#birlinn

This selection focuses primarily on history, politics, and current events – from the child trafficking of babies for overseas adoption, to the history of the Roma, and various ways of resistance through time, and postal paths. Disclaimer: These are books which I’m intrigued by. I cannot attest to the qualifications of the writers. If there’s a book you’re interested in, and would like to…

This is my lockdown project.  It’s getting the final coats of varnish but is pretty much ready to take out into the water.  Made of oak, this is a 1:10 scale version of a birlinn, a traditional boat used in the waters of western Scotland during the Middle Ages.  Birlinn would have been corvel-planked and unusually for the period, pinned at prow and stern with what I was told as a kid were known as ‘whale’s teeth’.  These were small wooden pins battered through the planking to stop the two sides of the boat splitting apart and allowing for a much smaller keel (in making this boat, I just used beech dowels but I was told my ancestors would have used yew).  For waterproofing, the corvel planks should have been sealed with the resin tar distilled from Scots Pine but I’ve used fibreglass instead.  I’m calling this rowboat-sized beastie (3.5m long x 1m wide) a ‘birlinn bheag’ or, ‘small boat’ as it’s not got a sail.

This is a project I’ve carried in my heart since I was a kid when I first got asked the question: “How do you think we Scots stopped the Vikings invading us when they were over-running the English?”  The story I got told by my uncles was that my ancestors, the Mac Cuill, built boats for the Lords of the Isles and these were no ordinary boats.  While the Vikings favoured longships, the Picts preferred shorter, wider boats with a shallower draft.  When longships were seen on the horizon, the islanders would pile into their boats with bows and tar kegs and race out to sea.  The idea was simple: the smaller, more maneuverable birlinn would circle about the longships, picking off the invaders with fire and arrow.  The longships had to have a good following wind behind them to reach shore quickly, otherwise their crews would have to row while fighting off the islanders.  The fighting prowess of the Vikings was useless if they couldn’t reach shore.

Flash forward a few years and I get told a ghost story.  My mum as a young newly-wed getting woken up by the sounds of groans and being told about the Viking prisoners being taken away as prisoners not far from where my grandparents lived.  My grandparents used to live near Largs, supposedly the site of the last big battle between Scots and Vikings (in 1263).  Alexander III waited out the Vikings with negotiations until winter storms settled in, when the crossing between Arran and the Ayrshire coast was likely to cause problems to Vikings attempting to take the coastline.  The Vikings didn’t attempt that again.

This boat was made in Kinghorn, where the last Celtic King of Scotland, Alexander III, kept his summer palace.  It’s also where he fell to his death in March 1286, attempting to get home to his young wife.  When the Maid of Norway (his granddaughter) died before she could assume his throne, Scotland would then face years of fighting the English invaders for their freedom, winning it in 1306 under Robert the Bruce, the first Norman king of Scotland.

Behind The Scenes: Stref’s Adaptation Of Peter Pan

Earlier this year BC Books, Birlinn’s children’ imprint, released the first ‘official’ UK graphic novel of JM Barrie’s beloved book Peter Pan. The book was the work of artist Stephen White, also known as Stref, a long-time fan of Barrie’s work who, after years to trying, was finally able, with the help of colourist Fin Cramb, to create the book of his dreams. Scots born JM Barrie originally used…

In Review: JM Barrie’s Peter Pan adapted by Stref

JM Barrie’s Peter Pan is one of the best known and loved British children’s novels of the last century, so it comes as something of a surprise to discover that there has never been a graphic novel based directly on the original novel. Stref, aka Stephen White, along with colourist Fin Cramb, has set out to correct that with this new publication from Birlinn’s children’s imprint BC Books. The…

Peter Pan: Six Questions for Stephen White On His Adaptation Of JM Barrie’s Classic

Artist Stephen White, who works under the pen-name Stref, has just had his graphic novel adaptation of Peter Pan, JM Barrie’s 1904 play and 1911 novel, released by Birlinn Books. This is, remarkably, the first official graphic novel of one of the most famous and beloved children’s books. Stephen has worked on many DC Thomson properties over the years, including The Dandy, The Beano, The Broons…

Peter Pan The Graphic Novel Events

Edinburgh publisher Birlinn books have just released Stephen White’s new graphic novel of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan. This 96 page softcover book is based on Barrie’s original novel and play, adapted and illustrated by Stephen (also known as Stref) and coloured by Fin Cramb, and is published with the full support of the Peter Pan copyright holder, Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. Stephen’s…

Rubh’ an Dunain, Skye: 8000 Years of History

by Martin Wildgoose

Aerial view of the Rubh’ an Dunain peninsula

Members of NOSAS towards the tackman’s house on Rubh’ an Dunain. Canna is on the skyline.

A warm sunny Sunday in early June saw NOSAS members gathering in the Glenbrittle campsite, at the foot of the Cuillin Mountains. The view south was spectacular, Canna seemed unusually close and South Uist and Barra lay in the haze on the…