Portrait of Saint Guénolé (St Winnold) after a bust in silver on a reliquary from the Church Saint-Guénolé in Locquénolé.Public Domain Abgrall Jean-Marie (1846-1926) – Bibliothèque nationale de France
Here is a weather poem in which St Winnold appears
First comes David, then comes Chad. And comes Winnold, roaring like mad. White or black. Or old house thack.
St David’s Day was March 1st. St Chad, the 2nd. St Winnold’s Day is the third of March. Winnold is his English name, and Winneral, or Winwaloe or Guénolé his Celtic names.
The poem suggests that snow, rain or wind is going to come on these three days. When the wind roars, it will threaten the thatch of houses. If the storms do not come in the first 3 days, then they will come on the last three days of March, which were called ‘the Borrowing Days’. Or so it is said.
St Winnold was around 50 years (460 – 3 March 532) after the end of Roman Britain. His family was from Cornwall. He was the son of a Prince Fragan of Dumnonia, and St Gwen the Three-Breasted, His mother’s Feast day is October 3rd. She is a Saint of fertility, because of God’s Gift of an extra breast. They moved to Brittany to escape a British Plague. Their son grew up to be holy and was the founder and first abbot of Landévennec Abbey (the Monastery of Winwaloe). It is south of Brest.
Winwaloe became what is known as a ‘phallic saint’ because he was associated with fertility. Wikipedia says this came about because of confusion about the origin of his name:
‘his name was thought to derive from gignere (French engendrer, “to beget”)’
St Winnold’s Breton name is Guénolé. How this etymology works is not clear to me! But surely, he as likely to have got a reputation for helping people with fertility problems from his mother? Supplicants would make a wax phallus to persuade the Saint to help them conceive. There are several churches/ chapels dedicated to him in Wales, and a Priory in East Anglia.
Today is the Feast day of two significant Saints, St. Walpurga and St. Ethelbert.
St. Walpurga
St. Walpurga was a nun at Wimborne in Dorset. She, and her brothers St Willibald and St Winebald, accompanied their uncle, St Boniface of Crediton (in Devon) on his mission to convert the Germans to Christianity. They all became leading figures in the new German Church. Willibald set up the Monastery at Heidenheim, which was a duel monastery housing both Monks and Nuns. His sister, St Walpurga, became Abbess of the Monastery in 761. She died on 25 February 777 or 779 (the records are unclear),
In 870, St. Walpurga remains were ‘translated’ to Eichstätt, which St Willibald had set up as the Diocesan centre of this part of Bavaria. The date of the transfer was the night of April 30th/May 1st. This was her feast day. But the Church moved it to February 25th, to commemorate her death. However, May Eve is now ‘notorious’ as Walpurgis Night. This is the night of May Eve when witches are abroad up to all sorts of mischief, May Day being one of the main pagan festival days. Her body was placed in a rock-cut niche and her bones started exuding an oil called Walpurgis Oil which was said to have medical properties. She was also involved in a miracle of a boat saved in a storm-tossed sea.
For these reasons, Walpurgis is the Saint for battling pests, rabies, whooping cough, storms and sailors. She is also associated with witchcraft but not because of any actual association with it. Her remains were moved again in 1035 when she was enshrined at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Walburga which was named after her.
Walpurgis Nacht
Terrible things happen on Walpurgis Night in Dracula by Bram Stoker. So, the night has now become a trope for Heavy Metal Bands, doyens of horror stories and the Satanic. For more on this read my piece on Walpurgis Nacht.
Coincidently, I was reading about the fuss made about a Heavy Metal Band, called a Plague of Angels, playing in the glorious York Minster. A member of the band tried to calm down the controversy, saying people should just chill out. But other group members used to be in a band called ‘The Cradle of Filth’. Among their claims for Heavy Metal Fame is that they wore the most controversial t-shirt in heavy metal history. This has a visual of a nun in a compromising position and a slogan saying ‘Jesus is a ……..’ (add your favourite swear word here). All very silly. But it struck a cord with me, as I have a scene in my novel (unpublished) which is based on extreme forms of Heavy Metal Bands. I thought I might have gone over the top, but this story reassures me that extreme Metal can be extremely offensive!
Ethelbert is responsible for welcoming the Augustinian Mission to the Angles sent by the Pope, St Gregory. This re-established Christianity in Eastern Britain, and set up the Anglican Church or the Church of England as it became known.
1308 – Edward II crowned King of England. His reign ended disastrously, with his Queen having an affair with Lord Mortimer and Edward losing control of the country (and Scotland). He was forced to abdicate, and died/was murdered/killed with red-hot pokers/or escaped to live a life as a hermit on the continent. Choose your favourite or read my History of the Kings and Queens of Britain.
1507 – Queen Elizabeth I excommunicated by Pope Pius and declared usurper of the throne, leading to the Spanish Armada and various plots against her life. (my post on Queen Elizabeth’s nicknames is here)
1836 – The Colt Revolver awarded a United States patent. Previously, he had obtained a UK Patent. It created the classic ‘Western’ Revolver’, much later called the Colt 45. It was a revolving-breech loading, folding trigger hand gun.
1939 – The first Anderson shelter built in a garden in Islington, London. They were named after the Home Secretary, and were dug in a trench with soil piled over the corrugated iron domed roof. Inside were bunks for the occupants to sleep in. They were 6 ft high, 4.5 ft wide, and 6.5 ft long. 2.5 million were built. The next shelter was the Morrison Shelter named after Herbert Morrison, who succeeded Anderson as Home Secretary. The Morrison Shelter was like a massive table that would protect the shelterers if the house collapsed above it. It allowed the family to sleep inside. London also had public shelters made of brick in many streets, or used cellars and brick arches as shelters. A small proportion of the population preferred to sleep in the Underground. Many stayed in their beds, unless planes were directly overhead. Photos from ‘The British People at War’ published during the war.
Anderson ShelterMorrison ShelterConcrete Public Shelter in London Museum Docklands (Photo C. Mossie)
1956 – Nikita Khrushchev denounces Stalin.
First Written February 2024, revised February 2025. On This Day added in 2026
A man born in Pisces shall be a great goer, a fornicator, a mocker and covetous: he will say one thing and do another. He shall trust is his sapience, he shall have good fortune: He will be a defender of widows and orphans. He shall be fearful on water: he shall soon pass all adversities and live 72 years after nature.
