A teenager has helped uncover long-lost gravestones from the Middle Ages during a community archaeology dig in Glasgow.
Mark McGettigan volunteered to help the Stones and Bones dig at Govan Old Parish Church and found what turned out to be the first of three lost medieval sculptured stones.
The 14-year-old, who signed up to take part with his mother Sandra, was helping with the survey of the area and felt something solid below the surface.
READ MORE: Cast say emotional goodbyes as Still Game airs final episode
His discovery turned out to be part of the Govan Stones collection, dating back to the 10th or 11th century, featuring crosses and Celtic interlace designs.
The S3 pupil from Lourdes Secondary School said: “I was just prodding the ground to see if there was anything there and suddenly it made a noise and I realised I had hit something.
“Myself and two of the archaeologists worked out the area of the object and started to dig it out and clean it.
“I wasn’t too sure at the start what it was. But then we checked with the records and we realised it was one of the lost Govan Stones.
“I am extremely happy, in fact I’m ecstatic at what I helped to uncover.”
During the 19th century 46 stones were found in the graveyard with 31 of them taken into the church for safe keeping.
The remaining stones were displayed against the wall of the churchyard by the Harland and Wolff shipyard which was demolished in 1973 – leading experts to believe the stones were also destroyed.
It is believed many of the stones survived, including the ones found in the community dig.
Professor Stephen Driscoll is the University of Glasgow’s Professor of Historical Archaeology and part of The Govan Heritage Trust, which owns Govan Old Parish Church and the Govan Stones.
READ MORE: School strikes off as teachers accept 13% pay rise
Nicola Reid, Northlight Heritage field archaeologist; Mark McGettigan; Megan Kasten, Northlight Heritage volunteer; and Ingrid Shearer, Stones and Bones community engagement officer (Martin Shields/PA)
He called it “the most exciting discovery we have had at Govan in the last 20 years”, adding: “The Govan Stones are a collection of international importance and these recovered stones reinforce the case for regarding Govan as a major early medieval centre of power.
“The discovery is very timely because the Govan Heritage Trust is embarking on a major refurbishment of Govan Old, which will culminate in a redisplay of the collection.
“In the coming months we look forward to continuing this community archaeological work to locate the other lost stones to assess their condition from a conservation perspective and to consider how best to secure their long-term future.”
Ingrid Shearer, of Northlight Heritage, also said: “We’re delighted that our volunteers have had the opportunity to make such a significant discovery.
“They’ve toughed it out through rain and snow over the past few weeks and their hard work and commitment has really paid off.
“Govan Old is the oldest churchyard in Scotland and we hope that this find will give a boost to plans for the future.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here