23 Facts About Christian Maclagan

Christian Maclagan was a Scottish antiquarian and early archaeologist, described by one author as "the earliest female archaeologist in the British Isles," and certainly among the earliest examples.

Christian Maclagan is known for her collection of rubbings of Celtic crosses and Pictish stones from across Scotland, and was a pioneer of stratigraphic excavation.

Christian Maclagan took action to help those affected by poverty in Stirling.

Christian Maclagan refused to sit for portraits although one obituary described her as tall.

Christian Maclagan wrote an autobiography but the script remains lost.

Christian Maclagan was nominated to be one of Scotland's Heroines honoured at the National Wallace Monument's Hall of Heroes.

Daughter of distiller and chemist George Maclagan and Janet Colville of Stirling, she was born on the family's farm at Braehead near Denny.

Christian Maclagan's father died in 1818, as did her paternal grandfather, Frederick Maclagan, parish minister at Melrose, and her mother moved the family to Stirling around 1820.

Between 1829 and 1834 the Maclagan family lived in Edinburgh, to access medical treatment for Christian's sister, where Maclagan may have had additional access to libraries and educational resources.

Christian Maclagan lived in a house in Pitt Terrace, a wealthy part of the town near St Ninian's Well and the modern Stirling Council offices.

Christian Maclagan's mother died in 1858, and until that time Christian Maclagan engaged in philanthropic activities, establishing a Sunday School and subscribing towards the cost of a library.

Christian Maclagan apparently received a bequest from one of her brothers, who had died in Calcutta, at around the time of her mother's death, and this along with her inheritance from her mother established her as a woman of some wealth.

Christian Maclagan spoke some Italian and was an artist of some skill.

Christian Maclagan seems to have made use of the private libraries of gentlemen she knew, both relatives such as her father and grandfather and those further afield such as the Reverend Edward L Barnwell in Wiltshire, to extend her reading, as access to institutional libraries such as that of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland was not permitted to her.

Christian Maclagan's estate was valued at 3100 pounds sterling at her death.

Christian Maclagan theorised that megalithic circles and tombs were the remnants of houses and forts.

Christian Maclagan believed an academic examination of all such sites would reveal a message, through the archaeological 'language' needed for such examination.

Christian Maclagan carried out an excavation on the Mither Tap of Bennachie.

Some of Christian Maclagan's theories were considered eccentric to her contemporaries.

At least one author criticized her work despite, presumably because of her Christian Maclagan name, mistaking her for a man.

Christian Maclagan devised a special method for taking rubbings from sculptured stones; the exact details of how this was done were kept secret.

Christian Maclagan told friends she was an antiquarian before Queen Victoria was born.

Christian Maclagan remained a Lady Associate however until the time of her death around the age of 92.