A gun-casting furnace at Scarlets,Cowden, Kent

Abstract

A timber-lined casting pit was installed between 1590 and 1664 at the blast furnace at Scarlets, Cowden, Kent. The methods of construction are similar to those used at Maynards Gate and Pippingford, Sussex. The adjacent floor is a feature paralleled at Pippingford and at Rockley, Yorkshire. The furnace has been thoroughly robbed of its stone, but its position and orientation can be satisfactorily established; evidence was found for refurbishing at the end of the 17th century, yet it seems likely that abandonment came before 1717.     

Excursion to Southchurch and Prittlewell

Abstract

In the late 15th century, a monumental brass was laid in the church at Etchingham (East Sussex) to the memory of two never-married women, Elizabeth Etchingham, who died in 1452, and Agnes Oxenbridge, who died in 1480. This article investigates the possible social meanings of their brass, with a particular eye to Alan Bray's recent interpretations of other funeral monuments dedicated to same-sex couples.     

The re-identification of great bustard (Otis tarda) from Fishbourne Roman Palace,Chichester, West Sussex,as common crane (Grus grus)

Abstract

This paper details the results of recent reanalysis of the animal remains from the 1960s excavations at Fishbourne Roman Palace, West Sussex. It argues that specimens originally identified as belonging to the great bustard are, in fact, misidentified remains of common crane. This discovery has important connotations. First, these findings need to be reported so that the avian archaeological record can be updated to avoid future syntheses of Romano-British faunal remains incorrectly including great bustard. Secondly, interpretations of the zooarchaeological remains at Fishbourne Palace will alter, due to the differing ecological histories of bustards and cranes.     

'I'd Heard it was Such a Grand Place': Mid-19th Century Internal Migration to London

Abstract

In the mid-19th century, the migration of people into London was at its height. Studies of gross and net migration patterns from other regions demonstrate the importance of London as a goal destination, but until now the underlying structure of migration movements was difficult to access due to the volume of material involved. This paper exploits the recent indexing of the currently available censuses to identify the individual migration behaviour of young men from Devon, Norfolk and Sussex to London. Findings relating to the size and locality of source places, occupational backgrounds, kinship and to residential and occupational choice upon reaching London are presented for each county. The importance of information as a spur to migration is underlined and differing responses in terms of occupation are attributed to distance depreciation of such information.     

Recent publications of interest

Abstract

The Education Department at English Heritage encouraged the effective school curriculum use of the historic environment, from castles to post-medieval landscapes, from prehistoric burial monuments to twentieth-century townscapes. This paper charts the programme of funding education staff and resources to assist teachers to help their pupils to access, discover, and carry out cross-curricular projects at some archaeological sites under investigation. Case studies include excavations at Battle Abbey, East Sussex, Heslerton, North Yorkshire, Boxgrove, West Sussex, Whitby Abbey, North Yorkshire, and Cawthorn Camps, North Yorkshire.     

Eric W. Pasold,O.B.E.

Abstract

This article examines the clothing of the rural poor in seventeenth-century Sussex, considering what men and women wore, what their clothing was made of and where they got it from, drawing on a broad range of documentary sources including legal depositions, probate material and overseers’ accounts. As would be expected, the clothing of this social group was primarily functional, reflecting limited budgets and arduous working lives. But we can see in the choice of fabric colour, trimmings and accessories that men and women were concerned about their appearance and could achieve a measure of social display, at least in their ‘holiday’ clothes. The ways in which the poor acquired their clothes were complex, involving them in overlapping spheres of production and distribution, which included home production and shop-bought ready-to-wear, all accommodated within a range of economic survival strategies.     

