Summary of the impact

The University of Glasgow has a strong research base in place-names. Our research has supported local organisations develop and make funding bids to Heritage Landscape Partnerships in Scotland for funds in excess of £4 million. These and related projects included a variety of research-led educational activities around place-names, which gave communities a sense of ownership of their landscape and created local history resources that are widely available both to academics and the general public.

Underpinning research

Since 2006 the University of Glasgow has been leading research into place-names in Scotland. This built on earlier place-name work by Thomas Clancy (1995; 2003), which built significant research capacity in place-name studies in the UoA. The University of Glasgow's leadership of place-name research has come through research outputs including major books, articles and websites; steering roles in professional and other associations; and most importantly through three major externally funded research projects:

• `The expansion and contraction of Gaelic in medieval Scotland: the onomastic evidence' AHRC project 2006-10 (PI Clancy; RAs Taylor, Márkus; c.£450,000 pre-fEC; Final Report rated `Outstanding').
• `Scottish Toponymy in Transition: Progressing County Surveys of the Place-Names of Scotland' AHRC project 2011-14 (PI Clancy; Co-I Hough in English Language; RAs Taylor, McNiven, Williamson; £725,800).
• `Commemorations of Saints in Scottish Place-Names' Leverhulme Project 2010-13 (PI Clancy; RAs Márkus, Butter; £245,000).

The main research output from the first of these projects was the 5-volume, 3,000-page Place- Names of Fife (Taylor with Márkus, 2006-12). These volumes collected all the place-names of the county of Fife along with their early forms, and subjected them to linguistic and historical analysis, and contextual discussion. In addition, the volumes presented short parish histories and provided access to many original documents. This work enabled UoG researchers to gather momentum towards an extensive survey of place-names. Recent progress includes the publication of The Place-Names of Bute (Márkus 2012), and the ongoing project `Scottish Toponymy in Transition' (STIT), which will produce three further volumes of survey (Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire and vol.1 of Perthshire) by the time of its completion. This work has transformed the professional survey of place-names in Scotland. Prior to UoG's work, only one county was surveyed and the findings published to the required scholarly standard, and that had been in the 1940s. In these projects, researchers at UoG have created new standards for survey, as well as conducting the research and publishing the findings.

Scotland has one of the most complex linguistic histories of any country in Europe, with five main languages contributing to its long-term heritage. This makes place-names key tools for historians and linguists interested in Scotland's past. However, place-name research in Scotland requires very particular sets of linguistic and historical skills. Only by carefully collecting as many early forms of a place-name as possible can a valid linguistic analysis be made. Such research also requires a large degree of historical contextualisation, particularly regarding secular and ecclesiastical units such as baronies and parishes. The place-name survey volumes are organised by the pre-1975 civil parish, with each parish prefaced by an introduction including key elements of the parish history and important documents. These introductions have proved very useful to local history groups, acting as important sources for new locally-produced parish histories, such as a recently published one for Saline and one in preparation for Ballingry (both west Fife).

The research itself has major ramifications for how people understand the languages of Scotland and their histories. For instance, the fine-grained study of Fife place-names revealed that the introduction of Scots was earlier around the burghs than in more landward areas, and that the names of lands held by reformed monastic houses had a tendency to be replaced by Scots names. This, along with other findings — eg the coining of names using the Gaelic element baile `farm(stead)' — allowed for the construction of a more nuanced time-frame for the key period of linguistic change in Fife (later 12th and early 13th centuries), and the relationship of languages and names. Importantly in a modern context, it confirms the central role that Gaelic played in the creation of place-names in Fife (the majority of settlement names are derived from Gaelic), allowing modern citizens of Fife to embrace their Gaelic inheritance, as well as expand their understanding of their Scots linguistic heritage.

In Bute, Márkus was able to untangle the relationships of Gaelic, Norse and Scots on the island, making a substantial and detailed contribution towards understanding language and history, both locally and nationally.

Work on the Fife and Bute surveys has shown the importance of local and historical contextualisation for place-names, which have in other countries often been treated as primarily linguistic items. It is this localisation which has allowed the place-name research to play its part in a variety of Heritage Landscape Partnerships, community initiatives, and most recently in educational developments.

Key researchers:

• Thomas Clancy, Lecturer (1995-2002), Reader (2002-5), Professor of Celtic (2005-present).
• Simon Taylor, Research Associate (2006-12), Researcher in Celtic & Gaelic and English Language (2012-13), Lecturer in Celtic & Gaelic and English Language (2013-present).
• Gilbert Márkus, Honorary Research Associate (2002-6), Research Associate (2006-9), Honorary Research Associate (2009-10), Research Associate (2010-13), Lecturer in Celtic & Gaelic (2013-present).
• Rachel Butter, PhD student (1999-2007), Honorary Research Associate (2007-10), Research Associate (2010-present).

