A taste of medieval life in all its gaudy glory
When the Great Tower of Dover Castle throws open its doors again today, visitors will be struck by its power and its gaudiness: the 10metre-thick walls are 12th century, but everything inside the vast stone rooms, from the king’s fur strewn bed to the stained glass window lighting his chapel, is new and seething with colour. The effect is certainly striking, but does slightly look as if in 1179 King Henry II ran amok in a furniture warehouse on an extended free credit deal.
The £2.45m recreation by English Heritage of the castle’s lost medieval interiors is not history in tasteful shades of parchment and chalk. New oak doors an inch thick, painted green, bright blue or a dark red called Dragon’s Blood, open onto interiors both sumptuous and garish enough to make the unwary blink.
If a historian’s new theory is correct, the original was built by Henry at top speed and staggering expense to create the grandest B&B in Europe.
John Gillingham, professor of medieval history at the London School of Economics, believes that after the humiliation in 1179 of having to put the French king in makeshift lodgings, Henry urgently needed a palace to dispense regal hospitality to equally grand pilgrims bound for an acutely politically sensitive shrine: the tomb at Canterbury [cathedral] of Thomas Becket.
The saint was once his friend and chancellor, but all Europe believed that in 1170 Henry had him murdered. The king paid spectacular public penance, flogged by monks and then praying all night at Becket’s tomb. Henry’s vigil came as he faced rebellion by his wife [Eleanor of Aquitaine] and sons, and invasion from Scotland and Flanders.
The following morning the Scottish king was captured and the invasion fleet scattered. He was convinced Becket was back on side – the saint’s miracles, recorded by the Canterbury monks, included healing his sick hawk.
“It was probably the greatest crisis faced by any English monarch, and despite recent incidents of political statements of regret, the most spectacularly successful apology in recorded history,” Gillingham said.
Over the centuries the rooms, which lodged kings and queens, knights and nobles, became offices, store rooms and cells for Napoleonic prisoners of war. The present floor boards probably came from 18th century warship decking, and the roofs were strengthened to take 19th century artillery on the battlements.
The lost interiors have now been recreated in by an army of craft workers: embroidered hangings in crimson and gold, tables and chairs in green, red and blue with carved gilded lions snarling from the supports, a scarlet and blue rug thrown over the king’s bed lined with grey and white fur which looks alarmingly like a pussy cat, but is probably that modish Norman import, rabbit.
“I think people are going to find it quite startling, but that’s the point – in the 12th century this wasn’t a quaint old stone castle, it was new and built to impress,” said archaeologist Edward Impey, project manager for English Heritage.
“Bright colour was expensive, and most people had none in their homes or what they wore. If you had money, and you wanted to impress, colour was what you wanted, plenty of it and the brighter the better.”
His attention to detail has been obsessive. Real log fires will be lit each day, and when he realised there wasn’t enough fuel, he took up his axe and went down into the woods at the foot of the castle to chop the logs himself.
“They had to be hand cut – obviously – and there didn’t seem to be anyone else on site who could wield an axe,” he explained.
The rooms are now fit to receive royalty again. France currently lacks a king, but even Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni might be impressed at the result.
Dover Castle Great Tower make-over
Exquisite Bodies
Wellcome Collection 30 July-18 October
In the 19th century, despite the best efforts of body snatchers, the demand from medical schools for fresh cadavers far outstripped the supply. One solution to this gruesome problem came in the form of lifelike wax models. These models often took the form of alluring female figures that could be stripped and split into different sections. Other models were more macabre, showing the body ravaged by ’social diseases’ such as venereal disease, tuberculosis and alcohol and drug addiction.
Purton hulks
Purton’s forgotten hulks come to the BBC
Following their national exposure on the BBC’s geographical programme, ‘Coast’, the Purton Hulks are destined to make a welcome return to our television screens later in the autumn.
