Norwegian teams currently have a voice in board rooms and during the last decade have proved to be influential voices in anything from ownership issues to protests against ‘eventification’. For example, protesting against the way that match-day organisers at numerous football grounds have tended to marginalise the voice of the stands at the expense of electronic noise from the tannoys. Since the late 1990s, elite-level Norwegian club football has gone through similar processes of commodification as witnessed in other European leagues. This is evident in a dramatic increase in income from live coverage of games from the Norwegian Premier League. Simultaneously, supporter practices show that impulses are no longer drawn solely from English terrace culture. Inspiration from Latin fan practices are evident in the number of choreographed displays of support at Norwegian football grounds, and in the shape of huge home-made banners simply referred to as tifos. While this shows how local Norwegian club football supporters have adopted a strengthened belief in self-made ways to express support, it also shows how inspirations and impulses can move across borders. For football fans cheap flights are one of the benefits of neoliberal capitalism which were not present at such a scale ten or twenty years ago, providing them with opportunities to travel and explore footballing communities elsewhere. For club supporters across Europe it is currently commonplace to develop relationships with club communities located in other leagues and nations. These networks may generally induce a sense of belonging that appears to be best suited to the category of a ‘follower’; a connoisseur of the game and the club in question, but without the locally rooted sense of belonging reserved for Giulianotti’s (2002, 33–34) definition of ‘the supporter’.

Contestations of identities Especially since the turn of the new millennium there has also been a noticeable rise in the number of proactive supporters of local Norwegian teams defining themselves in opposition to what are widely seen as the ‘anglophile’ supporters. Such symbolic acts have especially evolved around games between Norwegian and English teams, where a clear majority of attending fans are Norwegian. The latest example of this was when the Norwegian Premier League side Stabæk played a friendly against Manchester United’s reserve team in January 2010. Unknowingly, the Norwegian Manchester United fans had gathered behind a banner invisible to themselves, but visible to everyone else in the stadium, that simply read: ‘Anglophile losers’, which had been put there by fans of a team widely perceived as the nouveau rich club in Norway, and with a history of top flight football dating back only to the mid-1990s. Similar expressions of a nation-centred morality have taken place at European games elsewhere in Norway, notably between Brann and Everton playing in the ‘last 32’ of the UEFA cup in February 2008 and in a Champions League game between Rosenborg and Arsenal in Trondheim, in September 2004 (Hognestad 2009, 365).

During a visit to Rome in 2009 I watched the Champions League final in a packed bar right next to the Roman forum. The forum appeared to be a gathering spot for an amazing international breadth of Roma fans visiting the city both to see the European final and also to watch Roma’s last game of the season against Torino at the Olympic stadium. Fans from Glasgow, Southampton, Manchester (City), Ljubljana, Bergen, Moscow, Lierse and Christchurch had gathered in the days leading up to the last league round of Serie A. Eight fans from Glasgow were all Celtic supporters and some of these had set up what they called a Celtic Roma brigade, giving an outsider cause to speculate that Catholic pilgrimage to the Pope’s home city was part of their allegiance with Roma. Catholicism may have played a structuring role in the Celtic-Roma connection, but finding intentional proof

Antagonism towards long distance supporters of English clubs from the more recent supporter cultures of local Norwegian clubs, are coloured by calls for monogamy and thick solidarity, rooted in local communities. In this sense, ‘Anglophiles’ are ridiculed by some for a superficial involvement in the media-dependent glamour of the English Premier League, which is more akin to that of the flaneur. However, the support for English clubs in Norway precedes the era of hypercommodification and, for many individual fans, has a longer history than support for Norwegian teams. Moral definitions of who constitutes the ‘real’ fan, raise more complex issues than a question of birth place or which passport one holds. 48

Passionate Gatherings: The Global Sociality of Football among the Glaswegians proved futile. A Glasgow-born Celtic and Roma fan with Iranian parents argued that sectarianism played no part in that connection, an argument supported by the presence of the Manchester City fan who also supported Celtic’s major Glaswegian enemy, Rangers as well as Roma. For the Roma fans from Slovenia, supporting Roma was explained more through cross-border animosities towards the northern Italian cities of Milano and Torino; hence they attached themselves to the north-south divide evident in Italian football. The only holy site that all seemed to visit during their days in Rome appeared to be a pilgrimage to a mural depicting Francesco Totti, a rare example of a one-man club in current elite-level European football, who recently announced that he will retire in the summer of 2017, aged 40. Totti holds a privileged status as something of an icon among the Roma supporters. The mural is located in a back street 50 metres from The Surge, a locally-owned, but Irish-themed bar where many Roma fans meet up to drink.

supporters constitutes a complex web of embodied and mediated gatherings. Bibliography Andrews, David L. and Ritzer, George. “The Grobal in the Sporting Glocal.” Global Networks 7, no. 2 (2007): 135–153. Armstrong, Gary. Football Hooligans – Knowing the Score. Oxford: Berg, 1998. Auge, Marc. Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity. London: Verso, 1995. Bale, John. “Playing at Home: British Football and a Sense of Place.” In British Football and Social Change, edited by John Williams and Stephen Wagg, 130–145. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1991. BBC. “Premier League in record £5.14bn TV rights deal.” http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31379128. 2015. [Accessed 2 September 2016].

Concluding remarks Televised football and commodification have altered football fandom during the last decades, although a strong continuity in the sociality of match day rituals is also evident. The expression of allegiance and loyalty in football has become commonplace through the purchase of the latest club strip or other commodities from the football fashion industry. While these processes and contestations have changed footballing habits and also the subjective experiences of supporters, there are aspects of football’s social practices that seem to change slowly. Conflict and local rivalry continue to dominate as platforms for generating identities, while socially, fans continue to drink, sing and sometimes fight around games. Hence when we talk about how the game has been ‘hypercommodified’ it is still necessary to contextualise and particularise both styles of activism and styles of support within the sociality of the gatherings that the game provides. The way fans relate to several clubs should be understood not only as a media phenomenon, but also as a result of physical explorations and social networking between football communities. Such explorations are in accordance with Giulianotti’s (2002, 34–36) definition of a follower, rather than a fan or a supporter. Spectators with a ‘hot’ involvement are, however, likely to use these labels synonymously, be it as spectators, customers, hooligans or political activists against commodification. While it is increasingly difficult to create simple divisions between an authentic local culture of football and the commodified global business side of the game, it is possible to predict a development in which global neoliberal market strategies will be increasingly suited to the pressures of ‘localism’ inspired by footballing communities struggling to keep control of the football clubs they cherish. In a globalised world, football maintains a strong sense of identity attached to place in the form of the stadium, while the sociality of its

Butler, Judith. Notes Toward a Theory of Assembly. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 2015. Collins, Tony and Vamplew, Wray. Mud, Sweat and Beers – a Cultural History of Sport and Alcohol. Oxford: Berg, 2002. Darby, Paul; Johnes, Martin and Mellor, Gavin (eds.) Soccer and Disaster – International Perspectives. London: Routledge, 2005. Giulianotti, Richard. “Supporters, Followers, Fans and Flaneurs: a Taxonomy of Spectator Identities in Football.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 26, no. 1 (2002): 25–46. Giulianotti, Richard and Robertson, Robert. Globalization and Football. Los Angeles: Sage, 2009. Guttmann, Allen. Games and Empires – Modern Sport and Cultural Imperialism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Haynes, Richard. The Football Imagination – A Study of Football Fanzine Culture. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 1995. Hjelseth, Arve. Mellom Børs, Katedral og Karneval: Norske Supporteres Forhandlinger om Kommersialisering av Football [‘Between Stock Market, Cathedral and Carnival: Norwegian Supporters’ Negotiations about the Commercialization of Football]. Unpublished PhD Thesis.University of Bergen, 2006. Hognestad, Hans. The Jambo Experience –Identity, Social Practice and Meaning Among Supporters of Heart of Midlothian Football Club. Unpublished Cand. Polit. thesis. University of Oslo, 1995.

