Seven Incorporated Trades of Stirling

Recently members of the Hammermen spent an enjoyable morning at Trades Hall in Glasgow which is home of the Trades House of Glasgow established in 1605. Our tour was courtesy of Craig Bryce, Deacon of the Incorporation of Masons in Glasgow in 2013 and a Stirling Hammerman. Craig explained to the members that there were 14 incorporated crafts in the Trades House of Glasgow the oldest being the Masons which along with the Wrights and Coopers claim to have been first incorporated by King Malcolm III of Scotland in 1057.

Glasgow Trades House motto is Union is Strength and Craig explained that the symbol of
the 14 arrows was taken from the fact that  a few arrows can be easily broken but 14 together cannot. Trades Hall itself was designed and built from 1791-1794 by prominent Scottish architect Robert Adam. It is one of the oldest buildings in Glasgow still used for its original purpose. The hall is used by the trades for dinners and meetings but is also let out for functions, events and weddings. Trades House support many deserving causes and individuals across the City of Glasgow through general support and donations from the 14 Incorporated Crafts.

From the entrance hall Craig took us through many of the rooms including the main hall where functions are held which has a frieze of all the trades running along the wall together with boards showing all the Deacon Convenors since 1605. For the record, the Glasgow Hammermen were incorporated in 1536 with the first Hammerman Deacon Convenor not taking office until 1671.

Craig took his time to explain to the Hammermen the use of many of the rooms and the significance of the various artifacts on display. The final stop of the tour was in the musuem where there were many interesting artifacts showing the history of the trades. However it was interesting to note that the room had also been a Trades School in the days before schooling became compulsory. On the wall was the school rules and it would be interesting to see how today’s pupils would react to the wooden benches, slates and rules in force then. School on Saturday morning! Finally Deacon Andy thanked Craig for giving up his time and taking us on the very informative tour.

Links

www.tradeshallglasgow.co.uk, www.tradeshouse.org.uk,

A full history can be found on their own web site www.tradeshallglasgow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/History-of-the-Hall.pdf

The Seven Incorporated Trades were represented at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony. They attended the Church of the Holy Rude service and then walked down to the refurbished war memorial where Deacon Stuart laid a wreath on behalf of the Incorporation of Hammermen.

In typical Scottish weather, the picture opposite shows Deacon Stuart Campbell  laying his wreath.

After the wreath laying ceremony, the Hammermen joined other guests for a reception in the Municipal Buildings courtesy of Stirling Council.

At the Annual General Meeting of the Incorporation of Hammermen, Baillie Andrew McEwan was elected as New Deacon. He thanked the Old Deacon Stuart Campbell for his invaluable contribution to both the revival of the Hammermen (now with 26 members) and also re- igniting the interest in the other six trades. He also thanked Stuart for the many projects he had instigated during his term.

The revival of the official Walking of the Marches, the erection of a new March stone (courtesy of Historic Scotland) at the Smith Museum and also the ongoing recreation of the Blue Blanket by the Embroiders Guild.

Pictured L-R New Deacon Andrew McEwan, Old Deacon Stuart Campbell

The Incorporation of Hammermen held their Annual Dinner on Friday night in the
Allan Park Hotel. Guest speakers were Bruce Blanche and Michael Giannandrea.

Deacon Stuart Campbell introduced the meeting with a run through of the successes
of the year.

Hammermen funds had been used to present awards to the top Historic Scotland
students at Forth Valley College, a set of woodworking tools had also been
presented to local lad Rowen Baird, training to become a traditional joiner. On a
more social front, there was a successful Burns Supper thanks to David Sibbald, a
visit to Duncarron village, a whisky tasting thanks to Calum McMillan and a joint
ceildh night with Stirling and Caledonian Strathspey and Reel Society, raising £620
for Strathcarron Hospice at which a new reel composed by David Gardner was
played called “Hammermen of Stirling”.

