9th April 2025

 I started with Bowles wallflower, something I always believed was cultivated by the Reverend Bowles of Bremhill (near Calne) and then went through the rabbit hole as names from that part of my life trickled through.  It started with the plaque the Reverend had written (he was a poet, but mocked unkindly by the great names of the time, including Byron) his short verse on Maud Heath's Causeway outside Chippenham, a pathway constructed high above the muddy path as you made your way to Chippenham Market.

Then the mention of Langley Burrell a village further down the road. Here my then husband had excavated a medieval kiln, I remember I found a medieval jug, almost intact and having to extract it very carefully from the soil.  Around the kiln was a cobbled surface and I used to dream of the traffic of horses and people.  At this stage I wasn't married to Dr. R. Wilcox - yes that was the name that popped up as I went through the Google tunnel.  

He wasn't very good at writing reports so I cannot find one on that excavation but I note that another quickfire excavation we did was at The Golddiggers Club in Chippenham (it must have been in the carpark), though the land is now being built over for elderly homes.  Here we had uncovered large post holes.  Hopefully it was to be a Saxon Hall, where King Alfred The Great had fled from Chippenham down into the marshes of Somerset to burn the cakes.

"Alfred blockaded the Viking ships in Devon, and with a relief fleet having been scattered by a storm, the Danes were forced to submit. The Danes withdrew to Mercia. In January 878, the Danes made a sudden attack on Chippenham, a royal stronghold in which Alfred had been staying over Christmas "and most of the people they killed, except the King Alfred, and he with a little band made his way by wood and swamp, and after Easter he made a fort at Athelney in the marshes of Somerset, and from that fort kept fighting against the foe".

Wessex illustration

I had excavated one of the holes on a hot Saturday afternoon and was disappointed only to find a piece of pottery at the bottom.  But of course large post holes could mean a Saxon Hall and I notice that another excavation has been undertaken to find further evidence, 30 large post holes must surely point to Saxon. And the story of Alfred the Great must be true because it can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle!

  After this at Easter, Alfred with a small band,

 raised a fortress at Athelney, and from it warred on the host,

with the men from that part of Somerset which was nearest to it.

Then in the seventh week after Easter,

He rode to Egbryht's stone on the east of Selwood

And there came to meet him all the men of Somerset

And the men of Wiltshire, and the men of that part of Hampshire

which was on this side of the sea; and they rejoiced on seeing him

And on the following day he went from that camp to Iley.

and one night after that to Ethandune

And there he fought against all the host and put it to flight,

and rode after it as far as the fortress [at Chippenham]

and laid siege to it for fourteeen nights

History does truly lie under our feet, it is layered like a cake, you scrape off horizontally and record vertically.  Most of our finds went to the Chippenham Museum and one of Ron's students Mike Stone became curator there, but moved eventually to a London museum to be head curator there.

We were a small group of friends with Ron as our mentor and most weekends we would take the old college bus and either do a small excavation or go on trips to Wales or 'Up North'. To visit castles or even one of my favourite places which is Llanthony Priory or Tretowers Court, all within a day's driving.  Sometimes I think because Britain is such a small country, the land absorbs the layers of history, it is like a book just turn the pages and something will always appear.

8th April 2025

I am slightly nervous about blogging, I have had thousands of visits to the last blog, okay it was topical but it was only recorded because it was such a historical eye-opener.  A terrible one I must admit, as if some Ghengis Khan had come charging from the middle of nowhere.  The world is still reverberating but of course it will eventually die down.  Trump could go, the billionaires put in their place and Vance given a minor government job.  And the mess they have created sorted out.

So some gentle photos.  This church, of which I have no name but is in Essex, we visited years ago on a very hot day.  I love the old wood in the porch, a tranquil reminder of times past.  Look at the church corner, the buttress and see the thin red tiles (were they Roman?) to sharpen the edge.  The dead straight path through the wheat field led to an old house and at the back there were chickens scratching around in the dirt.  Happy, contented little creatures.

 

A couple of the blocks I have been making, I love the colours how they contrast or compliment each other, the creativity of all these materials.  Painted out then copied to be printed, how far we have come in technical cleverness.