The woman shall be delicious, familiar in jests, pleasant of courage, fervent, a great drinker. She shall have sickness of her eyes and be sorrowful by shame, needlessly. Her husband will leave her and she shall have much trouble with strangers. She shall travel much, have pain in his stomach and live seventy-seven years.
Both man and woman shall live faithfully.
Kalendar of Shepherds, 1604 (from the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly)
What surprises me about the fortune-telling above is that it has to be nearly always wrong as the predictions are way too specific. The art of the fortune-telling is about being vague, with subtle predictions that can be interpreted in different ways.
Here is Old Moore’s Prediction for Pisceans this week:
‘Innovation and originality flow freely as your unique perspective solves problems that stump others. Social consciousness drives you toward meaningful causes or community involvement. While your independent streak is strong, collaboration with like-minded individuals amplifies your impact. An unexpected insight arrives through friendship.‘
Now, the Old Moore’s 2023 Almanac had a page on Liz Truss of all people, written before she became Prime Minister. It is clear they thought she had a real chance of being PM. They say she has ‘an almost steely determination and plenty of apparent ambition. …. She has every astrological requirement necessary to keep her nose clean and at this moment in time is certainly among the main contenders.‘. So yes, they are right about her being among the main contenders, but absolutely no hint of the epic disaster that her PMship was.
London Stone as a Palladium
Old Engraving of London Stone, Cannon Street
On February 18th, I revised a post about Ravens, King Bran’s Head and other Palladiums that protected Britain (or London) from invasion. If you missed it, look here. A possible palladium I missed out is London Stone. To remind you, a palladium is something that stops your country or City being harmed or invaded.
London Stone is an eponymous stone found in Cannon Street, in the heart of the City of London, It is first mentioned in the 12th Century, and no one knows why it was famous. In 1862, an ‘ancient proverb’ surfaced:
“So long as the Stone of Brutus is safe, so long shall London flourish”
It was made anonymously in the journal Notes and Queries. In Welsh, it was “Tra maen Prydain, Tra lled Llyndain’. This verse, if genuine, would link the Stone to Brutus of Troy, the legendary founder of London. To be precise: by genuine, I don’t mean it would prove the stone was linked to King Brutus, or that Brutus was a real person. I mean, if genuine, it would prove that in the medieval period the stone was linked to Brutus.
However, the writer has been identified as Richard Williams Morgan, who was a passionate Welsh Nationalist and prolific author. He was, also, not very scrupulous with his analysis of sources. As no earlier source can be found, it is thought Morgan made it up.
He lived in London in the 1850s and was very struck by the London Stone. Archaeologists prefer the idea that London Stone is, likely, a milestone from which the Romans measured distance. For Shakespeare, it was the stone on which rebel Jack Cade claimed lordship of London. For the romantic, it was a coronation stone; a stone of power; the sword in the stone, stone; or an ancient megalith. The truth is, we have no idea. But it has been called the London Stone since the 12th Century. Why was it so named, and what was it ‘for’ or symbolic of?
Pic by Graham Hussey pic shows the LONDON STONE which is in Canon Street, London .pic taken inside the Tech Sports shop
Morgan came to the conclusion it was the stone plinth on which the original Trojan palladium had stood. This was a wooden statue of Pallas Athene, that protected Troy from invasion. It was stolen by Odysseus and Diomedes shortly before the successful Trojan Horse plot. It was then taken to Italy.
Morgan’s idea was that King Brutus brought it from Rome when he sailed into Exile in Britain. Brutus, was a descendant of Aeneas. Aeneas was the only Trojan leader to escape from the destruction of Troy. He found his way to Rome, after leaving Dido in Carthage. He was the ancestor of Romulus who founded Rome, and the ancestor of King Brutus.
According to legend, Brutus gathered all the Trojan slaves and exiles in the Mediterranean. He then sailed to found a new Troy in our green and pleasant lands. His new capital he called Troia Nova (New Troy), which became Trinovantum, then Lud’s Dun, and finally London. Or so the Myths say.
Morgan’s theory held that the Stone was used as the altar stone of the Temple of Diana. Folklorist contend that the temple was originally on the site of St Pauls Cathedral. Morgan (in the 19th Century) was the first person to link London Stone with Brutus, or so people thought and still think (see Wikipedia). That was until 2018.
London Stone as recently rehoused.(Photo K Flude)
John Clark
John Clark, Emeritus Curator at the Museum of London, found a reference to a narrative poem of the 14th Century. This links London Stone to Brutus and to the future prosperity of London. Just as Morgan did. So, it makes it possible, at least, that Morgan did not just make the connection but drew on a medieval ‘tradition.’
Brutus set up London Stone And these words he said anon: ‘If each king that comes after me Makes this city wide and roomy As I have in my day, Still hereafter men may say That Troy was never so fair a city As this city shall be.’
From Burnley & Wiggins 2003b, lines 457–64(John Clark’s modern English version)
Recent archaeological discoveries reveal that London was the site of Late Neolithic feasting on a possibly large scale (discussed here:). This increases the possibility that the London stone is a ‘ritual’ stone from prehistory. But, of course, there is still no evidence that London Stone is prehistoric, and even less that Brutus actually existed.
On This Day
1472 – Orkney and Shetland are given to Scotland by Norway in lieu of dowry for Margaret of Denmark.
1933 – Adolf Hitler meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party’s election campaign. Democracy is doomed.
Written in 2023 and revised in February 2024 and 2025 Pisces and London Stone joined into one page 2026
The Independent January 2021 The Raven the Palladium of Britain
The Raven – the Palladium of Britain
Corvus corax is hatching. An early nesting bird, the Raven is the biggest of the Corvids. They were pushed to the west and north by farmers and game keepers but are making a comeback. Ravens are finding towns convenient for their scavenging habits. So they, again, cover most of the UK except the eastern areas. The Raven is one of the Palladiums of Britain.
A Palladium is something that keeps a city or country safe, They are named after a wooden statue of Pallas Athene, which protected Troy. Perceiving this, Odysseus and Diomedes stole the Palladium from Troy shortly before the Trojan Horse episode. Troy fell and the palladium went to Italy (I’m guessing with Diomedes who is said to have founded several cities in Italy). It ended up in Rome.
The Romans claimed to be descendants of Trojan exiles led by Aeneas. So it was back with its rightful owners. It protected Rome until it was transferred to the new Roman capital at Constantinople. It then disappeared, presumably allowing the Ottoman Turks to conquer the City of Caesar? To read of London Stone as a Palladium see my post here.