Acts of heritage,acts of value: memorialising at the Chattri Indian Memorial,UK

Abstract

The Chattri Indian Memorial is a public site that hosts and embodies heritage in complex ways. Standing on the edge of Brighton, UK in a once-remote part of the Sussex Downs, the Memorial was built in 1921 to honour Indian soldiers who fought on the Western Front during the First World War. As both a sacred place and a space of socio-cultural heritagization processes, the monument is an enduring testament of past values of war heroism, but also more ephemeral practices of ritual. The article documents the heritage-making at work within memorialisation at the Chattri as a case study, examining how differing ‘valuations’ of a memorial site can be enacted through time, between material form and immaterial practices, and across cultures. The article theorises participants’ current affective practices as conscious ‘past presencing’ , and analyses how their conscious acts of heritage-making affectively enacted values of morality, community and belonging.     

The Hayworth: A Lowland Vaccary Site in South-East England

REMAINS OF AN 11th–13th-century farmstead were revealed during excavations within part of ‘The Hayworth’, an early enclosure on the ‘lost’ manor of Trubwick, (West Sussex).²² This work was undertaken by Archaeology South-East (UCL Institute of Archaeology), on behalf of their client Crest Nicholson (South) Ltd, as a condition of planning in advance of a residential development linked to the new ‘Bolnore Village’ close to Haywards Heath, West Sussex.View all notesHistorical, landscape and toponymic evidence has been utilised to set the archaeological activity in context. It seems probable that the excavated site, and the Hayworth enclosure more broadly, relate to a specialised cattle rearing or vaccary farm. The site represents the most completely excavated vaccary complex yet known, and is the first recognisable example from the Wealden region in south-east England. The discovery has important implications for our current understanding of medieval Wealden economy and environment, as well as patterns of settlement evolution. Evidence suggests this site can be linked with the traditions of Anglo-Saxon outpasture and transhumance. This article explores the evidence from this site for the transition from a seasonal pasture to a permanent 12th-century manorial establishment held in severalty. The likely form of a vaccary complex is established and the potential for the existence of these specialised cattle ‘ranches’ and dairies is explored.     

Eavesdropper on the Past: John W. Burrow (1935–2009), Intellectual History and Its Future

Summary

Focused on the much-debated historiographical and academic status of intellectual history, this article addresses for the first time and in detail the methodological views of the British historian John Wyon Burrow (1935–2009). Making use both of his published works and of unpublished material left to the University of Sussex Library (including lectures, letters, academic projects and biographical sketches), its goal is to provide a thorough account of an original and eclectic intellectual historian and, at the same time, cast new light on the role of the discipline in the scholarly context of the last few decades in Europe and the US. More specifically, the following pages will illustrate Burrow's work and career, with particular attention being paid to his insistence on narrative, imagination, irony and style; present his writings as an original instance of the anti-methodological practice of intellectual history; and study his opinions of what it means to carry out the métier d'historien. Finally, by examining Burrow's idea of the intellectual historian as a creative ‘eavesdropper’ on the ‘conversations of the past’ and as a ‘translator’ of past dialogues, this article will both pose some central questions and advance some proposals concerning the future of intellectual history.     

REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN BLOOMERY SMELTING SLAG OF THE IRON AGE AND ROMANO‐BRITISH PERIODS*

This study highlights regional variation in the composition of iron‐smelting slag produced in England prior to the medieval period and attempts to link slag composition to the type of ore smelted. For many sites, the slag compositions were consistent with the use of limonite ore, but there is evidence that siderite ore was smelted at sites in Sussex in the late Iron Age/Romano‐British periods. A compositional comparison of smelting slags and slag inclusions in Iron Age currency bars, using data from Hedges and Salter (1979 ), illustrates the potential of smelting slag compositional data in provenance studies of early iron objects.     

Excavations at Pevensey,Sussex, 1962–6

The village of Pevensey in Sussex is the shrunken remnant of a medieval port of modest importance. Between 1962 and 1966 several sites on the fringe of the present built-up area were investigated and one was excavated in some detail.¹ At three points the original shore line was found, with traces of quays or retaining walls at two of them. The main site was adjacent to these and revealed a series of buildings from the 12th to 14th centuries. Another occupation-area south of the church was also explored. The pottery and other finds testify to cross-Channel and coastal trade.     