What else?  The book I am reading, though it expects full concentration.  John Meaden the author has studied Northern history with a fine toothcomb, yet this period the so called Dark Ages when Northumbria was two smaller tribal areas,  Bernicia and Deira.  From the Humber to maybe the Forth the warrior kings fought over territory.  It was written down by the monks, so as a truth there are many wrong copying of books.   Bede, Nennius, Gilda and Geoffrey of Monmouth through the ages wrote the history down.  And today's scholars like Peter Hunter Blair (though he probably isn't around anymore) and Marsden try to marry the facts together with the dates.  And of course the slightly mythical, magical thinking so sons came in 3s and 9s to give the kings credence.

"This is what democracy looks like"

 Well America has responded with a definite thumbs down to their new government yesterday.  Did you see New York?  In my heart such nonsense that came from the evil three would soon be shown for the empty  greediness of corruption.  I don't know where America goes from here but the battle is on and I think democracy will win. 

And a few photos of other parts of the country who are also protesting, taken from Rebecca Solnit site.

Millions protest Trump/Musk across the USA and worldwide. Hands Off! demonstrations in every city. - YouTube

4th April 2025

 

I have been listening Katty Kay and Scaramucci, you can find them here.  I find their partnership on their podcasts as an intelligent discussion on the woes of America.  It is like living in a parallel world, and it was summoned up by one comment in the podcast - I wouldn't be surprised at this point if Trump declares himself a god and marries a horse.  As of course the Irish high Kings in Dark Age Ireland were supposed to do at Tara I believe (and I think they mated!)

The ridiculous and surreal has pranced onto the world stage.  Has anyone read  H. G. Wells- War of the World.  There are two groups of people the Eloi and the Morlocks.  The Eloi are pretty small blonde haired people living on the surface of the Earth, the Morlocks on the other hand are dark creatures living in the dark subterranean caves below.  Sadly the Morlocks keep the Eloi for food, and they tend to their needs and the Eloi who are not very bright  live uncomplicated lives, not understanding what is happening..........

The other thing I caught last night was the Wandering Turnip in Hawarth of all places, marvelling about the small shops open up the hill to The Rectory, home of the three Bronte girls.  He also went up on the moors, to find the supposed farmhouse where Cathy lived in "Wuthering Heights".  Bit daft, and it was a rather ugly old ruined building but interesting all the same.  Sometimes I see England as a whole theme land of past history.

3rd April 2025

Heptonstall Weaver's cottage

I mentioned yesterday to A/F that they were doing another film up on the moors, this time 'Wuthering Heights', the lead is an Australian actress called Margot Robbie.  She seems less of a Cathy then say Kate Bush's wild Cathy but on the coming film photos her blonde hair has changed to brunette. 

But it brought back to mind the fact that the wild, bleak nature of these grey towns rounds here and the moors 'up top' are attracting a lot of filming.  'Happy Valley' was a popular television drama, now finished.

The grave of David and Grace Hartley (King) taken from Geograph - Nigel Lloyd

But the one that never quite got the fame it deserved was the drama called Gallows Pole about the clipping of coins in the 18th century.  And the famous 'King Hartley' who lived up on a farm on the moors.  There is a very good video from Caldervale Council, recounting the story of 'The Turvin Golden Daughters' I will put it below.  Which explains the history of this  dramatic time in English history.  It sends the mind whirling why on earth did all these people, chisel tiny pieces of gold off the coins that changed hands.

And a smiling face from Glampuss as I like to call her.  Just off to take her train back to London, moaning about gloves as usual.  Will I ever be forgiven for not knitting that devilishly hard black mohair?

 North Stoke: 22/02/2022 Palindrome Day

North Stoke: 30th January 2023

North Stoke: Clipped and counterfeited

1st April 2024

Yes, I know a big red and white hand has appeared in the right column.  It is not my battle you will say, neither is the Ukraine flag underneath.  But if you click (probably double click) you will get the songs that strike me as being part of the news to date.  I should also have a Gaza song, but like Ukraine that is too painful to contemplate.  So I will let them rest at the side for the time being.