The Ravens habits (it is said they know where the battlefields are before they are fought) and their black plumage have made them harbingers of death. In poetry, Ravens glut on blood like the warriors whose emblem they are. Here is a very famous quotation from Y Gododdin, a medieval poem but thought to derive from a poem by the great poet Aneirin from the 7th Century.
‘He glutted black ravens on the rampart of the stronghold, though he was no Arthur.’
This is one of the much argued-about references to King Arthur in the ‘Was he a real person’ trope. The point being, it doesn’t make sense to mention Arthur if King Arthur wasn’t a real person. The story at the Tower of London is that the Ravens kept in the Tower, with clipped wings, keep Britain safe from Invasion. (But see below).
Bran’s Head – the original Palladium of Britain?
By Sonny Mauricio from Unsplash
The Raven was also the symbol of the God-King Bran. Bran was one of the legendary Kings of Britain. His sister, Branwen, was married to the King of Ireland. To cut a long story short, Branwen was exiled by her Irish husband to the scullery. She trained a starling to smuggle a message to her brother, to tell of her abuse.
So Bran took an army over the Irish Sea to restore her to her rightful state. But the ships were becalmed. Mighty Bran blew the boats across the sea – he was that much a hero. Bran was mortality wounded in the fighting that followed. This was a problem because he had previously given away his cauldron of immortality. He gave it to the Irish King in recompense for the insults given to the Irish by Bran’s brother, who hated anyone not British.
Bran’s Head Returns to London
So, the dying Bran, told his companions to cut off his own head and take it back to the White Hill in London. His head was as good a companion on the way back as it was on the way out, and the journey home took 90 years.
At last, they got to London, where Bran told his men to bury his head on the White Hill. As long as it stays here, he said, Britain would be safe from foreign invasion. The White Hill is said to be Tower Hill with its summit at Trinity Gardens, although Primrose Hill is sometimes offered as an alternative.
This was one of the Three Fortunate Concealments and is found in ‘the Triads of the Island of Britain.’ The Triads are from medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of folklore, mythology and history. They are grouped in groups of three.
Arthur and Bran’s Head
But many years later, King Arthur saw no need for anybody or anything other than himself to protect the realm. So he had the head dug up. Calamity followed in the shapes of Sir Lancelot and Mordred which led to the end of the golden age of Camelot and conquest of Britain by the Saxons. This was one of the Three Unfortunate Disclosures.
If we want a rational explanation for the story, there is evidence that Celtic cultures venerated the skull, and palladiums play a part in Celtic Tales.
So what was Arthur doing destroying the palladium that kept Britain safe? Vanity is the answer the story gives. But, perhaps, it’s a memory of Christian rites taking over from pagan rituals? God, Arthur might have thought, would prefer to protect his people himself rather than Christians having to rely on a pagan cult object.
Ravens in the Tower of London
The story of Bran’s head is inevitably linked to the Ravens in the Tower who, it is still said, keep us safe from invasion. As you can see from the photo at the top we still get in a tizz when one goes missing.
Sadly, and I am probably sadder about this than most, the link between the Tower, Bran, and the Ravens cannot be substantiated. Geoffrey Parnell, who is a friend of mine, told me that while working at the Tower of London he searched the records assiduously for the story of the ravens. He found no evidence of the Raven myth & the Tower before the 19th Century, and concluded that it was most likely a Victorian invention. IanVisits has a 2025 story about the Ravens, and also concurs that the Ravens are a recent myth.
The Welsh Triads give a total of two palladiums for Britain, a couple of nationalistic fighting dragons.
The Head of Bran the Blessed, son of Llyr, which was concealed in the White Hill in London, with its face towards France. And as long as it was in the position in which it was put there, no Saxon Oppression would ever come to this Island; The second Fortunate Concealment: the Dragons in Dinas Emrys, which llud son of Beli concealed; And the third: the Bones of Gwerthefyr the Blessed, in the Chief Ports of this Island. And as long as they remained in that concealment, no Saxon Oppression would ever come to this Island.
All good but then came:
The Three Unfortunate Disclosures:
And there were the Three Unfortunate Disclosures when these were disclosed. And Gwrtheyrn the Thin disclosed the bones of Gwerthefyr the Blessed for the love of a woman: that was Ronnwen the pagan woman; And it was he who disclosed the Dragons; And Arthur disclosed the head of Bran the Blessed from the White Hill, because it did not seem right to him that this Island should be defended by the strength of anyone, but by his own.
Gwrtheyrn is Vortigen, the leader of the Britons after the fall of the Roman Empire in Britain, one or two leaders before Arthur. Vortigern, which means something like strong leader in Welsh was a real person in so far as he, unlike Arthur, is mentioned by Gildas a near contemporary source.
The story of the dragons is supposedly from the pre-Roman Iron Age. Every May Day, the Dragons made a terrible noise, causing miscarriages and other misfortunes. So, King Ludd, whom legends says gave his name to London (Ludd’s Dun or Ludd’s walled City), drugged the dragons. He had them buried in a cavern at Dinas Emrys in Eryri (Snowdonia). The Red Dragon represented the Britons (also called the Welsh) and White Dragons the Saxons.
Vortigern, Merlin and Vortimer
Hundreds of years later, (five hundred?) after the Romans had come and gone. Vortigern was trying to build a castle in Eryri at Dinas Emrys. But the walls keep falling down. ‘You need the blood of a boy born not of man’, his necromancers say. They find a boy called Ambrosius aka Merlin whose mother had lain with an incubus. Merlin accused the necromancers of ignorance and explains the wall collapse is caused by two dragons. They find the cavern and let the dragons go. The walls now stand undisturbed. But the Welsh Red Dragon and the Saxon White Dragon can not now be at peace, and the Britons are defeated by the Saxons.
Vortigern betrayed his own people for the lust of Rowena the daughter of Hengist, the Saxon. Hengist was given the province of Kent as his reward, and thus began the Anglo-Saxon take over.
Vortigern’s son is Gwerthefyr (or Vortimer). He was a better man than his dad and fought to keep the Saxons out. After Vortimer’s death his bones were buried at the chief ports on the South Coast. Here they acted as a palladian and they kept the country safe. But they were moved to Billingsgate, in London and put in a Tower. The loss of the palladium allowed the Saxons to land safely on the Kent coast and consolidate their increasing hold over Britain and turning it into England.
