Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the end. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the end of the post - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue**] Today (22 nd August 2013) is a very special day for me! It’s my blog’s second birthday! The stats are pretty impressive: 65 published posts 106 blog followers +81,500 page views OK … it’s not the Huffington Post , but it’s not bad! I had intended to write something for the first birthday of the blog, but with all the commotion going on about the Drumclay Crannog , there just didn’t seem to be the time. This year I wanted to reflect on where the blog came from, what it’s managed to achieve, and where it may be going. At Nendrum, Co. Down August 2011 was a pretty dark time for me. In terms of my c...

I'd like to introduce Spencer Gavin Smith to the blog. He's a PhD student undertaking an exceptional study of Medieval parks and gardens in Wales and Shropshire. Unfortunately, he's having difficulty finding funding for this important project. Instead of sitting about and whining about it, he has taken the bold move of setting up a gofundme page to help raise the necessary cash through donations. I know that times are tough for everyone right now, but this is a genuinely important topic that Spencer's work is shedding important new light on and I believe that he deserves to be funded. I can claim the honour of having been the first to put my hand in my pocket and make a donation - now I'm asking you to do the same. Even a couple of pounds or dollars, euros or yen, could go a long way in helping this cause! If you can, please donate! Robert M Chapple *           *           * I'd like to thank Robert for inviting me to write...