Continuity and a Fort from the Dark Ages
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- At last an actual fort from the Dark Ages! Not a reused Iron Age fort.
Here we visit the fascinating Mote of Mark in Rockcliffe, Scotland.
So, how dark were the Dark Ages? Some "experts" reference the quality of the finds here - including fine jewelry made by skilled craftsmen - as evidence that everything didn't fall to bits when the Romans left Britain. There are some specific issues with this argument, which we take a look at. But nonetheless, someone was definitely living a good life here in the 500s and 600s - benefitting from imports from surprising places.
Then we move onto the Medieval tale of romance that has somehow attached itself to this place. It's the story of Tristan, King Mark of Cornwall and Iseult, or Isolde. An interesting story, based on Celtic legend, which inevitably gets snarled up in the whole King Arthur of the Britons nonsense.
For once, the weather was great too!
CATALOGUE ENTRY: DARK AGES
#legendofkingarthur #moteofmark #tristanandisolde #knightsoftheroundtable #tristan #iseult #isolde #rockcliffe #scotland #kingarther #arthurofthebritons #darkages #darkagefort #hillfort #romanempire #romanbritain #kingmark #dumnonia #cornwall #ireland #mrwhippy
Credits (Where due)
WC21 (UK) Productions Ltd theme tune: Keygenerator - Freesound
Roman Gazette theme tune: 8-bit Win - Velda - Epidemic Sound
The Almanac theme tune: Rush - DJI Mimo
For Serious Rambling Hikers & Scramblers theme tune: 514178 danlucas - Freesound
Coastal Catalogue theme tune: Just Like Magic - Epidemic Sound
The Time Tunnel theme tune: Micro - Epidemic Sound
Compendium of Curiosities: Underbelly - Epidemic Sound
All other music: Epidemic Sound
Lead presenter and producer: Darren Spratt
Cameras
iPhone 13
DJI Pocket 2 Creator Combo
GoPro Hero 8
HoverAir X1
Gimbal
DJI Osmo 6
Tripods
Telesin Mini Selfie Stick
Phot R Camera Video Tripod
Synco Smartphone Video Set Vlog kit
Manfrotto MMCompactADV
Microphones
DJI Mic
Purple Panda Lav Mic
Rode VideoMic Go II
Power
5800Ah Portable Charger for iPhone
Smatree 2022 Power Bank with Tripod for Pocket 2
Charmast Power Bank
Editing
VN Editor
DJI Editor
IMovie
Movie Maker
Excellent work - it really felt like a lot went into that! Lots of lovely footage there from your flying camera - the batteries must have really taken a hammering!
I particularly enjoyed the ice cream scene, it added a touch of gravitas to the historical discussion.
I get the sense the "dark ages" is something historians love to get all worked up about - even the name itself is controversial (versus "early medieval period"). Just the odd monk here and there writing stuff down, and apparently big gaps between, say, Gildas and Bede. I assume, that the luxury of recording history is something you only get with a certain level of economic prosperity and political stability - if you're toiling the fields all day or forever sparring with your neighbours there's probably no time to be penning your memoirs. That said your video does suggest that at least some people in the era clearly had wealth. Perhaps it was a deliberate choice to not write things down then? A bit like the way some people today eschew society's obsession with taking photos of everything so they can "live in the moment"...?
Thank you, Tweedy! Yes this one was quite intense! The surprising presence of an ice cream van in Scotland, in January, was joyous.
That’s an interesting analogy with the taking pictures obsession of today. I think with this location, it’s the quantity of exports from far flung places that gets “experts” a bit flustered. I’m not so sure it’s that surprising. Coastal location. Outside of what was Roman Britain, anyway. If anything, it’s a good example of how powerful local warlords became during this period. It’s a small fort and not representative of how most people were living!
As you say, it’s the lack of written evidence that it makes it so “dark”. And I guess that goes someway to explaining how it ended up being named after the King of Cornwall. Bonkers!
Yet another belter of a video, yourself and Tweedy Outdoors deserve a mass injection of subscribers - you two are making fantastic videos and those videos are an absolute pleasure to watch! HAIL TWEEDY! HAIL WC21 (UK) PRODUCTIONS!!
Thank you so much Oscar - really appreciate your support! If you can steer any subscribers this way, that would be very much appreciated! I really enjoyed filming at this stunning location and was spoilt by the weather - just this once!
Nice....i have visited that one a couple of years ago when we holidayed at nearby Colvend....Rockcliffe is Heaven on Earth.
Thank you. I'd never been there before and was blown away by the beauty of the place. Always nice to be pleasantly surprised!
That drone lift-off selfie looked terrifying!
Yes it was! The thing kept going bonkers that day - like they do. Thanks for watching.