Once again this peaceful river setting in the heart of Gloucestershire’s green belt is to be the location for continued debate and discussion regarding the nation’s rapidly dwindling maritime heritage.
Set amongst the rolling backdrop of the Forest of Dean, the Purton foreshore and its now famous hulks are set to be catapulted into the public eye, following the recent filming by the BBC for its popular investigative reporting series, ‘Inside Out’.The program, which is due to be screened in September 2009, will be hosted by eminent maritime archaeologist and veteran presenter, Professor Mark Horton. The programme will attempt to unravel the complex and long running legal battle that seeks to have this unique collection of remains protected for the nation. Filming took place during a packed weekend of archaeology and surveying led by the Friends of Purton, which was attended by the Nautical Archaeology Society, Cotswold Archaeology and the MP for Stroud, David Drew.
Friends’ founder, Paul Barnett remains certain that the site is worthy of national recognition, despite the repeated and ongoing incidents of vandalism. He said: “We remain indebted to the BBC and Professor Horton for highlighting the case, and urge all to contact their MP in support.”
This position has now been further strengthened by David Drew MP for Stroud who stated: “I am pleased that under the Marine Bill we now have some protection for marine shoreline artefacts – but we will have to see how this works in practice. I have been talking to both English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund on how we can use the legislation to fully protect the Purton Hulks and to find some funding to get this really exciting project the support it now needs.”
Previously on The Attic : Ship’s Graveyard
Medieval mucky monikers
Birmingham academic reveals the streets with no shame
A MIDLAND academic has exposed the saucy history behind provocative street names in some of the region’s poshest market towns.
Dr Nigel Baker spent years investigating the origin of rude road names including Gropec–t Lane, Cock Lane and Finkle * (fondle) Street.
The University of Birmingham archaeology research fellow found most related to the red light districts and brothels that sprang up in posh towns like Worcester, Shrewsbury and Hereford in the 16th Century.
Grope Lane in Shrewsbury town centre is the modern incarnation of the medieval mucky moniker and is the last place in Britain to retain the naughty name.
The bizarre research project started after a pub conversation between the archeologist and respected medieval historian Professor Richard Holt.
The pair found a number of saucy street names had been eradicated from road signs in the Midlands, yet some remain today.
“We were researching at the University of Birmingham, looking at the impact of the church on medieval towns,” Dr Baker told the Sunday Mercury.
“We were having a pint and discussing the name Gropec–t Lane, when Richard said there were lots of names like that around the country.
“We gathered more information and realised that these streets had a very particular geography to them. People used to maintain that red light districts were banished from the town centres, but when we looked at these names they were right in the heart of the towns.
“In Shrewsbury, they were a stone’s throw from the main markets and churches, basically offering debauchery and open air sex.”
As puritanical protestant beliefs took over in the 16th century, the ruder street names started to disappear. Gloucester saw its former red light district renamed Love Lane, while Hereford’s darkest street went from Grope Lane to Jail [ Gaol] Street.
Worcester’s Grope Lane disappeared entirely when the Technical College was built by the River Severn, while Oxford changed its name to read Magpie Lane.
“The Victorians got rid of a lot of the Grope Lanes around the country, it has only remained in Shrewsbury,” Dr Baker said.
“The name is often explained away today because it is a dark street that people have to grope their way along.
In fact, that’s nonsense, it is a blatant reference to the sort of activity that went on there. When you look at these street names it provides a fascinating insight into life in the medieval era. Grope Lanes were found in all sorts of towns, small and large.
“But what is really interesting is the role of the churches. They were not clamping down on these red light areas, they were accepting them – and in most cases turning a blind eye to what was really happening down Grope Lane.”
*Finkle – another suggestion for the origin of the name.
Britain’s lewdest street names expunged
Baker, N & Holt, R. (2000). “Towards a geography of sexual encounter: prostitution in English medieval towns”, in L. Bevan: Indecent Exposure: Sexuality, Society and the Archaeological Record. Cruithne Press: Glasgow, 187-98.
