LUSS Parish Church arranged a season of six weekly historical lectures to end the Year of Celebration to mark its 1,500th year.
The free one-hour lectures began in the church on Wednesdays evening November 17 2010, covering the events of the last 1,500 years around Loch Lomond. Three of the talks had to be rescheduled to January 12, 19 and 26 because of the bad weather in December.
The first lecturer was Steve Boyle who is a field investigator with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. He described Loch Lomondside in the period from 1750-1850 and all of the changes that happened at that time which still influence the way villagers live today.
The idea of his talk was to help villagers visualise the change in the way of life of ordinary people here as they moved from the 18th century into the 19th.
The second talk was by Stuart Campbell who works with the Treasure Trove Unit and is responsible for assessing newly discovered archaeological objects.
Stuart went back to the year 1200 at which time Loch Lomond was a key place in a country which was not yet fully formed. Using some of the finds from this and other areas, he explained how living on Loch Lomondside was different from living in other areas of Scotland and described how the area related to the other emerging areas.
Alan Steel moved the discussion on to pilgrimage, describing pilgrimage in Scotland, how it started and how important it was both politically and religiously, speaking particularly about pilgrimage to Luss and Saint Kessog.
The talk by Professor Ian Hazlett, who was until very recently Professor of Church History at the University of Glasgow and Principal of Trinity College, took place on January 12.
He described what life was like for ordinary people in Luss and Loch Lomondside at the time of the Reformation in 1650 – and how people’s lives were changed by the events of the Reformation.
Former Benedictine monk Stephen Holmes spoke on January 19 and went back before the time of the Reformation to talk about how ordinary, and not so ordinary, people worshipped. This is really important because in those days people’s lives revolved around worship.
Dr Gavin MacGregor, an old friend of Luss and project manager with Glasgow University Archaelogical Research Division, was last on the list of speakers with descriptions of finds on the shores of Loch Lomond and their relevance to the religious and social life of those who lived in the Luss area in the years following the life and work of Saint Kessog. His talk was on January 26.