  

I believe the visual imaging of how the world is working at the moment, spreads the word profitably.  Trump and his sidekicks have to go, we have to shout out - The king has no clothes on - "The Emperor's new clothes "if you are wondering, but they don't fit how the people of this world want to live!  And there I will finish and go on to the things that interest me. Two thing, both happening down in Cornwall,

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The first is  a modern day labyrinth created on Bodmin Moor near to Collisford Lake, and there is I believe somewhere else in Cornwall,  a similar carving of a labyrinth carved on a rock.  Not a maze, but did I not read somewhere that it is an old pagan prehistoric symbol of a woman's uterus - but I don't believe that.  Man made marks on the surface of The Earth, the photos of the Bodmin Moor labyrinth can be found down below in the link - a very messy adverts link though.

Rocky Valley carving, date of carving unknown

The world's 'biggest living labyrinth' that spans 183ft is near pretty UK lake

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King Arthur's Hall: 2024 news: Bodmin Moor King Arthur site five times older than thought - researchers - BBC News  2024 news

Archaeology News

I am so pleased that it has been identified as prehistoric an earlier visit in 2013 writes of us walking there.  More visits to this rather wonderful site.  The earlier version of this site that it was probably medieval and not prehistoric,  it was the 'squareness' that fooled the archaeologists into thinking it was a pound for animals.

The time of the flowers

This morning when I woke up I thought of the little wild white wind or wood anemone.  It is strange how the mind unconsciously remembers the time of the flowers. Well I know it will be flowering up at Langridge near Bath and also in Blake Wood near Chelmsford, so I wish them well in their sanctuaries.  I turned to Richard Jeffries writing.  He came from Swindon, not exactly the town you would expect to have such a fine 19th century writer but there you are.

The tiny windflower jostles amicably with the violet

One needs to get away from the constant throb of stupidity in the news. Perhaps even get on one's bandwagon and yell about the terrible encroachment by Man on the natural environment.  For instance in  Jeffries  writing on the countryside, you will see the great amount of insects that once 'plagued' the countryside but in truth fed the birds that we see disappearing from our view.

Did you know that the bright green of our fields so beloved by the farmer to feed his herds, relies on nitrogen and the nitrogen will slowly work outwards destroying the wild as it goes.  Our rivers are so polluted by farm waste and sewage that the abundant water life ceases to exist.  I don't really worry about people being able to swim in the rivers and lakes but I do worry about the fish that once lived in clean waters.  An earlier blog.........................

"This photo shows the delicate wood (or wind) anemone with its finely dissected leaves, it nestles amongst dog mercury, a woodland plant which is supposedly an indicator of old woods. But it is the white starry anemone that is the subject. Apparently, according to Marjorie Blamey (The Illustrated Flora) there is a yellow one as well. It belongs to the somewhat larger family of pasque flowers, monkshoods and that dainty elegant flower of the garden - larkspur.

Grigson has many local names for the anemone, bread and cheese and cider, candlemas cap, chimney smocks, drops of snow, Moll o' the woods, moon-flower and so it goes on..

Its actual name of anemone is borrowed from the Greek legend of Anemone Coronia, because the flowers nod and shake in the wind, and the Greeks called it Daughter of the Wind.

And to pasque flowers, they have become garden flowers because of their beauty, pasque of course since it blooms at Easter, William Turner gives an apt description...

The firste of these Passe flowers hath many small leaves finely cut or jagged, like those of carrots; among which rise up naked stalkes, rough and hairie; whereupon do grow beautiful flowers bell fashion, of a bright delaid purple; in the bottom whereof groweth a tuft of yellow thrums (stamens) and in the middle of the thrums thrusteth foorth a small purple pointell; when the whole flower is past there succeedeth an head or knoppe, compact of many graie hairie lockes, and in the solid parts of the knops lieth the seede flat and hoarie, every seede having his own small haire hanging from it'  .

