CURRENT PROJECT - June / July 2025
The MUSP Archaeology team, led by historic Archaeologist Pam Crane are currently working on the Anderson Garrison/Blockhouse site on Flying Point Freeport Maine. Weather permitting – field days are Tuesdays and Thursday. If you’d like to spend the day with us digging for Ulster-Scots history we’d love to have you join us. Email info@MaineUlsterScots.com for more information and to be put on the archaeology team contact list.
'Lost Lives, New Worlds. Unlocking the story of the 1650 Scottish Soldiers buried in Durham (UK)'
On June 2, 2025 MUSP sponsored a lecture presented by Chris Gerrard, Professor of Archaeology at Durham University (UK) and team leader for the Scottish Soldiers Project.
Many thanks to Chris for providing the well-received presentation and to fellow Maine Ulster-Scots Project committee members for organizing the event.
The lecture was recorded and as soon as it is prepared, we will share it on Facebook and here on our MUSP website.
In November 2013 archaeologists observing building work near Durham Cathedral (UK) made an unexpected and unusual discovery when disordered tumbles of articulated skeletons were uncovered in two mass graves. Over the next three years, a complex jigsaw of evidence was pieced together by a team of researchers in order to establish the identity of the human remains.
Today we know them to be some of the SCOTTISH PRISONERS who died in terrible circumstances in Durham Cathedral and Castle following the Battle of Dunbar on the south-east coast of Scotland on 3rd September 1650. Using the latest techniques of archaeological science, it has been possible to reconstruct how and why these men vanished off the historical radar. This lecture follows the controversies as researchers sought to solve a 350 year-old mystery.
Chris Gerrard is a Professor of Archaeology at Durham and the team leader for the Scottish Soldiers Project. The book arising from project won the Best Archaeology Book of the Year award in 2018 and the related exhibition won a Living North award in 2019. The project also featured on Who Do You Think You Are? with American actor Jon Cryer. Over 6500 learners from 100 countries have signed up to the project’s free MOOC. Chris has conducted fieldwork across Britain, notably at Shapwick (Somerset) in an intensive landscape project he directed with the late Mick Aston, and at Clarendon (Wiltshire) where he worked on the medieval and later royal palace and park. He is currently excavating at the bishop’s palace at Auckland Castle in Bishop Auckland (Co. Durham) as well as conducting fieldwork abroad. His latest book is about ‘natural’ disasters in the Middle Ages such as severe weather, storm surges, earthquakes and tsunamis.
Background:
In 1650, Oliver Cromwell won the Battle of Dunbar that allowed him to wrest the Scottish capital from Royalists and unify Scotland and England for several years. In the aftermath, several thousand sick, wounded, and camp followers were allowed to go home, but nearly 5,000 others deemed a potential threat were taken prisoner and marched south into England toward Durham. Several thousand died on the seven day, 90 mile trek to Durham from starvation, exhaustion, execution, or an intestinal conditions.
Those who survived long enough to reach Durham found no respite, only disease and despair. Over 3,000 captives were locked in the town’s cathedral and the town’s nearby castle. Exhausted, starving, and dreadfully weakened, another 1,700 died and were buried there. For those who survived; hard labor awaited them.
The survivors were eventually sent to a variety of destinations. Some were used as labor to drain the fens in East Anglia, others fought for the Parliamentary army in Ireland, and still others were enlisted in the battle against the French in Barbados. Around 150, possibly selected for their hardiness, were transported to London, and then shipped across the Atlantic on the ‘Unity’ to New England.
The 100 or so who had survived the journey were sold into indentured servitude for £20 or £30 each. Around 60 of these went to work in various capacities for the Saugus Iron Works in Lynn, Massachusetts, around 20 were sent to a sawmill on the Great Works River in southern Maine, and the rest were bound to other masters in the area.
Learn more at the Scottish Prisoners of War Society: https://spows.org/
Photogrammetry and Lidar – Flying Point, Freeport Ulster-Scots archaeology sites.
Last summer, Tom Searing of Seiler Instrument GeoDrones conducted a study of our sites in Freeport. The following is taken from Tom’s posting on his company site:
“I had the opportunity to get out to Freeport recently.
(The Maine Ulster Scots Project, (MUSP)) archeological survey team are halfway through a seven year project exploring pre-colonial settlements of coastal Maine, with Specific emphasis on Ulster-Scots’ … lineage. "A hardy and fiercely independent group of people". The Scots were (invited) in by Cotton Mather from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a tactical buffer of sorts against the French & Wabanaki settlements.
