Historic Churches 2020

18 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 27 TH ANNUAL EDITION our research, the replica was Category A listed (see http://bc-url.com/LB52541 ). Still, legal designation is only one way of marking esteem or caring for things and, because of its history, designation practices do still struggle to recognise and apply the rich and diverse forms of authenticity and social/spiritual value that our research reveals. That said, recent developments, in Scotland at least, mean that designation is placing more emphasis on social history. On-site interpretation has more potential scope to embrace actual and ‘felt’ relationships with people, places and things. Forthcoming interpretation at Iona Abbey will now recognise that the replica is more than a proxy for the original as well as alluding to aspects of its social history. LISTEN TO THE STONES Both these example hint at ways in which revealing the social/spiritual values of carved stones and their replicas adds ‘colour’ that can illuminate and enhance the history of ancient churches as well as their experience by contemporary communities. The interdisciplinary study of Iona recently published as My Life as a Replica: St John’s Cross, Iona, illustrates the value of new thinking about replicas. This detailed study practices alternative ways of looking at carved stones and their replicas as advocated in Future Thinking about Carved Stones on Scotland: A Research Framework . Structured around the heritage cycle, these online principles and guidance are widely applicable to carved stones anywhere and of any period. Issues specific to carved stones at churches are recognised, and historic churches feature in many of the accompanying case studies. The resource can be downloaded as a PDF and a shorter, more accessible version is available, Listen to the Stones . Too often though, the early medieval horizon of a historic church is unrecognised or underplayed in the care and promotion of a church. The ECCLES project (Early Christian Churches and Landscapes) led by Thomas Pickles at Chester University aims to create a web portal that will bring together the textual, material and onomastic evidence for Ireland and Britain’s churches pre-dating 1100. In so many places, carved stones will inevitably be brought to the fore. Key to the re-evaluation of the replica at Iona Abbey has been fresh research. Historically focused research was core to the development of Historic Environment Scotland’s reinterpretation of the Columban monastery, not least its 2013 redisplay of carved stones in the site museum. When contemporary and temporal social and spiritual values are explored and added to the mix, further new perspectives become a possibility, gravitating around the story-telling potential of the lives of carved stones and their replicas. Further Reading Early Christian Churches and Landscapes [ECCLES] https:// earlychristianchurchesandlandscapes. wordpress.com/ Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland: A Research Framework https:// scarf.scot/thematic/future-thinking-on- carved-stones-in-scotland/ New Futures for Replicas in Heritage and Museums: Principles and Guidance for Museums and Heritage www.replicas. stir.ac.uk Designation of St John’s Cross, Iona, March 2020 http://bc-url.com/LB52541. S Foster & S Jones ‘The untold heritage value and significance of replicas’, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 21(1), 1–24. DOI: 10.1080/13505033.2019.1588008. S Foster & S Jones My Life as a Replica: St John’s Cross, Iona, London, 2020: www.oxbowbooks.com (for 20% discount apply voucher code REPLICA20) SALLY FOSTER PhD is Senior Lecturer in Heritage and Conservation at the University of Stirling ( s.m.foster@stir.ac.uk, www.stir. ac.uk/people/257394) . With Siân Jones, she recently co-authored My Life as a Replica: St John’s Cross, Iona . MacLeod’s construction of a new identity for Iona Abbey as a place that was once again mainstream in Christian life was therefore at odds with those who placed an emphasis on its cultural significance as national patrimony and a place of international archaeological, historical and art-historical significance. For these people, the prime objective in this context was preservation of the material fabric of the monuments. This included the invisible archaeological evidence for the Columban and later monastery. The aim was not just to protect a significant artistic and ancient resource for the benefit of scholars, but also for Iona’s tourists and pilgrims. CHANGING ATTITUDES TO WHAT IS VALUED AND WHY The need to resolve the fate of Iona’s carved stones was given new impetus in 1957 when the internationally significant 8th-century St John’s Cross fell disastrously, for at least the fourth time in its life. However, finding a home for the cross and Iona’s other carved stones, either inside or beyond the abbey, was extremely difficult. After extended discussion with George MacLeod and debates at national level, a small museum was finally built in 1964, although it was not until 1990 that the St John’s Cross was re-erected there, by when it had been identified by the RCAHMS as the world’s first ‘Celtic cross’. Meantime, individuals who loved Iona were upset about the loss of the Cross from its position in front of the shrine-chapel built over St Columba’s burial. To cut a long story short, their determined and extended efforts liaising with numerous parties led to the erection of a concrete replica on 6 June 1970. Ethnographic work on Iona, undertaken by the author with Siân Jones, illuminates how a replica such as this can acquire forms of authenticity and value, informed by social relations, craft practices, creativity, place and materiality. This research challenges traditional precepts that seek authenticity in qualities intrinsic to original historic objects. It argues that replicas are important objects in their own right, with their own creative human stories – biographies that people can connect with. Given these findings, it was interesting that a 2015/16 review of the listing and scheduling of Iona Abbey had not included the St John’s Cross replica. Of all the things that were technically eligible for designation it was not overlooked, it was specifically excluded. In March 2020 however, informed by Cover of Listen to the Stones , a downloadable leaflet outlining alternative ways of looking at carved stones and their replicas. (Design: www.carmenland.com )