A concise description of a flower that I have never been able to grow, though it has acquired the name of Dane's Blood or Dane's Flower, (unusual beauty deserves unusual origins says Grigson)
But it did grow on the Devil's Dyke and Fleam Dyke which were associated with the Danes."

It is quite an exciting time of the year, the small Pasque flower (for Easter) is making an appearance and also the Snakeshead Fritillaria flower, a rather exotic flower and though cultivated now, the one place you can see it in the wild is North Meadow near Cricklade in Gloucester.

Fritillary

Matilda recovers well, came down this morning to make coffee and found the two girls bickering in usual fashion.  Did the Lucozade Matilda demanded do the job? though apparently rather than making you feel better it is now an energy drink ;) well I suppose it is the same.  Who would have thought the Lucozade bottle which stood by my bedside as a child and probably every other sick child bedside would make it to this time in history.

29th March 2025 - humour

 Humour:  Like the thread of silver that used to run through our old pound notes, so has humour run through the blogs lately.  So I set a very forgetful mind to work out who made me laugh - it was a mixed bag!

Remember 'The tub of Lard' that was 1993, when Roy Hattersley the politician did not appear on 'Have I got news for you'.  They substituted a tub of lard for Hattersley, it was original and funny as they addressed the tube of lard quite seriously.  

Ian Hislop and Paul Merton always have on the tips of their tongues a funny remark, my two favourites by the way.  Ian Hislop latest was recently, when asked to talk about the latest crisis with America.  He said, and here I am paraphrasing,  it will be four years of glorious fun, there maybe a few nuclear bombs involved - but hey-ho.

Spike Milligan's rather droll outlook on life is captured brilliantly on his gravestone "I told you I was ill".

My one and only joke which is so pathetic.  

There were two dogs who lived in Rome, one was a Catholic dog the other a Protestant dog.  One Friday wandering together through the streets the Protestant dog cocked his leg against the Vatican.  The Catholic dog looked at him furiously, 'if it wasn't Friday I would bite your balls of for that'.

Now most people won't know why.  But of course you don't eat meat on Friday just fish by Catholic command, silly but it always made me laugh.

Home news: the Swiss trip is off, Matilda was sick all night, apparently Nora virus is doing the rounds through her friends so the trip is cancelled much to my daughter's relief.  Funnily enough she and Andrew went to listen to an older comedian at a club on Thursday night.  She didn't find him very funny, but if I remember will look his name up.  She was cross with him because he picked on them in the front row.  

Andrew's laugh is always enormous, he laughs at most things. But is funny how humour and laughter helps the human heart to relax.  One more, when the bet was on that Liz Truss leadership would not outlive the life of a lettuce.  Guess who won? the lettuce of course. It was an Iceberg lettuce, spiteful of course but humour can also be cutting.

28th March 2025

 

what can I say?  America is despised by an awful lot of people at the moment, although we love many of you but it is basically because of your government's outrageous behaviour to several countries.   Blatant takeovers, I don't think.  Usha Vance is not welcome (wife of JD Vance) in Greenland, no one wants to host her, so her husband grasping the stinging nettle bravely is going to inspect the American base that is there. A show of military force  maybe.

We find ourselves in extraordinary times, perhaps it is a good idea for the EU and Gt. Britain to revue their defense spending. It would never happen to us? Perhaps Starmer instead of rolling over and having his belly rubbed like a dog by the Americans should actually  stand up and bark aggressively.  Canada is all ready for the fight, though economically it will  cause drastic losses.

But I am beginning to wonder if the Democratic party in America is just sitting back on its heels and waiting for the great downfall of the blessed three and not prepared to fight.

It's Over; Mark Carney speaks - Life is a daily bulletin of weird news.

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I wish life could return to its old ways, messy of course but then humans rule the roost.  Here, Matilda returns home today, she goes off with her mother to Switzerland this weekend.  She has finally nailed a journalist job, online magazine.  She has been working in an Iranian restaurant in London for the last couple of months to pay for her share of the flat, so it seems she may be off on a writing career, bless her.

My Mother's day card, opened early.

