In 1798, HMS Colossus, a ship of the line, ran aground on the Isles of Scilly and was lost.

One of the earliest major portions of the ship that was discovered was a carving depicting a male figure in neo-classical dress holding aloft in his left hand what appears to be a laurel wreath. A flag or pennant is carved just to the side of this, directly above a semi-circular window head. This highly decorated window head would have been the stern window of the captain’s lavatory in the port stern gallery.

The figure would originally have been on the upper port side of the stern immediately to the port side of a round-headed window opening. The carving is over 3.30m tall and is carved from several pieces of elm.

HMS Colossus stern figure face close-up

HMS Colossus stern figure face close-up

This figure was raised by Mac Mace and Kevin Camidge and taken to the Mary Rose Trust for conservation.

Recently, in conjunction with on-going recording by Mary Rose Archaeological Services and Kevin Camidge, we have undertaken high-resolution 3D laser scanning of the figure as part of the recording process prior to conservation.

The stern carving is currently undergoing conservation at the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth. Once conservation is completed, the carving will be returned to Scilly and displayed with the Valhalla figurehead collection in the Abbey Gardens, Tresco.

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In 2004, we were commissioned by University College Cork (UCC) to undertake high-resolution 3D laser scanning of their unique collection of 28 Ogam stones and 4 carved stones, including a fine rotary quern and a large
cup-and-ring-marked stone.

Working for the University Heritage Office, we completed the 3D laser scanning of all visible portions of the stones in a mere 5 days.

Laser Scanning Ogam stone 4 at UCC

Flashing forward to 2006, the Ogam & carved stones conservation project is well underway and the stones have been removed from UCC for consolidation and cleaning. During this process, we revisited Cork to acquire data from the backs and bases of the stones previously not visible. All the stones are now back on display in a new layout with new interpretation, fibre-optic lighting and multimedia presentation.

Our work now forms a complete 3-dimensional record of the stones for archival purposes. Future interpretation and display uses are planned also.

Images reproduced courtesy of University College Cork.

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