Although it is extremely important to remain safe, UK is second in percentage of the population vaccinated as of this date and the US is fourth.  That is more encouraging that travel might be possible in the fall.   We have been saturated with other endeavors, but will pick up where we last left off and  try to advance the sign and SMCs.  Again, minimally, we would hope to visit the island for maintenance.

More to follow...

COVID continues to delay our progress but we hope a maintenance visit, perhaps even for placing the sign, might be possible in September.  It still feels like a long shot at this stage but we will restart efforts to make that timing possible.

Thanks for your patience and continued support.

Thanks also for all the feedback received on the proposed sign at AllMacfarlanes.org.

We have been open for feedback from the community at the site AllMacFarlanes.Info for about a month and have gotten some great feedback.  It has been tremendous to hear support for the sign and, so far, no concerns or objections have been raised on the proposal.

We have incorporated some feedback and are trying to update the demi-savage a bit per suggestions.   Once we finalize feedback, we will take a pass at cleaning up the design (temporarily compromised by attempts to incorporate feedback) and provide this back to our archaeologists for their final adjustments.

Most comments have indicated preference for the Clearing location, but a few have indicated a srong preference for the Beach location.   As we have noted in earlier communications, if we have even a few people who feel strongly that a sign would compromise the natural amience of the site in any way, we will likely choose the B option for the Beach location.

We are hoping that all who have an interest in Elanvow will respond to provide their feedback and suggestions for the sign.   We have sent emails to the leadership in the three Clan MacFarlane socieites that we are aware of.   We have received strong support from two of the  three societies but we have not received any direct response from the third.   We have sent additional emails directly to the leadership of that society and requested permission to post the AllMacFarlanes.Info link and message on their Facebook page.   We have not received any reply although replies might have been delayed by travel and or other complications of the current pandemic.   We remain hopeful that all MacFarlanes and all who love Elanvow will give us their feedback and support.

Our annual maintenance trip under our existing Scheduled Monument Consent was canceled this year due to the pandemic.

We have been working diligently with our archaeologists,  Historic Scotland, the Court of the Lord Lyon, the National Library of Scotland, and others to create a draft sign for the island.

As of this evening, we have posted the draft(s) at a temporary website put together to solicit feedback from the community.

AllMacFarlanes.Info

Please visit and register your input!

Joss Durnan of Historic Environment Scotland has provided us with feedback on the proposed sign and on our proposals for additional works. (Many Thanks!)  He may have also offered another option for location of the sign on the island.  We are considering that as well.  More to follow on these soon!

While it is clear that the Regent of Moray granted Andrew the new crest and motto based on his service at the Battle of Langside, there are several accounts of the battle and Macfarlanes' role.    Some accounts suggest the Macfarlanes were responsible for the victory while others suggest the Macfarlanes real impact was inconsequential to the victory.  It is interesting that the Macfarlanes were named explicitly in many accounts ... so were likely of note on some basis.  It is also not clear what action/support would merit the grant of crest and motto.   That said, we have changed the home page text to better reflect the fact that the grant of crest and motto was made based on Macfarlane's contribution to the victory.   

More to come as the signage evolves!  David Connolly and Fiona Baker are making great progress iterating through that!  We should have drafts to share soon!

To all historians and interested parties:  Please do always send us your thoughts if you see something that is 'not quite right' on our site.  We'd love to hear more and love to hear of any references, information, or stories that you may have.

COVID-19 is certainly putting question marks around our planned maintenance trip in August.  We will continue to monitor options.

David Connolly has done a wonderful job creating initial drafts for signage on Elanvow and continues to refine an interpretation of what the castle tower and grounds might have looked like.  There is very little information to base this on, of course, so it is intentionally abstract.  We have the hand-drawn image representing the castle on Elanvow from Timothy Pon't's map (about 1590) but it is hard to confirm details based on the materials we have.  Nonetheless, it is worhwhile to try to paint a picture of what Elanvow might have looked like in the late 16th century.

The main sign would be a low platform, we hope with a stone base, and it will be located at the beach end of Building 1 (per discussion with HIstoric Environment Scotland).

We plan to include QR codes (at least one) in the signage and possible several to link to references.   We are also considering the placement of natural stones, engraved with QR codes, at various points of interest on the site.   Hopefully these will not be noticeable or distracting but will provide a link to location-specific information while on the island.   We also continue to hope for augmented reality presentations on-island and these could trigger those as well.

Be Safe!  Be Well!

Apologies for the apparent gap in entries.  We are still here and progressing at a pace consistent with the complex schedules of the Team!  January was absorbed for Katherine and me by a two week trip to Egypt and February, well February is just short.

We a planning the next visit for the first week in August 2020 with goals to do significant tree/foliage maintenance and, hopefully, to get signage up.   Joss Durnan of HES had recommended a number of maintenance activities in our last visit.

More to follow...

Happy Thanksgiving!  No trips planned before spring, but we are contemplating a maintenance trip in March or April.  Timing may also depend on the progress/approvals for placing the signage.

We are still here and working away.

We have wonderful professionals working with us, but their schedules are quite hectic.  We have concluded that we are unable to influence the pace of the completion of the HES report and the progression toward work on the tower itself.   The tower has been there for 442 years and ... particularly with the work we have done so far ... will be around for many more.   

We had planned to have the HES report completed by the end of this year, but I think that is unlikely at this point.   We will leave the progression of the report and stabilization of the tower in the capable hands of the professionals ... and we will focus on what we can do ... the continued maintenance of the site and the signage.

Thank you again for your continued support!