Archaeology Research

Like the other University of Glasgow field schools at Glencoe and on Arran, the season has begun again with tremendous enthusiasm shown by our students and volunteers.  A great deal of activity has been taking place in preparation for the summer field school.  Nine people; seven students and two community volunteers, participated in a week of training for the new team of trainee supervisors who will participate and support teaching at Govan Old for the community engagement days and for peer-to-peer teaching during the field school which will be held in September. 

Two community engagement weekends have already taken place, one of which was attended by a group from The Friends of Crookston Castle, another Glasgow heritage group.  The Crookston Team want to learn from the systems and practices applied at Govan Old in order to create their own methodological approach for greater exploration of the area around Crookston Castle.

While the season has only just begun at Govan Old, significant advances have already been made and progress on understanding the site continues at pace.  Several previously unknown stones have been discovered, including a, potentially, 17th century tabletop stone with an impressive ‘memoria mori’ carving and an inscription reading, ‘JD 88’.  The highlight, so far, may arguably be the rediscovery of two broken pieces of a lost early medieval stone which had been previously recorded by Kyle. 

More to follow as the season truly takes off including community engagement weekends, working with the IntoUniversity Team, the Say Woman Project, Glasgow Open Doors Weekend and the Field School.  This year we have 48 students have signed up for the Govan Old Field School that will be held in the first two weeks of September. 

---

First published: 5 August 2025