caithness-1911/05_028

Transcription

xxvi -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.

up his residence in Moseyarborg, held it against the attack of her
son Harald, Earl of Orkney, while the Saga of Egil Skalagrimson
tells of a temporary occupation of it about A.D. 900.
Over what period the brochs continued to be built we do not
know, but it is probable that many centuries intervened between the
erection of the first and of the last. By the enterprise of the late
Sir Francis Tress Barry, more have been excavated in Caithness than
elsewhere, but much scientific exploration must be carried on over
Scotland before their history and development is fully revealed.
To the period of the iron age also belong the underground chambers
and galleries known as earth-houses. Probably owing to the shallow
nature of the soil there are few of these in Caithness.
Almost before the latest brochs could have been in ruins we are
on the borders of historic times. Before the close of the 5th century
of our era a colony of Dalriadic Scots from Ireland, established
themselves in Argyllshire, where they founded a kingdom, with
their capital at Dunadd. They were Christians, and to them came
Columba, with a band of twelve disciples, in the year 563, and
settled in the island of Iona. Caithness was at this time a part of
the kingdom of the Northern Picts, ruled over by Brude, whose
capital was near the site of the modern town of Inverness. Thither
St Columba journeyed within two years of his landing in the west,
and after gaining access to the king by miraculous agency, as it is
related, he converted him and his people to Christianity. Subsequent
to this date, therefore, the missionaries of the Irish church began to
visit the county, building churches, as they went, for their converts,
and dedicating them to their saints.
Though dedications are no sure guide to the dates of erection of
churches, it may be presumed that those to saints purely Celtic, and
not in the Roman hagiology, are referable to the period of the Celtic
church. To this period may have belonged the original church of
Olrig, known as St Coomb's, and the church of Dirlot, dedicated to
St Columba; the chapel near Strathmore, dedicated to St Ciaran; the
church at Wick bearing the name of St Fergus; St Ninian's chapel
at Wick; the church of St Trostan at Westfield; and probably the
chapel of St Tears, whose name is supposed to be a corruption; St
Maddan's at Freswick; and St Duthac's in the Moss of Kilmster.
The sculptured monuments bearing inscriptions in Ogham characters
(a variety of Irish monumental script) and symbols of unknown
meaning, are also to be associated with the Celtic church. Of these,
seven have been found in Caithness, though only three now remain
in the county.
With the coming of the Norsemen the history of Caithness may be
said to commence. From the end of the 8th century the Vikings
infested the northern and western seas, spreading terror, and leaving
desolation in their tracks. Twice within five years they destroyed
the monastery of Iona, on the second visit slaying sixty-eight of its
occupants; and in the year 852 they conquerd Dublin, where Olaf
the White established a kingdom. By the victory of Harald Harfager,
or the Fair-Haired, in 872, which made him sole king of Norway,
many of the wealthy landowners were dispossessed, and fled to
Orkney, making these islands a convenient base from which they
issued to plunder and vex the Norwegian kingdom. Harald collected