Great location, excellent camera work and editing, and very interesting narrative. Thank you!
Thank you and glad you enjoyed it! I actually thought of you when I was filming this in that glorious weather, as I know you enjoy a good landscape. I'd never been to this area before and was really struck by how beautiful and undiscovered it is.
Am I thick, or out of touch, but is it not Is-ul-da?
Surely it's not that things weren't written, it's more such records don't survive. If things were so bad then the populace would just move somewhere better.
You are probably right about the pronunciation there. I elected to go with the lesser known Iseult version to try to mask my ineptitude!
Yes, I agree that it’s the loss of written records that contribute so much to the mystique of the Dark Ages.
Keith, forgive me if I’ve got this wrong, but aren’t you based down in Devon or Cornwall? If so, have you ever heard of the dubious association between the King of Cornwall and this fort in south west Scotland?
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd Yes that's right I'm a proper Devonian (with a little Cornwall and Oxfordshire thrown in to liven the gene pool). I know very little of Dumnonii rulers, as far as I know very little is known. Best ask someone who hasn't straw for brains.
I loved the scenery, liked the videography (if that is a real word) and was absorbed in the way you moved from a coastal mote through Arthurian legend to Wagner. Thank you, no thumbs down from me.
Cheers Chris, that's lovely feedback and I appreciate it very much.
Another highly informative, beautifully filmed walk through history. Thank you.
Thank you, Phil. I really appreciate the feedback on the filming - I’m a complete amateur, but try hard to produce visually appealing videos.
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd They are brilliant & beautiful, quirky cool music / photography / landscapes / history / middle-aged humour / smart tweed outfits - great accomplishment !!!
Great coastal scenery, it gets a 👍🏻up from me. Go careful with love potions!
Thank you - yes it was beautiful and I got lucky with the weather! I will not be ingesting any love potions - accidentally or otherwise!
I've not seen one of these before. I certainly won't be disliking. I, too, am a scroll on if you don't like it. Strange people out there. I learn so much on this channel. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers Chris! A dislike or two is the price of UA-cam fame, I guess!
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd but like or dislike, it's all traction in the great algorithm.
@@chrisbentleywalkingandrambling yes - it thrives off attention, I believe!
Hi Darren, "well there should be!" you say ........ and there is ...... King Darren (a gamer) and Rey Darren from the Philippines (Rey being king in Spanish) which was a Spanish colony at one time (Treaty of Tordesillas).
Poor old Midge Ure kept at number two by Joe Dolce's "Shaddap You Face!! Yes you know your demographics very well!!
You did some great drone shots in quite testing light, no worries about the shadows. They chose well back then, It was a great spot for a hill fort and an interesting story as well. No surprise that there are remains from all over.
Perhaps it's as well you didn't record the arrival of the ice cream van, UA-cam might have forced you to take this one down.
Well my trail of the "ruina montium" continues, Friday afternoon I was stood on top of an aqueduct which existed in three phases of history, firstly it was a Roman construction (for mining), then reused in the period of arabic domination for supplying water to the Alhambra and finally in Victorian times for gold mining again. Although I could see snow on the mountain tops it was a hot afternoon, 26°C, and no sign of an ice cream van anywhere!!
Great video, well done, have a great week!!
Thanks David, but what about a King Terry and King Gary? I’m glad there’s a King Darren, but it should be me!
Your adventures sound positively exotic! Shame no ice cream, though!
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd Yes the Arabic remains do add a more exotic touch, no doubt about it. The Alhambra is a fantastic palace and very well studied, photographed etc etc but what I find interesting is how they got the water there, the less well known and perhaps understood stories.
After the aqueduct I mentioned I followed the track down into the next valley to get to the royal reservoir, sounds exciting, but it was really just a weir to take water out into an acequia (an irrigation channel) that supplied the Alhambra Palace. Little remains of the original structure it seems to be all concreted over but still functioning. The return led me to the Royal Water Mill and then a Hacienda (a country mansion) both abandoned and in a terrible state. Thing is there was no one there just me .... and a dead dog by the mill .... I made haste from that point on!! I wouldn't call any of that exotic!!
Maybe the UK doesn't have exotic remains but when I look at the places that you have filmed they are extraordinarily interesting and intriguing, a good example, being the stone circles on your Time Travel trilogy or the enormous barrow in the river valley.
All the best!!
PS: A quick search tells me that there is a King Gary and a King Terry, might not be royalty though!!
@davidberlanny3308 sounds exciting and ever so slightly scary!
Very interesting, thank you
Thank you, Carrie. Glad you enjoyed it - nice weather in this one - for once!
Totally enjoyed this trek through your thoughts and facts-Thank you Darren
Thank you, James! It’s an interesting fort - whoever held court there was pretty powerful. No idea how the link to the King of Cornwall came about!
