Medieval Knight Found Under Parking Lot in Scotland

[TheOfficialBren]

Thank you for sharing this article. I found it most fascinating.

Yes, for our overseas friends, the USA is FRICKIN' HUGE!!! California is the third largest state by landmass (#1 is Alaska, #2 is Texas) and the largest by population (#50 is Alaska) and economy. At one point in the last twenty years CALIFORNIA (by itself) was in the top twenty global economies.

Canada is MASSIVE!! Just huge!! It's a gull-dern giant behemoth of a country.
Does anyone have an overlay of the US and Canada?

[JonathanB]

Why was the cemetery paved over in the first place? I don't know in this case, but until recently (1900?) it was quite usual for graves to be unmarked in churchyards and the space re-used.

My parents are buried in the churchyard of the church where the funeral took place. Admittedly, they've extended it and the undertakers had to drive my mother's coffin round to the upper gate, but my sister and I walked to the grave in time to meet the hearse and walk behind my mother to my father's grave.

I don't suppose that happens very often and I'm not sure my mother would have appreciated it, but although it was her funeral, it was my loss and I did.

I wore a dark business suit with black tie. This has nothing to do with kilts.

(Richard III was found in a car park in Leicester because he was buried in a monastery church, which was demolished when his successors, the Tudors, dissolved the monasteries.)

[Richrail]

It's really difficult for Brits and Europeans who haven't been here to grasp just how damned big it is.

from the blog here (which is actually talking about wildlife and apex predators).

I've met people who talked about 'driving to Disneyworld and then around to the Grand Canyon', in the 2 weeks they were here. AND they were starting from the upper mid-west.

It's doable, but only if you felt like spending all your time on the road.

There's a joke my father tells-
In American 100 years is a long time, in Europe 100 miles is a long distance.

ith:

I like that, I live in Reno Nevada and people that have never been here ask how close Las Vegas is, Only an 8 hour drive. The run I work on the Railroad is from Sparks/Reno to Elko Nevada, 313 miles by rail and most times it does take 10 to 12 hours.

[MNlad]

Johnathan, you may be mistaking the Huffington Post with the Onion, where the headline would have been along the lines of :
Medieval knight found parked under lot
Owners still calculating overtime fees

Seriously, that story is very interesting.

[JonathanB]

Thank you, MNLad. I was.

The Scots Presbyterians were notoriously iconoclastic, which is why of the medieval cathedrals, only Glasgow is still in use as a building. (St Giles Edinburgh was not a cathedral at the time.)

I read once that Scotland has fewer surviving medieval artifacts than any other European country as a result. It would be consistent for a graveyard to be built over rather than take account of popish superstition.

[tripleblessed]

Interesting stuff, for sure. It may help to explain to those in the New World, why we in the Old World don't think 100 years is a long time and 500 years is really not that long ago at all. And before any one takes me to task. Yes I know full well that there are artifacts, etc, in the New World that go back to distant time, but I have noted the visitors here who seem to get so excited over things here that are not even 100 years old, that some of us here, still happily use!

Jock, absolutely no taking to task. . There are obviously many well funded, well meaning, uninformed US folk who get
excited or even maudlin in the face of things they haven't previously bothered to examine, but many here hold more
information and longer perspectives. Some of us have extensive information going back more than 500 years. Some, not so much. This is why many on this forum speak of Scottish and Irish antecedents. In our families, they are still respected and still influence how things are done. Twice that long ago our Norman lines were not yet in Scotland. They are not all known by name to all of us, but some are to some of us. I know I know at least some, and would hazard a guess you do as well. Known or unknown, the system and changes they brought to Scotland affect all Scots every day, whether they are historically informed or not. That system resulted in the migration of many to these shores, so it affects all here everyday. Many faded into the mists of time, mostly unimportant, some widely known. All part of the mix. Proud natural American, not a Scot, but definitely "Scot-ish".

[tripleblessed]

Georgia, home to several here, contains more land than all of England. Add Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland together,
you get about two thirds of Georgia. Georgia would be almost lost in Alberta, being less than one fourth the size, and Alberta is the fourth largest of Canada's provinces.

Perhaps this contributes to the feeling of some that the traditions here are diluted. Or is that deluded?

[Jock Scot]

Jock, absolutely no taking to task. . There are obviously many well funded, well meaning, uninformed US folk who get
excited or even maudlin in the face of things they haven't previously bothered to examine, but many here hold more
information and longer perspectives. Some of us have extensive information going back more than 500 years. Some, not so much. This is why many on this forum speak of Scottish and Irish antecedents. In our families, they are still respected and still influence how things are done. Twice that long ago our Norman lines were not yet in Scotland. They are not all known by name to all of us, but some are to some of us. I know I know at least some, and would hazard a guess you do as well. Known or unknown, the system and changes they brought to Scotland affect all Scots every day, whether they are historically informed or not. That system resulted in the migration of many to these shores, so it affects all here everyday. Many faded into the mists of time, mostly unimportant, some widely known. All part of the mix. Proud natural American, not a Scot, but definitely "Scot-ish".

No "task" taken.

I will try to avoid the "Scottish" ancestry slant that you talk about other than to say that is not the direction that I was coming from in my post here. I had thought that I had made that clear and I am sorry if I did not do so.

It was the physical aspects that I had in mind such as "artifacts", buildings, and everyday items that we are surrounded with and take little notice of because we are so familiar with them. I give you examples, Stonehenge is a world renowned ancient monument and there are several other henges dotted about the UK so the residents are not unused to things of several thousand years of age. Iron age forts are not unusual, Cathedrals at around a 1000 years old are common, Scotland has, I think over 3000 castles, most go back more than several centuries. Some of our tartan and tweed that we here enthuse about here is made on looms that are over 100 years old, I eat my meals with cutlery that was made just after Napoleon was defeated, and all this is not just a UK thing. So "OLD" to the "old world" is just not the issue that the "new world" make of it.

[JonathanB]

Well, possibly Jock. On the other hand I strongly suspect that even in London, the population can go through a whole day without seeing a single building that pre-dates American Independence. Even if they do, they probably don't realise how old they are. As I said, the White House pre-dates Buckingham Palace.

[Jock Scot]

Well, possibly Jock. On the other hand I strongly suspect that even in London, the population can go through a whole day without seeing a single building that pre-dates American Independence. Even if they do, they probably don't realise how old they are. As I said, the White House pre-dates Buckingham Palace.

That it does, but I think you can agree that we in Europe are surrounded with aged man made this and thats, large and small, impressive and mundane, ranging from thousands to just a hundred years old. Whether we consciously notice them is another matter entirely!