The Norman's Bay Shipwreck,East Sussex,UK: a possible 17th‐century Dutch ship from the Battle of Beachy Head

This report explores a hypothesis that the Norman's Bay shipwreck is the Wapen van Utrecht, a 64‐gun Dutch ship lost during the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690. The shipwreck, found off the Sussex coast, was designated by the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973) in 2006, when it was speculated that the wreck was the English 70‐gun ship Resolution, lost in the Great Storm of 1703. Dendrochronology dates the vessel after the middle of the 17th century AD, however, with timbers from Germany or the Low Countries. Initiatives by the Nautical Archaeology Society to bring the protected wreck to a wide public are also discussed.     

Giants in Pageants

After early employment with the archaeologist, General Pitt Rivers, Herbert Samuel Toms (1874–1940) was a curator in the Brighton Museum. Amassing a significant folklore archive, including specimens, photographs, and records of interviews from Sussex and adjoining counties, his particular interest was naturally perforated flints (witch stones or hagstones), used to protect households against witches, domestic animals from the ravages of the nightmare, and to cure a range of diseases. By the 1920s, they were regarded as little more than “lucky stones”, as were necklaces made up of the Cretaceous fossil sponge, Porosphaera.     

The Red Book of Appin: Medicine as Magic and Magic as Medicine

Folk Traditions and Folk Medicine in Scotland: The Writings of David Rorie. Edited by David Buchan. Edinburgh: Canongate Academic, 1994. 317pp. Hdbk. ISBN 1 898410 01 1. £20. Reviewed by Gillian Bennett.

Counsel from the Ancients: A Study of Badaga Proverbs, Prayers, Omens and Curses. By Paul Hockings. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1988. 796pp. ISBN 3 11 011374 0. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

Welshness Performed: Welsh Concepts of Person and Society. By Carol Trosset. Tucson and London: University of Arizona Press, 1993. 183pp. ISBN 0 8165 1378 3. Reviewed by Tecwyn Vaughan Jones.

The Arabian Nights: A Companion. By Robert Irwin. Allen Lane: Penguin Press, 1994. 344pp. ISBN 0 713 99105 4. £20.00. Reviewed by Gwendolyn Leick.

The Stonemans: An Appalachian Family and the Music that Shaped their Lives. By Ivan M. Tribe. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993. 361pp. Illus. ISBN 0 252 01978 4 (hdbk) / 0 252 06308 2 (pbk). Reviewed by Steve Roud.

Traveling the High Way Home: Ralph Stanley and the World of Traditional Bluegrass Music. By John Wright. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993. 273pp. Illus. ISBN 0 252 02024 3. Reviewed by Steve Roud.

Captain Jack Crawford: Buckskin Poet, Scout and Showman. By Darlis A. Miller. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993. 363pp. Illus. ISBN 0 98263 1449 X. Reviewed by Steve Roud.

Victorian Village Life. By Neil Philip. Oxfordshire: Albion Press, 1993. 160pp. Illus. ISBN 1 871927 05 6. £9.99. Reviewed by George Monger.

The English Rural Community: Image and Analysis. Edited by Brian Short. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 239pp. B/W illus. ISBN 0 521 40537 9 (hdbk) / 0 521 40567 X (pbk). Reviewed by George Monger.

Countrywomen on the Land: Memories of Rural Life in the 1920s and 30s. By G.K. Nelson. Stroud: Alan Sutton, 1992. 182pp. B/W illus. ISBN 0 7509 0181 0. £14.99. Reviewed by George Monger.

Chronicles of Alston. By Joan Rockwell. London: Janus Publishing, 1993. 189pp. ISBN 1 8576 024 8. £11.95. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

The Yorkshire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore. By Arnold Kellett Smith. Settle: Otley, 1994. ISBN 1 85825 016 1 (pbk) / 1 85625 017 X (hdbk). Reviewed by G.M. Awbery.

