Stones, Saints, Ships and Slaves: an archaeology of Glasgow for 850: Part 2
This year’s Dalrymple lecture series will mark Glasgow 850 with a pair of lectures by leading archaeologist Professor Stephen Driscoll exploring the contribution of archaeology to telling the story of Glasgow’s first 850 years – and what came before Glasgow.
The Dalrymple Lectures
Date: Friday 21 November 2025
Time: 18:30 - 19:30
Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre , Sir Charles Wilson Building, University of Glasgow, 1 University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
Category: Public lectures, Academic events, Student events, Alumni events
Speaker: Professor Stephen Driscoll
This year’s Dalrymple lecture series will mark Glasgow 850 with a pair of lectures exploring the contribution of archaeology to telling the story of Glasgow’s first 850 years – and what came before Glasgow.
The lectures will be delivered by Stephen Driscoll, Professor of Historical Archaeology at the University of Glasgow.
The series will be entitled Stones, Saints, Ships and Slaves: an archaeology of Glasgow for 850
- Thursday 20 November 2025 Part 1: Medieval Conceptions (AD 500-1600)
- Friday 21 November 2025 Part 2: Modern Movements (AD 1600-present)
Both lectures will take place in the Sir Charles Wilson lecture theatre, from 6.30pm. Entry is free to all, and the lectures will also be livestreamed and recorded.
These lectures offer a narrative of Glasgow driven by the archaeological evidence to explore the distinct phases of development from the formative origins in Govan, to the mature medieval burgh, and on to the expanding commercial and social of the modern era. The foundation of the burgh in AD 1175 provides the pivotal point for these two lectures which is appropriate because in so many ways urbanism is the defining trait of Glasgow. How can we track this when, as we know from our lived experience, the composition of urbanism is always changing? These lectures will examine the material record to chart the development of specific form of urbanism and can draw upon the substantial body of evidence for Glasgow’s medieval and modern pasts which has been recovered in the past several decades.
The first lecture ‘Medieval Conceptions AD 500 – 1600’ will draw upon the excavations in the heart of the burgh and in Govan to examine the organisational concepts through their material remains. This will move from the formative period of British kings and Vikings to the episcopal burgh dominating a princely diocese becoming ever more integrated into the European mainstream and ever more entangled with England.
The second lecture ‘Modern Movements AD 1600 – present’ begins by taking look close look at the changes made to Glasgow Cathedral at the Reformation and how its subsequent use a civic place memorialisation has preserved a detailed record of Imperial connections, throughout the Atlantic world and to Africa, India and China. But Empire cannot fully explain contemporary Glasgow, which only assumes its present form as an Industrial city, a city that manufactures class as much as engineering. A city that demands an activist archaeology.
**Please note the lecture will be 50 minutes long and there will be time for Q&As at the end.