Tag Archives: living history

Hearse Houses, Herons and Hauberks

by thehistoryinterpreter

On a day ear-marked for treading in my ancestors’ footsteps we set off round numerous villages and hamlets across the wilds of Northumberland. Great great grandfather, John Hogg, led an itinerant life, so we had a long list of places to cover. Chollerton was first on the list. This small village is sited on the ‘Corn Road’ from Hexham to Alnmouth, which opened in 1753, enabling produce to be shipped to London. Outside the church was a ‘hearse house’ used, as the name suggests, to store the village hearse and to provide stabling for the vicar and others coming to church. It now contains a small, unmanned museum. Interestingly, the font at Chollerton church has been created from a former Roman altar.

Amongst other stops, we go to Thockrington, officially one of my favourite places in the world. Believe me, it is not a place you are likely to encounter unless you make a deliberate effort but the awe-inspiring landscape is worth the effort. We called at Great Bavington, Mitford and Netherwitton, with a supermarket stop in Morpeth in between. The main road north of Morpeth was closed due to an accident and fortunately we noticed this as we approached and whilst we still had time to take avoiding action. This sent the sat-nav into ‘turn around where possible’ mode, so it was back to the trusty map. I actually really enjoy tracking journeys on OS maps. It doesn’t seem to make me feel as unpleasantly unwell as it used to do. Unfortunately, this did mean we had to miss out three of our intended destinations.

130 25 May 2019 Gravestone St. Mary Magdalene, Mitford

Not one of my ancestors! Reverse says John Pots (sic) d. 1724 age 30 Mitford, Northumberland

Ten out of ten for Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre today. The forecast was a little uncertain but indications were that the early rain would pass over, so we ventured out and were very glad that we did. This coastal nature reserve is run by the Northumberland Wildlife Trust and is excellent. The only charge is a donation towards the car parking. The 1km walk round the lake gave access to several bird hides and I don’t think I have ever seen so many different birds at one location. I believe the lake has been created from a landscape that was a legacy from open cast mining. To top it off, the café, with its views of the lake was lovely too. If you are interested in this sort of thing here are the birds and wild flowers that we encountered:- great tit, robin, black-headed gull, mallard and ducklings, magpie, Canada geese and goslings, grey heron, oyster catcher, house martin, barnacle geese, greylag geese, lapwing, mute swan, moorhen, goldfinch, crow, blackbird, jackdaw, shelduck, little grebe, cormorant, house sparrow, wood pigeon, blue tit, pheasant, tufted duck, gadwall, shoveler. Red campion, primroses, dandelion, buttercup, daisy, iris, bluebells, hawthorn, cleavers, gorse, cowslip, violet, stitchwort, white clover, speedwell, bird’s foot trefoil, red clover, stinging nettle, broom, dog rose.

132 26 May 2019 Hauxley Nature reserve Canada geese and goslings

We debated whether to go straight back to the van but decide to call in at nearby Warkworth Castle on the way and again this was the good choice. We hadn’t realized there was going to be a fifteenth century living history event underway. This was a real bonus and we enjoyed chatting to armourers, bow-makers, shoemakers, stained glass artists, candlemakers, rope-makers and potters. We watched dancing and combat and listen to music. I was amused that the compere attempted to disguise his anachronistic microphone by covering it with hessian. All in all, two great destinations today.

133 26 May 2019 Warkworth Castle

Armour and Authors in the Kitchen, a Plague Rat in the Hall and a Rock Star in the Corner (warning also contains political comment)

by thehistoryinterpreter

History first but I hope you will read to the end. Yet again I am aware of just how weird my life can be. How many people have a kitchen full of armour and plague rats in the living room? So far during this weird historical week I have watched a fisherman of my acquaintance walk round one of my ‘one-places’ on Channel 4 TV’s Great Canal Journeys. He did a great job and as a direct result there was a noticeable spike in the hits on the Bucks Mills page of my website.

Then there was our Swords and Spindles seventeenth century fun day. Part of the activities involved making cardboard plague rats, so I had to do a trial run first. As I commented on the Swords and Spindles blog, ‘safety glue’ is a description that is only 50% accurate. Safe it may be, glue it is not. Hence eyeless, noseless rats abounded – no chance with the tails and whiskers, I used a reputable brand of adhesive tape to affix those. Our team was out in force to entertain the hordes, well to be honest hordes might be a tad of an exaggeration but those who came stayed for hours and were very enthusiastic. Now the armour lies in the kitchen ready for its annual oiling by my non-resident armourer.