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Hognestad Hognestad, Hans. “Transglobal Scandinavian –Globalisation and the Contestation of Identities in Football.” Soccer and Society 10, nos. 3–4 (2009): 358–73. Holt, Richard. Sport and the British. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. Hornby, Nick. Fever Pitch. London: Gollancz, 1992. Inglis, Simon. The Football Grounds of Great Britain. London: Willow Books, 1987. Liverpool Official Supporters Club Norway. “Pub Guide.” http://www.liverpool.no/pub-guide/. No date. [Accessed 2 September 2016]. Millward, Peter. The Global Football League – Transantional Networks, Social Movements and Sport in the New Media Age. London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Russell, Dave. Football and the English. Preston: Carnegie Publishing, 1997. Taylor, Lord Justice. The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster: Final Report. London: HMSO (CM962), 1990. Turner, Victor. Dramas, Fields and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society. New York: Cornell University Press, 1974. Wergeland, Even Smith. “Stadium Arcadium – Fotballarkitekturen i Framtida.” [“Stadium Arcadium – the Football Architecture of the Future”]. In Kampen om Tribunen – Fotball, Identitet og Makt [Battle of the Terraces – Football, Identity and Power], edited by Hans K. Hognestad and Arve Hjelseth, 243-81. Oslo: Akademika, 2012.

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Chapter 6 Food, Gatherings and Social Power: Case Studies in Feasting and Community Gatherings in Iron Age Scotland Julia E. M. Cussans1, Stephen J. Dockrill2, Ian Armit2, Julie M. Bond2 and Jo T. McKenzie2 1

Archaeological Solutions Ltd., 2University of Bradford E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: This paper examines evidence for gatherings at two Scottish Iron Age sites, based on archaeozoological data. The first is the primary ditch deposit from Old Scatness Broch, Shetland. This large deposit of prime meat animals, including whole beasts and additional leg joints, has been interpreted as a community feasting event and display of conspicuous consumption, where the remains of the feast were left on display within the boundary ditch to indicate the wealth and high status of the settlement. The nature of this deposit compared to the more typical, ‘everyday’ midden deposits will be discussed. The second case study looks at the site of Broxmouth hillfort in East Lothian and the distribution of pig body parts, which suggest an over-representation of porcine forelimbs. Here the interpretation of pigs and pork leg joints being used as tributes suggests the coming together of the local/regional community at the focal site of Broxmouth. In both of these case studies the sharing and exchange of food is interpreted as a means of bringing the community together and likely establishing and reinforcing power hierarchies. Keywords: Scotland, Iron Age, feasting, animal bones, social power Introduction

site, the main focus of which is a broch and subsequent Iron Age settlement, was first discovered in the 1970s during the construction of an access road to Sumburgh Airport, located immediately to the north. Excavations began in 1995 under the auspices of Shetland Amenity Trust and the University of Bradford, directed by SD. Excavations came to an end in 2006 and large parts of the site were preserved and consolidated as a visitor attraction. This included the broch tower and its later internal modifications and additions, with the result that evidence from the primary occupation of the broch is limited. The excavations at Old Scatness are now close to full publication with the archaeology being reported on in three separate volumes (Dockrill et al. 2010; Dockrill et al. 2015; Melton et al. forthcoming), with only the post medieval volume outstanding. Old Scatness is located in close proximity to at least two other brochs, the wellknown site of Jarlshof (Hamilton 1956) c. 1.5km to the south east and the Eastshore Broch c. 1.7km to the north east.

The study of feasting in archaeology has become ever more important over the last few decades, as there has been a growing realisation of the importance of feasts in the forming and maintaining of societal relationships. Dietler and Hayden (2001, 2) point out that understanding feasting is crucial to our understanding of social and cultural processes in ancient societies. Hayden (2001, 27) notes that feasting and gift-giving are two of the major means for transforming food surpluses into other commodities, including social power, in order to improve one’s chances of survival and reproduction. This paper aims to examine some aspects of Iron Age feasting and gathering through the analysis of archaeozoological case studies at two Scottish Iron Age sites: Old Scatness Broch, Shetland and Broxmouth hillfort, East Lothian. Both sites have long histories of occupation and extensive animal bone assemblages. The case studies are quite different in nature, with that from Old Scatness being concerned with a single deposit, representing a single event or several closely spaced events. In contrast, the Broxmouth case study looks at the representation of a single taxon (pig) in terms of age distribution and body-part representation across the bone assemblage as a whole.

The focus of this case study is the Iron Age, in particular the earliest Iron Age phase relating to the construction and primary occupation of the broch tower. In the overall site phasing this period is referred to as Phase 4 and dates to 400–200 BC (Outram and Batt 2015). As well as the broch construction this period is defined by the creation of a large revetted ditch surrounding the settlement. With regards to Old Scatness it is the primary fill of this ditch which is the focus of this paper. Occupation of the site continued throughout the Iron Age, when further structures were added and modifications made to the broch. Phase 5 of the site sequence is defined by the addition of several

The Sites Old Scatness Old Scatness is a multi-period site located on the southern tip of the Shetland mainland (Figure 6.1). The

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Cussans et al. wheelhouse structures during the first century BC and the first century AD; the middens relating to these are employed for comparative purposes here. Overall, the Iron Age economy at Old Scatness was dominated by domestic plants and animals, principally barley, cattle, sheep and pig, but exploitation of wild resources was commonplace and included a selection of fish and shellfish as well as birds, sea mammals and plants (Dockrill et al. 2015).

Occupation of the site began in the seventh to fifth centuries BC and went through several phases and subphases of modification and expansion. Starting as an unenclosed settlement (Phase 1) and evolving into a univallate (Phase 2, fifth to fourth centuries BC) and then trivallate hillfort (Phase 3, fourth to third centuries BC), the ditches then became in-filled and the settlement expanded over the ramparts (Phase 4, third century BC). Phase 5 (third to first century BC) shows further infilling of the ditches but any evidence of occupation structures in use at this time had been truncated by later activity. Ditch filling continued into Phase 6 (first century BC to second/third centuries AD), which also saw significant remodelling of the settlement with construction of several roundhouses, demonstrating dense occupation of the interior, and the construction of a new rampart. The end of Phase 6 saw the abandonment of the settlement, which appears to have been continuously occupied since the seventh century BC. This paper does not focus on any one phase of occupation but looks at the animal bone assemblage as a whole, with a focus on the representation of pigs at the site and their potential use as tribute animals, as has been postulated for the site of Dun Vulan in the Western Isles (Parker Pearson and Sharples, 1999). However, the majority of the evidence comes from Phases 3, 5 and 6 which yielded the largest animal bone assemblages. Economic evidence at Broxmouth was dominated by a large assemblage of domestic mammal bones indicating that husbandry of domestic mammals was the mainstay of the economy throughout the life of the settlement: in addition there was some very limited exploitation of wild mammals, birds, fish and shellfish and although plant macrofossils were not routinely sampled for (given the norms of the time when the site was excavated), some were collected and indicate the presence of barley, wheat and oats (Armit and McKenzie 2013). Methods

Figure 6.1: Map of Scotland showing the location of Old Scatness and Broxmouth.

The overall recording of both animal bone assemblages was carried out at the University of Bradford. The principal recording and analysis of the Old Scatness animal bones being carried out by JC with input from JB, whereas the majority of recording of the Broxmouth animal bone was carried out by placement students under the supervision of JC, with final data processing and analysis carried out by JC. All of the bones were recorded using codes from NABONE (NABO 2008). Both assemblages were analysed for species presence and abundance, age structure of analysed samples, occurrence of butchery, presence of pathology (J. Wooding for Broxmouth) and body-part representation, although methods employed varied slightly between the two assemblages (see Cussans 2013; Cussans and Bond 2015 for full details). For both sites, animal ages were assessed through tooth wear, long bone fusion and the numbers of neonates. Cattle and pig tooth wear was assessed following Grant (1982) and assessed mandibles

Broxmouth Broxmouth Iron Age hillfort, formerly located on the East Lothian plain in south east Scotland (Figure 1) was a long-lived Iron Age settlement excavated in the 1970s by Peter Hill (Hill 1979; Hill 1982) as a large-scale rescue excavation which investigated the site prior to the area being turned over to quarrying. One of the most notable elements of the site was the excellent preservation of human and animal bone, which is extremely rare for the majority of mainland Scotland and a great deal of attention was paid to its recovery and analysis. The site was recently published (Armit and McKenzie 2013) following an extensive post-excavation project undertaken by the University of Bradford and led by IA. 52

