Ninian Stuart - From Stewards to Stewardship

From Stewards to Stewardship A keynote address to Transformations 2017 I’d like to give you a taste of Falkland’s history, present situation and of the journey we are on to transform the way we steward this landscape so that it, and we, can better serve the emerging future.

Falkland’s history Marks and archaeological evidence in Falkland’s landscape show that it has been a potent place of power and influence for thousands of years. This illustration (above) of the summit of East Lomond shows how we think the hill fort may have looked around 650 AD and how the land was used around that time - with a wellfortified settlement dominating the landscape.

Whilst Alexander Keirinkx’s picture above (1633) shows the landscape from the northern slopes of the hill, with the palace in the foreground and Forest of Falkland behind. This was a royal hunting park surrounded by a Park pale to keep the deer in and people out, the last great oak woodland of central Scotland until Cromwell’s troops felled the forest to create a fort at Perth.

As well as being a royal retreat for recreation and hunting, Falkland was also a place of forest culture and enterprise – illustrated below by a sketch of John Gedde, the king’s seventeenth century aviary man who invented a new form of beehive that influenced beekeeping for over a century in and beyond Europe.

Other marks on the landscape include a series of boundary stones marking the division of the Commonty of the Lomonds in 1816 (pictures below), following a time of land reform relating to “agricultural improvements”. This was one of the last divisions of common land in Scotland and required it’s own act of parliament due to Falkland’s status as a burgh.

Stuarts and stewards This picture below shows what remains of the 12 century castle in the foreground and Palace in the background. This is where I grew up as the youngest child and only son of the hereditary keeper of Falkland Palace and laird of Falkland Estate.

My family’s bloodline dates back to King Robert II of Scotland. Robert came from a line of stewards (later named Stuarts or Stewarts) who then married the King’s only daughter and thereby gaining the crown.

The word “steward” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning keeper of a hall, a trusted person who would have been appointed to look after a hall, taking care of a place and being in-charge when the lord was away or not yet of age. So in Scotland, the role of steward moved from: someone appointed on merit; to a hereditary role; and then by marriage, to one of kingship itself. In this transition, I believe the very essence of the steward’s role (of service looking after something that matters on behalf of others) was lost or given away… as a true king cannot account to himself - and a true steward cannot be king.

I have personally enjoyed both a struggle and a dance with privilege and duty. In my late teens I ran away to become a community worker, living and working with homeless people in Glasgow before returning a decade on to grapple with the challenge of wealth and opportunity at Falkland.

Revitalising our stewardship Today at the Centre for Stewardship, we are working on how to reclaim and refresh the concept and practice of true stewardship in and for today’s world. At its heart stewardship is about right relationship.

Our work involves extending the circle of stewardship – • Into nature beyond any hall made by human hands • From me to we as we work both with, and for, others including those on the edge crying out for change and opportunities • From one generation to another – since stewardship is about drawing from the past and using our time to create a good place for the future Our struggle and dance involves holding firm to essential values and letting go of what has served its time. It involves a form of leadership that learns from the wild geese and knows how to teem with life - since the best kind of leader is one who leads people to a place where they need leaders no more…

Falkland has been a source of inspiration for centuries. This site (pictured above) of a 19th century temple is a great place to take the long view. It is also a place that beautifully reflects Patrick Geddes’ “Valley section”. Patrick Geddes was Professor of Botany at Dundee University and later professor of town planning at Bombay. He coined such phrases as “think global, act local” and “By leaves we live”.

Every aspect of the stained-glass version of his Valley section “thinking machine” could have been seen from the site of the temple so it is a good place to start seeding, if not building, the future, taking account of the inscription at the bottom.

Weaving a tapestry of hope Falkland is an old place of weaving and I like to think that in 10 years time we might have created something more akin to a tapestry of hope. The loom itself could be built of Falkland wood but the loom also acts as a framing metaphor: • The top of the frame representing our high level purpose “to realize the collective potential of people and place”.

• The bottom of the frame is our triple bottom line – to ensure that our work: stays viable; respects people; and does not cost the earth.

• Whilst the left and right vertical bars represent a) people and b) place.

An experienced weaver knows that there needs to be real tension in the “warp” that runs from top to bottom – in this case balancing the desire to achieve our noble aspirations with the need to keep our feet firmly on the ground.

The weft is a lighter touch process moving from left to right, from people to place then from right to left, from place to people. This beautiful metaphor represents our hope for the land that provides us with natural resources – such as food & wood, water & stone – which we, in our turn, harvest and transform into the cultural fabric of our communities – through processes such as: farming and forestry; cooking and carpentry; building and decorating; knitting and weaving.

I like to think we could weave this tapestry of hope, of colour, of symbolic meaning using wool from our own sheep, dyed with natural pigments of this place. The use of natural materials would mean that it will not last forever but then such a vision needs to be constantly replenished – at least once a decade…

New foundations So we are starting a new foundation – an organisational structure rooted in community - to take ownership of the estate at time when the local factory that has been with us for over 100 years has just been demolished.

The Falkland Foundation’s purpose will be to act as ultimate owner, land holder and guardian of the values of the estate. Falkland Estate already provides work for about ten times the number of people that it did 25 years ago. If we work smartly and watch our footwork, we could provide opportunities to work, rest and play for many more. Maybe this old Pictish stone (pictured below, at bottom-right), discovered a century ago in an old estate steading, could serve as our foundation stone?

The Foundation will enable the continuing cultivation of our local food stewardship from field to plate - via local markets and assemblies of people who want to eat good, healthy and affordable food.

It will also help the continuing flourishing of projects like WoodWorks, with its inspiring work led by creative and enterprising young people who commit themselves to realising the potential of our woodlands and of themselves.

We will also support the crafting of small simple structures that help people to live and lead healthy lives - building on the success of the A Thousand Huts campaign which has led to Scottish government changes to planning and building regulations, enabling more people to dwell for a little while in a hut in the woods.

Essentially this is about going with the flow.

As with the water, that means letting go and trusting that …

If we flow away continuously we will be continually replenished.

Ninian Stuart 3rd September 2017, following “Transformations 2017”.