As for the author in the kitchen – my friend and local historical novelist, Liz Shakespeare, has written a novel about the life of Edward Capern, postman poet, who used to walk from Bideford to Buckland Brewer and back on a daily basis delivering the mail. He would wait in the village, writing poetry, before his return journey. Liz’s meticulous research has discovered that it was my cottage where he rested. Liz decided to follow his route and undertake the walk herself. I was proud and pleased to be able to offer her hospitality, reflecting the actions of my predecessor in this house, Mrs Ley. I have to report that no poetry was penned whilst she was here. Her report of the walk is on her website and makes me sound like some sort of domestic goddess. I wish to put on record that I cook twice a year, chutney and Christmas pudding/cake, she just happened to call in on one of these two days. Now to look forward to her book launch in March. What of my own novel writing efforts? Well, some progress is being made. November is allegedly novel writing month and some people are attempting to write 50,000 word novels in thirty days. I won’t be joining them but I do plan to increase my output if I can.

In September, John Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections announced the results of the annual international competition to find genealogical ‘rocks stars’. I recorded my thoughts on the competition at the time and I was honoured to be listed fourth amongst British and Commonwealth nominees and fifth in Europe. Given that I have never spoken to a US audience and more than 50% of the votes come from the US I was very pleased with this. This year the voting system changed; to feature in the British list you needed to live in Britain and the nationality of the voter was not relevant. This week John issued ‘Rockstar Extra’ lists, showing who would have won under the old system. This was based on the nationality of the voter. Thus those on the British list might live anywhere in the world but were voted for by British voters. Amazingly, this placed me in gold medal position for Britain. I am stunned and hugely grateful to all who voted, thank you.

46333_10150271881405182_2126896_nI normally subscribe to the view that politics has no place on this blog, or on my social media feeds. That has never been their purpose. They are though also a reflection of my life and for the second time this year, I find myself moved to express my profound sadness at the hatred, invective and xenophobia, along with downright ignorance, that I have seen or heard expressed over the last few days. Tolerance and empathy are words that appear to have dropped from the lexicon. I fear for my descendants growing up in a world of hate. If you are reading this, I would ask you to stop and think, show compassion, treat people as individuals not as an amorphous representative of a particular race or religion. Do not believe the un-attributed, unsubstantiated media-fuelled drivel that is being circulated. Peace begins with ourselves and we need it to ripple outwards to those with whom we come in to contact. Fortunately I know that most of my friends feel as I do. If, on the other hand, you are unable to love your neighbour, when ‘neighbour’ extends to all in despair or need, wherever they happen to be, please don’t leave a comment, just quietly take yourself to a different sphere, virtual or literal, from mine because there is no room for you here.. The picture that accompanies this blog is illustrative of peace, love and beauty. Please share the emotions and the picture with those whose lives touch yours. If that makes me sound like a hippie, then guilty as charged and proud to be so.

A Week of Historical and other Weirdness

by thehistoryinterpreter

Some of the more bizarre happenings in my recent life include a surreal game of Guess Who (you have to guess the identity of the person depicted on a card) via Skype with my 2½ year old grandson. After the more standard questions ‘Have they got curly hair?’ and ‘Have they got a hat?’ we had ‘Are they an acrobat?’ and ‘Do they like peanut butter?’ Note to self – MUST hurry up and create a family history version of this game using old family photos.

Then I had to renew my driving licence as the picture is ten years old. Good excuse for the DVLA to relieve me of £17. Allegedly I could do this online and they would magically harvest my photograph and signature from that on my passport even if the passport photo is the same as that on the ten year old driving licence????

Next, an email inviting me to look at documents that had been left for me in Dropbox. I didn’t recognise the sender but a quick Google (other search engines are available) of the unusual name revealed the identity of the person who wanted me to see their files. Can anyone think why the American woman’s basket ball coach would possibly want to send me anything via Dropbox?

And in a restaurant chain near me, I view their newly revamped menu. I quite like this chain as they provide nominally ‘free’ salad. My dressing of choice is ‘red devil’. In the absence of this on their new ‘sauce bar’ I opted for ‘Triple H’.  If you are ever tempted to ladle copious amounts (or even a mere dribble) of Triple H sauce on your salad, don’t, just don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I like hot and spicy but this defied description. Hating waste I ploughed my way through half a bowl of Triple H bedecked salad and two litres of water (yes, I know that isn’t the ideal solution) before admitting defeat.

So what else have recent days brought? Firstly, the mystery of the missing gravestones. On rechecking the memorial inscriptions of the local churchyard that we completed three years ago, looking for additions, we found that two large slate stones had disappeared. It seemed that their removal was recent, as the holes in the ground showed no signs of grass mowings or water. No one seemed to know why the stones had disappeared. They were huge and heavy. I provided photographs as ‘evidence’. We began looking for someone with a hernia, broken suspension and a new slate worktop. Bit of an anti-climax, it turned out that they had been legitimately removed by a local stonemason for refurbishing. Strange than they didn’t tell anyone though!

captureThere have been a couple of strange Twitter conversations. Who would have thought that one could follow the course of the Battle of Hastings on Twitter? Then another seventeenth century addict posted a woodcut of the time (censored here) depicting what appeared to be a medical procedure. There followed a discussion as to exactly what was going on: vasectomy? (surely not) circumcision? (probably not at this date) who knows? Note that the patients appeared to be smiling! Answers on a postcard.