Food, Gatherings and Social Power and teeth were then assigned age groupings following Halstead (1985) for cattle and Hambleton (1999) for pig. Sheep/goat teeth and mandibles were assessed following Payne (1973). Bone fusion groupings were assigned following O’Connor (1989). Examination of body part representation for both sites was initially made through basic fragment counts and for Old Scatness an additional analysis was conducted using element representation as percentages of expected frequency relating to minimum number of individuals (MNI) following the method of Brain (1981). MNI for each taxon was calculated taking into account element, side and part e.g. proximal or distal, where over 50% of a proximal or distal end had to be present for it to be counted. Full reports on each animal bone assemblage are available in the relevant research monographs (Cussans 2013; Cussans and Bond 2015).

to give an overview of the overall assemblage for the Iron Age phases of the site. Species presence and abundance data by number of identified specimens (NISP) are presented in Table 6.1. This shows the huge dominance of domestic mammals at the site and minor presence of a selection of marine mammals; horse and red deer are minimally represented. It is not known if red deer were present on the Shetland Islands at this time and this red deer toe bone may have derived from an imported skin. No goats have been positively identified at the site and it is thought likely that all of the ovicaprid remains belong to sheep. The data shows that the Phase 4 assemblage is particularly small compared with those from the other Iron Age Phases. This is because almost all of the Phase 4 bone comes from a single deposit; the primary ditch fill. Essentially there are no ‘normal’ animal bone assemblages available for this phase. This is chiefly due to large portions of the site having been left intact for viewing by tourists and hence the lack of removal of buildings from later phases that may otherwise have exposed extensive Phase 4 midden deposits, rather than no ordinary midden deposition having taken place at the site at this time. Therefore, the most comparable standard, everyday midden deposits available i.e. those deriving from more mundane day-to-day activities come from Phase 5 and it is against these that the Phase 4 assemblage is compared.

This paper examines selected features of the assemblages as a means of looking at specific site activities associated with feasting, gatherings and the assertion of power hierarchies. For Old Scatness this paper examines a specific animal bone assemblage noted for its difference in composition and deposition to other animal bone assemblages from the site that are thought more likely to largely derive from everyday activities, such as carcass processing and day-to-day meal consumption. It is, however acknowledged that in those assemblages deemed to represent the norm in everyday animal exploitation and consumption at the site not all of the bones may result from mundane activities and that some may have a more special significance that has thus far gone undetected. The assemblage comes from the Phase 4 primary ditch deposit and, as noted above, dates to the period of the broch construction. The assemblage is compared with that from Phase 5 which is taken to represent the Iron Age site norm in terms of day-to-day animal exploitation and consumption.

Firstly, looking at species abundance one can examine the percentage representation of the three main domestic species present. The Phase 5 (standard) assemblage is made up of c. 45% cattle, 40% sheep and 15% pig. In comparison, the Phase 4 assemblage is made up of slightly over 75% cattle, nearly 20% sheep and 5% pig, showing a much higher dominance of cattle in the ditch deposit than in the ordinary midden deposits. The Phase 5 assemblage is also relatively similar to that from the other Iron Age assemblages from Old Scatness (Fills 12/14 & Phase 6; see Table 6.1) although there appears to be a slight increase in cattle and decrease in pig over time.

For Broxmouth a broader approach is taken and bones from all major phases in terms of animal bone assemblages are examined, but here the focus is on bones of a particular animal; specifically pig. The two case studies presented here are quite different in nature and in their analytical approach. The aim is not to make direct comparisons between the two but to use the case studies as tools to examine aspects of Iron Age feasting and gathering in Scotland and to gain an insight as to how these activities may have influenced the sociopolitical landscape at that time.

Examination of body-part representation also shows some interesting differences, both between the species within the Phase 4 ditch deposits and within species but between the phases. The Phase 4 cattle body part representation shows that whole carcasses were represented within the ditch, although there appears to be a slightly higher representation of forelimbs than other body parts (Figure 6.2). Examination of the same data for sheep (Figure 6.3) and pigs shows that the ditch assemblage is almost entirely dominated by limb bones, essentially the meaty parts, with bones of the non-meaty head and feet almost entirely absent. Looking at body-part representation

Case Study 1: Old Scatness In order to gain a full understanding of the special nature of the deposit of animal bone in question it is necessary 53

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Figure 6.2: Old Scatness Phase 4 cattle body part representation as a percentage of expected frequency.

Figure 6.3: Old Scatness Phase 4 sheep body part representation as a percentage of expected frequency.

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Figure 6.4: Percentage representation of butchery marks from Phase 4 at Old Scatness.

Figure 6.5: Percentage representation of butchery marks from Phase 5 at Old Scatness.

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Cussans et al.

Phase 4 208 48 13

Cattle Sheep Pig Horse Red deer Grey seal Harbour/common seal Large mammal Medium mammal Small mammal Large Phocid Small Phocid Phocid sp. Large cetacean Small cetacean Cetacean sp. Total

Phase 5 767 655 262 1

1

Fills 12/14 615 392 121 2

3 1 1608 3260 66 17 2 4

457 236 3 2

1 34

2 1441 1216 3 18 3 3 1 1 9 3827

4 16 6666

1 969

Phase 6 740 449 72

1650 2255 5 33 54

18 5311

Total 2330 1544 468 3 1 40 1 5156 6967 77 70 5 61 1 5 44 16773

Table 6.1: NISP figures for Iron Age phases at Old Scatness (Cussans & Bond 2015).

Total NISP

Distal

Proximal

Complete

Total

Percentage

Phase 4

969

28

33

82

143

14.8%

Phase 5

6666

85

120

326

531

8.0%

Table 6.2: Quantification of complete bones and complete proximal and distal ends of bones as a percentage of NISP from Phases 4 and 5 at Old Scatness.

across the rest of the Iron Age phases shows that whole carcasses are represented for sheep and pig, indicating a significant difference between the activities leading to formation of the Phase 4 ditch deposit and the ordinary midden deposits from the later phases. The cattle age profiles also show interesting differences between the Phase 4 ditch and the Phase 5 middens. The age data from the ditch assemblage indicate that these animals were all of prime meat age, with the majority of animals dying at Halstead’s (1985) age stage F (young adult), when animals are at pretty much full size but not fully skeletally developed. Those from the Phase 5 middens show animals being slaughtered at a range of ages, indicating a much more mixed utility of the animals.

skinning marks are noted on sheep and pig from Phase 4 as essentially the head and foot elements that would show these are missing. For Phase 5 cattle there is a lower percentage occurrence of dismemberment marks and a notable increase in filleting marks indicating a difference in carcass processing between the two phases (Figure 6.5). There is also a notable decrease in dismemberment marks for sheep and large and medium mammal. The graphs also show a notably higher percentage of butchery marks overall for the Phase 4 material in comparison with that from Phase 5. Of additional note is the much higher rate of fragmentation present in the later phases and the relative completeness of bones from the Phase 4 ditch deposit. Table 6.2 shows the number of whole bones and the numbers of complete proximal and distal ends of bones as a percentage of total NISP. This demonstrates that the percentage of complete or relatively complete bones is considerably higher in the Phase 4 deposits than in the Phase 5 deposits. The carcasses represented in the ditch deposits were therefore not processed to exploit their maximum yield as appears to be the case for the rest of the site and would have resulted in a great deal of wastage in terms of calories. For example, the bones do not show evidence of having been exploited for marrow or grease extraction, which does appear to be the case for

Finally, the butchery evidence also shows some interesting differences between the phases, particularly for cattle. In Phase 4 there is a high percentage of bones displaying dismemberment marks, a small number displaying skinning marks and very few with filleting marks, indicating that meat was most likely kept on the bone. The large and medium mammal bones, mostly ribs and vertebrae i.e. the more meaty parts, also show high levels of dismemberment in Phase 4 (Figure 6.4). No

56

Food, Gatherings and Social Power the other, more highly fragmented bone assemblages at the site.

lower canines were counted for this part of the analysis. In every phase where pig canines were present there were more males than females and even if canines that were not assigned a sex all in fact belonged to females, males would still considerably dominate overall. The low number of females, in addition to the lack of adult animals at the site would indicate that it is very unlikely that pigs were bred on site and hence they must have been brought in from outside the settlement.

