Category: Museums

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Gilbert White & The Cold of January 1776 January 28th

Photo of London Fields in the snow of 2022
Photo of London Fields in the snow of 2022 by Kevin Flude

January 1776:

‘On the 27th much snow fell all day, and in the evening the frost became very intense. At South Lambeth, for the four following nights, the thermometer fell to 7, 6, 6, and at Selborne to 7, 6, 10, and on the 3ist of January , just before sunrise, with rime on the trees and on the tube of the glass, the quicksilver sunk exactly to zero, being 32 degrees below the freezing point’ Gilbert White

Engraving of Gilbert White's House

Gilbert White and Darwin

He, of course, is talking Fahrenheit, so well below zero. If there was a Giant upon whose shoulders Charles Darwin climbed, then Gilbert White owned one pair.. He was one of many churchmen of the 18th and 19th Century who spent their extensive leisure time, on observing God’s wonderful creation in their gardens and parishes. What made White so important was that his practice was ‘observing narrowly’ and regularly. For example, his observations of the importance of earth worms were fundamental to Charles Darwin’s own studies. When Darwin came back from his travels on the Beagle, he settled in a country property in Orpington. Like White, he used his garden and the local area as his laboratory. Here he worked to prove his theory of evolution.

Gilbert White and Earth worms

Earth worms were one of Darwin’s passions. This is what Gilbert White wrote about their contribution to nature:

“Earth-worms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. For, to say nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds which are almost entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains and the fibres of plants, and, most of all, by throwing up such infinite numbers of lumps of earth called worm-casts, which, being their excrement, is a fine manure for grain and grass.”

(Quoted from https://gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk)

By such minute and repeated observations, Gilbert White investigated the food chain, and the migration of birds (which was at the time disputed). He laid the foundations of what we now call ecology.

Gilbert White’s Career

He became Dean of Oriel College in Oxford. But chose to spend his career in the relatively humble occupation of Curate. A Curate is the bottom-feeder in the Anglican Church food chain. A Curate hardly earned enough to maintain a position in the Gentry (£50 p.a.). Although, White was upgraded to the title of Perpetual Curate. He still would only be pulling in, I guess, something like £200 p.a. (Patrick Bronte was also a Perpetual Curate). Essentially, it is Vicar looking after a part of a too large Parish.

Financially, White didn’t need much, he inherited his father’s property at Shelborne, Hampshire. White’s grandfather was the Vicar at Shelborne. But Gilbert could not inherit the title because he went to Oriel College. The ‘living’ of the Parish of Shelborne was ‘in the gift of’ Magdalen College. And they were not going to give the role to an alumnus of a rival college.

Gilbert White & The Austen Family

The house, now open to the public, is just around the corner from Chawton. This is where Jane Austen spent her last years. He was born in 1720; was 55 when Austen was born, and he died in 1793, when she was 18. He lived 4 miles away, so the families knew of each other. We know Jane Austen’s brother wrote a poem about Gilbert White and his natural history observations, particularly on birds.

From ‘Selbourne Hanger’ by James Austen

Who talks of rational delight }
When Selbourne’s Hill appears in sight }
And does not think of Gilbert White? }
Such sure he was – by Nature grac’d
With her best gift of genuine taste;
And Providence – which cast his lot
Within this calm, secluded spot,
Plac’d him where best th’enquiring mind
Might study Nature’s works, and find
Within her ever open book
Beauties which others overlook.
Enthusiast sweet! Your vivid style
The attentive reader can beguile
Through many a page, and still excite
An Interest in what you write!
For whilst observant you describe
The habits of the feathery tribe
Their Loves and Wars – their nest and Song,
We never think the tale too long.

For more information on White and Austen, go to Gilbert White’s House’s web page here:

More Snow!

Here is more of that epic cold January 1776

‘… but by eleven in the morning, though in the shade, it sprang up to I6J,1 — a most unusual degree of cold this for the south of England. During these four nights the cold was so penetrating that it occasioned ice in warm chambers and under beds ; and in the day the wind was so keen that persons of robust constitutions could scarcely endure to face it. The Thames was at once so frozen over both above and below bridge that crowds ran about on the ice. The streets were now strangely encumbered with snow, which crumbled and trod dusty ; and, turning grey, resembled bay-salt : what had fallen on the roofs was so perfectly dry that, from first to last, it lay twenty-six days on the houses in the city ; a longer time than had been remembered by the oldest housekeepers living…..’

‘The consequences of this severity were, that in Hampshire, at the melting of the snow, the wheat looked well, and the turnips came forth little injured. The laurels and laurustines were somewhat damaged, but only in hot aspects. No evergreens were quite destroyed ; and not half the damage sustained that befell in January, 1768. Those laurels that were a little scorched on the south-sides were perfectly untouched on their north-sides. The care taken to shake the snow day by day from the branches seemed greatly to avail the author’s evergreens. A neighbour’s laurel-hedge, in a high situation, and facing to the north, was perfectly green and vigorous ; and the Portugal laurels remained unhurt.’

More Frost!

‘We had steady frost on to the 25th, when the thermometer in the morning was down to 10 with us, and at Newton only to 21. Strong frost continued till the 31st, when some tendency to thaw was observed ; and, by January the 3d, 1785, the thaw was confirmed, and some rain fell.’

Rosemary flowering in december
Rosemary flowering in my garden, photo by Kevin Flude

Gilbert White’s House is open to the public and also contains a display on Lawrence Oates, who died on Scots Antarctic expedition. For more information look at my post here.

There is another mention of Gilbert White in the Almanac of the Past here.

Foods in Season

Here are food stuffs that are in season now.