Birds in Love
Here is a lovely little medieval poem. It was found in 1931 in the end leaf of a manuscript where someone had been testing their goose quill and scribbled these three lines:
Why it is so wet in the UK at the moment (February 18th)? The answer seems to be that there is a block of cold weather over the States that is moving the Jet Stream south, bringing lots of wet weather. But there is also another block of cold weather over Scandinavia. This means that the low pressures being driven by the Jet Stream, have no where to go and are stopping and dumping their rain all over the UK.
3102 BC – the death of Krishna starts Kali Yuga, the fourth and final yuga of Hinduism.
1478 – George, Duke of Clarence, traitor to his Brother, Edward IV, was executed in private at the Tower of London. It is said he was drowned in a vat of Malmsey Wine.
1678 – First Part of Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan published.
1991 – The IRA plant bombs at Paddington station and Victoria station in London. The IRA gave warnings, and the Victoria bomb went off at 4.20am and caused no casualties. At or just before 7am, the IRA warned that all London Stations were to be bombed in 45 minutes time. The Authorities were slow to clear the stations and at Paddington a bomb went off at 7:40am. 1 person was killed and 38 people were injured. 11 days earlier, the IRA attacked Downing St with a mortar bomb attack.
Written on February 21 revised in February 18th 23, 24, 25, Birds in Love, Wet Weather and On This Day added in 2026
Gemini should be almost overhead in the Northern Hemisphere, and can be picked out by its two brightest starts, Castor and Pollux. The constellation can be seen from September to May. But between September to November it is only visible in the morning before sunrise. It is best viewed from January to March. For evening viewing it is possible from December to May In February it should best visible at 9.00pm.
The Divine Twins, the Dioscuri, were horsemen, patrons of calvary, athletes, and sailors. Pollux is the son of Zeus and Leda (raped by Zeus in the guise of a swan). His twin brother has a different and mortal father, the King of Sparta and the same mother, Leda. So they are examples of heteropaternal superfecundation.
One is therefore immortal and the other isn’t. They had many adventures including sailing with Jason as Argonauts.
According to some versions of the story, Castor was mortally wounded, and Zeus gave his twin brother the option of letting Castor die while Pollux spends eternity on Mount Olympus. Or sharing his immortality with his brother. He agreed to the latter, and the twins spend half their year as the Constellation of Gemini and the rest, immortal, on Mount Olympus. Thus, they are the epitome of brotherly love.
Their sisters were, no less than Helen of Troy, and Clytemnestra. But more about them in read my post on the brothers and sisters here.
Diagram of H. A. Rey‘s alternative way to connect the stars of the constellation Gemini. Twins are shown holding hands. Wikipedia AugPi CC BY-SA 3.0
Yesterday’s Subscribers Email
For some obscure reason, the email excluding a couple of paragraphs which were in the online version.
This is what you missed:
Magic and Toothache
John Aubrey, an erudite and educated 17th Century writer, reports on the use of Magick for tooth care. When he relates these unlikely cures he often provides information that the person who told him the story is worthy of belief. So he seems to give some credence to the efficacy of these magical ‘cures’. But, judge for yourself; this is what he wrote:
To Cure the Tooth-ach.
Take a new Nail, and make the Gum bleed with it, and then drive it into an Oak. This did Cure William Neal, Sir William Neal’s Son, a very stout Gentleman, when he was almost Mad with the Pain, and had a mind to have Pistoll’d himself.
To Cure the Tooth-ach, out of Mr. Ashmole’s Manuscript Writ with his own Hand.
Mars, hur, abursa, aburse. Iesu Christ for Marys sake, Take away this Tooth-ach.
Write the words, Three times; and as you say the Words, let the Party burn one Paper, then another, and then the last.
He says, he saw it experimented, and the Party immediately Cured
On February 3rd, 2026 the National Trust announced that it had received £330,000 in 60 days to purchase land around the infamous Cerne Abbot Giant. This was on top of £2m in grants previously received. This means they can buy the ‘138‑hectare (340‑acre) site – equivalent to 190 football pitches – surrounding the famous Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset.’ (National Trusts Press Release).
The giant is one of the icons of Hardy’s Dorchester. It is ‘drawn’ or sculpted by cutting the turf to reveal the white chalk below. Chalk Cut figures appear particularly in the South West. The Vale of the White Horse chalk cut figures has been dated to the Late Bronze Age. Most people thought the Cerne Abbas Giant was in the Romano-Celtic tradition so was either pre-Roman, or perhaps Hercules and, therefore, Roman. The name of the village and Abbey are named after the Celtic Horned God Cernunnos. For more about him read my Almanac of the Past Page here.
Some dissenters believed the lack of references to the Giant showed that it could not have been cut until the 17th Century. Some even thought it might be a ‘cartoon’ of Oliver Cromwell! They could not believe that the Monks of Cerne Abbey would allow a giant erect phallus to overlook their holy site for all those centuries.
How we laughed!
Dating the Cerne Abbas Giant
But the National Trust embarked on a project to get the Giant properly dated. They used Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating, which had also been used on the White Horse. But the results which came back were shocking. It appears to have been cut in the Late Saxon period.
I do admit to a certain amount of scepticism. The art style is similar to British Art of the Iron Age, part of the Celtic Art tradition. Also, how reliable is OSL dating? The process depends on taking soil samples from the soil nearest the chalk, and OSL measures the time since the soil was last exposed to light. It’s a relatively new technology, although based on Thermoluminescence dating of pottery, which has been around since the 1970s. So,, if they are analysing soil that does not represent the first cutting of the figure then the dating would be wrong.
However, there was also some corroboration in the form of snails which were not indigenous to the UK? So a date of 700-1100AD is suggested. And I have nothing other than a gut reaction to the date they propose. Maybe I’m just disappointed by a Saxon date as I have no way of understanding the context?
Homer and the Cerne Abbas Giant, Image from Facebook of unknown origin.
The first Coach Trip I ever led was in the 1980s. An American College Professor asked my friend and I to lead a tour of Arthur’s Britain and Hardy’s Wessex. The group included his wife and about 10 students. We drove a mini bus around and stayed in Bed and Breakfast in places like Avebury and Cerne Abbas.
Following the Tour, the professor wrote to tell us that he had been successful in one of his, unstated, aims for the tour. He revealed that this was to get his wife pregnant. He was a bit of a romantic and thought it would be fun to try for the baby while staying in such mystical places. Apparently, they had heeded our tales of the fertility rites that used to take place on and around the Giant, and had gone out for a moonlight walk, and ‘rested’ on one of the Giant’s testicles.