In summary there are several key factors which distinguish the Phase 4 ditch deposit from the other midden deposits at the site. These are: a large quantity of cattle bones, selected elements for sheep and pig with an emphasis on meaty parts, the prime meat age of the animals present and a lack of filleting and marrow cracking of the bones.

Examination of body parts indicates that all parts of pig were present and therefore it initially seemed most likely that whole pigs were being brought in on the hoof and slaughtered on site. However, at Dun Vulan in the Western Isles a higher than expected frequency of pig forelimbs was found, which suggested the import of additional pork joints (Parker Pearson and Sharples 1999, 354). To see if a similar pattern was present at Broxmouth further examination of body part representation was necessary.

Case Study 2: Broxmouth As mentioned above, pigs are the main focus of the Broxmouth assemblage in this paper. As shown in Table 6.3, pigs made up a relatively small percentage of the Broxmouth assemblage, compared to the other principal domesticates: cattle and sheep/goat. In the Broxmouth case study pigs are examined across all the phases, not just a single deposit. The ages of the pigs present fall into a fairly narrow range with most dying between one and two years old according to mandibular tooth wear. Postcranial bones do show the presence of a small number of neonate animals in some phases but these are much lower than the numbers for cattle or sheep/goat. No fullymature adults appear to be present, indicating that breeding population was unlikely to be present at the site. It seems possible that the small number of neonate bones may have come from suckling pigs being brought into the site specifically for consumption. Further examination of the demography of the pig population can be made through examination of the sex of the canine teeth present (Table 6.4). To avoid potential biases in quantification due to the greater recognisability of fragmented male canines over fragmented female canines, only complete

Cattle Sheep/Goat Pig Horse Dog Cat Red deer Roe deer Badger Otter Seal Whale Large mammal Medium mammal Small mammal Unidentified Total

Phase 1 126 54 28 3 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 106 157 0 74 552

Phase 2 33 23 10 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 16 23 0 14 124

Phase 3 3120 1286 468 108 55 0 18 4 0 0 0 8 2521 2414 21 1990 12013

As it was forelimbs that were over represented at Dun Vulan it was decided to examine the representation of fore and hindlimb elements at Broxmouth to see if a similar pattern was present. Table 6.5 presents the number of fore (scapula, humerus, radius, ulna) and hind (pelvis, femur, tibia, fibula) limb fragments from the largest bone assemblages: Phases 3, 5 and 6. This shows that fragments of forelimbs are always more common than fragments of hindlimbs and increasingly so between Phases 3 and 6. On average, forelimbs are approximately twice as well represented as hindlimbs. It could be argued that this is as a result of greater fragmentation or their greater identifiability following fragmentation compared to hindlimbs. Phase 4 98 127 14 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 94 241 0 141 718

Phase 5 1180 802 237 34 18 0 16 8 1 1 1 0 1008 839 6 1049 5200

Phase 5/6 841 472 146 75 5 0 4 1 0 0 1 0 635 696 3 573 3452

Table 6.3: NISP figures for all phases at Broxmouth.

57

Phase 6 773 614 250 103 11 1 12 4 0 0 0 0 800 1051 10 1174 4803

Total 6171 3378 1153 328 91 1 52 20 1 1 2 9 5180 5421 40 5015 26863

Cussans et al.

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 5/6 Phase 6 Total

Male 2 0 13 0 6 2 5 28

Female 0 0 4 0 2 1 1 8

older animals and high frequencies of neonates, particularly in the case of cattle, were present.

Unassigned 0 0 4 0 5 0 2 11

Secondly, there was also similarity in the types of body parts that were represented. Although in some cases whole carcasses were represented by the suite of elements present, for example the cattle from the ditch deposit at Old Scatness and the Broxmouth pigs, where limited suites of elements were present these represented the meatier areas of the body: limbs, ribs and vertebrae. This was particularly true of the sheep and pigs from the ditch deposit at Old Scatness and for the Broxmouth pigs in the over representation of forelimbs.

Table 6.4: Sex determination of pig lower canines from Broxmouth.

Phase 3 5 6

Fore limb Fragments No. % 98 63 62 70 58 73

The third element of similarity is that it appears that animals and meat joints were being brought in from outside the settlements, both of which were clearly capable of raising animals for themselves. At both Broxmouth and Old Scatness it seems clear that both cattle and sheep were bred on or close to the settlement by the site inhabitants. This is evidenced by the presence of both breeding-age, adult animals and neonates for both taxa. By contrast, for pigs, adult animals appear to be absent at both sites and neonate animals are present in much smaller numbers than for the other two principal domestic taxa. It is possible that pigs that had not yet reached skeletal maturity could have yielded litters of piglets, but neither of these sites appears to have established breeding populations of older females. This would indicate that some, if not all of the pigs were brought in from outside. For the primary ditch deposit at Old Scatness the same appears to have occurred for both sheep and pig as only specific joints and not whole animals are represented. One must not however forget that only limited animal bone evidence was available from this phase and it may be that the other parts of the carcass were disposed of elsewhere on site in areas that were not excavated.

Hind Limb Fragments No. % 58 37 26 30 21 27

Table 6.5: Comparison of pig fore- and hindlimb fragments from Broxmouth.

However, the majority of pig MNI figures are based on forelimb pieces and this method requires relatively complete pieces to be present, indicating that high levels of fragmentation are unlikely. Therefore it would appear that pigs are represented by whole carcasses, likely brought in on the hoof, as well as additional forelimb joints. The majority of these appear to be male and most likely brought in from outside the settlement, as there does not appear to be a breeding population of pigs present at the site. This is very different to the patterns seen for cattle and sheep/goat, which show significant numbers of neonate animals and adult breeding-age animals. Therefore, the interpretation offered here is that these animals were brought into the site of Broxmouth as tribute offerings as was interpreted for Dun Vulan (Parker Pearson and Sharples 1999, 354), bringing the community together and reinforcing the high status of the settlement at Broxmouth in the area.

Nevertheless, it is also clear that these are two different sorts of events. At Old Scatness this is a short-lived, perhaps one-off event, whereas at Broxmouth this is a long term trend, which could relate to any number of events over a very long time period. Each case study will therefore be individually assessed against the feasting literature.

Discussion Although the two case studies presented show a number of distinct differences, for example the species examined and the site-wide versus specific-deposit analysis employed, several similarities can also be observed. First of all the ages of the animals concerned; in both cases prime meat-age animals were a key part of the assemblage concerned. In the case of pigs at Broxmouth, very few animals other than prime meat-age animals were present, with the exception of a few neonates. The same is true of the primary ditch deposit from Old Scatness where cattle, sheep and pig were represented almost entirely by the bones of prime meat-age animals, somewhat in contrast to the rest of the site, where many

Old Scatness The animal bone assemblage described for Old Scatness is a single large quantity of animal bone deposited over a short period of time, either as a single event or a series of closely-spaced events. The assemblage is made up of the bones of prime-meat animals and selected joints of meat, with little or no processing for marrow or grease, in contrast to the other assemblages from the site. Following the feast the remains were displayed at the site boundary. Large quantities of meat are represented: even in the small segment of the ditch that was excavated an MNI of 58

Food, Gatherings and Social Power five cattle was calculated. From examination of the body part data it would seem likely that at least one whole carcass was present, with additional limbs making up the numbers. In addition to that, the MNI for sheep was four and the MNI for pig was just one, albeit these were only represented by specific limb bones and not whole carcasses. In total a large quantity of meat was represented, that would have required a large number of people to eat it in a short space of time. The full extent of the ditch circuit is unknown due to truncation by the airport road construction that led to the original discovery of the site, but the internal diameter from east to west is somewhere in the region of 50m which would indicate a circumference of approximately 157m. If the MNI of five cattle within the three metre excavated section is extrapolated for the whole ditch circuit then as many as 260 cattle may have been involved. Although this number seems unreasonably high, especially as only one carcass appeared to be fully represented in the excavated deposit and the remains of the other four may have been further spread throughout the ditch. Taking a more conservative approach, if only one cow was deposited per three metre stretch of ditch then more than 50 cattle would be required to fill the whole of this feature, if indeed the deposit continues along its entire length. This would represent a phenomenal quantity of meat and economic input.

