I met the formidable Dr Larch S Garrad at the Manx Museum in 1980. It was a rather unnerving experience for a 20 year old archaeology student, although I didn’t realise at the time quite how lucky I was. This is a short story of how she saved me from writing a terrible dissertation, rescued my degree, and probably enabled my future career and eventually the establishment of #TRAC. It’s a trivial story in itself; but it’s an adjunct to the whole bigger narrative of extraordinary women of archaeology who deserve much wider recognition. Garrad should have been appointed Director of the Manx Museum, but wasn’t. Nevertheless she became an Isle of Man icon - an archaeologist, educator, natural environment expert, and historian of the landscape.
Read moreThe Horrors of the Burnings of 'Witches' and Heretics - Island Stories
Sixteenth and 17th century Europe saw a huge swathe of prosecutions, tortures and executions of so-called witches and heretics, including the brutal burnings of local families by foreign elite powers on islands perceived to have weak Christianity and church and a fondness for long-lived pagan superstitions and culture. In this piece I look at the burnings of supposed ‘witches’ and heretics on Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Iceland, and some of the symbols of resistance I remember from my own Manx childhood.
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