Lost Books from the Ancient World
burnt scrolls from Heraculeum
Last year, one of the most exciting discoveries was made. This was the news that burnt scrolls from Herculaneum have been digitally unrolled. Then ‘read’ using AI. The scroll was in the library of Julius Caeser’s father in law it is thought. There are over 1,000 carbonised scrolls found in 1750 in the Villa of the Papyri. And this one reveals details of Plato’s last hours. But more than that, the technology opens the possibility of other lost books being discovered. Of the ‘known unknowns’ I would like to see are the lost history books of Tacitus. But perhaps the ‘unknown unknowns’ are even more exciting. What might we find out?
Here is an excellent introduction to the discoveries:
1306 – This is the day that Robert the Bruce killed his rival for the Crown of Scotland. He murdered John ‘Red’ Comyn, In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries. Somehow he got away with this most impious act, to confirm Scotland’s independence from England.
1567 – the first Gunpowder plot saw the Kirk o’ Field house in Canongate, Edinburgh, blown up. Outside the house was found the corpse of Lord Darnley. But he was strangled not burnt. He was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. Darnley was thought to be responsible for the brutal murder of the Queen’s Private Secretary, David Rizzio. He was Italian and was often in close proximity to Mary. Darnley didn’t like the rumours of an illicit affair. So recruited a gang of Scottish Noblemen. On 9 March 1566They went up the stairs of Holy Rood Palace where they tore Rizzio from the protection of the Queen. They stabbed him 57 times in front of her and her ladies in waiting. (Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times).
Darnley’s murder it was thought was the Queen’s way of getting rid of a, frankly, stupid, and nasty husband. Albeit, very good-looking and charming. Her third husband, Earl Bothwell, is frequently blamed, and whether she was part of it we don’t know.
Saint Apollonia. Woodcut. Saint of Toothache Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. She is shown with forceps, extracted tooth and the martyr’s palm.
The 9th of February is the Feast of St Apollonia. She was martyred at Alexandria in 249 AD during the persecution of Emperor Decius. (see also my post on St Agatha) She was attacked during an anti-Christian riot and struck around the face knocking her teeth out. Then, she was taken to a bonfire and told they would throw her in if she did not renounce her faith. So, without waiting, she spoke a prayer and walked into the fire. This information is recorded in a near-contemporary letter from St Dionysius of Alexandria. This is rare well documented martyrdom. Because her teeth were knocked out she is, therefore, Saint of Toothache.
Suicide or Martyrdom?
St Augustine of Hippo touches on this spat of martyrs, often young women, killing themselves rather than losing their virginity, or like St Apollonia embracing death in the face of violent persecution. His answer is that like Samson, they are commanded by God to take their own lives, which is ok. Elsewhere, he condemns suicide as it is against the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’. He explains that God did not add ‘thy neighbour’ to it so it also forbids killing oneself. By contrast, it was added to ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour’. The rest of St Augustine’s argument comes from Plato’s Phaedo. The introduction to the book on the Project Gutenberg web site sums up the arguments:
According to one explanation, because man is a prisoner, who must not open the door of his prison and run away—this is the truth in a ‘mystery.’ Or (2) rather, because he is not his own property, but a possession of the gods, and has no right to make away with that which does not belong to him.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Phaedo, by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett
Cloves for Toothache
I can remember my Grandmother prescribing cloves for me when I had toothache. And this was, and is, a common remedy. In my case, we would keep a clove or two in the mouth close to the site of the pain. According to Natural Ways to Sooth an Toothache cloves contain
‘Eugenol, a natural form of anaesthetic and antiseptic that helps get rid of germs. Eugenol is still used in dental materials today’
Dr John Hall, Shakespeare’s son-in-law, tended to use a pill to soothe sore gums. He also used an oil from a wood called ‘Ol. Lig. Heraclei’ which may be oil from the Bay Tree. (‘John Hall and his Patients’ by Joan Lane). Most of his tooth cases seem to be sore gums. This suggests to me Dr John Hall did not generally do dental work.
Death by Toothache
To get a tooth drawn you could go to a Barber Surgeon, a Blacksmiths or specialist Tooth Drawer. It would be terrifyingly painful. Probably only done when the pain was unbearable. Just think what a premium you would pay for a really competent drawer? The drawers would not have any formal training, but the skills would be passed on by the drawer to his apprentice or assistant. ‘Teeth’ was a common cause of death – most likely from infection or an abscess.
List of causes of death, London during the plague of 1665. Teeth killed 11 people
Magic and Toothache
John Aubrey, an erudite and educated 17th Century writer, reports on the use of Magick for tooth care. When he relates these unlikely cures he often provides information that the person who told him the story is worthy of belief. So he seems to give some credence to the efficacy of these magical ‘cures’. But, judge for yourself; this is what he wrote:
To Cure the Tooth-ach.
Take a new Nail, and make the Gum bleed with it, and then drive it into an Oak. This did Cure William Neal, Sir William Neal’s Son, a very stout Gentleman, when he was almost Mad with the Pain, and had a mind to have Pistoll’d himself.
To Cure the Tooth-ach, out of Mr. Ashmole’s Manuscript Writ with his own Hand.
Mars, hur, abursa, aburse. Iesu Christ for Marys sake, Take away this Tooth-ach.
Write the words, Three times; and as you say the Words, let the Party burn one Paper, then another, and then the last.
He says, he saw it experimented, and the Party immediately Cured
May, Williams and Bishop at the Old Bailey accused of murder in pursuit of bodysnatching
Teeth and the Body-Snatchers
In 1832, in London Bishop, Williams, and May were accused of body snatching. After killing the Italian Boy (wonderful book by Sarah Wise ‘The Italian Boy‘) they jemmied out his teeth. Then, took the teeth to a South London Dentist. with whom they bargained for a good price. (They used the term ‘cheapened’ – I cheap, you cheap, we are cheapening: meaning to barter). The dentist wanted to use the dead boy’s teeth for false teeth for his patients. If memory serves, he paid £1 for them.
The teeth were used as evidence in the trial of the murderers. When the trial was over and the accused punished, the dentist asked for the teeth back! Two of the murderers were hanged but the third freed for turning King’s Evidence. Thereafter, the teeth were released back to the Dentist. He promptly put them in the window of his surgery as an advert for his professional skills!