the prestige of those who lived in/ owned the broch. Dietler (1996, 95) noted that such feasts provided the opportunity for the hosts to increase their wealth and power, while those who could not afford to hold such feasts did not have the capacity to increase their social standing, hence leading to an increased inequality in social status between the elite and the labour forces. In a further show of social power it seems that even the manner of the disposal of the remains of the feast was intended as a statement of social status, an act of conspicuous consumption (Dockrill et al. 2015, 461). The remains of the feast appear to have been laid as the primary fill in the bottom of the ditch almost as soon as it had finished being constructed. Essentially this began the infilling of the ditch, as there was no evidence for it silting up prior to deposition of the feasting deposit. This would give a message to anyone approaching the boundary that the inhabitants of the broch were wealthy and powerful as they could afford to eat prime meat and to waste by-products such as bone marrow and grease, which, in the marginal environment of the Shetland Islands, would rarely have gone to waste, as is evidenced by the more everyday deposits seen in the rest of the assemblage. Broxmouth

This assemblage would certainly seem to fit with Hayden’s (2001, 28) definition of feasting, which determines a feast to be ‘any sharing between two or more people of special foods (i.e. food not generally served at daily meals) in a meal for a special purpose or occasion’. The quantity of food represented here certainly indicates the gathering of a large group of people and the selection of joints and butchering and processing evidence seems to point to special rather than everyday foods. In terms of a special purpose or occasion, the deposition of this large bone assemblage appears to coincide with the completion of the boundary ditch surrounding the broch, the building of which was also likely completed at approximately the same time (Dockrill et al. 2015, 58). The completion of this monumental piece of architecture and its surrounding defences would have been quite the special occasion and cause for celebration.

Some similarities can be drawn between Broxmouth and some key Iron Age feasting sites. The assemblage from Llanmaes in South Wales, was dated to between the eighth and fifth centuries BC, and was overwhelmingly pig remains, dominated by right forelimb elements (Madgwick and Mulville 2015): stable isotope evidence indicated that they came from a variety of locations including some of non-local origin. Interpretation of this assemblage is that this is an example of a tribute feast (sensu Hayden 2001) where people come together to bestow tribute on the host (Madgwick and Mulville 2015). Another pig-dominated Iron Age assemblage dated to between the fourth and first centuries BC comes from outside Trim Castle (Beglane 2009) in Ireland. Again this assemblage was largely dominated by pig forelimb elements; a small quantity of cattle forelimb elements was also present. Here left and right sides were evenly represented. No stable isotope analysis was performed so the origins of the pigs are unknown. This assemblage was interpreted as a votive offering to the gods formed from either a single or yearly event. It is thought likely that the remaining meat would have been consumed by those attending the gathering and hence would have represented a significant number of people coming together.

One particular type of feasting described by Dietler (1996, 92ff) is the entrepreneurial feast, where feasting is used by the host in the acquisition of political power or prestige and to gain economic advantage. One particular form of this is the work party feast where the feast is used as a labour mobilisation device. Large quantities of food and drink can be used as leverage to organise a large labour force. It seems fairly clear that the construction of a broch and large defensive ditch would certainly require a large labour force, and the use of food surpluses to mobilise a labour force into building such monumental architecture provides an excellent opportunity to make a public statement about

In contrast to the site at Llanmaes and to some extent Trim, the site of Hallaton in Leicestershire dating to between the first century BC and the first century AD had a dearth of right hand forelimb elements (Browning 2011, 107). This site again had an extremely high representation 59

Cussans et al. of pigs in one part of the site, in association with an open air shrine, and with clear ritual associations. An MNI of 83 pigs were present with the majority of skeletal elements being present and roughly evenly represented by the left and right sides. The exceptions to this were the right radius, ulna and scaphoid, which were distinctly under represented, indicating that the lower right forelimb was removed from the site and deposited elsewhere. This indicates that sister sites to those such as Llanmaes and Trim may well exist, where remains of the rest of the pigs were disposed of, possibly also as part of ritual proceedings.

funding the Broxmouth project. Many students and staff from the University of Bradford made contributions to both projects, as did a number of external specialists and volunteers. We would like to thank the two anonymous referees whose comments greatly improved this paper. Thomas Light is also due credit for assistance with Figure 6.1. Antony Mustchin is thanked for his kind patience and support throughout the writing of this paper.

Bibliography Armit, Ian and McKenzie, Jo. An Inherited Place: Broxmouth Hillfort and the South-East Scottish Iron Age. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series, 2013.

While obvious parallels exist between these large feasting deposits and Broxmouth, principally the high or indeed low representation of pig forelimbs, there are also a number of distinct differences. At Broxmouth there is not one distinct deposit or series of deposits but rather a general trend throughout the assemblage, as part of the general build-up of animal remains. The assemblage at Llanmaes clearly represents the bringing together of people at regular intervals at a specific place to perform a prescribed act of gathering and feasting, and possibly a similar event was taking place at Trim, albeit on a smaller scale. By contrast, it seems that the events at Broxmouth that brought about the over-representation of pig forelimbs may have been more subtle in that there are no large specific deposits of pig forelimbs indicating largescale gathering and deposition. An alternative model is that visitors to the site or those living in satellite settlements in the area brought pig forelimbs by way of gifts or payment of dues on a more ad-hoc basis than seen at Llanmaes or Trim. However, as for Llanmaes and Trim, which appear as places of importance where societies came together, Broxmouth can also be seen as an important focal place at the centre of society, attracting visitors or demanding payments/tribute from surrounding settlements and possibly further afield.

Beglane, Fiona. “Long Pigs Feet from Iron Age Trim.” In Uncovering Medieval Trim: Archaeological Excavations in and around Trim, Co. Meath, edited by Michael Potterton and Matthew Seaver, 57–71. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2009. Brain, Charles. The Hunters or the Hunted? An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981. Browning, Jennifer. “The Animal Bones.” In Hoards, Hounds and Helmets, edited by Vicki Score, 103–35. Leicester: University of Leicester School of Archaeology, 2011. Cussans, Julia. “Animal Bone.” In An Inherited Place: Broxmouth Hillfort and the South-East Scottish Iron Age, edited by Ian Armit and Jo McKenzie, 433–469. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series, 2013. Cussans, Julia and Bond, Julie. “Mammal Bone.” In Excavations at Old Scatness, Shetland, volume 2: The Broch and Middle Iron Age Village, edited by Steve Dockrill, Julie Bond, Val Turner, Louise Brown, Daniel Bashford, Julia Cussans and Rebecca Nicholson, 206–227. Lerwick: Shetland Heritage Publications, 2015.

Conclusions Despite the differences in the location and nature of the two sites examined, certain similarities can be drawn between them in terms of gathering and feasting practices. Both sites appear to have acted as focal points for the local and possibly wider community and have hosted large (Old Scatness) and/or regular (Broxmouth) gatherings. The exact nature and purpose of such gatherings can only be speculated on, but it seems likely that at the very least they would have served to bring communities together, reinforced social hierarchies and strengthened bonds of family and friendship through the offering of gifts or tributes in the form of high quality meat and possibly other foodstuffs.

Dietler, Michael. “Feasts and Commensal Politics in the Political Economy: Food Power and Status in Prehistoric Europe.” In Food and the Status Quest: an Interdisciplinary Perspective, edited by Polly Wiessner and Wulf Schiefenhövel, 87–125. Providence: Berghan Books, 1996. Dietler, Michael and Hayden, Brian. “Digesting the Feast: Good to Eat, Good to Drink, Good to Think.” In Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics and Power, edited by Michael Dietler and Brian Hayden, 1–20. Washington (DC): Smithsonian Institution, 2001. Dockrill, Steve; Bond, Julie; Turner, Val; Brown, Louise; Bashford, Daniel; Cussans, Julia and Nicholson, Rebecca. Excavations at Old Scatness, Shetland Volume 1: The Pictish Village and Viking Settlement. Lerwick: Shetland Heritage Publications, 2010.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Shetland Amenity Trust for funding the Old Scatness project and Historic Scotland for

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Food, Gatherings and Social Power O’Connor, Terrence. Bones from Anglo-Scandinavian Levels at 16–22 Coppergate, Archaeology of York Series 15/3. London: Council for British Archaeology/York Archaeological Trust, 1989.