Wild Greens: Chickweed, hairy bittercress, dandelion leaves, sow thistle, winter cress

Vegetables: Forced Rhubarb, purple sprouting broccoli, carrots, brussels sprouts, turnips, beetroot, spinach, kale, chard, leeks, Jerusalem artichokes, lettuces, chicory, cauliflowers, cabbages, celeriac, swedes

Herbs: Winter savory, parsley, chervil, coriander, rosemary, bay, sage

Cheeses: Stilton, Lanark Blue

(from the Almanac by Lia Leendertz)

On This Day

1754 – Horace Walpole coined the new word ‘serendipity’ from the ‘Three Princes of Serendip’ fairy tale. The Princes ‘ere always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.’

1898 – Walter Arnold became the first motorist to be fined for speeding. He was going 8 miles an hour in a 2 mile an hour area in Kent

1986 – Explosion of US Space Shuttle Challenger. All 7 astronauts killed, including teacher Christa McAuliffe who would have been the first civilian in space.

The food section posted originally in 2023, the part on Gilbert White written on 28th January 2024, revised 2025, On This Day added 2026

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Burn’s Night January 25th

Edinburgh Writer’s’ Museum ‘Burn’s Monument from Campbell’s Close Canongate’ by John Bell. The Burn’s Monument is is on the hill in the background.

Burn’s Night is an increasingly important date on the calendar of Scotland’s Cultural Heritage. Wikipedia says it began:

‘at Burn’s Cottage in Ayrshire by Burns’s friends, on 21 July 1801‘

This was 5 years after his death. It is now celebrated around the world, making clear the importance of Robert Burns. Burns himself would have been astonished at the spread of Burn’s Night. He was modest about his attainments, saying, in his introduction to the Commonplace Book:

‘As he was but little indebted to scholastic education, and bred at a plough-tail, his performance must be strongly tinctured with his unpolished rustic way of life. ‘

To celebrate Burn’s Night here is one of his most famous works. Also have a look at my post on his great narrative poem, Tam O’Shanter and the Cutty Shark.

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang ‘s my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o’ need,
While thro’ your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see Rustic-labour dight,
An’ cut ye up wi’ ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

(for the other five verses have a wee lookie here)

Lost Burns Portrait

Recently, a long lost portrait of Burns turned up and it provides an image of the poet as a young man. The story is interesting and worth reading here:

Screenshot of BBC web page on the lost portrait of Robert Burns.

The Writer’s Museum

Writers’ Museum photo K. Flude

Often bypassed by the tourists on a visit to the wonderful City of Edinburgh is the Writer’s Museum. It is in one of those remarkable Tower houses which seem unique to the High Street in Edinburgh. Inside, it gives a great introduction to the great writers of Scotland.

‘Is it not strange’ wrote philosopher David Hume in 1757 ‘that a time when we have lost our Princes, our Parliament, Independent Government …..that we shou’d really be the people most distinguish’d for literature in Europe?’ (source: Museum display panel)

Edinburgh Writer’s Museum Burns, Scott, Stevenson.
A Visual for Burn’s Night ‘Window in the Writer’s Museum, Edinburgh’ Photo by K Flude

See my post on Literary Edinburgh here

On This Day in Scotland

1759 – The birth of Robert Burns.

1784 – The death in Edinburgh of Alexander Webster, a writer and church minister who is best remembered for the country’s first census. The first UK census was in 1801.

1817 – The Scotsman newspaper publishes its first edition in Edinburgh.

2012 – First Minister Alex Salmond launches a consultation on the SNP Government’s proposals for a referendum on Scottish independence. on the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?”. The voters answered “No” 55.3% and 44.7% voting in favour. (for more on Scottish Independence, see my post here.)

Source www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/

First published Jan 2023, republished Jan 2024, 2025, 2026

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December 21 – Reflections on the Solstice

The Solstice and the East Pediment of the Parthenon

British Museum Shop, reproductions of Hestia and Selene’s Horse from the Parthenon Marbles

At the Summer Solstice, I took a group to the British Museum and, a few days later, to Stonehenge, and managed to ‘integrate’ the two into a solstice narrative. At the BM, over years of trying to explain the sculptures, I have been building in my mind an interpretation of the Pediment that gives, I hope, an original insight into the possible intentions of the sculptors. I don’t know how ‘true’ it is, but I do think it gives an insight into metaphor and symbolism in great works of art. Bear in mind that there is a lot of uncertainty about some of the attributions, and, that the male and female virtues that I am talking about are traditional ones, not necessarily how we would express it in the modern world.

Pediment Sculptures Photo by Nicole Baster on Unsplash

At the left of the above photography, you see the horses that take Helios chariot into the sky to bring up the sun to light the world every day. Most sun deities are male, and the Sun gives light and life to the world, without it this earth is an inert block of ice cold stone. The next statue is casually laying back and looking fit, relaxed and not looking as if he is in that position because of the impossible triangular Pediment space he inhabits. He is the epitome of male strength, usually identified with Hercules but other people have other ideas and a young Dionysus is another suggestion. Whoever he is he represents male beauty and strength. So this end of the pediment represents the Sun and male virtues. This is the East Pediment of the Parthenon which is orientated to the rising sun, a little north of east.

Next figure is Demeter, the goddess of fertility, the goddess of the earth. Placed here to remind us that the Sun needs the Earth to create life and sustenance. It reminds us that the universe is not male, the male only works in conjunction with the female. Demeter is cuddling her daughter Persephone, the Goddess of Hades. She reminds us that life is a cycle of death and life. Plants die, turn into soil and create the conditions for future life.

Next is Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera, wife of Heracles (Hercules). She is the cupbearer to the Gods and gives them the ambrosia that keeps them forever young. She is the Goddess of Immortality, a reminder that the universe is eternal.

