The Lost Folk

 

I picked up this book from the library shelf a couple of weeks ago. It came out last year and was sort of on the radar, but I didn't know anything about it. The mantle of folk in all its forms is seeing a resurgence of interest and it's being picked up by the younger generations which has to be a good thing. As you would expect, they are overlaying their own interpretations and bringing it into a more inclusive form which reflects our modern day society. There's some exciting stuff going on out there and it's certainly inspired me and Mythago to step out of our comfort zones and go off at different tangents. As it turns out I found this title to be inspiring as it looks both back to what we've lost, but also forwards to what we are gaining. Lally MacBeth's interpretation of what constitutes folk is quite far reaching and it transpires that many of the things I've been photographing for last 13 years come under her folk umbrella. So in the spirit of being a collector of random folk images here's my selection from my travels on foot or within Sussex from the past few days. Post box topper, a handmade trellis with an added house and the fabulous details from this Tudorbethan pub down in Brighton.

 

 

 

I think that there's a fighting chance that a copy of this might join my collection once the pre-loved copies start appearing.

Arilx

Farewell February

 This miniscule anenome type bloom is the female flower of the hazel. The tree's distinctive yellow lambs tail catkins are to be seen from late winter.and are one of the early signs that seasonal.change is on the horizon. I had the pleasure of having a go at hazel coppicing this week for the first time. The stools at the local nature reserve have been neglected for many years, but they are being brought back so that they can be cropped again. We collected several branches for stakes and binders which we will use next month to create another 30m of living hedge to extend what is already there on the site. Dormice eat hazel nuts and last year the volunteers ran a survey to see if there were any on the reserve. As many will be aware this species is in sharp decline and all the dormice boxes were empty so it didn't look promising. Tubes with ink at the bottom were placed at various points and the results are now in. Lots of dormice pawprints have been recorded. Let's finish February on a high!

Arilx

'Tis not the season

The next target in the great top to toe sort out here at GBT is the loft. Doing well so far and have found a few corkers that I'd completely forgotten about. One thing that I did come across was a bag of home made Halloween decorations that I'd done when YTM was a very small person. Somehow they'd got missed in the last cull when I had rehomed all of the bought decs. Whilst it might have been the wrong time of year, I steamed ahead and offered them on a free site unapologetically acknowledging my imperfect timing....they were snapped up. Unfortunately I was not the only one that day operating unseasonably.....

David just shrugged his shoulders as I bounded in with my new treasure...it even has a battery operated candle in it. Am now avoiding all the local free sites (until the next time and there will doubtless be a next time) as they and I are a lethal combination👻

I remain, as ever, unrepentant.

Arilx

On the Thames Foreshore

 It's no secret that your geeky friend thoroughly enjoys watching a few mudlarkers' films on Youtube. In a stressful world I find such content very relaxing and it broadens my historical knowledge. However, I had no idea until a chance conversation last year that a friend of mine shares my taste....who better to go with than her then when I found out about the 'Secrets of the Thames' exhibition in London.

The original mudlarkers were the very poorest who scavenged down by the river to find anything that they could see whether that be old bits of rope, metal or coal. Nowadays it's a hobby, but there are rules that you have to follow in the city. Any Thames mudlark has to have their own permit issued by the Port of London Authority and they're not all the same. Some people are allowed to dig deeper etc. Many common finds are things such as broken clay pipes, buttons, pins, vulcanite stoppers, animal bones and old cutlery, but every period in time is there to find and you never know what the tide will bring in. The more special finds must be logged with the Portable Antiquities Scheme by the London mudlarks, but many of them get them back once they've been recorded.

It turns out that people have been dropping things in the river or on the foreshore for a very long time and there were finds on display stretching back to the Neolithic and right up to the 21st century when medals stolen from the tennis doubles player, Peter Fleming, were discovered. Here's a few of my favourites

This first one is a bone memento mori bead from the 1400s and shows a young woman on one side and a skull on the other. It was constantly rotating so I had to take these whilst it was moving all the time!

An 18th century set of dentures available to only those who had the means of paying for them. In case you're wondering yes those are real human teeth you're looking at so I dread to think where they sourced them from. Sometimes those in dire straits would have had their teeth removed for payment, but often they came from the dead. There are tales of teeth being removed from those who had fallen on the battle fields.

This one is a curious tale of thousands of pieces of type face. The Doves Press was formed of a partnership between two friends T J Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker. It operated in Hammersmith and was named after a local pub. As part of their work they designed a unique typeface called the Doves Type, but unfortunately all did not go well and the pair acrimoniously split in 1909. Rather than let Walker make money from the typeface upon Cobden- Smith's death the latter took it upon himself to make 170 separate trips to the river into which he threw every single piece. They really had fallen out hadn't they!

Below is one of the Viking finds which has come to light. This knife is known as a seax and we know it belonged to Osmond because he had his name on it.

Two of the most famous finds from the 19th century are the so called Waterloo helmet [Iron Age] and the Battersea Shield [also Iron Age] which many will have seen in their usual home over in the British Museum

17th century pewter toys. They were on a similar scale to the lead soldiers and toys children had in more recent centuries. I like the lady's rather fierce expression. She's not to be messed with.

This one is an amazing survival. It's the leather cover from a 15th century prayer book and an illustration of how it would have looked when it was new.

We had a chance to chat to one of the archaeologists who had a selection of Thames finds that we were allowed to handle. At one point he asked us to see if we could put a range of pottery shards in the correct date order. I was quite chuffed to get them all correct [obviously some information from my viewing of the Youtube offerings has gone in] bar one when I identified a Medieval roof tile as being Roman. The giveaway detail was that the hole in it was square to allow for a metal square headed nail apparently. I shall make sure that I don't get caught out again😉

Having learnt that the Thames foreshore is a designated archaeological site and the river has been sanctified as a holy river since the 1970s we felt it would have been rude not to have paid a visit to the foreshore itself. We found our way down some steps near Tower Bridge and went for a little explore of our own. That is allowed and no we didn't pocket any finds.

꩜Aril꩜

Boxing clever

Today's content was supposed to be about my most recent trip, but I am up to my old tricks again and fancied showing you this box of cat litter instead which arrived last week. The wording made me chuckle....life is full of little surprises....

꩜Aril꩜

 

Everything stops for tea.

I can vouch for the fact that a dreich February afternoon is much improved by afternoon tea with an unexpected cat thrown in for good measure. This particular feline rather sniffily accepted a stroke, but he wasn't moving for any annoying biped. I can't say I blame him because he'd nabbed himself the perfect warm spot in the hotel foyer. Us guests just perched on the sofa in the remaining space.....cats are supremely confident beings who always get the upper paw.

It was a lovely way to spend time indoors. As ever, our eyes were bigger than our tummies so I did that most unbritish of things and asked if we could take the rest of the cakes home with us so that they wouldn't be wasted. TYM had bought his Dad the afternoon tea voucher for his birthday last summer. David had saved it so that we could have a treat in the quieter months of the year. Perfect.

Arilx

The Kiss

 As usual we are ignoring all the Valentine's hullabaloo, but here's something vaguely romantic for y'all. The Kiss by Alex Davies💋😘😽. 

That said it was a good excuse to buy some choccie biccies to scoff😀

꩜Aril꩜