And an earlier blog

25th March 2025

 Sticky toffee pudding, my daughter's, mine was gooey cornflake tart.  Yes we went out to lunch on Sunday at the Staff of Life.  I photo'd this cross in the window, weird and slightly unnerving.  It did make me wonder if it was a pilgrimage route, but it was a fairly strong statement for whatever reason.

Edit: some research found out the following there is a pilgrim route - Paulinus Pilgrim route, which takes in the short space between (3 miles) of Staff of Life and Todmorden, several clues.  1) Mount Cross and 2) Golden stones which seem to be under the Bridestones.

The pilgrims route seems to come down from Northumbria to York.

But the news this morning is about an Iron Age hoard called the Melsonby Hoard found in North Yorkshire near Richmond, here is the BBC link, though the link below will give you some videos.  Plenty of decorative pony attire harnesses and four wheeled wagons along with the two wheeled chariots.  Also a cauldron badly damaged.  If you were more fanciful, you could see the cauldron as the Cauldron of Renewal.  There is a plate on the Gundestrup Cauldron, showing a man being dipped into a cauldron, for what reason we can only guess.

Cauldrons, the great cooking pots, for feasting or family, or showing off the family gold/bronze as in this German burial, the Celtic Hochdorf burial which we visited in 2014.

Huge Iron Age hoard is discovered in North Yorkshire: Archaeologists uncover over 800 ancient cauldrons, spears, chariots and horse harnesses thought to be worth £254,000 | Daily Mail Online

22nd March 2025

 

chiefs and Indians; I am not sure where I am going with this.  But chiefs and indians was a game we used to play on archaeological digs as volunteers.  Jim one of our team would say 'hey up, here comes the chiefs' (meaning the archaeologists).  Here were the experts though they could be talking rot but we had to be attentive and quiet.

Now of course we have to have leaders, foremen, teachers, sister nurses and even politicians but the thing we learn that each and everyone of them is just as silly as ourselves.  They are not divine gods - listening to Professor Ronald Hutton yesterday and his practical approach to the telling of history always impresses me.

But again I go off the subject, as I have often written about Lillie, now 18 years old and  she belongs to a scout group.  She is a leader and trustee which is a bit of responsibility, especially when she has to act and talk with adults, so this holiday back at home she was nervous.  There had been a bit of a falling out whilst she was away with the other leaders, leaving the group split in half and she was worried.  Luckily she managed it fine and this third day, she has been every day, will monitor a walking competition. 

Professor Ronald Hutton: Yesterday he described the builders of Stonehenge as 'cowboys' (note: someone who does a quick lousy job of building work).  The trilithons of the monument are based on a wooden method of building, a tenon on the two uprights fits nicely  underneath  the horizontal stone.  But apparently on one trilithon there was a long, vertical stone and a short vertical stone, so the long stone went down say five feet (they often go down much deeper) and the shorter stone rested in a shallow hole.  Of course it fell down in time.

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Words as always interest me.  Fascism is the Word at the moment.  Terrifying to many of us. Tell me why are people voting for it don't they realise how serious it is?

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. Wiki

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A Game of Henge - Stonehenge

Phillip Gross

A game of Henge, my masters?

The pieces are set. We lost the box

with instructions years ago.

Do you see Hangman? Or

Clock Patience? Building bricks

the gods grew out of? Dominoes?

It's your move. You're in the ring

of the hills, of the stones, of the walls

of your skull. You want to go?

You want out? Good - that's

the game. Whichever way you turn

are doors. Choose. Step through, so...

And whichever world you stumble into

will be different from all the others, only

what they might have been,

you'll never know.

Edit:  Mike Pitts latest on Stonehenge and Ken Follet book

21st March 2025

 

Summer. Did you notice our one day of warmth yesterday.  The weather is changing today!

I have just eaten breakfast, never talk about food much.  But it was a favourite, large chestnut mushrooms on sourdough with garlic and Maggi for flavour. Lunch will be a homemade soup and the main meal of the day depends on who is cooking.  Last night for instance it was a chicken stew, tonight it maybe a takeaway.

 

I have just been watching a video on rations in the last war, the fat content was very meagre and the person who was doing a week long experiment said she  felt hungry all day but more energised.