Earlier, one of the Borough Boys Resurrectionist gang (based in Southwark, London) toured the battlefields of the Peninsular Wars collecting teeth. He made a substantial sum selling them to dentists as false teeth. They became known as Waterloo Teeth.
When I first wrote this in I added ‘How things have changed!’ But in recent years there have been reports of people undertaking their own dental work, if they cannot get access to an NHS dentist. Effectively, it seems that the Conservative Government was allowing dentistry to slip out of the NHS just like it did with eye health. For a study in what has happened to Dentistry in the UK in recent years, please look at this report here.
On This Day
1907 – the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS or Suffragists) organised the so-called the Mud March. This was the ‘first large procession’ in support of votes for women. It was called the Mud March because of the downpour of rain on the day.
1916 – Conscription started in World War 1 with the call-up of unmarried men aged between 18 – 41.
1933 – The Oxford Union passed the resolution ‘the House will in no circumstances fight for King and Country.’
Bird of the Month The Blackbird. The common Blackbird is a true Thrush. The male is black with a yellow beak and the female is dark brown with a yellow beak. The Blackbird begins to sing as early as January, and is one of the birds who sing first early in the morning. British Blackbirds do not migrate, but Northern European Blackbirds often migrate to the UK in the winter for warmer weather. Viruses have put the species under some threat and they need help to get through the winter. ArkWildlife suggests this is what you should feed blackbirds:
‘Mealworms A top choice, mimicking their natural insect diet.
Is an 18th Century nursery rhyme which refers to the medieval habit of baking a pie crust, and putting it over a bowlful of live birds. When it was opened all the birds, well sing the song to remind yourself what they do?
Sing a song of sixpence A pocket full of rye Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie When the pie was opened The birds began to sing Wasn’t that a dainty dish To set before the king?
The king was in his counting house Counting out his money The queen was in the parlor Eating bread and honey The maid was in the garden Hanging out the clothes When down came a blackbird And pecked off her nose
Sing a song of sixpence A pocket full of rye Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie When the pie was opened The birds began to sing Wasn’t that a dainty dish To set before the king?
A stinging Cure for Lust
Another story told of the Blackbird is a similar tale I have told before about holymen and temptation. So St Benedict was pecked on the cheek by a Blackbird. Next day he finds himself assailed with lust. It was the Devil disguised as the Blackbird he decides that infected the Monk. Then Benedict did what a number of saints did in similar circumstances. He threw himself, naked, in a patch of nettles and brambles and rolled around, until his body was sore afflicted. But he had overcome his lust.
Then St Kevin held out his hand and a blackbird laid her eggs in it. So he stayed still for the two weeks it took the fledglings to hatch! (for more on St Kevin see my post here)
Icy Sedgwick has an excellent website on the folklore of Birds, containing a nice podcast, which for those who love a north-east accent will enjoy.
The Celtic Year showing Imbolc, the new Irish Bank Holiday
I just came across this which I published last in 2023. I should have republished it last weekend. But here it is. The Irish created a brand new Bank Holiday for St Bridget. The first one was Monday 6th February 2023. It followed a public holiday given in 2022 for Health Workers in March. The timing of the Bank Holiday is explained by the Irish Post:
St Brigid’s Day itself falls on February 1 each year but going forward the Imbolc/St Brigid’s Day public holiday will fall on the first Monday in February, unless February 1st falls on a Friday.
This means that Ireland now has a public holiday on the 4 Celtic festivals of Samain (Halloween), Imbolc (St Bridget’s Day), Beltane (May Day) and Lughnasa (Lammas Day). These festivals are quarter-days, which mean they fall halfway between the Solstices and Equinoxes.
The Independent wrote that ‘then-Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar, said‘ ….“This will be the first Irish public holiday named after a woman.” He also is quoted as saying:
“It marks the half-way point between the winter solstice and the equinox, the beginning of spring and the Celtic New Year.”
Extra Bank Holidays in the UK?
There are occasional calls for a new Bank Holiday in the UK. It’s often a Conservative MP calling for a National Day for the British. More often than not they suggest Trafalgar Day 21st October would be a suitable date. This commemorates the great Naval battle in 1805 in which Nelson was fatally wounded. It has several virtues in their eyes. Firstly, it is a day that confirmed Britain’s mastery of the Seas , an ideal day for celebrating patriotism. Secondly, it is the school half-term, and gives a much-needed day off between summer and Christmas. Thirdly, they can propose the day should be taken from the May Day Bank holiday. This coincides with the International Worker’s Day, which is obviously ‘a bad thing’.
Here is an example: the MP for Portsmouth MP’s supported a call for Trafalgar Day here: . The report says: ‘there are currently no bank holidays in the UK which celebrate battles or war victories’. (Portsmouth News 2016).
This, I think, leaves the rest of us thinking: ‘What planet do these people live on?’ Yes, Trafalgar Day would have been a great day for a Bank Holiday, if this were 1839. Maybe even 1939. But now Trafalgar is just not on any ordinary person’s radar. We don’t think so very much about the Napoleonic War or Nelson. Nor do we often sing ‘Heart of Oaks, are our Men’ any more. In short, it is a reminder how distant from the rest of us some MPs are. By contrast, how progressive Ireland seems.
Productivity
The Trade Union Congress proposed the need for more bank holidays. We only have the usual eight annual bank holidays for workers in England and Wales. Scotland has nine or ten; the average for the EU is ‘12.3 bank holidays a year. Finland and Romania get 15, while workers in Japan have 16 public holidays in total’.
A radio programme ‘The Bottom Line’ compared productivity in Britain and France. It revealed that Britain is now 20% less productive than France, (10% worse since Brexit). And how do we make up that productivity deficit? Yes, indeed, by working longer hours for lower wages. It appears that the French high tax, high workers’ protection regime, means they have to find ways of getting more out of their workers in their working hours. While we can just hire and fire, and are happy to make people work in a more inefficient way. Strange isn’t we are told that the French economy is a victim of socialism. Turns out Socialism is more productive.
February From the Illustrated London Almanac 0f 1873 for Candalmas
Candlemas is an important festival of the Church, celebrated throughout the Christian world. It is the day Jesus was presented to the Temple as a young boy and prophesied to be ‘a light to lighten the Gentiles’. The day is therefore celebrated by lighting candles. Hence its name.
It is also called the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is 40 days after the birth of Jesus which was fixed as the 25th December by Pope Liberius by AD 354. So it is the end of the postpartum period ‘as the mother’s body, including hormone levels and uterus size, returns to a non-pregnant state’. Mary went to the Temple to be ritually cleansed. This later became known as ‘churching’.
