Geddes, G & Hale, A 2010, “The Archaeological Landscape of Bute” Edinburgh:RCAHMS, 53pp, colour illus, ISBN 978-1-902419-74-9, £7.50. Reviewed by Dr Anna Ritchie OBE HonFSA Scot

Geddes, G & Hale, A 2010, “The Archaeological Landscape of Bute”

Another very attractive publication from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, this book arises from a most successful partnership with the Discover Bute Landscape Partnership Scheme, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The re-assessment of the complex archaeology of Bute is a major element of the Scheme, which is still underway, and the Royal Commission has been working with local volunteers over the last three years to record the surviving traces of the island’s past. This work has not only improved the existing database but also added some 120 ‘new’ sites, as well as training local people in surveying techniques.

The book is arranged in chronological chapters from the Mesolithic to the Improvement Period, each with an admirably clear distribution map, and they encompass some truly fascinating sites, such as the Dunagoil forts, the monastic complex at Kingarth and Thom’s Cuts, which were lades built to supply water to Rothesay’s cotton mills. Excellent use is made of estate maps from the Mount Stuart archives and old photographs in the Bute Museum collection, including a delightful photograph of Dorothy Marshall and her father, J N Marshall, both of whom achieved so much for the archaeological heritage of Bute. But it is the new and magnificent air photographs that will surely make the reader wish to visit the island. All the illustrations have good explanatory captions, and indeed the entire text is clearly and engagingly written.

Books like this are exactly what we need to interest local communities in their past, to boost tourism and to raise awareness and appreciation of the historic environment.

Anna Ritchie OBE HonFSA Scot