Next to Hebe is a void where there was the central statue of the east pediment depicting the Birth of Athena (according to Pausanias who wrote a guide in the 2nd Century BC to the Temple). Athena was born from the head of her father Zeus- a virgin birth. Athena therefore is, in some ways, the greatest of the Olympians, as she has the virtues of her female sex and the virtues of her father’s masculinity (and, dear Gods, hopefully not the massive ‘Me Too’ vices of her father). She is therefore, wise, nurturing, just, intuitive, decisive, a leader; an ideal combination of male and female.

Zeus (sitting) Hephastus to right (looking back with Axe) Athena just visible above Zeus's head
Zeus (sitting) Hephastus to right (looking back with Axe) Athena just visible above Zeus’s head

Her back story is that her dad, Zeus eats her mum, Metis, who is pregnant with her. Sometime later, he has a cracking headache. Hephaestus, the disabled artificer God hits Zeus over the head with an axe to clear the headache. Zeus gives birth to a fully formed Athena through the split in his head. She was known as Athena Parthenos, Athena the Virgin. Her name is originally Athene but it got changed to Athena in 500 BC.

Hestia, Dione, Aphrodite, Horse of Selene’s chariot

To Athene’s left is Hestia (Vesta for the Romans). Her name means “hearth, fireplace, altar” and she is the goddess of the domestic sphere, of the comforts of home, of a warm fire enjoyed by a loving family.

The next set are two beautifully draped women languidly leaning on each other, and these are Dione, with her daughter Aphrodite – the Goddess of Love. Dione is the daughter of Gaia and Uranus daughter of earth and sky. So, here, counterpoised to Hercules, are epitomes of women. Women of power, creation, and love.

Finally, we have the exhausted horse of Selene. Her chariot takes the moon into the sky, positioned opposite to Helios and the Sun. Selene is the Moon goddess, and the Moon is beautiful, powerful as it gives us the tides and fundamental to the life of humans as she presides over the menstrual cycle. Compared to the movements of the Sun which any fool can work out, and which are relentless (symbolising Justice) the movements of the Moon are mysterious to most of us. So Selene is beautiful, powerful, creative and the Goddess of Intuition.

So, if you put it all together, the East Pediment of the Parthenon shows that the world is a union of the male and the female, balanced between the two with Zeus and Athene in the middle, with Athene holding the main part because she, in her person, represents both the male and the female.

Of course, we know that the Athenian society was a patriarchal one with women mostly kept in the domestic sphere. But here, at least, women were given an equal billing in the organisation of the Cosmos.

Sculptures from the east pediment of the Parthenon
Sculptures from the east pediment of the Parthenon

I must end by warning the reader that this is only my interpretation. I am not a scholar of Ancient Greece. I have come to my own conclusion based on spending a lot of time looking at the marbles, doing Solstice Virtual Tours, and mostly informed by the labels in the gallery, with of course, some reading including Mary Beard’s book entitled ‘Parthenon’ and the BM’s guidebook. In particular, I have not incorporated into my ‘story’ the sculptures that were in the gaps that do not survive or only in fragments scattered throughout the Museum world. However, what we do know is that in the centre is Zeus and Athene and at the edges are the chariots of the Sun and the Moon. And so fitting to celebrate the Solstice.

For a look at the Winter Solstice in general, look at my post here:

Originally written in 2022 and revised 2024, 2025

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Ashmolean Advent Calendar, William Burges & the Singing Pierides December 12th

The Great Bookcase by William Burges Ashmolean Museum (Photo K. Flude)

The Ashmolean posts, every year, an online Advent Calendar with gorgeous items behind each ‘flap’. The choice seems to be, mostly, a random selection. But their collection is so wonderful, they are all interesting.

The Great Bookcase by William Burges & the Singing Pierides

In 2022 The Ashmolean featured the Great Bookcase by William Burges. Burges is one of the great Gothic Revival architects and a designer in the Arts & Crafts Movement with an affinity for Pre-Raphaelite painters. He asked 14 of them to paint panels on his bookcase. The decorative scheme was to represent the Pagan and Christian Arts (Museum label).At the bottom of the Wardrobe are the Singing Pierides painted by Henry Stacy Marks. The Pierides were a sort of classical Greek Von Trapp singers, 9 daughters who foolishly challenged the Muses to a singing competition. Of course, the Goddesses of the Arts — the Muses won., As punishment for their vanity, they turned the Pierides into songbirds. Let this be a warning to all those who overrate their own talents!

‘Whenever the daughters of Pierus began to sing, all creation went dark and no one would give an ear to their choral performance. But when the Muses sang, heaven, the stars, the sea and rivers stood still, while Mount Helicon, beguiled by the pleasure of it all, swelled skywards tilI, by the will of Poseidon, Pegasus checked it by striking the summit with his hoof.

Since these mortals had taken upon themselves to strive with goddesses, the Muses changed them into nine birds. To this day people refer to them as the grebe, the wryneck, the ortolan, the jay, the greenfinch, the goldfinch, the duck, the woodpecker and the dracontis pigeon.’

Antoninus Liberalis‘ Metamorphoses (wikipedia)

Burges & the International Exhibition of 1862

Engraving of the International exhibition of 1862, Cromwell Road
Print of the International Exhibition of 1862, South Kensington

The bookcase by William Burges was originally displayed as the centre point of the ‘Medieval Court’ of the 1862 International Exhibition, South Kensington, London. The Exhibition was almost as successful as the more famous Great Exhibition of 1851. Both got about 6m visitors. The 1862 Exhibition was just south of the site of the 1851 (on the south side of Hyde Park) and in what were then the Royal Horticultural Society’s gardens (now the Science, Natural History Museum, Imperial College etc.)

Raphael

This year, they posted a Raphael drawing of an angle. I show a screen shot below. But to have a real look click here.

