The Salisbury Museum cafe, and the peregrine falcons ARE BACK!
Salisbury Museum Café
The Salisbury Museum Café is superbly located in a Grade 1 listed building within the Close, at the front of the museum and opposite Salisbury Cathedral – the café garden may well have the best view from any café seat in Salisbury.
You can pop in for a hot drink and light refreshment from Thursday 21st March as part of our soft opening week.
A full menu and service will be in place from Good Friday.
The nesting pair can be watched via three cameras sited on the South Tower balcony. The cameras stream the peregrines in real time and they can be watched 24 hours a day.
On 7 September, 1782, exactly two hundred and forty one years ago, John Byng, Retired Colonel of the Foot Guards, 5th Viscount Torrington, rode in to the city from Woodyates. Describing the Woodyates Inn* as “miserable” and the “beds shocking”, he was please to be away early, leaving at 6.30am, having had trouble waking anyone to take payment for his bill.
“Most refreshing was the ride to Sarum, the air so cool and so sweet; and by the way I saw several deer upon the edge of the chase. I was at Sarum in time for the hot rolls and was received at the White Hart civilly and attentively, there shaved and dressed, drank coffee and then went to survey the cathedral.
The close is comfortable and the divines well seated; but the house of God is kept in sad order, to the disgrace of our Church and of Christianity…The churchyard is like a cow common, as dirty and neglected, and through the centre stagnates a boggy ditch.”
Byng goes on to tell us that a new bishop would arrive soon, and it was to be hoped things would improve. Byng also commented on the “stream running through the centre of the town” which he thought was an advantage, but noted that many parts were bricked over, suggesting, he thought, that people must have kept falling in.
John Byng, like Cobbett, published his descriptions of his journeys in ‘Rides Round Britain’ in 1793. One twenty-first century reviewer of a new edition wrote:
“An absolute delight. This book sits firmly in my Top Ten All Time Favourites list and probably occupies a spot in the top 5… The Folio Society edition is quite beautiful and Byng’s late 18th C. diaries of his travels are greatly enhanced by Anne Hayward’s engravings. Full of wonderful (and often amusingly cranky) detail ranging over the price of feed for his horse, the weather as he rode or walked, precisely what he ate at each stop, and of course his opinion on the merit of whatever vista or grand structure he was viewing. Completely fascinating and detailed look at the people who inhabited his world and what daily life was like for many of them. I’ve re-read this book several times and will no doubt do so again. This edition includes maps of each leg of his travels which is a great bonus, particularly for readers who are not UK residents.”
*Later the Shaftesbury Arms. Burned, and subsequently demolished in 1967.
This year I was able to attend three of the events organised for Volunteers Week – the coffee afternoon at Salisbury Museum involving a walk through the current ‘Salisbury on Camera’ exhibition, the visit to Wiltshire Museum, Devizes, and the Salisbury Cathedral Tower Tour.
The talk ‘Salisbury on Camera, 50 Years of the Salisbury Journal Archive’ was given by Ken Smith, whose parents, incidentally, used to run The Little Junk Shop on Salt Lane. As a teenager I used to spend a lot of time in this shop buying books, and Brooke Bond tea cards especially. I recall that, on the birth of my first child, Ken’s Dad, Jim, presented me with a silver 3d coin, which I still have in her ‘Baby Book’.
During his talk Ken highlighted just a few of the 244 images in the exhibition, explained their background and why they were selected. They were also put into the context of what was happening throughout the country at the time.
Among the photographs I recall being highlighted was Salisbury’s first supermarket, Price Rite’s on Bridge Street (where Wagamama now is); an anti-vivisection demonstration aimed at Porton Down and the legendary Charlie Knight (of ‘Charlie’s Bikes’ fame). Regarding Price Rite, Ken Smith said that shop assistants had to explain to customers how to use self-service as, hitherto, they had been used to being served. Charlie Knight used to appear at local fetes with a range of idiosyncratic bicycles. I recall one where the rider had to pedal backwards in order to go forwards and turn the handlebars to the left in order to turn right.
The talk was followed by a very convivial tea, coffee and other refreshments on the back lawn.
The morning of Friday 2nd June saw four of us catching the 10.52 No.2 bus from New Canal to visit Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. As the journey time is 70 minutes, on arrival we ate our packed lunches on The Green (somewhat chilly!) before making our way to the Museum. Here we were met by Nicola Trowell, the ‘Partnership and Digital Lead’ and also, formerly, of Salisbury Museum, who, over coffee and biscuits, described to us the history of the Museum and something of its future, and reminded us that the Museum contains the largest collection of Early Bronze Age gold ever put on public display in England.