Dockrill, Steve; Bond, Julie; Turner, Val; Brown, Louise; Bashford, Daniel; Cussans, Julia and Nicholson, Rebecca. Excavations at Old Scatness, Shetland, volume 2: The Broch and Middle Iron Age Village. Lerwick: Shetland Heritage Publications, 2015.

Outram, Zoe and Batt, Cathy. “Dating at Old Scatness.” In Excavations at Old Scatness, Shetland, Volume 2: The Broch and Middle Iron Age Village, edited by Steve Dockrill, Julie Bond, Val Turner, Louise Brown, Daniel Bashford, Julia Cussans and Rebecca Nicholson, 161–204. Lerwick: Shetland Heritage Publications, 2015.

Grant, Annie. “The Use of Toothwear as a Guide to the Age of Domestic Ungulates.” In Ageing and Sexing Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites, edited by Bob Wilson, Caroline Grigson and Sebastian Payne, 91–108. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, British Series 109, 1982.

Parker Pearson, Mike and Sharples, Niall. Between Land and Sea; Excavations at Dun Vulan, South Uist. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.

Halstead, Paul. “A Study of Mandibular Teeth from RomanoBritish Contexts at Maxey.” In The Fenland Project Number 1: Archaeology and Environment in the Lower Welland Valley, volume 1, edited by Francis Pryor and Charlie, 219–224. Cambridge: East Anglian Archaeology 27, 1985.

Payne, Sebastian. “Kill-off Patterns in Sheep and Goats: The Mandibles from Aşvan Kale.” Anatolian Studies 23 (1973): 281–305.

Hambleton, Ellen. Animal Husbandry Regimes in Iron Age Britain: A Comparative Study of Faunal Assemblages from British Iron Age sites. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, British Series 282, 1999. Hamilton, John. Excavations at Jarlshof, Shetland. Edinburgh: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1956. Hayden, Brian. “Fabulous Feasts: A Prolegomenon to the Importance of Feasting.” In Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics and Power, edited by Michael Dietler and Brian Hayden, 23–64. Washington (DC): Smithsonian Institution, 2001. Hill, Peter. Broxmouth Hillfort Excavations 1977–1978: An interim report. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Department of Archaeology Occasional Paper no. 2, 1979. Hill, Peter. “Broxmouth Hillfort Excavations 1977–1978, an Interim Report.” In Later Prehistoric Settlement in South-East Scotland, edited by Dennis Harding, 141–88. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Department of Archaeology Occasional Paper no. 8, 1982. Madgwick, Richard and Mulville, Jacqui. “Feasting on Forelimbs: Conspicuous Consumption and Identity in Later Prehistoric Britain.” Antiquity 89, no. 345 (2015): 629–644. Melton, Nigel; Dockrill, Steve; Bond, Julie; Turner, Val; Brown, Louise; Smith, Brian; Bashford, Daniel; Cussans, Julia and Nicholson, Rebecca. Excavations at Old Scatness, Shetland Volume 3: The Post-medieval Township. Lerwick: Shetland Heritage Publications, forthcoming. NABO. NABONE Zooarchaeological Database 9th Edition, Recording System Codes, North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation Zooarchaeology Working Group 9th edition, 20th May 2008. http://www.nabohome.org/products/manuals/fishbone/nabo.htm, 2008 [Accessed 23 September 2016].

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Chapter 7 Scouting for Boys: Prospection and Autoethnography Methods to Map the Archaeology of a Jamboree James Bonsall1,2, Robert M. Chapple3 and Heather Gimson1 1

Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics, 2Institute of Technology Sligo, 3Irish Radiocarbon and Dendrochronological Dates E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: In recent years archaeological geophysical surveys have identified distinct patterns of archaeological remains from contemporary cultural groups. This paper will investigate a known gathering of large volumes of people to determine what archaeological investigations can suggest about similar large-scale events of the deep past. A geophysical study commissioned by the Office of Public Works assessed an area on the northern shores of Lough Derg, Co. Galway, Ireland. This survey returned a pattern of material remains for large-scale settlement, trade and ceremonial activity suggested by increased background noise within the geophysical data. Notably however, modern ferrous responses were largely absent from the intensively occupied settlement areas. Following the geophysical assessment, documents, maps and oblique photographs confirmed that 10,000 people had gathered at this site, which was occupied for a week-long gathering of the Irish Scout Jamboree at Portumna Castle. Keywords: Archaeological Geophysics, Magnetometry, Contemporary Archaeology, Campsite, Temporary Settlement Introduction

deep waste pits....others for the toilet blocks … a big stage in front of the castle....’. In the space of three days, a social media conversation had not only identified one of the largest gatherings in the west of Ireland, but had also prompted RMC to rediscover family and household memorabilia that effectively contained a site archive of primary evidence; key maps and photographs of the Jamboree event that were invaluable to the geophysical assessment and assisted the interpretation of modern ‘ferrous-rich’ areas that substantially reduced the visibility of weaker, archaeologically-derived anomalies in magnetometer data.

Large gathering sites are emotive and stir the senses. Kinship, feasting, pageantry, patronage, worship, trade, commerce, competition, news, gossip, excitement, music and learning are some of the reasons that disparate groups gather in large numbers. The material remains from these events often tell us very little about the people, their activities and the relative importance of those at the gathering. Much of this information cannot be known and yet modern events allow us to transpose some evidence to the deep past. An opportunity for such an analysis arose when a geophysical survey was commissioned by the Office of Public Works at Portumna Castle, Co. Galway in 2010. The objectives of the survey were to assess the extent and preservation of archaeological remains contained within Portumna Demesne. A preliminary site visit reported wide open spaces and short pasture grass that appeared ideal for a geophysical assessment of a seemingly unspoilt, serene, lakeshore in a medieval and post-medieval landscape. However, upon receipt of certain information, it became clear that the geophysical survey would also be assessing an enclosed and ritual gathering of 10,000 people.

In his handbook Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell (1908) outlined good and healthy activities to develop skills and methods for camping and woodcraft that resulted almost 80 years later in a gathering named Portumna ‘85, a late twentieth century cultural event, populated by transient material remains comprised mostly of pre-modern technology. The application of archaeological methods to the study of contemporary activities and events has been used to increase our understanding of the past (Buchli and Lucas 2001; Harrison 2011). The study of Contemporary Archaeology can be taken in many directions. Horning (2011) has applied its use to the study of standing buildings. Its precepts have recently been applied to the study of contemporary Jungle music culture, assessing how far one can take the methods of archaeological theory, landscape analysis and quantitative methods when applied to contemporary events, even going so far as to suggest mapping such activity in a database of ‘JungleGISm’ (Rathbone 2016, 132).

The survey of Portumna Castle was publicised via social media by one of us (JB), which subsequently prompted another of us (RMC) to remark the following, rather devastating comment: ‘Cool! Last time I was there [was] for a Boy Scout Jamboree in 1985...be prepared to find lots of misplaced tent pegs’. Further, equally foreboding comments followed: ‘...there were about 10,000 Scouts there in the fields surrounding the castle ... quite a few

62

Scouting for Boys This paper will explore the concept of a modern gathering, held within living memory, as an archaeological site and examine the limitations of such investigations. The lack of formal written accounts of the Jamboree contrasts strongly with studies of large medieval and contemporary festivals that benefitted from detailed documentary evidence (Walsh 2000; Hutton 2008). This particular study of the Jamboree has benefited from the contribution of a former professional field archaeologist who attended the festival as a child. RMC has provided a unique insight into the event and an inattention, indifference or memory block for some basic menial events that question the relevance and reliance on memory. With the noted exceptions above, documentary evidence is generally unavailable for most large-scale gatherings at historic sites. What material remains from the 1985 event are likely to be left in the soil? Which are likely to be missing? What value, if any, can we place on non-tangible autoethnographic evidence? What use can a modern temporary camp be to the study of archaeology?

landscape (SMR No. GA127–026) and a fortified house (SMR No. GA127–081).

