1/2 A key part of a tailor’s work was ironing fabric, as seen by ‘goose irons’ in Tailors’ arms across Scotland. But what did they do their ironing on? Images: Pencaitland tailor's stone; Dutch iron; Detail from van Brekelenkam, ‘The Tailor’s Workshop’ (c.1661), Rijksmuseum, NL, Public Domain.

Interested in men's clothing in late Medieval Scotland ? Come and hear me talk on Monday 3 November at Augustine United Church, Edinburgh

Made a site for exploring Bob Henery's transcription of Blaeu's 1654 Atlas of Scotland. You can browse, search and filter 28,394 features across 47 maps: dgplacenames.github.io/blaeu/

14 Oct 1559: Adam Bothwell having been papally provided as bishop of #Orkney is consecrated #otd (British Armorial Bindings © University of Toronto). He later conducted the marriage of Mary Queen of #Scots to the Earl of Bothwell & crowned James VI.

Woman sewing, c. 1650-55 Attributed to Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (British Museum)

30% DISCOUNT with code NEW30! Shaping Jacobitism: Memory, Culture, Networks is a multi-disciplinary exploration of Jacobitism and its cultural legacy with chapters considering #Jacobites from the 1688 Revolution to #Outlander. @EdinburghUP edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shaping...

Revealing Life in a 13thC Scottish Castle theorkneynews.scot/2025/10/02/r...

SCOTLAND’S ARCHIVES AND RECORDS: CELEBRATING SUCCESS SCA is excited to open bookings for its next annual conference on Thursday 20th November in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Find out more and book via: www.scottisharchives.org.uk/latest/sca-a...

The final talk in the second of Royal Marriages Summit series bit.ly/4lifqMO will be delivered by Dr Michael Pearce who will be discussing the marriage of James V of Scotland to Marie of Guise – an important part of the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France.

So I bought an old pitcher, and discover two authentic storage options; suspended, or upside-down on a shelf, from the 'Augsburger Klebealbum', heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/view...

(1/2) The inventory of one of our Kirkwall tailors in 1650: inter alia, 3 kistis; a pint stoup; a chair; a furnished bed; lint & woollen spinning wheels; silk; French ribbons; cloth, including buckram; papers of pins; thimbles and lots of buttons… #KirkwallTailorsProject

#palaeography help please! Is this an ampersand squeezed it with the ‘||’ insertion mark? ‘& ane’?

Step Back in Time at Kirbuster Farm Museum theorkneynews.scot/2025/09/23/s...

Tailor’s ‘goose’ iron from Gouda, Netherlands.

Cap #artbots #themet https://botfrens.com/collections/223/contents/98823

Catz academics in print: 'The Mechanics of Biological Materials' co-ed by Prof. John Morton (1968, Engrng), 'Love & anti-Judaism in medieval English romance' by @hdohertyharrison.bsky.social (2014, English) & a chapter in 'Public Law & the UK Supreme Court' by @profmarkelliott.bsky.social (1999)

What can petitions to magistrates from London apprentices tell us about gendered violence in #EarlyModern England? New addition from Hilary Taylor to the #PowerOfPetitioning annotated bibliography: petitioning.history.ac.uk/2019/05/13/p...

Interesting items in this Kirkwall tailor's 1650 inventory: Silk, French thread and bolts of 'camelhair' cloth! What is the last word in the entry though? #palaeography #skystorians

... and the archives of the Secretary of the 1889 Tailors' Strike Committee are held here! Lithuania-born William Wess emigrated to London in 1880, aged 20, & quickly became a central figure in radical politics in the capital, co-founding/organising trade unions, political & educational groups... 🧵

Tailors’ candlesticks, seventeenth century, as recorded in the PSAS ( @socantscot.bsky.social ). Note the larger depression for an oil lamp with candle sockets in the corners. journals.socantscot.org/index.php/ps...

A copper-alloy pin found on archaeological excavations of an eighteenth-century Waggonway at Cockenzie. A common object for tailors like those of Kirkwall as well.

#Skystorians, in the category of weird questions: I'm looking for primary & secondary sources on the social/cultural understanding or perception of worms and snails in the #EarlyModern period. (N.B. I'm not looking for how worms were classified "scientifically"). Does anyone have suggestions? 🗃️

NEW RESEARCH REPORT: The Wartime Orkney Trail leaflets project Read the report by Ian Collins FSAScot, who was awarded a Society grant to develop self-guided wartime trails exploring the rich archaeology left by 19th and 20th century military activity in Orkney: www.socantscot.org/.../the-wart...

NEW RECORDINGS: Rhind Lectures 2025: Scotland's Place-Names Covering language, archaeology, the church and more, all six recordings from the Rhind Lectures 2025 with Dr Simon Taylor are now available on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... Sponsored by Ordnance Survey

Interested in reading all articles in the most recent 'Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland', our annual peer-reviewed journal of Scottish history and archaeology? Find out more about becoming a Fellow of the Society and apply before 30 September: www.socantscot.org/join/

Waistcoat #artbots #themet https://botfrens.com/collections/223/contents/100617

FAO @neilbuttery.bsky.social

Detail from the 1638 testament of Sibilla Garioch.

Eek today 😥 One chapter sent off to the editors. Two sets of proofs received. Another chapter begun and another two talks underway. Trying to squeeze all the research commitments into one day. Meanwhile I have various image requests & copyright clearances at different stages ... spinning plates!

Very much enjoyed this blog and recommended it to volunteers on the KTP: sarahabendall.com/2020/04/03/t...

Gravestone of a Pencaitland Tailor from 1673. Note the symbols of the trade: the scissors and ‘goose’, or iron.

Join us for our first 2025 public lecture in partnership with Perth Museum. Uncovering Scotland's Earliest Textiles ➕ 7pm - 8pm September 24th 2025 ➕ Admission £7.50/£5.00 ➕ Booking essential through the website below ➕ Location: Perth Museum, Scotland www.culturepk.org.uk/event/uncove...

One of the best sources for figuring out #palaeography conundrums in Scottish texts is the outstanding Dictionaries of the Scots Language (dsl.ac.uk). For example, some might not realise that 'tailor' once had the letter yogh (ȝ) in it: dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/t...

It’s here! And it matches the colour of my living room! A huge thank you to everyone who helped get to this point. It is quite surreal to have it sitting on my shelf. If you, too, want a copy (matching walls not provided) head over to edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-transat...

While most of the Kirkwall Tailors’ work is long gone, occasional finds of clothing turn up in the archaeological record, as detailed in Henshall’s PSAS piece on a 1968 find in a peat bog at Huntsgarth, Orkney. archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/ar...

Volunteers are welcome to join the project to help in the transcription! All volunteers will be named as co-editors, whether you contribute a line or multiple pages. For more info, contact the project lead, Aaron Allen, on [email protected] #palaeography #Orkney

The KTP is a community-based transcription project, aiming to fully transcribe and eventually publish a critical edition of the Records of the Kirkwall Incorporation of Tailors, 1669-1772. Their minute book, formerly on display in Orkney Museum, is being photographed by @orkneylibrary.bsky.social .

The Kirkwall Tailors Project begins!