Maya Textiles of Guatemala. By Margot Blum Schevill. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993. 295pp. Colour and b/w illus. ISBN 0 292 75143 5. Reviewed by C. Stevens.

Superstitions: Folk Magic in Hull's Fishing Community. By Alec Gill. Beverley: Hutton Press, 1993. 174pp. Illus. Pbk. ISBN 1 872167 56 x. £7.50. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

Burmese Puppets. By Noel F. Singer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.126pp. 16 colour illus, 42 b/w illus. ISBN 0 19588589 9. Reviewed by George Monger.

The Maiden Who Rose from the Sea and other Finnish Folktales. Edited and translated by Helena Henderson. Enfield: Hisarlik Press, 1992. 192pp. ISBN 1 87431201 X. £14.95. Reviewed by Ruth Glass.

Folklore of Somerset. By Alan Holt. Stroud: Alan Sutton, 1992. 180pp. Illus. ISBN 0 7059 0221 3. £7.99. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

Hausa Folktales from the Niger. Translated and edited by Robert S. Glew and Chaibou Babalé. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1993. 136pp. ISBN 0 89680 176 4. Reviewed by Ruth Glass.

Arthur: Y Casgliad Arthuraidd—Catalog/The Arthurian Collection—A Catalogue. Gwasanaeth Llyfrgell a Gwybodaeth/Library and Information Service. Cyngor Sir Clwyd/Clwyd County Council, 1994. 190pp. ISBN 1859910025. £15.95. Reviewed by Juliette Wood.

Medieval Balladry and the Courtly Tradition: Literature of Revolt and Assimilation. By Gwendolyn A. Morgan. American University Studies Series 4, Vol. 160. New York: Peter Lang, 1993. 148pp. Reviewed by Kaye McAlpine.

Treasures of the National Library of Ireland. Edited by Noel Kissane. Published by the Boyne Valley Honey Company, 1994. 242pp. ISBN 0 951782 34 7 (pbk)/ 0 951782 35 5 (hdbk). £9.95 (pbk), £25.00 (hdbk). Irish edition Seoda i Leabharlann Náisiúnta nah Éireann. Pbk £9.95. Reviewed by John Hutchings.

Legends Told in Canada. Edited by Edith Fowke. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1994. 96pp. Illus. Hdbk. ISBN 0 88854 410 3. C$19.95. Reviewed by Jill Clayton.

Folk Law: Essays in the Theory and Practice of Lex non Scripta . Edited by Alison Dundes Renteln and Alan Dundes. New York: Garland, 1994. 1037pp. 2 vols. Hdbk. ISBN 0 8153 1314 4. US$150. Reviewed by Jill Clayton.

The Horsieman: Memories of a Traveller 1928–58. By Duncan Williamson. Edinburgh: Canongate, 1994. 276pp. ISBN 0 86241 444 X. £13.99. Reviewed by Ruth Glass.

Fireside Tales of the Traveller Children. By Duncan Williamson. Edinburgh: Canongate Press, 1993. Pbk. ISBN 0 86241 4 57 1. £3.50. Reviewed by Ruth Glass.

The Broonie, Silkies and Fairies. By Duncan Williamson. Edinburgh: Canongate Press, 1993. Pbk. ISBN 0 86241 456 3. £3.50. Reviewed by Ruth Glass.

The Well at the World's End: Folk Tales of Scotland. By Norah and William Montgomerie. Edinburgh: Canongate Press, 1993. Pbk. ISBN 0 86241 462 8. £3.50. Reviewed by Ruth Glass.

The Rebirth of Witchcraft. By Doreen Valiente. London: Robert Hale, 1989. 236pp. Illus. ISBN 0790-3715-5. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present. By Doreen Valiente. London: Robert Hale, 1994. 377pp. Illus. Pbk. ISBN 0790 5350 9. £7.99. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

The Rise and Fall of Merry England: The Ritual Year 1400–1700. By Ronald Hutton. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. 366pp. Appendix. Notes. Index. Hdbk. ISBN 0 19 820363 2. £17.95. Reviewed by Gillian Bennett.