In terms of history, Nicola explained that The Wiltshire Museum was established in Devizes in 1874 and is accommodated in Georgian and Victorian buildings, with a number of floor levels and staircases.
In terms of the future, Nicola informed us that The Museum had been awarded Development Funding of £300,748 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to facilitate relocation to the former Devizes Assize Court. They plan to apply for a full National Lottery grant in 2025 which, if successful, will enable work to start in 3 or 4 years time, with a target opening date of 2030.
Among the very many exhibits, one that particularly attracted my attention on this occasion was the Britton Cabinet (Fig 3).
Fig 3 The Britton cabinet
Made of mahogany and pine, with elm and maple veneer, this piece was made as a talking piece for a gentleman’s drawing room, and was once owned by the travel writer John Britton. At the top is a model of Stonehenge as it was when the cabinet was made in 1824. The sides of the glass are coloured red and orange so that, as demonstrated by Nicola, shining a torch (candle) light through would show how Stonehenge looks at dawn or dusk. The aerial views on the front are from before the days of aerial photography.
In one of the drawers is a model of Stonehenge as it may have been if it was complete. In a second drawer is a model of the Avebury landscape, based on a plan by the antiquarian William Stukeley. The drawer fronts are set with watercolours of prehistoric monuments in Wiltshire, Wales and the West of England by John Britton and leading artists of the day. The remaining drawers and cupboards held books, maps, plans and drawings.
The cabinet and many of John Britton’s books and papers formed the founding collection of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society which, today runs the Wiltshire Museum.
Tuesday 6th June saw another group of us meeting at the Cathedral West Front for a Tower Tour. Although I had been looking forward to, once again, having the opportunity to peer out across Salisbury from the little door at the base of the spire, as there were only four of us, we accepted the Guides invitation to go ‘off piste’ to areas that the general public doesn’t usually get to see. This included being led to see the construction work happening at the east end. Things I learned included:
The medieval clock does actually ring a bell situated in the rafters on the floor above.
Salisbury Cathedral is the only Cathedral in Britain where one has an uninterrupted view down the entire length of the nave and chancel (Fig 4)
Beams organised like one set of football posts set atop another are called ‘Queen Posts’ (Fig 5).
The visit gave me another opportunity to view the graffiti previously pointed out to me on a specialist ‘Graffiti Tour’ and a glass window engraved by Rex Whistler.
Fig 4 The only cathedral in Britain with uninterrupted view down chancel and nave
Fig 5 Queen posts in the roof of Salisbury Cathedral
This was a very informative and worthwhile visit and which reinforced some things which I already knew.
Many thanks to Alan for this, which will have some readers wondering what they missed! Great photographs too. Thanks to Kate, and all others involved, for organising another enjoyable, interesting, week’s activities.
Join us for a unique, family-friendly living history event with combat displays and activities, all set in the beautiful village of Rockbourne. Following on from last year’s successful 80th anniversary event, Rockbourne Rediscovered, Rockbourne will be invaded again this August by some of the best period living history groups in the area. Expect displays and demonstrations spanning the Iron Age, Romans, Gladiators and Saxons, plus lots of craft and making activities for children, including decorating your own shield, all included in the ticket price! Come face-to-face with Saxon warriors and Roman soldiers, and learn more about the site’s Iron Age past. There will also be the chance to take a tour of the villa and archaeological site with an archaeologist. Book here
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
Baroness Hale: A Lecture on the Legacy of Magna Carta Wednesday 9 August
19:15 Academic lawyer, law reformer and judge, Baroness Hale of Richmond joins us on the 9 August for a lecture on the legacy of Magna Carta. Baroness Hale made headlines in 2019 as the head of the Supreme Court who ruled the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted unlawfully when he advised the Queen to suspend Parliament. The spider brooch she wore on that fateful day became one of the most famous accessories in recent history, providing a topical title for her 2021 memoir, Spider Woman: A Life. Tickets are £10 (student tickets £5). Go here for more and to book.
SOCIETY OF GENEAOLOGISTS
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CCAONB
Cranborne Chase AONB and Chase & Chalke team to attend Chalke Valley History Festival 2023 We’re delighted to confirm that once again we will be attending CVHF with our large marquee again this year. The Festival runs from the 26th June – 2 July. If you are planning to attend, then why not find us and say hello!
Sir Brian May’s extensive collection of Victorian stereoscopic images goes on show in a major exhibition at Watts Gallery
Queen guitarist Brian May is renowned for his extracurricular interests, including astrophysics and the environment. But long before both axe wielding – and possibly even star gazing – came a burgeoning interest in stereoscopy, the 19th-century photography craze that enabled pictures to appear in 3D.