There is also news of the fire in the substation near Heathrow airport and the airport closed down till midnight, throwing passengers into disarray as they find themselves in different parts of the world.  There is also this rather disturbing news on Sky News a French researcher has been denied entry to the US for what he has written in messages on his phone about Trump.

The other good news, and the reason I was thumbing through my photos, was that they were saying on the news that a new forest will be planted in the South-West of England.  That's funny, they were talking about it 14 years ago, or nearabout. I think that this is called 'carrot dangling' to keep us happy in this time of difficulties.  Anyway I did not find the photos.  Land like this up at North Stoke.

20th March 2025 - Welcome Spring

 Words: Thank you Murr  for these three, "petrified pansies of progressivism" those of us who think that Climate Change is being woke  will enjoy being a pansy.

Up against the wall!

I love pansies by the way they freely seed themselves everywhere, they have such sweet faces, it is the viola, that tiny heart-shaped flower called Heartsease which is the prettiest.

Well parts of the family are back.  Lillie arrived from London, Andrew in the morning and Karen in the afternoon.  She had made an appointment at the doctors (same day) and had been triaged over the internet, and the doctor deemed it serious enough for an appointment, so she arrived in Tod, went to the doctors, and got all of her prescriptions as well in less than under an hour.  

As in many parts of the country we do not have enough doctors at our enormous clinic, so people get passed down the line to faraway doctors.  The problem of course starts at the reception desk, so the poor receptionists are at the mercy of patients on the phone but they are slowly changing things in the 'white elephant' of a clinic that was built a few years ago..  There are stupid things patients do - I mean everyone call at eight in the morning, it stands to reason you are going to be put on hold. 

 Anyways, someone wrote on the local thread how GOOD the service was, and mostly everyone agreed with her, except the 'negative nellies' another two words to add to the pot.

I have been collecting the writings of discontent around the world as the insane mess that Tr*ump/M*sk are creating unfolds.  I love the following song from Canada.  A battle cry maybe and childish to boot, but far from being leaders of the world, the world has turned on them with the power of words to show up their foolishness.  Funny coincidence, the polar bear in Dark Materials, the one that Lyra rides is a Pansbjorn. 

Celtic Tale - The Man in the Tree

 

The Peaked Red One or The Man in the Tree 

"Finn was was walking through a wood one day and happened to spy a man sitting at the top of a tree. A blackbird on his right shoulder, and in his left hand a bronze vessel filled with water, in which swam a skittish trout, and a stag at the bottom of the tree. The man would crack a nut, half of which he ate himself the other half he gave to the blackbird. Then he would take an apple out of the bronze vessel, half of which he ate himself the other half he threw to the stag below. Then he would take a sip of the water in the vessel, as did the stag and the blackbird - they would all drink together.  And then his followers asked Finn who he in the tree was for they did not recognise him on account of the hood of disguise which he wore."

The followers of Finn asked who this disguised hooded man was. Ann Ross in her book 'Pagan Celtic Britain'  speculates that this 'nurturer of animals' could be attributed to Cernunnos  or the Romano-Celtic god Vosegus,  who had some of the attributes of the man in the tree.

The stag headed god called Cernunnos.  Surrounded by animals.  In one hand a serpent in the other a torc.

Trees were also very important in the Celtic mythology.  Men were given the name of trees such as Mac Iba - son of Yew.  There is a story of Saint Martin of  Tour, who  died in 397.  Given the job of converting the pagan people to Christianity he razed temples to the ground and also cut down sacred trees....

"When in a certain village he had demolished a very ancient temple, and had set about cutting down a pine-tree, which stood close to the temple, the chief priest of that place, and a crowd of other heathens began to oppose him; and these people, though, under the influence of the Lord, they had been quiet while the temple was being overthrown, could not patiently allow the tree to be cut down"

The story goes on of course in typical Christian manner, by stating that Martin stood in front of the tree as it was cut down, and by some miracle the tree missed him!

