Video Recording: Uncovering the Origin of the Book of Kells?

Video recording of the event with Dr Victoria Thompson Whitworth and Master Craftsman Thomas Keyes, which took place in Augustine United Church in Edinburgh on 31 January 2025. Please click the 'buy tickets' link to gain access to the recording. Your confirmation email will contain the link to the video recording. The video recording has closed captions available.

Event information:

Who were the Picts, the people who lived in Scotland around 300-900 CE? Remarkable standing stones are their main legacy - but did they perhaps leave behind a manuscript as well? Join noted scholar Dr Victoria Thompson Whitworth as she shares her work on links between the Picts and the Book of Kells - one of Christianity's most important medieval documents. 

In the 8th century, a large monastery was at the site of St Colman’s Church in Portmahomack, a village north of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. Archaeological digs show that the monastery's monks had the tools, techniques and skills to make manuscripts - and Dr Thompson Whitworth argues that the Book of Kells might well have been one of the texts produced there. In this talk, she will explore the origins of the Book of Kells and its connections to Portmahomack and the Pictish world. At the end of her talk she will be joined by Master Craftsman Thomas Keyes whose artwork uses the same materials and techniques that the monks used. They will discuss the convergence of their research findings that contribute to better understanding of the Book of Kells.

The event is hosted by the Tarbat Discovery Centre, a museum, learning and activity centre that preserves and promotes the heritage of the Tarbat peninsula in the far north of Scotland. The Tarbat Discovery Centre is on the grounds of the ancient church of St. Colman, displaying works of art created in stone by the Picts more than 1,200 years ago. These treasures, discovered during a 1990s archaeological dig, include fragments of majestic cross-slabs carved skilfully with elaborate geometric patterns, interwoven with magnificent animals and people. The Centre displays Pict and Early Medieval tools, artefacts and moulds used in the 8th century to create religious masterpieces, such as chalices and reliquaries in gold, silver, enamel and glass.

Thank you to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting this event.