And it was all down to breakfast cereal. The 1960s and 1970s were the heyday of cereal box gifts and when the 12-year-old Brian sat down at the breakfast table for his Weetabix, he found a free stereoscopic card which pictured a pair of hippos.
The Weetabix packet bore the instruction: “Send One and Sixpence and a packet top, and we will send you a Vistascreen viewer, so you can see your cards in magnificent 3-D realism.” Brian sent off for the viewer, was captivated by the result, and so began a lifelong passion that resulted in one of the largest archives of stereoscopic images in the world.
Totalling over 200,000 photographs, including the Weetabix hippos, the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy, as the collection is now called, became a charitable incorporated organisation in 2022 and today employs two curators who care for the mostly Victorian and Edwardian photos on metal, glass and paper, as well as little more than 500 stereoscopic viewers of all shapes and sizes from the 1850s to the 1970s.
Stereoscopic photographs comprise two images of the same scene taken from slightly different viewpoints. When these are mounted side by side and viewed through a stereoscope, the observer sees just one three-dimensional image.
Much like the 3D experiences we enjoy today, the experience of seeing these pictures fuse into one and having the chance to virtually transport oneself into another place, would have been a truly thrilling experience for Victorian viewers. Stereoscopic photographs eventually became affordable, and in the late 1850s and 1860s they circulated world-wide in their tens of thousands.
Sir Brian’s collection of these pioneering photographs is today widely used in articles, academic papers, books, exhibitions, in-person and online talks, as well as on social media, making it one of the most talked and written about set of images in any similar archive.
Mostly centred on British and French early photographs it has recently been extended to include thousands of American stereo cards from the turn of the twentieth century. Several different private collections have also been lately added to the archive which now holds a record 530 stereoscopic daguerreotypes.
This being the Watts Gallery, the attention here is firmly on the Victorian hey-day of stereoscopy, with the highly interactive exhibition exploring the wide breadth of subject matter found in the collection, from celebrity portraits to snapshots of Victorian life and travel. Stereoscopic photographs and paintings from Watts Gallery Trust’s own collection also feature among the loaned works.
Presented thematically, the exhibition introduces the collection and the medium via the first images collected by Sir Brian (including the Weetabix hippos and the Vistascreen viewer) together with examples of the earliest viewing devices and photographs of Victorians at home, sharing and viewing their own collections of images.
“Stereoscopy was the precursor for today’s virtual reality and digital 3D experiences,” says Lead Curator Dr Emily Burns. “Many visitors to the Victorian Virtual Reality exhibition will be familiar with using View-Masters or watching films in 3D, but perhaps not so many will know that this fascination for making the 2D appear in more realistic relief has its origins in a Victorian craze that began over a century ago.
“Stereoscopy was a wildly popular and democratic technology and artform, allowing anyone who could buy or borrow a viewer and cards to encounter celebrities, transport themselves to far-flung places, feel closer to rare works of art and be entertained by theatrical tableaux.” Rebecca Sharpe and Denis Pellerin, who are co-curators of both the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy, hope visitors will “enjoy travelling back in time and immersing themselves into the world and lives of our nineteenth-century counterparts”.
“By identifying key themes we will highlight the extraordinary breadth and depth of Sir Brian May’s collection which now totals over 200,000 photographs.”
Victorian Virtual Reality: Photographs from the Brian May archive of Stereoscopy is at Watts Gallery Artists Village from July 4 2023 – February 25 2024.
Long-term readers may remember Volunteer Alan Crooks’ Blog item on the same topic several years ago, and of course the stereoscope set up in The Salisbury Museum until recently for visitors to enjoy.
Besides the hundreds of thousands of Black & White negatives dating from 1952 onwards, The Salisbury Museum Journal archive includes a few cardboard boxes of about 50 very large brown envelopes. These envelopes have titles written on them such as Woodford Valley, Salisbury Cathedral, Victorian events etc. Each envelope contains a number of photographs.
We have not yet processed these.
I was tempted to look in some of the envelopes. What gems! Below is a photograph from 1941. It shows young ladies from the teachers’ training college, 65 The Close, keeping watch over Salisbury from high up on Salisbury Cathedral. I know from Arthur Maidment’s book * that this duty was shared amongst a number of groups including pupils from Bishop Wordsworth’s School and the Home Guard.