Candlemas a Cross Quarter Day.
It is also one of the cross quarter days of the Celtic tradition, that is halfway between Winter Solstice and May Day. The candles also suggest a light festival marking the lengthening days. It is probably another of those festivals where the Christian Church has taken on aspects of the pagan rituals, so Brigantia’s (celebrated at Imbolc on February 1st) role in fertility is aligned with the Virgin Mary’s.
Weather Lore for Candlemas
Folklore prophecies for today: ‘If it is cold and icy, the worst of the winter is over, if it is clear and fine, the worst of the winter is to come.’ Looking overhead I can see a little blue sky but I can’t say it is ‘clear and fine’. But it is certainly not ‘cold and icy’. So, for what it is worth, we are in for some cold weather.
Candlemas – the Last day of medieval Christmas and the Lords of Misrule.
It’s also the official end of all things Christmas. For most of us Christmas decorations were supposed to be pulled down on January 5th, but, the Church itself puts an end to Christmas officially at Candlemas so Cribs and Nativity tableaux need to be removed today.
John Stow, in the 16th Century describes the period between Halloween and Candlemas as the time when London was ruled by various Lords of Misrule and Boy Bishops (see my post here). In the piece below, Stow also talks about a terrible storm that took place in February 1444.
Against the feast of Christmas every man’s house, as also the parish churches, were decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green. The conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished; amongst the which I read, in the year 1444, that by tempest of thunder and lightning, on the 1st of February, at night, Powle’s steeple was fired, but with great labour quenched; and towards the morning of Candlemas day, at the Leaden hall in Cornhill, a standard of tree being set up in midst of the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of holm and ivy, for disport of Christmas to the people, was torn up, and cast down by the malignant spirit (as was thought), and the stones of the pavement all about were cast in the streets, and into divers houses, so that the people were sore aghast of the great tempests.’
Robert Herrick has a 17th Century poem about Candlemas:
Ceremony Upon Candlemas Eve
Down with the rosemary, and so Down with the bays and misletoe; Down with the holly, ivy, all Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas hall; That so the superstitious find No one least branch there left behind; For look, how many leaves there be Neglected there, maids, trust to me, So many goblins you shall see.
1602 – Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare performed for the first time.
Middle Temple Hall. Photo K Flude.
This play was commissioned by the Lawyers of Middle Temple, in Fleet Street London for the end of the Christmas Season. It was written by Shakespeare and first performed in Middle Temple Hall which is still standing. For the folklore of Twelfth Night see my post here.
1880 – First shipment of frozen meat arrives in London from Australia. It was in excellent condition despite a leaving Melbourne in Dec 1879. Hay’s Gallerie in London was one of the world’s first warehouses with refrigeration.
1943 – German Army surrenders ending the Battle of Stalingrad, marking the beginning of the end of the WW2.
Today is Groundhog Day in the USA. This is when the groundhog comes out to see what the weather is like. If it is dull and wet he stays up because winter will be soon over, if it is sunny and bright he goes back to his burrow to hibernate for another 6 weeks. Originally, a German custom associated with the badger. A groundhog is a woodchuck which is a marmot. Does this workas a forecast method? Not being in America I don’t know but what I do know is:
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck If a woodchuck could chuck wood? As much wood as a woodchuck could chuck, If a woodchuck could chuck wood.
Snowdrops in late January 2024, Gilbert White’s House Selborne (Photo Kevin Flude)
Imbolc and St Bridget’s Day
Today is Imbolc, one of the four Celtic Fire Festivals. It corresponds with St Bridget’s Day, which is a Christian festival for the Irish Saint, and is the eve of Candlemas. Bridget is the patron saint of all things to do with brides, marriage, fertility, and midwifery (amongst many other things, see below). And in Ireland, 2026 was the third St Bridget’s/ Imbolc Day Bank Holiday.
St Briget or St Bride’s Statue, St Bride’s Church. Fleet Street from K.Flude’s virtual tour on Imbolc
St Bridget, aka Briddy or Bride, converted the Irish to Christianity along with St Patrick in the 5th Century AD. Despite being a Christian, she appears to have taken on the attributes of a Celtic fertility Goddess. Her name was Brigantia, and it is difficult to disentangle the real person from the myth.
Brigantia
Archaeologists have found various Roman altars dedicated to Brigantia. The Brigantes tribe in the North are named after the Goddess (probably). They were on the front line against the invading Romans in the 1st Century AD, and led by Queen Cartimandua. The Queen tried to keep her tribe’s independence by cooperating with the Romans. A few years later, Boudica took the opposite strategy. But both women had executive power as leaders of their tribes. This suggests a very different attitude to woman to the misogyny of the Romans.
Altar to Brigantia from K Flude’s virtual tour on Imbolc
Wells dedicated to St Bridget
St Bridget’s Well, Glastonbury
St Bride is honoured by many wells dedicated to her. Often they are associated with rituals and dances concerned with fertility and healthy babies. And perhaps, the most famous, was near Fleet Street. This was Bridewell, which became the name of Henry VIII’s Palace, and later converted into an infamous prison. St Bride’s Church, built near to the Well, has long been a candidate as an early Christian Church. Sadly, the post World War Two excavations found nothing to suggest an early Church. But, they did find an early well near the site of the later altar of the Church, and remains of a Roman building, possibly a mausoleum. Perhaps the Church may have been built on the site of an ancient, arguably holy, well. However, this is only a guess.
Steeple of St Brides Fleet Street, photo K Flude
The steeple of St Brides is the origin of the tiered Wedding Cake, which, in 1812, inspired a local baker to bake for his daughter’s wedding.
February signs of life
Imbolc and St Bridget’s Day are the time to celebrate the return of fertility to the earth as spring approaches. In my garden and my local park, the first snowdrops are out. Below the bare earth, there is a frenzy of bulbs and seeds budding, and beginning to poke their shoots up above the earth, ready for the Spring. In the meadows, ewes are lactating, and the first lambs are being born.
Violets, bulbs, and my first Daffodil of the year. Hackney (2022), London by K Flude
And let’s end with the Saint Brigid Hearth Keeper PrayerCourtesy of SaintBrigids.org
Brigid of the Mantle, encompass us, Lady of the Lambs, protect us, Keeper of the Hearth, kindle us. Beneath your mantle, gather us, And restore us to memory. Mothers of our mother, Foremothers strong. Guide our hands in yours, Remind us how to kindle the hearth. To keep it bright, to preserve the flame. Your hands upon ours, Our hands within yours, To kindle the light, Both day and night. The Mantle of Brigid about us, The Memory of Brigid within us, The Protection of Brigid keeping us From harm, from ignorance, from heartlessness. This day and night, From dawn till dark, From dark till dawn.