This research has allowed the Unit to develop the careers of a range of researchers and has enabled the Unit to develop innovative knowledge exchange strategies.

References to the research

Key grants:
'Knowing your Place: Fife Place-Name Walks', Fife Council, 2010; £1200.

Details of the impact

Researchers at Glasgow have supported the efforts of local partnerships to bring significant financial investment to their communities: £1.7 million to the Lomonds area; and, £2.8 million to the Isle of Bute. By means of guided walks, talks and training, they have enabled communities to feel a stronger sense of ownership of their historical landscape through the analysis of place-names, shedding light on social and cultural changes over the course of more than a millennium.

Incorporation of place-name research into Heritage Landscape Partnership funding bids
Heritage Landscape Partnerships (HLPs) are local initiatives funded primarily by the UK Heritage Lottery Fund, with considerable matched funding from other organisations, to promote and revitalise local landscapes and their communities. Between 2009-13, the UoG researchers provided advice and expertise in support of two HLPs that incorporated place-name strands into their funding bids.

In 2008-9 Discover Bute secured £2.8 million in HLP funding, including £1.8 million from the UK Heritage Lottery Fund. University of Glasgow researchers Butter and Taylor provided valuable support on how to undertake the place-name projects in the HLP bid, providing a vision of how to involve the community, shape and develop the project. Gilbert Márkus went on to implement the place-name element of the project.

UoG is also a partner in the Living Lomonds Landscape Partnership (LLLP), which was awarded funding of £1.7 million in July 2013. UoG provided ancillary work as in-kind matched funding, and Taylor advised the LLLP's `Naming Your Place' sub-project in the bid, which raised awareness of place-names as part of the living heritage of the Lomonds. The director of the Falkland Centre for Stewardship, one of the core partners in the LLLP says: `Exploring the meaning of place names is providing a tremendous way to engage communities in and around the Lomond hills — and to increase people's understanding of the nature, culture and history of this landscape. For LLLP, the timeliness of the place names project and books has given a vital boost to our engagement, awareness raising and place-making work'.

Delivering place-name exploration engagement and community activities
UoG's HLP work with Discover Bute resulted in a process of data collection by local residents that represented a valuable interaction with the island community. In 2010, Márkus worked with around 30 Bute-based volunteers to survey place-names for the HLP, running training workshops on the international phonetic alphabet and how to record pronunciation; instructions for the recording of spatial data using maps and national grid reference system, and etiquette/ethics of collectors. The training sessions also included a lecture which provided the volunteers and project staff with a framework for recognising the importance of different place-names. Márkus also engaged the local community with three talks and a coach tour of the island with the Deputy Project Manager for Archaeology (c.50 people).

University of Glasgow researchers have also worked directly with local communities to undertake place-name walks, helping people to engage with the linguistic and cultural heritage of local landscapes.

- In 2010, Márkus carried out two place-name walks in Falkland for the Falkland Centre for Stewardship (c.20 walkers), preceded by talks and resulting in the production of a booklet guide now sold on the centre's website.

- Taylor and Clancy also carried out place-name walks in Markinch (organised by the Markinch Heritage Group) (c.25 walkers) and Aberdour (c.35 walkers) for Fife Council's `Celebrating Fife' year, with the popularity of these walks resulting in an invitation to repeat the walk for the Aberdour Festival in August 2012 (c.25 walkers).

- The Markinch Heritage Group have also employed their walk booklet as an ongoing local resource, with the format providing a template for subsequent walks undertaken as part of the STIT (Scottish Toponymy in Transition) project on Scottish place-names, attracting more than 100 attendees in total.

- Walks were also delivered in collaboration with the Ochils Landscape Partnership as part of the Ochils Festival in June 2012 and 2013.

Further place-name activities have included information stalls at the Big Tent Festival organised by the Falkland Centre for Stewardship on 21-22 July 2012, a place-name collecting workshop held as part of the HLP supported community Hidden Heritage Project in Arrochar (March 2013, 24 people), and a large variety of talks, book-launches and events such as the Kinross 50+ group in May 2013, a talk in Dollar Museum following a place-name walk and a place-name walk in Kinnesswood (June 2013) organised by the Kinross Museum and Kinross-shire Historical Society as part of STIT.

These projects have enabled local people to feed back into the process of research, and also feel a sense of ownership of their own heritage. This experience of contributing to the knowledge base is extremely empowering for local communities.

Sources to corroborate the impact

Contribution of place-name research and activities to the HLP on the Isle of Bute:

• Deputy Project Manager for Archaeology, DiscoverBute (contact details provided)

Contribution of place-name research and activities to ongoing cultural preservation work:

• Estate Steward (Chairman of Trust), Falkland Centre for Stewardship (contact details provided)
• Chairman of Kinross (Marshall) Museum Trust, Kinross Museum (contact details provided)
• Markinch Heritage Group (contact details provided)
• Fife Archivist, Fife Cultural Trust (contact details provided)