The Nuragi

Last year it was a nuragi bronze age stature of a shepherd, a screen shot of which I show below. 2023 December 12th’s choice was a netsuke.

Nuragi statue of a Shepberd

I discovered the Nuragi on a University Field trip, with my students, to the Capital of Sardinia, Cagliari. The Nuragic culture is not well known. However they have amazing Bronze sculptures which give the viewer a really vivid view of their lives and fashions in the Bronze Age. They lived in round towers called nuraghe, which are a little like the Brochs of Scotland. They were around during the time of the Mycenaean Culture in Greece. But their origins and indeed their history are argued about. They may be part of the ‘Sea People’ who brought the end to the Bronze Age cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, or they may not.

Here, in Britain, the Bronze Age is dominated by discussions of henges, barrows, metal axes and swords. But with very little sense of what life was like to live in those days. However, go to the Cagliari Museum, look at these wonderful statues, and it becomes possible to picture the people. Particularly with a copy of ‘Il Popolo di Bronzo’ by Angela Demontis to hand. It is a catalogue of Nuragi statures with interpretative drawings. It really brings the people to life depicted in the statues. They are mostly warriors, but also there are ‘normal trades’ such as shepherds and bakers which are depicted as well.

Here is my slight adaption of one of the drawings. It is of a shepherd similar to the one photo’d above.

A sketch drawing of a Nuragi sculpture derived from ‘Il Popolo di bronzo’ by Angela Demontis

What you can see is some detail of the clothes and the knife belt around the torso. Not to mention the sheep around his neck! The drawing brings a living person from the Bronze Age before you, not just a lump of bronze. Wikipedia has a long article on the nuragic culture. You can see a wonderful collection of nuragi bronzes and their homes on this website.here.

Originally written for December 12, 2022, revised and republished December 2023, and the Nuragi added in 2024 and Raphael added in 2025

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Gordon Russell, the Mosquito and Broadway December 11th

De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito B Mk IV Series 2n (Wikipedia CCO), parts of it were made in Broadway

On December 11th 1940 a bomb dropped on a barn in a beautiful village in the Cotswolds. Broadway is a tourist attraction. It was considered one of the most beautiful villages in Britain. It was the playground for many artists, writers, actors, designers and other bohemians of the late 19th Century.

‘There were several large fires in Broadway during the war. On the night of December 11th 1940 a German bomber dropped a quantity of incendiary bombs on the village. A number of them fell on Gordon Russell’s furniture factory setting light to a large wooden, thatched barn. The building containing fine furniture and textiles, brought from London for safe keeping, was quickly destroyed. Ironically, the barn also contained a large order of furniture for Sir John Anderson – the Minister for Air Raid Precautions!‘


‘Another incendiary landed on the machine shop roof burning a hole, before being extinguished, it is believed, by a factory worker who lived nearby. The temporary plywood patch which was nailed on the underside of the hole was still in place when the factory was demolished in 2004. When a cottage adjacent to the factory was recently re-thatched, an unexploded incendiary bomb was discovered lodged in the old thatch. According to an Evesham Journal report, published at the end of the war, bombs fell in the Broadway area on seven separate occasions.‘

Quotes above from http://www.broadwayfire.co.uk/second_world_war.htm

So, the Broadway fire brigade history pages suggests the raid was on December 11. But other sources prefer the night of November 14th. The night of the infamous Coventry Raid. But I have found another site claiming the raid that destroyed the barn was in October! But I’ve moved this blog post from November 14th to December 11th because I think the Fire Brigade should know what it is talking about!

Gordon Russell

Gordon Russell was a famous furniture designer. During the War, he turned over his carpentry workshops to the war effort. They made the wings of the famous World War Two Mosquito fighter bombers in Russell’s modernist furniture factory. This was in the Back Lane of Broadway. And next to the bombed barn is now a Co-Op supermarket.

The Mosquito was fast enough to be a fighter and could carry a decent payload of bombs. Because of their flexibility and speed, they had many roles in the war, including being the pathfinder for many of the nighttime raids on Germany.

Russell’s factory also made ammunition boxes, and high-precision aircraft models for wind tunnel testing and other purposes. Gordon himself designed a utility range of furniture to minimise the amount of wood needed for new furniture during the war.

Images taken by Kevin Flude of the displays at the Gordon Russell Museum, Broadway. Showing a description of the Utility range designed by Gordon Russell during World War 2
Gordon Russell’s Utility Range WW2
The Barn destroyed by bombing by Frank Whitton
Model Spitfire for wind tunnel testing
Gordon and Don Russell 1917

Images above taken by Kevin Flude of the displays at the Gordon Russell Museum, Broadway. The Museum is well worth a visit, and Broadway itself remains a delight.

My Father & the Mosquito

My father, I discovered a couple of nights ago, worked on Mosquitoes in his time in the RAF. His job was to salvage instruments from crashed aeroplanes. Mosquitoes were, along with Spitfires, and Hurricanes, amongst the ones he worked on. To buy his war time autobiography follow this link!

For more from the Almanac about Broadway, see:

The Great Broadway Paint off
and:
Henry Ford’s Love of the Cotswolds

Another source for this post was: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/nEzPogPpsy7QD4US/

First published on 14th November 2024, Moved to December 11th 2025

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How to make a Dish of Snow & Ice Houses November 29th

Photo Zdenek Machacek -unsplash

Yesterday, I posted about the exciting discovery that Ann Shakespeare might have stayed in London with her husband. Here you can read the academic article about the research. Really worth reading!