Then I have been compiling a full risk assessment of our living history activities ready for our Family Fun Day next week. You have NO IDEA how dangerous it is. Will you trip over a long skirt, inhale glue when creating a plague rat, drop a bucket on your foot or a pike on your head? Will you have a heart attack from the weight of our armour or strangle yourself with our bodice laces? Are you up for all this danger? Join us if you dare.

What every History Interpreter would Like for their Birthday

by thehistoryinterpreter

My birthday list this year contained a random selection of items of an historical nature. It isn’t actually my birthday quite yet but I was instructed to order things on my behalf and they have been dropping on my door mat. Not for me jewels, perfume or even chocolate. What lady of mature (maturish) years would not want lanthorns (not something the spell checker missed – a lantern is literally a lant-horn, as it used horn to shield the flame from the wind), nefs (cutlery sets) and canvas buckets? Well I was very impressed by them anyway. Equally impressed that the vendor sent complimentary sweets with the package! Well done for customer service BA Blades.

It is it surprising how the acquisition of shiny new advertising car magnets can concentrate the mind. I was keen to try out said magnets but this required a clean car, or at least a sufficiently large portion of the car upon which to affix a magnet. Breaking the habit of a lifetime, I hurled a bucket of water in the vague direction of the car. Most of the contents ended up over me but hey – I am all for multi-tasking and showering whilst car cleaning could catch on. Actually I am a little doubtful about the wisdom of cleaning the car – I am convinced that the dirt is holding it together. One of the magnets did get an outing though.

This week saw Mistress Agnes’ final appearance for her former employer. Exciting times ahead as she is now firmly ensconced in the world of Swords and Spindles. If you know anyone who wants to be entertained by a slightly eccentric group of historical interpreters, just let her know – available for family and local history societies, heritage sites and events, schools, weddings and bar mitzvahs – well, most of the foregoing. If you want to spend a day in the seventeenth century, learning about researching in that century and about life at that time, I still have some spaces on my day course in Poundstock, near Bude on 25 April.

Also this week, the arrival of the book about members of the Braund family who have lost their lives in conflict. I can take no credit for this one. In addition a meeting of Buckland Brewer History Group when an enthusiastic audience embraced our plans to conduct a mapping project for the parish. – warm fuzzy feelings abounded as I watched my friends and neighbours exclaiming over LIDAR images of their homes and gardens.

Now I shall be heading north (I know, everywhere is north) to meet old friends and make new at the Guild of One-Name Studies’ conference, where I am leading an interactive session on publishing – happy days.

 

Swords, Spindles and technological troubles #livinghistory

by thehistoryinterpreter

Well, after a short period of ‘Shall we?, Shan’t we?’ Mistress Agnes is moving home. The pending closure of her previous location in Torrington meant that a decision had to be made. Should she continue appearing at history groups and social clubs, as she has done for several years, or should she and her friends be more proactive and expand their work to provide sessions for schools? Should we offer to fill the gap that would be left by the demise of our former employer? Knowing that this would mean a great deal of work and knowing too that if I do something I do it properly, there was a certain amount of thinking through whether I wanted to take this on in my ‘semi-retirement’. Thanks to continual changing of the retirement age, real retirement is still an increasingly long time ahead. This all also had to be done quickly so that we could strike whilst the iron was still warm, if not exactly hot.

Full logoIn the end it was a no-brainer so let me introduce you to the world of Swords and Spindles. We are so grateful to many people who have already supported us. My school friend, Jeanne Perrett, a talented artist, designed our logo in no time at all. Some of her beautiful and exciting art work can be seen here. We have already had booking enquires and our Twitter following @swordspindles is building up. So thank you to all who have helped to spread the word.

So what happens just when one is trying to set up a new business and one needs ones internet and telephone most? The telephone line dies completely. I cannot explain how I do still have an, intermittent and excruciatingly slow, internet connection but I do. After half an hour of ‘your call is important to us’ (but clearly not important enough for you to answer), I got through to a person to whom I could report the non-existence of my telephone. No fewer than seven times I told the same gentleman that there was no sound whatsoever when I lifted my receiver. Finally, after about twenty minutes, he has a light bulb moment and suggests sending an engineer. Unfortunately, at that point I lose the mobile signal. To be honest that was three days ago and I have lost the will to waste another hour of my life starting all over again. It is a bullet that will nevertheless have to be bitten.

Working with young people in the seventeenth century is always entertaining and make you realise that, as L P Hartley said, ‘the past is (truly) another country’ and they do indeed ‘do things differently there.’ Mistress Agnes was explaining, to a group of eleven year olds, how clothes were made when one of her audience asked, ‘What is spinning?’ Another term to add to the list of ‘obvious’ words that need explaining. Spinning is I understand some new form of keep fit torture, not exactly Mistress Agnes’ forte.

My time as a presenter on Unlock the Past’s Baltic Cruise is getting closer – the cruise even got a mention in The New York Times!