historical musings

This is a blip of a map of the broadband coverage in Dollar which I took to use as an illustration in our next Dev Trust newsletter.  It struck me that this is a map which could only exist in the 21st century, the concept of broadband coverage would have no relevance in any earlier century.  
And yet, Dollar has been inhabited since at least the Bronze age.   These colourful blobs are overlaid upon a scheduled ancient monument (a palisaded Iron Age settlement), the site of a Bronze Age cinerary urn and even earlier burial mounds.  On this spot Amlaib Conung, the first Norse King of Dublin was killed in a battle fought at Dollar around 874.  Later, in 877 Constantine, son of Kenneth McAlpine fought and lost to the Danes.  Mary Queen of Scots stayed at Castle Campbell in the 16th century.  John Knox preached there in 1556.  Industry came and went,   lead, silver and copper mining, coal mining taken by rail to Longannet power station, the rail and the power station both now gone.
All these layers of history are piled up on top of each other on this same tiny little patch of land.  And we wander the streets oblivious, moaning if we can't get a good enough phone signal to play Pokemon Go.....