A Dish of Snow

There is a 0% chance of snow, in London and 90% chance of snow in Glen Shee, Scotland, according to the Snow Risk Forecast. And here is an appropriate medieval recipe:

To make a dish of Snowe

Take a potte of sweete thicke creme and the white of eight egges and beate them altogether with a spoone then putte them into your creame with a dish full of Rose Water and a dishfull of Sugar withall then take a sticke and make it cleane and then cutt it in the ende fowre square and therewith beate all the aforesayd thinges together and ever as it ariseth take it of and putte it into a Cullander thys done take a platter and set an aple in the middest of it and sticke a thicke bush of Rosemarye in the apple then cast your snowe upon the rosemarye and fill your platter therewith and if you have wafers cast some withall and thus serve them forth

From Medieval Manuscripts, British Library. Blog. https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/medieval-history/page/2/

BF – Before Fridges

Before fridges, snow gave the chance for ice cream and other cold desserts. The problem was keeping it for longer than the cold spell. So many Stately Homes had ice-houses. The V&A had an ice-house just outside their glorious, Henry Cole commissioned restaurant. There is an ice house preserved at the Canal Museum, in Kings Cross. It was set up by Carlo Gatti in 1857 to store ice shipped in from Norway. Another one, in Holland Park, dates from 1770 and served the infamous Fox family (PM Charles James Fox etc).

The first ice house was in Mesopotamian, but in the UK they were introduced by James 1 at his palaces in, first, Greenwich Park, and then Hampton Court. An ice house generally consists of a pit in the ground, brick lined, which tapered to a point. Above was a circular, often domed building. The ice was protected by insulation such as straw, and this structure would allow ice to be available all through the summer.

Ice House Dillington, Somerset
Ice House Dillington, Somerset, photo K Flude

My great-grandmother hung a basket outside the window in winter to keep things cold. On my fridge-less narrow boat, I have been known to keep milk and butter outside the door on the front deck. And to suspend and submerge wine in a plastic bag in the canal in high summer. Butteries and Pantries were typically cut into the ground to make them cooler. A Roman Warehouse in Southwark, of which the wooden floor still survived, had a ramp down to the floor which was cut into the ground surface. The ramp suggests it was used for storing barrels, where they were kept cool.

Sketch of Roman Warehouse found in Southwark.

For more on Icehouses (and an Icehouse in York) and the history of ice cream, see my post from August.

Time for Ice Cream August 20th

Written November 28th 2022, revised and republished 2023, 2024,2025

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Jimi Hendrix in London November 27th

Jimi Hendrix in London at Montague Place

To my mind, THE genius of the electric guitar, and a great singer and songwriter.

Born Johnny Allen Hendrix in Seattle on 27th November 1942. He was spotted by ex-Animals Chas Chandler (bassist) when performing in small cafés In New York as Jimmy James. Chandler suggested he came to England. On the flight, they decided to change his name to Jimi. He arrived on September 24, 1966.

“It’s a different kind of atmosphere here. People are more mild-mannered. I like all the little streets and the boutiques. It’s like a kind of fairyland”

https://www.independent.co.uk Jimi Hendrix’s London.

On his first day in London, he met Kathy Etchingham,. She found them a flat on the upper floors of 23 Brook Street, which is now part of Handel&Hendrix in London. This is a a small museum to the two musical giants who lived next door to each other (if they were time travellers that is!).

For the English middle class, it’s comforting to know that Jimi bought the furnishings of the flat from their favourite, the nearby John Lewis Department store. However, he got his swinging 60s look from Carnaby Street and Portobello Road Market.

The Blues and London

London wasn’t an arbitrary choice for a young American Bluesman. The wave of British Bands that came to international prominence in 1964, was based on the almost forgotten (by the mainstream media) Black American Blues legends such as Woody Guthrie and Ledbelly. Bands like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the Animals loved this music, and began their careers playing cover versions in Clubs in London. (For more on the British Blues Revival, look here🙂

Hendrix’s younger brother, Leon, spoke about the importance of London to Hendrix

“He loved England ‘cos it was like Seattle. It was like home. It was the same climate, y’know? And this is where all the music was. This is where all of his friends were – Eric Clapton, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones, everybody…”

He concluded: “After people played, they all went and jammed together. Like, when Jimi played a concert that was only the warm-up… After the concert, he was out and about lookin’ for somebody to play with and somebody’s studio to jam at. They’d just be jammin’ all night ’til, like, seven or eight in the morning. It was awesome.”

Reported in Mouth Magazine 2018 and quoted in https://faroutmagazine.co.uk

Hendrix and Hey Joe

Chas Chandler was interested in managing bands, and thought Hey Joe, which he heard Hendrix play, could be a hit single. Hey Joe got to no 6, in January 1967 in the UK Top Ten, but failed to make an impression in the US.

Here is a YouTube film of Hendrix playing ‘Hey Joe’.

Finally, have a look at this bill for bands on at the Saville Theatre.

One month in 60s London!

For details of Hendix Gigs look at the Set list Web site, which shows he performed at the Saville Theatre in Jan,May and June 1967 on his First European Tour, and again in Aug and Oct on his 2nd European Tour.

The Independent website above gives a good guide to Hendrix in London. An excellent documentary on Hendrix was recently aired on BBC Sounds, Everything but the Guitar.

On this Day:

Eels are now in Season. (for Eels, Eel Pie Island, and its amazing musical heritage click here🙂

1703– The Great Storm

‘About one this morning, the terrible storm arose, which continued till past seven, the wind southwest, the light not known in the memory of man; blew down a vast number of the tops of houses, Chimneys, etc.; the damage incredible., the lady Nicholas and a great many people killed and many wounded: most of the boats and barges forced ashore; an East India ship cast away near Blackwall, besides several merchant ships and colliers; divers of the great trees in St James’s Park, Temple Grayes Inn, etc, blown down; and we are apprehensive we shall hear of great losses at sea.‘

From Narcissus Luttrell, diary, 1703, quoted from ‘A London Year’ compiled by Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison.