Silchester Iron Age
TROWELS are at the ready for an annual dig that will uncover new information about an Iron Age settlement.
The annual Silchester dig on the site of Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum, near Silchester, begins on Monday for six weeks, until August 9.
The dig is organised by the Field School at Reading University’s Department of Archaeology as a research and training excavation which this year will involve about 70 first year archaeology students and 200 other people learning the ropes of excavation.
The site is of a first century BC Roman town which sits on top of an Iron Age town from the first century AD.
Amanda Clarke, director of the Field School, said: “It’s exciting. We are finishing work on the Roman level and we have peeled our way back and are just beginning to see some of the Iron Age town’s streets and buildings – it’s one of the few excavations that allows us a good look at an Iron Age town.”
She added that the most exciting find last year was an Iron Age well at the bottom of which were four pots placed as ritual offerings.
Ms Clarke said: “This year, we are hoping to find out if Iron Age buildings had round houses, were they made of wood, what did they look like and what their town layout was. Were they planned, were there street grids?”
She added: “We get an enormous amount of information and it’s one of the biggest digs in the country at the moment.”
BBC : Iron Age town found at Roman site
Cosmeston medieval Village
Archaeology team get to work at Medieval Village
THIS week, and until the end of July, a team of archaeologists led by Professor John Hines from Cardiff University School of History and Archaeology will be investigating the remains of the medieval manor house at Cosmeston Medieval Village.
Community volunteers will play a key part in these important investigations and are joining the team to look for evidence of the past and find out more about this unique Welsh historical site.
The dig site can be easily viewed from public footpaths in Cosmeston Country Park but FREE guided tours by archaeologists are also available at 11.30am and 2.30pm, Monday to Sunday, excluding Fridays, meeting at the main Visitor Centre.
Cosmeston Medieval Village Flickr link
Chester Roman well
Archaelogical excavation yields interesting finds
A Roman well has been unearthed on a Chester development site that will soon house a new Travelodge hotel.
Just two weeks of digging at the archaeological excavation on the junction of Upper Northgate Street and Delamere Street has already exposed a rock-cut Roman well, several large quarries, with at least one dating back to Roman times, and the remains of a whole pig.
The quarries, once redundant, became a convenient place to dump rubbish, which may prove to be excellent news for the archaeologists as the source of a great deal of information about how people lived their lives in previous times.
Many fragments of Roman and later pottery have also been recovered and a whole pig appears to have been thrown into one of the post medieval quarries.
Cheshire West and Chester archaeologists arranged for students from the University of Chester’s Archaeology programme, who worked with them at Grosvenor Park in May, to visit the commercial archaeological excavation in the centre of Chester, which is being carried out by Earthworks Archaeology, funded by Rufus Estates and monitored by the council’s team.
Jane Hebblewhite, community archaeologist at the council said: “Visits to urban commercial excavations are not always possible due to access and time constraints. It is testimony to Earthworks’ and Rufus Estates’ understanding and flexibility to allow the students to come down on to site.
“Such a visit introduces the students to another element of field archaeology and gives them an excellent insight to the kind of challenges they might meet on an urban development.”
Leigh Dodd, site director for Earthworks Archaeology, took time to explain the archaeology to the students and the various issues that have to be considered when running a commercial archaeological excavation.
Leigh said: “The excavation means that the remains will be properly recorded before construction work starts. Once the excavation has been completed, the material from site will be analysed and dated and a full report will be produced.
“This project has been an excellent example of collaboration and cooperation between all parties involved in the development, and it has also given an opportunity to local archaeology students to gain a first-hand understanding of how archaeology works in the modern world.”
As the excavation continues for the next few weeks further exciting discoveries are anticipated. This new information will form an important contribution to the understanding of the development and history of this part of Chester.
Although the site is not accessible to the general public, the archaeological investigation can be viewed from the main footpath
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