On a more serious note, the highlight of the year had been the Walking of the
Marches where numbers were up by 25% with Historic Scotland agreeing to donate
three more March stones. Deacon Stuart reported that the new replacement Blue
Blanket has been started by the Embroiders Guild and will be ready for the 2016
walk. Finally members attended the Remembrance Sunday service at the Holy Rude
and a wreath was laid at the war memorial.

Master of ceremonies Bailie Andrew McEwan, then introduced the first Speaker,
Bruce Blanche who spoke about Camp 21, a “black” POW camp at Cultybraggan
where category A POW’s were held. They were mainly POW’s considered to be the
most committed and fanatical Nazi, mainly young Waffen-SS, Afrika Korp and U-boat
crew all policed by Polish guards. They had travelled mainly from Devises by bus and
train following the foiling of a mass breakout in 1944. Bruce told the audience of
tunnel building, the infamous murder of Wolfgang Rosterg but also touched on the
more creative side showing pictures of items prisoners made from wood. Following
the war, the camp became an army training camp up until it closed in 2004, where
Bruce himself once stayed as a reservist. The camp now listed by Historic Scotland is
owned by Comrie Development Trust and is a multipurpose venue with local
businesses, allotments and exhibitions about the camp itself.

On a complete change of subject the second speaker was Michael Giannandrea a 2 nd
generation Italian Scot. He charted the development of the Italian families in Stirling
including his own and how they had expanded throughout the town with their
businesses and shops. They had come to Scotland originally around the 1890’s as
their expanding families in Italy had small farms and were unable to support the next
generation. He charted the emigration of the Stirling families, where they had come
from briefly touching on their dislike of officialdom. They successfully integrated into
the local population and fought for King and Country with members being decorated
in both wars despite some of the families being interred in the Isle of Man during
WW2. Fascinating old Photos of Stirling were shown with shop locations bringing
back many memories to the locals amongst the audience. Both Bruce’s and Michael’s
talk were enthusiastically received by the Hammermen.

The meeting was rounded off by a vote of thanks from Bailie Robin Mair.

Pictured below L – R
Bailie Andrew McEwan, Bruce Blanche, Michael Giannandrea, Deacon Stuart
Campbell

In the now familiar fashion, the Hammermen enjoyed a fabulous evenings entertainment at the Golden Lion on the Anniversary of Robert Burns visit to the Golden Lion in August 1787. Deacon Stuart Campbell chaired the proceedings with Baillie Andy McEwan setting the tone of the meeting by giving a rousing Address to the Haggis. Baillie Ken Johnston said Grace and after the meal Douglas Mulholland gave a very thoughtful, different but witty Immortal Memory. A musical interlude followed from local musician Dougal Thornton, who sang some famous songs penned by Burns. David Sibbald then went on to give a rendition of Tam ‘O’ Shanter followed by an amusing animated performance of The Touchstane by Ebenezer McIlwham, which he completed despite being taken completely off guard by the flash from the photographers camera at crucial part of the rendition. Deacon Stuart then rounded off the evening with a very unusual toast to the City of Stirling. Pictured (L-R) are David Sibbald, Douglas Mulholland, Deacon Stuart Campbell, Baillie Ken Johnston and Baillie Andy McEwan.

Some Pictures of the evening

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The Incorporation recently visited Duncarron Medieval Village deep in the Carron Valley Forest. This was one of Duncarron’s regular open days – Spirit of Duncarron 2015. As part of the open day, Saor Patrol played. They are the Trust’s band who both promote the Trust and put a percentage of their earnings toward the Duncarron project. Members watched many representations of 11th century life including the “Tavern” a timber building constructed in the traditional way. They saw a working blacksmith making weapons and armour, mock fighting, archery, wrestling, tugs of war, wood working and various forms of cooking. Ometlan, a traditional Aztec dance group were also present having just celebrated the summer solstice.
Duncarron village was started in 2000 on land leased from the Forestry Commission and is based on an 11th century Motte and Bailey design. Run by the Clanranald Trust for Scotland, it was not until 2008 that the first log of the palisade was put in place.