First published on Nov 27th 2022, as part of Stir Up Sunday! And revised onto its own page on the same day, 2023, and updated 2024 and 2025

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Stir Up Sunday! Late November

1803 Christmas Cartoon of Napoleon and Mr and Mrs John Bull
By William Holland, 1803 showing plum pudding probably stirred-up on Stir-up Sunday.

Stir-up Sunday is the last Sunday before advent and the day for stirring the Christmas Pudding. And I missed it! Last year it was on the 24th November. This year, November 23rd. Stir-up Sunday gets its name from the Book of Common Prayer, which has a verse:

“Stir-up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may of thee be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.’

So, the Christmas pudding was made with dried fruit and had 13 ingredients for Jesus and the Disciples. It is stirred from west to east, in honour of the Three Wise Men, and stirred by every member of the household who get to make a secret wish.

These are the ingredients, and here is the recipe.

Ingredients
225g/8oz golden caster sugar
225g/8oz vegetarian suet
340g/12oz sultanas
340g/12oz raisins
225g/8oz currants
120g/4oz chopped candied peel
120g/4oz plain flour
120g/4oz fresh white breadcrumbs
60g/2oz flaked almonds
Zest of 1 lemon
5 eggs, beaten
1level tsp ground cinnamon
1level tsp mixed spice
1 level tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
150ml/5fl oz brandy or rum

Add a Silver Joey to Stir-up Sunday Christmas Pudding.

Normally, a coin in put in the pudding for the lucky one to get. My grandma, a Londoner, used to put in a couple of ‘silver joeys’, long out of legal tender even when I was young. She would watch us like a hawk while we ate, and claim the coins back as soon as we found them! She would then put them in an old folded brown envelope and put them away for next year.

MJ Hughes Coins website gives the following excellent history of the Silver Joey:

‘Originally a Joey was the nickname given to a groat (4 pence) but when that went out of circulation in 1855 the silver 3 pence inherited the name. The name came about due to the reintroduction of 4 pence coins in the 1830s by the politician Joseph Hume, MP (1777-1855).‘

For some great, coin-based facts! Look no further.

https://mjhughescoins.com/how-quids-bobs-florins-tanners-and-joeys-got-their-names

A Digression on Nicknames: Toad Testicles, Foul-Beard and Broad-Arse’

Joey is a nickname. This digression is prompted by my ‘rediscovery’ of a History Today essay from March 2023. It is by PhD student Tristan Alphey. entitled ‘Toad Testicles, Foul-Beard and Broad-Arse’ Tristan is researching nicknames before 1000. It’s a tough gig but someone had to do it!

I have long had an interest in nicknames, since a school bully, when I was about 7, decided he was going to call me Acid. He explained his logic. Flude sounds like fluid and acid is a fluid. It never caught on perhaps because chanting ‘Fludey is a rudey’ in the playground was more fun! In my dad’s day, anyone called Clarke was nicknamed Nobby, and anyone small ‘Lofty’. Why Clerks are ‘nobby’ no one really knows. But the best bet is because clerks were well educated, and with a public facing role had to be smarter that the average member of the public. So clerks were posh. Posh people were called ‘nobs’. Hence, Nobby Clark. (for more on nobby look here.

Generally, only a few people got themselves primarily identified by nicknames. This will, of course, be the meat of Tristan’s PhD. The social significance of the nicknames.

The Border Reivers

My interest was revived when reading a book about the Border Reivers, (by Allistair Moffet). These clans terrorised the borders between Northumberland and Scotland, particularly in the 13th – 17th Century. The people were controlled by a clan leader of ‘Heidsman’ and all his followers being in the same clan had the same surname. And the Names were many Armstrongs, Batesons, Bells, Croziers, Elliots, Glendinnings, Hendersons, Irvines, Johnstones, Scots, Moffets, Nixons, Routledges, Thomsons, Maxwells, Kers, And not to forget the Carletons, Fenwicks, Forsters, Robsons, Turnballs, Selbys, Storeys, Guthries.

The problem arose because there were so many with the same surname, and with the restricted use of a small number of first names (John being by far the most popular) a way of differentiating people was necessary. As I am short of time, I will cut and past from the Wikipedia page:

‘Some Border Reiver nicknames referred to physical injuries or impairments, such as “Fingerless,” “Gleyed” (blind in one eye), “Burnt Hand,” “Half-Lugs,” or “Lugless” (missing ears). Others followed a tradition similar to Highland naming customs, where the father’s (and occasionally the mother’s) name was added to the son. Many nicknames described physical appearance, such as “Black Heid,” “Hen-Heid,” “Sweet Milk” (meaning beautiful), or “Fergus the Plump.” Some appear to reference mental health or emotional states, including “Unhappy Anthone” and “Jock Unhappy.”‘

‘A number of nicknames seem metonymic or ironic, reflecting professions or roles, such as “The Sheriff,” “The Lawyer,” or “The Priest.” Intriguingly, certain names may hint at queer or LGBT identities, including “Buggerback,” “The Lady Elliot,” “The Lady Scott,” “The Lady Kerr,” “Bang-tail,”[108] and “Sym ‘the Lady’.” Other nicknames defy easy interpretation, such as “Hob-Wait-About-Him,” “Laird-Give-Me-Little,” “Bide Him Jock,” “the Pleg,” “Dog-Pyntle” (Dog Penis),[109] “Geordie Go Wi Him,” and “Cheesebelly,” illustrating the creative and often enigmatic nature of Border Reiver culture.’ Wikipedia entry

By the way ‘Buggerback’ Elliot was related to ‘the Lady Elliot’, and also, if I recall correctly, to Dog pyntle.