There is also on the Gundestrup Cauldron another depiction of a tree in the inner plate, it is called the giant general/priest and cauldron.  The cauldron I believe is supposed to renew life.  You can see it on the following video.

Tidying up

 Tidying Up:  I have decided to draw out the little tales of Celtic telling.  It is to do with the old saints, the Celtic ones, that wandered round our land and others of course, preaching but there is a whole swathe of opinion that the term 'Celtic' is a descriptive term that has come in through over-romanticism, starting in the 18th century, of past people.

A lot of the stories come from the Irish tradition of storytelling and old books still exist with the dates of battles and kings and ancestral lineage.  So imagination may have run riot but there is still a small truth hidden somewhere in all the myths.

This thought came to me when on listening to a talk on Saturday.  The speaker had written a book on tales from Lindisfarne, but the thing missing was hardly any reference to Lindisfarne??  

I did enjoy the talk, though there was a thread of the modern day through it which was gender identity, she identified herself as she/they.  Now my family will tell you I get completely confused by the use of they, but that is my age obviously.  Also obviously trying to work out whether people from the Celtic Age were LGBTQ, was a stretch too far ;)

Lindsfarne Island like Iona Island on the West side of England was the place where the first early monasteries congregated and were the place where many important Celtic saints came from, they accrued their stories and preached far and wide.  They took some of the practice of imitating the Eastern monks, finding lonely places to live like hermits but also preached.  I also love the idea of them walking around with a bell, a bangu to summon the congregation in the open air.

So I start with probably my favourite female saint, Melangell, she saved a hare from a local  hunting prince and was rewarded some land which forever became a sanctuary from the kill of the hunt.  The first environmental person to stand up for the rights of animals maybe.

Celtic Tales

 

The Story of Melangell

The story of Saint Melangell and her little hare. She was the daughter of King Cufwlch and Ethni of Ireland and she fled to Wales to escape a forced marriage. She settled in Pennant at the head of a valley, and whilst one day sitting in a clearing she heard the sound of a hunt, dogs and horses galloping up the valley. This was Prince Brochwael of Powys hunting hares. As she sat a hare came into the clearing and Melangell hid it in the sleeve of her dress to protect it. When it peeped out the dogs fled, and so the Prince gave her the land on which he hunted, and she lived at Pennant for another 37 years and no animal was killed in her sanctuary.   Hares were known as wyn bach Melangell or Melangell's little lambs, and to kill a hare was an act of sacrilege.

1795 drawing of the hunt on rood screen

This story is taken from "The Book of Welsh Saints" T.D. Breverton, and there are other versions of the tale. But at Llanfihangel-y-Pennant near Llangynog is probably the site of her foundation, because on the church's medieval rood-screen are little hares.

Church of Melangell, Pennant

15th March 2025

 Not much to write about.  My back has suddenly given up, think it was spinning some yellow wool yesterday, the different way of sitting. I sit in a three sided cocoon, to the right is the sewing machine on its table, in front of me is my larger table with computer screen and to the left my spinning wheel.  

This afternoon I go to a talk on 'Legends from Lindisfarne' which should be interesting.  These talks at the Folklore Centre get plenty of people.   Also I have been deserted (once more) as daughter and Andrew off to Germany this morning to visit Andrew's relatives in Munich for a few days.

Andrew who is the most affable person you are likely to meet, spends some of his evenings on the computer to the young children in Munich teaching them how to programme.

What else, I have just read the most comprehensive blow by blow, or at least date by date of the horrendous would be takeover of Canada by Trump.  I cannot say America because I believe if American people were to read the document they would be horrified.  Carney seems the man for the job, his ex job as the chair of the Bank of England should give him some leeway in the fight against the loathsome three.

Things I miss:  Lazy spaniels who can't be arsed to open their Xmas presents.

Roses in their state of supreme loveliness

The bantams who wandered the garden with freedom

Also miss the grandchildren as children.  As the first marriage of the oldest takes place this summer.  Got my dress but can't find shoes.  Cottage is booked for the whole family to come down to a civil wedding.  I am blessed.

It seems I look backwards more than forward but that is as it should be I have grown into old age unwittingly ;}