The Things That Were Said Of Them: Shaman Stories and Oral Histories of the Tikigaq People. By Tom Lowenstein. Told by Asatchaq. Translated by Tukummiq and Tom Lowenstein. The University of California Press, 1992. 262pp. 5 photographs and 2 maps. ISBN 0-520-06569-7. Reviewed by Ruth Glass.

Dragons, Devils and Demons (Traditional Sussex Tales II). Edited by Tony Wales. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

Cassettes obtainable from Elixis Enterprises, Glistar Studios, PO Box 110, Horsham, W. Sussex RH12 1ZS. £5.95 ea/£10.95 pair (plus 95p postage). Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.     

Observations on the Progress of the Art of Sculpture in England,in Medieval Times,and Notices of Some Artists,by Whom it was Practised

Although the town defences (particularly the gates) of Rye and Winchelsea (East Sussex) are well known, the evidence for other fortifications there has been neglected. In the thirteenth century, it appears that the Crown planned to build castles at both places; the resulting towers are analysed in detail.     

J.W. Burrow: A personal history

The late John Burrow, one of the most stimulating promoters of the distinctively interdisciplinary enterprise that is Intellectual History, was a vital member of what has become known as the ‘Sussex School’. In exploring the resonances of his singular and richly idiosyncratic contribution, this article places his unique historical sensibility within a series of interpretative contexts, demonstrating the vitality of writings that will continue to inspire and inform scholarship in the field for decades to come.     

Fallow deer (Dama dama dama) management in Roman South-East Britain

This paper presents new carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope data for European fallow deer (Dama dama dama) in Roman Britain and discusses results in light of evidence from classical texts, landscape archaeology, zooarchaeology and the limited available samples of metric data. The new isotope data presented here are from Fishbourne Roman Palace (Sussex), two sites on the Isle of Thanet (Kent) and a further two sites in London. In spite of small sample sizes the data make an important contribution to the very limited corpus of scientific research on the species and provide new resolution to the nature of fallow deer movement and management in Roman Britain.     

The Claudian Invasion Campaign Reconsidered

This paper attempts to build on Hind's hypothesis (1989) that the Roman invasion of AD 43 took place in Sussex, by examining the implications for the conquest campaign. It is suggested that the usual tactics of the Roman army and the size of the invading army are not consistent with the standard invasion campaign theory, in particular the events leading up to the so-called battle of the Medway. Other aspects of the evidence available to us are also inconsistent with the standard theory but can be explained in terms of a Sussex landing. The result is to offer further support for Hind's hypothesis.     

‘The Outhwaite controversy’: a micro-history of the Edwardian land campaign

The concept of micro-history has not yet been well explored within historical geography. This paper employs the idea but with a more overtly spatial emphasis, by relating the national discourse surrounding the land question in Edwardian Britain to one of its local manifestations. In particular, we consider the attacks made by the radical ‘single-taxer’ Liberal MP R.L. Outhwaite upon the Duke of Norfolk and his estate at Arundel, Sussex. Outhwaite levelled charges of feudal land monopoly leading to poor housing and rural depopulation on the Duke's Sussex estate, and contrasted this with the wealth being transferred from the Duke's extensive properties in Sheffield to reconstruct the castle at Arundel. The Duke and his agent, Mostyn, responded fiercely to the allegations. This local struggle for political power and capital is set against the wider situation during the tense years leading up to the Great War. The intersection between the two scales of enquiry demonstrates how the national level of political debate became more complex and fractured at the local level, how actors at the local level were also moving on wider stages, and the interconnecting processes. Further questions about the utility of micro-history are raised as a result.     

Probable Fibres from Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in Bronze Age Scotland

Abstract

Diameter measurements of bast fibres from cloth and string with a hoard of bronze age metalwork found in St Andrews, were different from those of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) but comparable with those of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) leading to the suggestion that hemp was used as a textile fibre in Britain much earlier than has been thought.