CAMBRIDGE University will be directly approached about returning a historic Scottish text north of the Border by a “frustrated” councillor.
In October, East Garioch councillor Glen Reid had hoped to have a resolution discussed at SNP conference which would have asked the Scottish Government to “right a historical wrong” and demand the Book of Deer – believed to be the oldest surviving Scottish manuscript – be returned to Scotland, but it did not make the final agenda.
The 10th century text, noted for containing the country’s earliest surviving Gaelic writing, is only viewable by appointment at Cambridge University, and Reid is determined to see it come back to Aberdeenshire where it was written so Scots can learn from it.
Reid said he was gutted it was rejected by the SNP for discussion for the second year in a row, after he failed to secure an emergency resolution on it in 2022.
He told the Sunday National: “There’s a sense of frustration for me. There needs to be a greater interest in our history.
“This is such an important book. You couldn’t imagine the Irish public having such a disinterest in the Book of Kells, and I feel it’s because people don’t know about it and that’s the result of it not being here.
“Most SNP members have a real interest in Scotland throughout the ages and yet it still didn’t make it, so I was gutted.”
Reid (below), who is an SNP councillor in Aberdeenshire, said he now intends to write to Cambridge University in the new year to see if they will engage in a dialogue about getting the book back to Scotland.
He is also hoping to speak with SNP MP Richard Thomson about raising the issue at Westminster, given the power to decide whether to change the book’s location would ultimately rest with the Charity Commission – a non-ministerial department of the UK Government.
SNP representatives on Aberdeen City Council will be approached too about raising a motion requesting the book’s return, something which the Tory and LibDem-run Aberdeenshire Council shot down when it was proposed last year.
And Reid is determined to submit a resolution to SNP conference one more time placing a focus on how important the text is to the Gaelic community.
The book – which is written in Latin but contains Gaelic in the margins – is said to have originated in the village of Deer and used to be housed in the monastery there, the site of which was finally unearthed by archaeologists last month after previously being a mystery.
The discovery of the site was covered in a BBC documentary which showed how important it is to Gaels.
Reid: “There was a Gaelic-speaking archaeologist who spoke [in the documentary] about how her family had come from Aberdeen a few generations ago and she knew about [the Book of Deer] because her dad spoke about how important it was.
“Although I knew it was the first written example of Gaelic, I didn’t realise how the Gaelic community felt about it and it turns out to her it was significant because people in the North East don’t think of Gaelic and Aberdeenshire [being connected] and this proves it was the language of the people of Scotland.
“That’s one of the angles I’m going to come at it from when I rewrite the resolution.”
Reid continues to believe the most powerful mechanism for getting the text back would be for the Scottish Government to enter into negotiations.
Although no one knows when the text was taken from Scotland for certain, the manuscript is thought to have been stolen during the Wars of Scottish Independence and has been housed in the Cambridge University Library since 1715.
It drew crowds when it was loaned to Aberdeen Art Gallery and put on temporary display over the summer of 2022.
Last year, Cambridge University agreed to return 116 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria which were taken by British armed forces during the sacking of Benin City in 1897. The Charity Commission concluded the university was “under a moral obligation” to return the artefacts.
Reid is hopeful a similar conclusion could be drawn about The Book of Deer.
“I would hope they would have a similar attitude,” he said.
He added: “It’s been frustrating but I’ve only been going at this for a year and a half which is nothing in the grand scheme of things so I remain determined and my group’s determined as well.
“It falls upon us to persuade others of the importance of this. We need to raise its profile.”