I like the way the ladies are dressed in their all-in-one suits which appear to be suitable for the rain**. They are all wearing simple helmets***. How did they communicate with the fire crews on the ground? What training were they given to be able to recognise which bits of Salisbury were on fire? Did they have torches? Did they have paper and pencils? Did they have sighting compasses?
What a glimpse into Salisbury’s past!
*Arthur Maidment 1993 ‘Under Salisbury Spire: Memories from the late Twenties to the first year of World War II’ (A Salisbury Journal Publication)
**’Siren suits’
***The ‘Brodie’ helmet, first issued in WWI
If anyone can give us answers to Alan’s questions, please let us know.
Thank you Alan – super photograph, prompting good questions as always.
Mary has spotted this from the Reverend Francis Kilvert’s Diary:
In 1874, the Rev Francis Kilvert, the diarist, paid a visit to his friend, the Rev Morris, vicar of Britford. It was his first visit in twenty three years. He discovered that his friend had “a fine collection of stuffed birds” and one case held a pair of peregrine falcons which, he reported, “were shot, of all places in the world, on the spire of Salisbury Cathedral.”
Kilvert went on to say that that they had been shot by workmen who had been restoring the spire. The birds were regular visitors (as they are today) from the cliffs on the south coast and would sit on the spire surveying the countryside “where they think themselves safe”.
Mary asks if we remember the Pick and Mix exhibition when fossils and cases of stuffed birds made up part of the display. There was a case with a pair of peregrine falcons. Are they the same ones? Well, here are the pair that we have in the museum, the falcons which were on display for the Pick and Mix exhibition, and the label that went with them.
“This pair of peregrine falcons, currently on display in the Pick & Mix exhibition, are believed to have been shot from the tower of Salisbury Cathedral by some workmen in the 1850s. Like the birds nesting on the tower today it is possible that this pair were living there. The tower is an ideal spot because peregrines are usually found living in the uplands of the north and the west of Britain and rocky seacoasts.”
I think we can adjust the date now! Thank you Mary…
Coronation Events at Salisbury Cathedral. Join us as we celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III with a week of special events, ending with a service of celebration on Sunday 7 May.
From creative crown making in the Cloisters, to the Encounters with Kings Exhibition in our medieval library – there’s something for everyone as we start the week-long celebrations this Saturday.
On the day, (6 May 2023) take your seat in our magnificent nave and watch this historic event unfold on the big screen, including the build-up, processions, and service. The screening is free, and all are welcome to attend.
After, head to the West Lawn for an afternoon of free music, singing and dancing from Swing Unlimited Big Band. There’ll be a special outdoor barbecue and a bar will be available on the lawns to make the afternoon go with a swing…
On Sunday 7 May, join us for A Service of Celebration for the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III. The service is led by the Very Revd Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury.
At the service, the Cathedral Choir will be singing a special piece by Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, ‘The mountains shall bring peace’, which has been commissioned by the RSCM to celebrate the Coronation. The Preacher is the Right Revd Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury.
Encounters with Kings Exhibition 29 Apr 2023 – 05 May 2023
King James II at his coronation in 1685 from a book by Francis Sandford. The book describes the coronation in great detail including the procession to Westminster Abbey and the great feast held afterwards in Westminster Hall.
Join us for this special exhibition in the Cathedral Library to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. Normal entry charges.
Amongst the Cathedral’s thousands of ancient books and documents, there are many with connections to kings of the past. Come and visit this mini exhibition in our historic library to discover some of these treasures.
Thursday 30th March saw me visiting the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, an excursion organised by Sarum U3A.
Largely eschewing the ‘10 things to see at the Victoria and Albert’published on their website, I instead took my friend Stephen Dunn’s advice to visit the Cast Courts where there is a display of ‘Casts of Headsfrom Salisbury Cathedral’ (Fig 1). Stephen is a former Head Guide at Salisbury Cathedral. The stone sculptures from which these casts were taken are still in the Cathedral, mainly in the Chapter House and are among the finest surviving English Gothic sculpture. The casts were made during the Restoration of 1855-6. Each face is unique (Fig 2) and it is considered possible that each is based on a real person known to the mason who carved it.
Fig 1 Casts of heads from Salisbury CathedralFig 2
In the event, these heads turned out to be not in the Cast Courts themselves but partway up a staircase leading to the Medieval and Renaissance (AD 300-1600) Gallery.
Returning to the Cast Courts proper, I visited the Tomb Memorials and was immediately attracted to that of Eleanor of Aquitaine, seen here (Fig.3) reading a book, I paid particular attention to Eleanor of Aquitaine because she is said to have been imprisoned (or at least kept under ’house arrest’) by her husband, Henry II, for 16 years at Old Sarum Castle, from about 1173 until Henry’s death in 1189.