I give walks about Imbolc and other Celtic festivals, and at May Eve, the Solstices, Equinoxes, Halloween and Christmas (when I have time). You might like to attend these walks or virtual tours. The following are currently in my calendar. I will be adding other walks to the calendar as the year progresses.
The Spring Equinox London Virtual Tour 7.30pm Fri 20th March26 To book
The London Equinox and Solstice Walk 2:30pm Sat 21st March26 To book
Today is the Anniversary of the day Britain left the European Union in 2020. It is possible to argue the case that one of the reasons so many people were willing to vote to leave the Union was English or British Exceptionalism. I think most people would be thinking of Winston Churchill and World War 2, and the British Empire. But you can argue a case that there has long been important distinctions between Britain and Europe.
I find it amusing that we left Europe at 11pm on January 31st 2020, which was midnight in the European Union. See the BBC round up on Britain and Europe.
This Island Story
When I was at school, there was a lot of emphasis on Great Britain being an Island. This is rarely emphasised in the 21st Century. But it was part of the Imperial story of the British Empire and helped distance ourselves from ‘the Continent’.
That Island story didn’t begin until the Mesolithic period. Before that, Britain was physically part of Europe, and the Thames was but a tributary of the Rhine. Then the land bridge that is now called Doggerland was swept away by rising meltwater. By 8,000 years BP. Britain was an Island.
Around 4000BC, the so-called Neolithic Revolution spread farming throughout Europe. But, the Channel acted as a barrier. So, it took an extra hundred years or so for farming to begin to penetrate Britain. The early farmers brought with them not only the domestic animals, crops, pottery and ground axes but also a new form of housing consisting of long, rectangular wooden houses. The DNA of the people of Britain, was radically changed and the so-called Western Neolithic DNA mostly took over. Strangely, the long house did not survive very long as a popular design. Britain while accepting the new farming technology, seem to have reverted to their own form of housing
Post Roman divergence?
While most major style and technology changes over the next 4 millenia were shared with Europe, Britain often had its own versions. Britain shared with Europe the adoption of the Celtic Languages and eventual integration into the Roman Empire. But, when the western part of the Roman Empire fell in the 5th Century, Britain had a different experience to much of Europe. On the face of it, a similar sequence happened. The Western Empire was taken over by Germanic Kings. The Franks in France and Germany; the Anglo Saxons in England; the Lombards in Italy and Goths, Visigoths, Vandals in Spain (and N. Africa). A similar sequence on the surface.
But on the mainland the German Kings allowed the local cultures to continue and adopted the Latin language, and Christian religion as their own. They maintained a strong tradition of Roman law and culture. French, Italian, Spanish, Rumanian are all romance languages based on Latin.
But across the Channel to England, it was different. Our German Kings didn’t adopt the Latin language and the native Celtic dialects died out (except of course in Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Ireland ), They also maintained their pagan beliefs. So English culture is Germanic and not Roman. We do not have a foundation in Latin culture and Roman law. This is very different to western Europe.
Napoleon founder of modern Western Europe
Of course the Anglo-Saxons eventually soon adopted Christianity. In the 16th Century Britain turned against the universal Catholic Church. This was a rupture that had a similar impact to Brexit. But the next really significant difference was the changes instituted by Napoleon. He subdued then rationalised and liberalised the continent. He had dreams of a United Europe of Nations (in contrast to the Empires that held sway (such as the Holy Roman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empirehttps://www.napoleon-series.org/research/napoleon/c_unification).
Most legal systems in Europe are based on Roman Law as amended by the Napoleonic code. England by contrast is based on the Common Law.
So these differences combined with our arrogance derived from Empire, the Industrial Revolution and belief we won World War 2. And our cultural pride based on our perception of the preeminence of people such as Shakespeare, Newton and Darwin etc etc). All this probably lay behind ‘British Exceptionalism’. This helped a nationalistic and misguided belief that we are held back by Europe despite all the evidence to the contrary.
And the future?
Opinion polls make it clear that most people think Brexit was a mistake, and they blame it on the Conservatives, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. Economists are clear the damage it has done to Britain’s financial position. And yet the main parties have been very reluctant to consider a return to Europe. Instead, Sunak and Starmer have tried to sort problems out on a case by case basis, without suggesting we go back into the European Union.
However, there is a dawning awareness that Europe cannot depend upon the US playing its usual leading role in maintaining the international status quo, and this may accelerate our move back towards Europe. Canadian Prime Minster Carney is proposed the formation of an alternative economic alliance to replace dependence on the US, and this may be our route back into the European Single Market.
Advice for Lambs
From ‘ FIUE HUNDRED POINTES OF GOOD HUSBANDRIE. BY THOMAS TUSSER.
The Edition of 1580 collated with those of 1573 and 1577.
¶Januaries husbandrie.
Yoong broome or good pasture thy ewes doo require,warme barth and in safetie their lambes doo desire.Looke often well to them, for foxes and dogs,for pits and for brembles, for vermin and hogs.
More daintie the lambe, the more woorth to be sold, the sooner the better for eaw that is old. But if ye doo minde to haue milke of the dame, till Maie doo not seuer the lambe fro the same.
Ewes yeerly by twinning rich maisters doo make, the lamb of such twinners for breeders go take. For twinlings be twiggers, encrease for to bring, though som for their twiggingPeccantem may sing.
Note ewes who had twin lambs were thought to be better and fetched more at market. They were called twinlings.
On This Day
1606 – Guy Fawkes and fellow conspirators are hanged, drawn and quartered for plotting to blow up Parliament and King James. See my post on the Gunpowder Plot.
1865 – Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery.
1953 – The North Sea Flood assail the east coast of Britain killing 280 people. ‘The combination of wind, high tide, and low pressure caused the sea to flood land up to 5.6 metres (18 ft 4 in) above mean sea level.’ (Wikipedia).
Map illustrating the extent of the Great Flood of 1953 in the United Kingdom Deutsch: Sturmflut von 1953 Date 25 September 2008 Source: Draco. GNU Free Documentation License
You might like to see some great pictures of the floods here.
First Published 2025, revised and OnThis Day added 2026
