Scotland in Early Christian Times

Joseph Anderson (1832–1916), curator of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, delivered the Rhind lectures of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland from 1879 to 1882 as a sequence on the ancient history of Scotland, and subsequently published them in book form. His lectures on early Christian Scotland were published in two highly illustrated volumes in 1881, and begin with a consideration of the materials and methods of archaeology before describing the material remains of church buildings (and the related round towers found in both Scotland and Ireland), and island monasteries and hermitages. Volume 1 continues with an examination of artefacts of the Celtic church. The characteristic art of illuminated manuscript books such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells is discussed, as are the numerous surviving holy bells and reliquaries, and the characteristic stone crosses which still dot the northern landscape.