Figure 7.1: Map of Portumna indicating the jamboree subcamps and cess pits.

Methods: Strategies Retrospection

Environment The Portumna ’85 Jamboree enclosure camp is located in Portumna Demesne at Irish Transverse Mercator Reference (ITM) 5830/7035, in southeast Co. Galway, on the northern shore of Lough Derg, at Portumna Bay (Figure 7.1). The southern edge of the enclosure is located 900m to the south of Portumna town on the northern edge of the present lakeshore. Much of the grounds surrounding Portumna Castle are presently comprised of woodland, gardens, courtyards and structures, including upstanding archaeology, as well as wide open pasture fields and areas of marshland. The topography of the site slopes gently from the north down to the south towards Lough Derg. The bedrock consists of limestone and shale, overlain by limestone tills and poorly drained gley soils of moderate permeability.

for

Prospection

and

The majority of festival studies have yet to embrace the benefits offered by remote sensing and geophysical techniques. These can be used for the mapping of pits, occupation activity, areas of burning, route ways and, particularly for events held during or after the postmedieval period, identifying ‘metal-rich’ cultures. These can easily be identified due to the distinctive response of iron objects in magnetometry data and other metals in electromagnetic induction data. Further, geophysical methods are repeatable and non-destructive, hence they are a scientific measure of the underlying archaeological resource (see Davis, this volume). These techniques have recently been applied to the analysis of the environs surrounding Stonehenge, as part of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project. As well as identifying a range of previously undiscovered archaeological monuments (Gaffney et al. 2012), the project also mapped the remains of the Stonehenge Free Festivals held in the 1970s and 80s (Bonsall et al. 2013a). These festivals had seen the deposition of a large amount of iron and non-ferrous metal across much of the study area, which could be argued as a modern contaminant of an archaeological landscape. At Portumna, the aim of the survey was to map any archaeological features associated with the Demesne, however the frequency of contaminants or pollutants of ferrous responses associated with the Jamboree became a key driver for the identification of non-Jamboreerelated anomalies.

Archaeological Background Portumna Castle (SMR No. GA127–020) is a rectangular Jacobean mansion constructed in 1618 with square towers at the corners (Harbison 1992, 162). It is recognised as belonging to an important group of seventeenth century buildings considered as intermediaries between a ‘house’ and a ‘true castle’ and can be more accurately described as a fortified house (Murphy 1995, 4). Within the castle grounds a number of recorded monuments exist including a medieval Dominican friary (SMR No. GA127–019), three medieval graveslabs (SMR No. GA127–019001, 002 and 003) and a deserted medieval settlement (SMR No. GA127–023), as well as considerable post-medieval features including two icehouses (SMR No. GA127–021 and GA127–018002), six seventeenth-century graveslabs (SMR No. GA127–019005–10), a seventeenth-century walled garden (SMR No. GA127–018001), a building (SMR No. GA127–018003), a seventeenth-century memorial stone (SMR No. GA127–019004), a designed

The magnetically uniform limestone soils were ideal for magnetometry, which measures the magnetism of the soil and is particularly useful for identifying areas of burning, ferrous deposits and industrial remains, as well as ditches and pits of contrasting magnetism (Aspinall et al. 2008). A magnetometer was used to investigate the majority of 63

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the site and the assessment also included earth resistance, ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity imaging surveys that focussed upon a number of the larger medieval monuments (Gimson and Regan 2011; Detection Licence 10R0168).

The irregularly shaped campsite was enclosed by a rudimentary fence comprised of wooden pegs (or posts) and rope or string. The purpose of the boundary was neither defensive nor pastoral, but simply a means of demarcating a clear and controllable ‘safe’ zone for the occupants, imposed by the Scout Leaders (‘elders’ of the community) that organised the gathering and occupation of the site. The material remains of the fence are likely to be represented by regularly spaced small post-holes, 3nT map high contrast zones of activity across the site (brown), areas of burning (orange). The location of cess pits (green) and the post-medieval remains of Portumna Demesne (blue) can also be seen.

A hearth was constructed on top of sharpened wooden stakes that were hammered into the soil and that held a metal fire basket. This design was executed in accordance with camp rules that all cooking sites should be elevated off the ground to avoid the risk of fire, thus ‘tribal elders’ imposed rules upon the juvenile campers in order to maintain a safe environment. Such a construction explains the absence of geophysical anomalies caused by discrete in-situ burning events in the magnetometer data; anomaly types that are normally encountered at occupational sites and that can often be the only material remains of a temporary pre-Iron Age structure.

Each camp also had a minimum of four and up to six cess pits, or Type 2 Pits, although an increase in pit frequency did not necessarily coincide with a larger sub-camp area. There are no records for the morphology of the outer structures surrounding the cess pits, however their location is known from contemporary maps and the geophysical survey suggests that they were 70% agreement) and other methodological details are detailed elsewhere (McPhail and Schweingruber 1998; Schweingruber and McPhail 1999). We sought to answer four questions: In what direction(s) were two or more adjacent people facing? We did not presume to discern where individuals’ eyes were ‘looking’; rather, our measure of ‘facing’ was the direction the noses in the middle of their faces were pointing. This is a crude indicator of what people are paying attention to. We also asked what sounds are they making with their mouths? What are they doing with their arms, hands and fingers? In what kinds of motion or postures are their legs involved? We called these four categories: facing, voicing, manipulating, and locomoting/posturing, respectively. Facing. Onlooking refers to two or more adjacent persons who are standing or sitting and facing in parallel directions toward a rally platform or a video monitor; it can also refer to two or more persons walking, marching or running in the same direction and facing in the direction they are moving; or to multiple small groups moving in different directions, although the members within each group are facing in the direction their group is moving. The latter phenomenon has traditionally been referred to as ‘milling’; we chose to call these disparate pedestrian clusters.

Figure 11.1: Life course of temporary gatherings.

In the beginning

Collective Convergent Facing refers to members of a conversation cluster who are facing one another, as well as larger numbers of persons standing or sitting in arcs, rings or circles and facing in the direction of the same actor(s) object(s) or activities.

In 1969 my students and I began observing and recording with field notes, film and later with videotape, every action in which two or more individuals engaged with or in relation to one another in hundreds of civil rights, antiwar and labour demonstrations in Atlanta Georgia, in Columbia and Charleston South Carolina, in Urbana, Champaign and Chicago Illinois, and in Washington, DC (McPhail 1972; 1985; Pickens 1975; Smith, McPhail and Pickens 1975; Wohlstein 1977; McPhail and Pickens 1978; 1981; McPhail and Wohlstein 1983; 1986). From that volume of data I inductively generated a catalogue of elementary forms of collective action (EFCA) (McPhail 1991,163–74; cf. Tilly 2002). David Schweingruber and I subsequently turned this into a taxonomy of over forty EFCA organised around four areas of the body: faces; mouths; hands and legs. In 1996 we created, with Nancy Berns, The Collective Action Observation Primer, (McPhail et al. 1996) onsisting of text definitions and photographic illustrations of the EFCA. We used this to train observers to systematically identify EFCA in their assigned areas of a gathering, and to estimate the proportion of people in their area who were participating in one or more EFCA. To produce the data on the gathering reported below, observers took one-minute samples every 10 minutes over a nine-hour period of time. They placed their estimates in one of seven ordinal categories of proportions to which we assigned values ranging from zero (0) to six (6). The training of

Voicing. Collective ‘voicing’ includes vocalisation e.g. cheering, booing, laughing, whistling, and verbalisation e.g. speech making, conversing, singing, chanting, praying, pledging. Further distinctions can be based on the contents of what is verbalised or vocalised. Manipulating. Collective ‘manipulating’ involves two or more persons using their hands to touch, grasp, carry, or throw physical ‘objects’; or to embrace, carry, restrain, or strike ‘other persons’; or to strike ‘themselves’ by clapping hands or snapping fingers. Manipulation can refer merely to gesturing with their hands e.g. stop, come, left, right, up, down or fingers e.g. raised index finger for ‘#1’; raised and spread index and middle fingers for ‘peace’ clenched fingers in raised fist for ‘solidarity’. Locomoting/Posturing. Collective ‘locomoting’ refers to horizontal movements e.g. crawling, walking, running, marching, and vertical movements e.g. standing up, or sitting, kneeling, or lying down, or the posture that results from vertical movements e.g. upright, seated, knelt, kowtowed, prone, or supine. 114

Collective Actions Within and Between Gatherings We do not claim our catalogue or taxonomy covers every action that could occur in every gathering; it has provided a useful beginning. If any collective action at all is observed in a gathering, it will likely be one or more of these forty-plus elementary forms. There are some caveats: (1) all these EFCA do not appear in all gatherings; (2) the EFCA may appear separately or in various and often complex combinations; (3) the EFCA may vary in direction, tempo, substantive content, and in the proportion of the gathering participating in any single, or complex combination of two or more EFCA.