Tristan Alphey’s study takes the study back before 1100, wwhere wecan find King’s nicknames such as

Edward the Confessor, Alfred the Great, Edmund Ironsides, and Aethelred the Ill-advised (redeless). Further down the scale he presents: Alfred ‘Toad-Testicles from Winchester, where were also Alwin ‘Pebbles, Aelfstan ‘Broad-Arse’, Aelfstan ‘the Bald’, Thurstand ‘Buttock’, Aethelstan ‘The fat’, Osferth ‘Blackbeard’, Aelfstan ‘Limping’. Elsewhere we have Alvin ‘Sardine’, Wulfric ‘Large Pole’, Eadwig ‘the Wholly Drunk’, Wulfwiug ‘Wild’, Aelfric ‘Foul-Beard’.

Women are less frequently given nicknames, but we have Athelgifu ‘the Good’ and King Harold’s first wife, the beautiful Edith ‘Swan-Neck’.

To finish my look at nicknames, we go to Viking York among whom are the peerless warriors: ‘Ivarr the Boneless’, Sihtric ‘the Squinty-eyed’and Erik Bloodaxe. Other Vikings include Thorkell the Tall and Thorkell Thorfinn. An archaeologist believes he has found the burial place of Ivar the Boneless – have a look here for more details.

First Published Nov 27th 2022. The Jimi Hendrix content transferred to its own page, and this post republished Nov 26th 2023, revised with a section on nicknames in 2024,2025

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Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

Old print showing the plotters for the Gunpowder plot
The Gunpowder Plotters, culminating on the 5th of November

Soon, after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, Parliament legislated for an annual commemoration of the Catholic Plot. The date they chose was the anniversary of finding Guy Fawkes with a lantern next to piles of barrels of Gunpowder underneath Parliament. This was the occasion of the State Opening of Parliament, 5th November 1605. The King, his Queen, the King’s children. The Lords from the House of Lords & MPs from the House of C would all have been blown up.

The Ashmolean Lantern

Guy Fawkes Lantern at the Ashmolean Museum

This was the one held by Fawkes. It was given the Museum by Robert Heywood in 1641. He got it from his brother, Peter, who was a Westminster Magistrate among the party who arrested Guy Fawkes in the cellar. Peter Heywood, took the lantern from Guy Fawkes to stop him setting fire to the pile of gunpowder barrels. Or at least that is the story Robert Heywood told.

A commemoration of fireworks and bonfires was clearly appropriate given that it has been estimated that the amount of gunpowder in the barrels would have killed the king, the Royal Family, the House of Lords and the House of Commons and devastated a huge area around Westminster. But some suggest that the nature of the commemoration draws some elements from Halloween – use of bonfires and dressing up. Halloween was frowned upon by puritans, but they supported Guy Fawkes Day as it was anti-catholic.

Banner in Lewes

The anti-catholic nature of the celebration is a fact, but it really isn’t something we think about today. There is little anti-Catholic prejudice in Britain (except in one or two very specific places). Irish friends are amazed we still celebrate it, but for the vast majority of people in Britain it is really just Fireworks night, nothing to do with anti-catholic sentiment.

The Lewes Bonfire

Traces of the original anti-catholic nature of it do continue in places like Lewes, which is one of the most traditional Fireworks Nights. This consists of clubs who organise a parade through the town. Then it ends with the burning of an effigy of the Pope and, more recently, other unpopular figures on the contemporary scene. Click here for more on Lewes.

Procession in Lewes

Tar Barrel Rolling

Ottery St Mary continues the tradition of using Tar Barrels. These are wooden barrels in which tar and tinder are set on fire. The Barrels are either rolled through the Town, or down a hill. But in Ottery they are carried on the shoulders of volunteers (see video below). This has a pedigree which goes back before 1605 as there are references to tar barrels and displays in Protestant processions to celebrate the accession to the throne of Edward VI and Elizabeth 1.

Tar Barrels in Ottery St Mary
Stephen and Claire – 2 Zany Brits on YouTube

Discovering the Plot

King James 1 took credit for discovering the plot as he is said to have deciphered the warning given in a letter, written to William Parker, 13th Baron Morley, 4th Baron Monteagle. Monteagle wrote the letter at his house in Hoxton, London (commemorated by a plaque in Hoxton Street near where I live) which warned against turning up at Parliament but was not explicit as to the nature of the threat.

Letter Lord Monteagle passed on to King James 1

My lord, out of the love I beare to some of youere frends, I have a care of youre preservacion, therefore I would aduyse you as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift youer attendance at this parliament, for God and man hath concurred to punishe the wickedness of this tyme, and thinke not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety, for though there be no apparance of anni stir, yet I saye they shall receive a terrible blow this parliament and yet they shall not seie who hurts them this cowncel is not to be contemned because it may do yowe good and can do yowe no harme for the dangere is passed as soon as yowe have burnt the letter and i hope God will give yowe the grace to mak good use of it to whose holy proteccion i comend yowe.

National Archives

James realised this sentence: ‘they shall receive a terrible blow this parliament and yet they shall not seie who hurts them ‘ implied an explosion. His father, Lord Darnley, was killed in a Gunpowder Plot in Edinburgh, so perhaps he was particularly attuned to the threat. On the other hand, there is a possibility that the King’s Secret Service were aware of the plot and arranged matters, so the King could receive the credit for its discovery.

