Thank you so much for your visit and your brilliant thread!

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Much more to be said on both the Govan stones & the Hogbacks in specific, but pausing this thread for now
Felt amazing to scratch this particular itch i'd been meaning to catch since forever & huge thanks to the folks at @govanstones.bsky.social for being absolute legends

#TombTuesday

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The 'roof tile' pattern on the stones is particularly satisfying to look at
if you see the dip at the top it appears that this stone took damage over the years as it was used as a whetstone for sharpening blades, possibly the scythe for the church yard?

#TombTuesday

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The examples at Govan are both unsually large & heavy, the smallest (Govan #2, nearside left) coming in at around a tonne when weighed in 2014
Govan #2 is also believed to be the earliest, its somewhat slight form similar to examples in Cumbria, also with some lovely knot work

#TombTuesday

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Hogbacks are something really special - a norse school of stonework in Britain that is curiously absent from Scandanavia itself
reminscent of longhouse, if i place them side by side with a pic from back in april at Sagnalet lejre 🇩🇰 a moment

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Now all this really needs more time, both for the kingdom of Strathclyde & the huge quantity of material at the @govanstones.bsky.social (way more than i'd even realised before going) but for now
LOOK AT THE HOGBACKS 😳😳😳

#TombTuesday

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This churchyard was the site of some of the most significant early christian activity in Scotland & would host some of its most important funerary finds

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...and this is the church of Old Govan, the current building is from 1888, a little outside our normal dates of interest, but its the site of the church thats of the greatest significance