Seiler Geodrones was able to provide photogrammetry and lidar support for new overlays and also establish baselines for a few new dig sites. The new sites are focusing on settlements occupied just before the Seven Years War broke out. The Thomas Means site, which has an unfortunate history, but for the more macbre of the bunch, such a cool opportunity to get into the field to support active historical exploration, hopefully leading to a deeper understanding of early American history.
I was particularly impressed with the reliability and stability of the Wingtra handling these stiff coastal winds; chewing up acreage like heavy apps at a trade show happy hour and some beautiful orthos. Hats off to Pix4D on being able to process such a homogenous backdrop.
The L2 managed to pull (in) some really nice data sets, We wanted to TRY to scan a fully canopied cemetery site. I pulled a profile cross section (towards the end) you can see the penetration and ground points captured through the oak and pine which was amazing considering typical expectations in dense foliage.
We had some great weather, but low tide brought the black flies out and of course the tenacious Maine clay (that almost deprived me of my Keens). And what trip to Maine would be complete without a wicked Maine Lobstah Roll and wild blueberry pie. Thanks to John and his team for hosting. “
MUSP thanks Tom for bringing his expertise (and equipment) to Maine to help us further our research and investigations into the early history of Freeport and it’s Ulster-Scots families.
Reports on the analysis and findings will be posted in the coming months here and on Facebook.
Watch the flight video below:
Uncovering the lost Ulster-Scots settlement at Flying Point – John Mann
On November 23, 2024, John Mann, Chairman Emeritus, Maine Ulster Scots Project gave a lecture to a standing room only audience for the first public report on MUSP's archaeological work "Uncovering the lost Ulster-Scots settlement at Flying Point." John discussed who the Ulster-Scots were, why they came to Maine, and reviewed the various archeological work and finds that give us insights into this fascinating history.
Make a cup of tea (or pour a wee dram) and enjoy this 1 ½ hour lecture
ANDERSON-BLEASE ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG SITE
Emissaries and archaeologists, Deirdre Speer-Whyte (of the Ulster-Scots Community Network in Belfast, Northern Ireland) and Finula Magowan (Ulster-Scots Volunteer) joined the MUSP excavation team this month at the Anderson-Blease homestead site. We were delighted to welcome Deirdre and Finula to our team! They were able to participate on the team for 6 of their 14 days spent on holiday in Maine. Lead Historical Archaeologist, Pamela Crane, welcomed and appreciated their collegiality and discussion of unearthed site features and artifacts.
5/30/24 - MUSP is actively researching and studying the 18th century Ulster-Scots settlement at Flying Point in Freeport, Maine. Our work includes:
• Building up a base of information and timeline of events that the dozen or so families were affected by and/or involved in.
• The genealogical connections between these families.
• The folkways shared by the settlers such as burial traditions, home construction techniques.
• The impact on the land and the many enterprises that created a working economy on the Eastern Frontier, including farming, timber harvesting, and the establishment of saw mills, grist mills, salt works, ship building, maritime trade and more.
Understanding the geography of the area and the relative positions of homes, businesses and resources that were available or which were developed is critical to understanding the daily lives of our Ulster-Scot ancestors at Flying Point.
MUSP has gotten a huge boost this week in creating the mapping needed to flesh out the details of our investigation. Tom Searing of Seiler Co. based in Waltham, Massachusetts has brought his drone flying skills and state of the art geodrones to Flying Point and spent two days gathering data with lidar and aerial photogrammetry equipment. The digital data can now be processed and used to generate precise mapping of several critical historic areas on and near Flying Point to aid in our research.
Many thanks to Tom and Seiler Company for their valuable assistance in our MUSP projects. Thanks also to the Wolfe’s Neck Center, the Thomas Means Club and other Flying Point property owners who continue to support our work in the area, “Saving and Sharing Maine’s Scots-Irish Heritage.”
5/28/24 - Opening day of the 2024 MUSP Archaeology dig season. Seven units laid out at what we hope to prove is the foundation of the Jacob Andersons blockhouse at Flying Point, Freeport, Maine. One unit opened directly over where we suspect the chimney foundation will be found. Level 1 has been removed and sifted. Level 2 is already turning up a wide range of artifacts.
This is going to be an exciting season. Stay tuned as we bring you regular reports on our progress at this site and at the nearby Means family homestead. Visit other pages on this website for background information on both sites.
