Hands On History
Yesterday I visited Southsea Castle. They were having a couple of Mary Rose related days complete with artefacts brought up from the ship (thirty-five years ago) or copies thereof, which you could actually handle. Also available were people in pseudo-early-Tudor costume to tell you about things. Plus, of course, various others similarly dressed giving instruction in archery and how to fight with (wooden) swords.
I remember them finding, excavating then raising the Mary Rose and all the surrounding hooha. We went across to the Island (Isle of Wight) early October when the specially made floating crane was in place to raise the ship. The ferry captain steered close so we could get a good look.
The following week I was watching the televising of the actual raising, the meanwhile hoping that baby S would remain asleep a little longer. He was just four weeks old at the time!
Yesterday was a lovely day, sunny with just enough breeze. I found the artefacts very interesting - from a small iron shot (aka, incorrectly, cannon ball), to a pepper (corn) holder and grinder via a pulley block, a piece of rope/cable and various wooden and pewter plates, spoons, tankards etc. The officers had the pewter plates and spoons, the 'men' the wooden ware. Tudor society was very class divided.
Mind you, the men's wooden plates and bowls were appreciably bigger than the officers' pewter plates, so perhaps they got more to eat. They'd have needed it with all the hard physical work they'd be doing. Also, pewter is an alloy traditionally composed of 85-99% tin, mixed with copper, anitmony and bismuth and lead. As you know, Dear Reader, lead is toxic. Pity the poor officers!
Although the entire ship's company would have had slow lead poisoning. During excavation a large cauldron was found in which the daily food was cooked. That was made entirely of lead!
Brick oven and cauldron from the Mary Rose's galley.
Oh the life of a Tudor sailor - all the diseases, infections to injuries (medicine and even the human body being very poorly understood) and on top of all that, daily doses of lead with your food! It's no wonder they rarely made old bones.
I did consider looking round the rest of Southsea Castle but there were a lot of steps involved and I don't do steps at all well. Up is usually ok, but down is harder. Also the thought of refreshments beckoned. So I had a pot of peppermint tea and a large slice of carrot cake (I'll be living on four Syns per day the next two days!)
I shared a table with a couple from Ireland (Republic of) who, as he was very interested in history, were trying to investigate 'Wessex 900-1200' (sounds like a topic for questions on Mastermind!) They weren't having that much joy, apparently. I wasn't that surprised, 900-1000AD is Saxons and Vikings in this area and most of their artefacts were wood/leather/cloth and thus perishable. Apparently even their pottery wasn't that marvellous.
Yes, occasionally you find gold or silver, but that's only very occasionally and doesn't tell you that much about the ordinary people. Of course, the Normans are better recorded, the winners always are, and the powerful ones made sure they built in stone. I expect they were also responsible for ensuring even less Saxon stuff remained too.
So we talked about the period, about which he was pretty knowledgeable, and where they might be likely to find more stuff - they were headed for Winchester, which was once the capital of ancient Wessex. I suggested they head further west too.
Then a quick look around the shop, where I found the motto 'Today I will be happier than a seagull with a stolen chip' and a pencil sharpener. I know I have at least one somewhere, but, as is always the way, I can't find it.
And that was my afternoon out. Hope your Tuesday was a good one.
Y'all have a good Wednesday too!
I remember them finding, excavating then raising the Mary Rose and all the surrounding hooha. We went across to the Island (Isle of Wight) early October when the specially made floating crane was in place to raise the ship. The ferry captain steered close so we could get a good look.
The following week I was watching the televising of the actual raising, the meanwhile hoping that baby S would remain asleep a little longer. He was just four weeks old at the time!
Yesterday was a lovely day, sunny with just enough breeze. I found the artefacts very interesting - from a small iron shot (aka, incorrectly, cannon ball), to a pepper (corn) holder and grinder via a pulley block, a piece of rope/cable and various wooden and pewter plates, spoons, tankards etc. The officers had the pewter plates and spoons, the 'men' the wooden ware. Tudor society was very class divided.
Mind you, the men's wooden plates and bowls were appreciably bigger than the officers' pewter plates, so perhaps they got more to eat. They'd have needed it with all the hard physical work they'd be doing. Also, pewter is an alloy traditionally composed of 85-99% tin, mixed with copper, anitmony and bismuth and lead. As you know, Dear Reader, lead is toxic. Pity the poor officers!
Although the entire ship's company would have had slow lead poisoning. During excavation a large cauldron was found in which the daily food was cooked. That was made entirely of lead!
Brick oven and cauldron from the Mary Rose's galley.
Oh the life of a Tudor sailor - all the diseases, infections to injuries (medicine and even the human body being very poorly understood) and on top of all that, daily doses of lead with your food! It's no wonder they rarely made old bones.
I did consider looking round the rest of Southsea Castle but there were a lot of steps involved and I don't do steps at all well. Up is usually ok, but down is harder. Also the thought of refreshments beckoned. So I had a pot of peppermint tea and a large slice of carrot cake (I'll be living on four Syns per day the next two days!)
I shared a table with a couple from Ireland (Republic of) who, as he was very interested in history, were trying to investigate 'Wessex 900-1200' (sounds like a topic for questions on Mastermind!) They weren't having that much joy, apparently. I wasn't that surprised, 900-1000AD is Saxons and Vikings in this area and most of their artefacts were wood/leather/cloth and thus perishable. Apparently even their pottery wasn't that marvellous.
Yes, occasionally you find gold or silver, but that's only very occasionally and doesn't tell you that much about the ordinary people. Of course, the Normans are better recorded, the winners always are, and the powerful ones made sure they built in stone. I expect they were also responsible for ensuring even less Saxon stuff remained too.
So we talked about the period, about which he was pretty knowledgeable, and where they might be likely to find more stuff - they were headed for Winchester, which was once the capital of ancient Wessex. I suggested they head further west too.
Then a quick look around the shop, where I found the motto 'Today I will be happier than a seagull with a stolen chip' and a pencil sharpener. I know I have at least one somewhere, but, as is always the way, I can't find it.
And that was my afternoon out. Hope your Tuesday was a good one.
Y'all have a good Wednesday too!