The Fifth of November

    Remember, remember!
    The fifth of November,
    The Gunpowder treason and plot;
    I know of no reason
    Why the Gunpowder treason
    Should ever be forgot!
    Guy Fawkes and his companions
    Did the scheme contrive,
    To blow the King and Parliament
    All up alive.
    Threescore barrels, laid below,
    To prove old England’s overthrow.
    But, by God’s providence, him they catch,
    With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
    A stick and a stake
    For King James’s sake!
    If you won’t give me one,
    I’ll take two,
    The better for me,
    And the worse for you.
    A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
    A penn’orth of cheese to choke him,
    A pint of beer to wash it down,
    And a jolly good fire to burn him.
    Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
    Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
    Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

English Folk Verse (c.1870)

See my post on preparing for Guys Fawkes day here:

First published 5th November 2021, revised 2024, 2025

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Going to the Mop in Stratford-upon-Avon & Henley-in-Arden 11th & 12th October

The Mop Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon

This year the Stratford mop festival was on the 11th and 12th October. I am in Stratford. The the centre of town is a cacophany of shooting galleries, stalls selling toffee apples, candy floss, burgers and all things bad for you. And a fun fair.Nothing at all sophisticated, or literary or dramatic, or folkloric. Just a good old-fashioned fun fair in the middle of the town. Quite raucous, but they leave Henley Street, and Shakespeare’s’ Birthplace, free of it. Below I tell the story of my discovery of the Mop.

2024 Statford-upon-Avon Mop. Photo Kevin Flude
2024 Stratford on Avon Mop. Photo Kevin Flude

In 2023, I was on my way to Stratford-upon-Avon Railway station, I saw the sign at the top of this page, but had no idea what on earth a Mop was. I put it to the back of my mind as I took the train to Henley-in-Arden. My interest in the town was that Shakespeare was born in Henley St. And his mother was called Mary of Arden. So, naturally, I wanted to find out about Henley-in-Arden. To turn curiosity to action, it took our Tour Coach Driver telling me he lived there and that it was a pretty but small town.

Mary Arden doesn’t live here any more!

I had a free afternoon from my duties as Course Director on the ‘Best of England’ Road Scholar trip. I got on the very slow train to Henley-in-Arden. One of the first stops was Wilmcote, where Mary Arden’s House is. I visited two years ago, when I was astonished to find it was a different building to the one I had visited in the 1990s! In 2000, they discovered they had been showing the wrong building to visitors for years! Mary Arden’s House was, in fact, her neighbour Adam Palmer’s. And her house was Glebe Farm.

On that visit, I walked from Stratford-upon-Avon to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. Then to Mary Arden’s House and back to Stratford along the Stratford Canal. It is a lovely country walk if you are ever in the area.

The Forest of Arden

The train route to Henley is through what remains of the ancient forest of Arden. The forest features in, or inspired, the woody Arcadian idylls which feature in several of Shakespeare’s plays, particularly the Comedies. ‘As You Like It’, for example, is explicitly set in the Forest of Arden, as this quotation from AYL I.i.107 makes clear:

Oliver:  Where will the old Duke live?

Charles. They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England: they say many young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet the time carelessly as they did in the golden world.

Guildhall, Henley-in-Arden

Henley-in-Arden

Not much remains of the old Forest. It was cut down to make timber-framed buildings and ships for the British Navy – the so-called Wooden Walls. Henley has a beautiful high street. Further down the road is a lovely Heritage Centre full of old-fashioned and DIY Information panels. And that is not a criticism, it provided a very enjoyable visit full of interesting stuff. And gave me a couple of snippets of information I have not seen anywhere else.

One, was a panel dedicated to the Henley Mop. A mop turns out to be a hiring fair. Think of Gabriel Oak in Hardy’s ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’. His attempt to become an independent farmer destroyed when his sheepdog runs amok. The dog sends his sheep over a cliff to their doom. So he takes his shepherd’s crock to the hiring fair or Mop as they are known in the Midlands. There, potential employers can size up possible employees and strike mutually agreeable terms and conditions. And Gabriel becomes the shepherd for the delightful and wilful Bathsheba Everdene.

So, a shepherd would take his staff, or a loop of wool. A cleaner her mop (hence the name of the fair). A waggoner a piece of whipcord. A shearer their shears etc. Similarly, in the Woodlanders (by Thomas Hardy) the cider-maker, Giles Winterborne, brings an apple tree in a tub to Sherborne, to advertise his wares.

The retainers thus employed would be given an advance and would be engaged, normally, for the year. So there was quite a widespread moving around of working people to new jobs and often new housing. Not quite how we imagine the past?

The perceptive among you will have noted the bottom of the sign in Stratford which advertised the ‘Runaway Mop’. This was held later in the year, so that employers could replace those who ran away from their contracts. And those who ran away could find a better, kinder or more generous boss. See also my post of Gabriel Oak and Pack Rag Day which is another hiring fair which was help on Martinmas Old Style.

Henley Mop – panel from the heritage centre

Court Leets and Barons

Also of interest to me was the panel about Court Leets and Barons. These were the ancient courts which dealt with, respectively, crime and disorder, and property and neighbourhood disputes. Henley still has its ancient manorial systems in use, at least ceremonially. The Centre shows a video of the installation of a new Lord of the Manor at the Guildhall. The title had been purchased by a cigar-smoking Stetson-wearing large rich American.

Johnson’s Coaches

Another panel was the story of a Coaching Company. When I lead the Best of England programme we are driven around by Johnson’s Coach Company. It was a delight to discover that it has a history that can be traced back to 1909 in Henley. I conveyed this information to our group on the next day as we toured the Cotswolds. Curtis, our driver, was able to update the panel. He told us that the family were still involved with the firm, which is still operating from the area. He said the two brothers who run the company come in every working day. They do everything they require of their drivers to do; i.e. they drive coaches, clean coaches, sweep the floors and generally treat their staff like part of a big family. I should have asked him whether he got his job at the Mop, while holding a steering wheel in his hands!

Johnson’s Coach Company -Panel from Henley Heritage Centre

Note: It seems that Johnson has now merged with another company. But it keeps its depot in Henley and maintains its connection with the town.

First published in 2023 updated 2024, 2025