For more information on Duncarron visit http://www.duncarron.com

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Barry Ferguson posted some clips on You Tube and these can be accessed by following the links below:-

A few members of the Hammermen and Embroiders Guild attended a very rare event courtesy of Elspeth King, Director, Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum where the Blue Blanket was unwrapped. This is rarely done due to its very poor condition but on this occasion permission was granted so that information could be gleaned for its possible recreation.

Pictures below show the Blue Blanket.

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History of the Blue Blanket

Local lad Rowen Baird, training to become a traditional joiner, was recently made an award from the Incorporation of Hammermen, one of the Seven Incorporated Trades of Stirling. Rowen has been undertaking a year-long placement in Stirling through the ‘Skills for the Future’ scheme funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund¹ and managed by Historic Scotland.
The ‘Skills for the Future’ project supports traditional building skills through funded vocational placements with leading craft people in the wider heritage sector. The scheme aims to address shortages in many of the skills required to repair and maintain Scotland’s traditional buildings and structures. The objective of the scheme is to create vocational training programmes where bursary holders gain a deep practical and technical understanding of key traditional skills while also increasing their employability skills.

Rowen has been placed with local specialist architectural joinery firm owned by Andrew Miller, whose work focuses on traditional buildings. Rowen has spent a year with Andrew’s firm covering a wide range of bespoke joinery techniques and has also received regular wood carving and letter cutting tuition from local master carver Richard Douglas. Rowen is now due to move into a formal four year joinery apprenticeship at Forth Valley College in the autumn.
Stuart Campbell, Deacon of the Incorporation of Hammermen, commented “The Hammermen are particularly keen to support young people undertaking traditional skills training and apprenticeships and have a close relationship with Historic Scotland. The Hammermen continue to give awards as part of the annual stonemasonry apprentice competition organised by Historic Scotland but saw an opportunity to make an award to Rowen for the purchase of a very specialist set of letter cutting chisels, tools that will be part of his working kit through the entirety of his career.”
Ian Walker, Building Crafts Development Manager from Historic Scotland said “Rowen is just the kind of keen young person that the Skills for the Future project aims to upskill and bring into the heritage sector. To gain a year’s practical experience with a specialist company like Andrew Miller and his team will set Rowen on the path to a bright career working with traditional buildings. We need to keep these skills alive to ensure that our historic environment survives for future generations and this can only happen with the commitment to passing on of traditional skills by experts like Andrew Miller and Richard Douglas”.

¹ Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported more than 3,000 projects with an investment of over £611 million across Scotland. http://www.hlf.org.uk.

On Saturday 13th June, the 2nd historic walking of the Marches of the City and Royal Burgh of Stirling took place. The weather was fair and the procession started with the swearing in of the Birlaw men by Bailie of the Hammermen Andrew McEwan. The members of the Seven Trades, Guildry, Stirling Council, with Provost Mike Robbins, Snawdoun Herald of Arms Elizabeth A Roads LVO, Depute Lt. Colin O Brien, Sharon McGrouther carrying the Council Mace and piper Cameron McKay from QV School then left the Municipal buildings in procession down to the new March stone laid last year at the Smith Museum where Bailie Andrew McEwan, spoke of the history of the marches and proposed a toast courtesy of Deanston Distillery to the Stirling Marches. Locals and tourists alike watched the 80 strong procession as it continued around the top of the town, down King Street, through the busy farmers market back to the Municipal buildings where Provost Mike Robbins pronounced the walk a great success. He thanked the organisers and all who attended, looking forward to the same again next year. There then followed a civic reception courtesy of Stirling Council.

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A You Tube video is available courtesy of Barry Ferguson showing a toast and the tradition ably explained by Captain of the Birlaw men Andy McEwan – see link below:-