The BAA is pleased to return to Scotland for the fifth time in its history, this time to explore Edinburgh, the Lothians, and the Scottish Borders. This area of Lowland Scotland between the Tweed and the Forth has long been a site of connections and conflicts between peoples. Emerging from a history of Roman incursions, Goddodin settlement, early medieval development under Northumbrian rulership south of Pictland, Edinburgh or Din Eidyn and its hinterlands became the wealthiest part of Scotland, and eventually its administrative capital as an independent nation. Notably, the Lothians and the Borders provide many of the best surviving ecclesiastical buildings and artworks from the mid-12th century onwards, as David I planted monastic orders and formalised parishes. As befits a border region, the area’s cultural output is diverse, from the sculpted Romano-British Cramond lioness through Insular interlace on high crosses at Abercorn and Perpendicular tracery at Melrose, to the many crow-stepped gables showing strong influences from trading partners in the Low Countries.
Lectures will cover the area’s royal, ecclesiastical, and defensive sites and material culture from the first Roman invasion in A.D. 79 to the Reformation in 1560. We anticipate visits to include significant sites within the city such as Edinburgh Castle, St Giles Cathedral, Holyrood Abbey, and Trinity College as well as excursions to study the nearby 12th century parish church of Dalmeny and Rosslyn Chapel’s idiosyncratic architecture and sculpture. A full day excursion to the important and attractively situated border abbeys of Jedburgh, Kelso, Dryburgh, and Melrose, as well as lectures on related subjects, is expected to form a significant part of the programme.
The conference will be based at the University of Edinburgh, and further details together with booking forms will be sent to members in February 2027.
For enquiries about content, please contact the convenors: Lizzie Swarbrick (lizzie.swarbrick@gmail.com) and Dimitris Theodossopoulos (D.Theodossopoulos@ed.ac.uk).
For all other enquiries please contact the Conference Secretary, Kate Milburn (conferences@thebaa.org).