The PK rally was called ‘Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly of Men’. ‘The Gap’ refers to the judgement of PK leaders that male authority figures were missing in contemporary American families. The PK leaders asserted that, by default, men had ceded familial leadership and authority to their wives. Their objective in organising the rally was to empower men to reassume their roles as family leaders and authorities by ‘Standing in’ and thereby filling the ‘Gap’. The PK website (www.promisekeepers.org) announced the October 1997 rally date one year in advance. The website thereafter repeatedly solicited participation, invitations that were likely reiterated and reinforced by a social network linking thousands of small PK religious affinity groups that met weekly throughout the United States for bible study, prayer, and encouragement. (Bartkowski 2004, 94–111). Consequently, the members of these small groups became responsible for and accountable to one another to honour the values or ‘promises’ that the PK movement esteemed: e.g. honouring Jesus; developing brothers-in-Christ; practicing sexual purity; building strong marriages/families; supporting own church; practicing racial/denominational non-discrimination; converting the world. Affinity group members often travelled together to PK stadium rallies, and did so for the June 1997 Washington DC rally in RFK (Robert F. Kennedy) stadium that I observed, as well as the October rally on the Mall examined here. The Washington Post (Escobar and Murphy 1997) carried a story on the day of the rally about the recent visible presence in downtown Washington of an extraordinarily large number of ‘small groups of casually dressed Promise Keepers’, recognisable by their same coloured t-shirts or polo shirts bearing the Promise Keeper logo and the name of their home church and/or community.

Methodology We studied three large gatherings in Washington DC in the mid to late 1990s: the 1995 March for Life rally; a 1995 National Organization for Women rally; and the 1997 Promise Keepers (PK) rally. In all three we most frequently viewed, heard and recorded fifteen of the aforementioned taxonomy of forty-plus EFCA. The fifteen EFCA we then analysed included: three ‘facing’ EFCA: onlooking, convergent facing clusters, and disparate facing pedestrian clusters; four ‘voicing’ EFCA: conversing, singing, cheering, and praying; three ‘manipulating’ EFCA: gesturing, embracing, and clapping; and five ‘locomoting/posturing’ EFCA: standing, sitting, lying, kneeling, and walking. I limit my discussion here to the PK gathering data because that rally was larger and longer that the previous two; and there were several additional, complementary data sources on the PK gathering. First, The Washington Post (Morin and Wilson 1997) retained a survey research team to interview on-site a random sample of 882 PK gathering participants: ninety percent identified themselves as evangelical or ‘born again Christians’; sixty-five percent reported attending one or more previous PK stadium rallies. Second, we obtained a videotape copy of the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN) telecast of the six-hour PK rally period. Third, I attended a June 1997 planning session of National Park Service (NPS) and Promise Keepers representatives, and learned details of NPS requirements for PK preparations for an anticipated gathering on October 4 1997 of more than 500,000 persons on the National Mall; e.g. renting an audio-visual system enabling a large and dispersed number of persons to see and hear rally speakers; renting portable toilets; staffing medical tents with nurses and doctors as well as supplies of water and ice. Fourth, after the rally, other social scientists’ (e.g. Brickner 1999; Claussen 1999; Bartkowski 2004) documented the development of Promise Keepers into an exclusively-male, religious social movement organisation (RSMO) with a seven-year history of organising a national network of small religious affinity groups; and mobilising dozens of stadium rallies, one of which I had observed and recorded several months prior to the rally on the National Mall.

Participation in four EFCA Figure 11.2 is a simplified overview of the PK gathering using one EFCA from each of the aforementioned anatomical areas: ‘facing’ is represented by onlooking in the direction of the rally platform or its representation on ten giant video screens (Jumbotrons) distributed throughout the National Mall venue; ‘voicing’ by conversing; ‘manipulating’ by clapping; and ‘locomoting/posturing’ by standing. From this point on I will italicise the EFCA under consideration to maintain the reader’s attention to the variation in collective actions that comprise most temporary gatherings. Note first that during the pre-rally period (10:00am to 11:30am) there was little onlooking toward the Jumbotrons until the 11:40 observation minute (hereafter, OM) when musicians began performing on the rally platform. Conversing plummeted; onlooking and standing soared; as did clapping. During the rally 115

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Figure 11.2: Proportion participating in four elementary forms of collective action over 55 observation minutes (OMs) at 10 minute interval.

period, onlooking reached approximately 83% in four separate OMs; clapping reached 60% in the 12:10 OM; and, standing reached 87% in the 1:50 OM, note that all percentages are approximate. Participation in these four EFCA and in the other eleven EFCA that we recorded (not shown here), never reached 90%! This supports Turner’s (1964) claim that mutually-inclusive collective behaviour or ‘unanimity’ is more ‘illusion’ than fact.

in prayer. The density of the gathering made it difficult for everyone to lie prostrate; more people either knelt or kowtowed than lay prostrate. In the first instance, lying down increased from 7% at 2:00 to 49% at 2:10; kneeling/kowtowing increased from 3% at 2:00 to 64% at 2:10. In the second instance, lying down increased from 6% at 2:40 to 37% at 2:50 kneeling/ kowtowing increased from 1% at 2:40 to 50% at 2:50. Smaller percentages remained standing at 2:10 (1%) and at 2:50 (14%).

Note also that conversing was the predominant EFCA in both pre- and post-rally periods, reaching 56% in the preand 62% in the post-rally periods. Conversing continued throughout the rally period as a slight undercurrent, averaging 6% and peaking at 18% in the 3:40 OM. Conversing exemplifies what I call interdependently sourced collective action, about which more below.

Prior to the 3:00 and 5:00 OMs, platform actors asked gathering members to form prayer huddles. This resulted in ‘facing’ shifting from onlooking toward the Jumbotrons: (49%) at 2:50 to (8%) at 3:00; and, later, from (72%) at 4:50 to (8%) at 5:00. At the same time, convergent facing clusters increased from (17%) at 2:50 to (61%) at 3:00; and from (9%) at 2:50 to (68%) at 5:00. The huddles were formed by people linking hands with, or placing their arms around the waists or shoulders of adjacent huddle members. Embracing increased from (1%) at 2:50 to (64%) at 3:00; and, from (41%) at 4:50 to (74%) at 5:00.

Onlooking fluctuated during the rally period, hovering around 67%; there were four exceptions (2:10, 2:50, 3:00 and 5:00 OMs) that our supplementary data can explain. The header in C-SPAN’s videotape record of the six-hour rally contained a digital timeline that fortuitously matched the timeline our observers used for their thirtyseven one-minute samples (OMs) during the rally (10am to 6pm). This enabled our examination of what platform actors were doing immediately preceding each of our OM records of gathering members EFCA participation.

The four exceptional OMs (2:10; 2:50; 3:00; 5:00) are among the twenty OMs in the upper left cell of Table 11.1. This table shows that our observers recorded significant levels of participation in the EFCA that platform actors had solicited in the minute(s) immediately preceding the twenty OMs in question. Conversely, as shown in the lower right cell of Table 1, no collective

For example, prior to the 2:10 and 2:50 OMs platform actors asked gathering members to prostrate themselves

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Collective Actions Within and Between Gatherings actions were observed and recorded in ten of the seventeen OMs not preceded by solicitations. The phi coefficient for the relationship between solicited and observed collective actions was: +0.610, p