What a lovely location - some great drone shots! Oh and nice tripod.
Cheers Hedley! I regretted not having taken any photos of the hillfort for your Facebook group when I read someone complaining about the lack of Scottish hillforts on the page. Feel free to screen grab if you want to stick one on him!
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd I think that your video serves the group well! I am also impressed yet again of the footage you are getting from that drone of yours, considering it's portability.
@@hedleythorne Thanks Hedley. It’s not bad is it - for £375! I just love how easy it is and I think the elevated shots add something to the overall video.
I think this is a bit of a masterpiece, actually..but also, it makes me think about a rather complex idea for a future project. I'll be in touch about that in a few minutes...
Thanks Matt! I’m intrigued now!
You just started in my "new to you" feed.... liked and subscribed immediately. Great videos and you do your research! Thank you.
Thank you Deborah and welcome. I really appreciate the feedback and useful to know that UA-cam is pushing the channel. I must be in favour with the algorithm!
Cunomarcus (kew-no-mark-us)
Ysolde (ee-sol-d)
Drostan (dross-tan....becomes Tristan, whose youngest son born in Brittany becomes Saint Drostan who came to Scotland :)
I can only apologise for my hopelessness! That’s interesting about Tristan’s son coming to Scotland. I would love to find out why the Mote is named as it is. Thanks for watching.
You must be the best dressed UA-camr...great video, very informative and witty..thanks
Thanks Michael! Glad you enjoyed it. An interesting site.
Super location 👍
Cheers Jennifer! It was a lovely place. And there was ice cream!
So, did you and Stephany drink the love potion, accidentally?
Ha! No, fortunately we didn't! But what an excuse, eh?!
You’ll be implying that King Rollo and Queen Gwen weren’t real historical figures next. What will be left to believe in?
No don’t worry - they’re real!
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd I now medically need a roll of Rolos ...Tasmanian shops sell a block of rolo, but that's not right...I'll search the international sections of the grocery stores here ...When I watched this vid a few months ago I missed the bit about Darren threatening to shed a bit of tweed!!! ...We don't need pole dancing historians here dear soul! 😱.
Also...Darren removing tweed? Are you mad?...If Darren and the sadly departed Robin Bush had formed an antiquarian version of the Full Monty, they could keep their hats on ...and their pants! Thank you...Mind I do have a thing for Mary Beard 🤣...She's an amazing lady.
I'm 56 and allowed to have a thing for Mary Beard 🤪
Oh I do miss Robin Bush - even after so many years! I was very sad when they phased him out. At some point in the late 90s, he even hosted a separate programme called Time Team Extra. Such nostalgia for the first 10 years of Time Team!
Continuity: hmmmm. I’ve just done Tetbury where I’ve discovered that three-THREE!-Roman roads go within (something like) two miles of it. There, the Roman world was just dead to them and they plonked their important settlement as far as possible away from it. What does this mean? Who knows! As fascinating as the subject is we are a long way from being certain, imho. I laughed all the way through this one, which is probably not what you wanted, but it cheered me up anyway. I’m glad you had good light
I'm glad you laughed - that's one of the objectives. As long as you were laughing at the intended bits?!
I don't think I'm saying anything controversial here: just poking at the expressions of surprise put forward by some "experts" about the quality of the goods found here, plus a bonkers association with the King of Cornwall and King Arthur.
I'm not that surprised there was a fort stuffed full of luxury goods and imports 150 years after the end of Roman rule in Britain - in an area that was only ever briefly under Roman rule in the mid-second century. I think it does show that foreign trade continued - or resumed - more quickly than some would have us believe.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd Scotland was just beginning at this point. Up until the Irish invaded they would’ve spoken the same language and probably had the same culture and religion as the Cornish so it is not strange to me there is a connection. I well believe it. I wonder how permeable the border was to elites across Hadrian’s Wall? Did Britain beyond the wall act as a reservoir for British nationalism during Roman rule? I suspect it did
@@AllotmentFox yes the Kingdom of Rheged was absolutely Celtic British, but what were their relations with Dumnonia? When you consider the imports from Europe, I suppose it is feasible that boats were coming up from there and maybe there is some kernel of truth in a link to Mark. Fascinating.
There are different opinions (naturally) about the zone immediately above the wall in the Roman period. But what I think is pretty well established is that there was a lot of trade. Obviously this fort didn’t come into being until long after the Roman army left the wall, so interesting to see those 6th Century Roman finds there.
The only thing I’m certain about is that King Arthur was in no way involved!
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd they had the same language so they were the same people, that’s the connection.
@@AllotmentFox just to whet your appetite, there’s more King Arthur balderdash next week with a nightmare for etymologists!