Fig. 3. Effigy of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Despite her incarceration, Henry still ensured that Eleanor led a queenly lifestyle, with fine clothes and hunting and fishing; but she was no longer allowed to play her part in the governance of the realm.
Also present in this line-up of tomb memorials was the tomb memorial slab of an unknown person, but thought to be an effigy of Roger le Poer, Bishop of Salisbury, 1102-1139, Fig 3. On seeing the photograph, Stephen Dunn quipped that this is in better condition than the original which is still in the Cathedral!
Fig. 3 Tomb memorial slab of Bishop Roger le Poer
The Raphael Cartoons Gallery was also of interest in that one of the exhibits was a tapestry woven at the Mortlake factory after a design of Raphael. This was ‘The Miraculous Draught of Fishes’ (Fig 4) which was commissioned for Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke (1584-1650), whose Coat of Arms is in the upper border (Fig 5).
Fig 4 ‘The Miraculous Draught of Fishes’, after Raphael, showing the Coat of Arms of 4th Earl of PembrokeFig 5
The final object which captured my attention was in the ‘Britain 1500-1760’ gallery (Figs 6 and 7). This was a chair of carved and joined oak, made in Salisbury (1600-1620). The caption stated that ‘From about 1500 a new type of armchair developed in Britain. It had an open frame and a greater variety of carved and turned ornament. This example was made in the city of Salisbury in southern England, where this distinctive type was fashionable, heavily influenced by contemporary French armchairs.’
Fig 6 Armchair made in Salisbury, 1600-1620Fig 7
As noted in John Chandler’s book, Endless Street, ‘the joiners, who seem to have set themselves apart as a woodworking elite [and] their furniture made something of a reputation for Salisbury’ .Thus most of us will be familiar with the Humphry Beckham chimney-piece, erected as his memorial in St Thomas’ Church, and inscribed ‘Humphry Beckham who died the 2nd day of February Anno 1671 Aged 83 Yrs. His own worke’ (Fig. 8).
As also noted by Chandler, , ‘The pride of the Joiners’ Company was their own hall in St Ann Street. [It features] six grotesque carved mannikins, possibly the products of a Beckham imagination [which] may still be seen from the street holding the first-floor windows in position (Fig 9).
Fig 9 Joiners’ Hall showing grotesque carvings
The Joiners’ Hall was built in the 17th Century and perhaps designed to showcase their skills. The carvings supporting the windows are of grotesque figures including hermaphrodites with beards and breasts, to ridicule the councillors as being a ‘load of old women’. The Guild of Joiners met here until early in the 19th Century and the building is now owned by the National Trust.
Finally, regular readers may recall my Blogs1, 2 concerning the Laverstock kiln, for which an information card in the former Salisbury/Clarendon Gallery stated was in the British Museum. However a visit by me in 2020 failed to show any trace of it and, on my return to Salisbury, Adrian Green (Director) told me that it is, in fact, in the V&A. Well, an online search of the V&A catalogue before my recent visit provided no information, and neither did I find it when I was there.
We read recently on this Blog of riots in Salisbury in 1882.
It was a very restless period in British and, indeed, European history. A portent of what was to come in the following decades. and 1882 was also the year of the first of the “dynamite outrages in the city.” Fortunately, much of it was down to what nineteenth century writer, TJ Northey*, called “mischievous youths”, but it was scary stuff nevertheless.
In England, Irish-American Fenian terrorists had been using dynamite for some time, particularly here but also in Canada, in highlighting their protests and demands. In 1883 there was a threat to blow up the Royal Train. Military and police barracks, mainline railway stations, Whitehall and Scotland Yard were all targets in that decade. In fact it was the ‘weapon of choice’ in the nineteenth century, with movements all over Europe and America using it, and causing death, injury and horror to innocent people. Everyone was, understandably, on edge.
One day in April 1882, Salisbury was appalled to hear a rumour that there had been an attempt to blow up the Cathedral. Police Constable Tomkins was patrolling the Close as usual one night and found a small box, lying in one of the outer recesses of the Cathedral wall. A screw of paper was inserted into a hole on the top of the box and there was some powder there. Sensibly, the Constable left the scene to report the find.
PC Tomkins then returned, together with an Inspector and one of the Close Constables. They removed the screw of paper – a fuse? – and set light to it. Ominously, it fizzed.
The box was then taken to the Police Station where the box was opened and a small sample of a further substance found inside was also set light to. A very small ‘pop’ led the growing group of policemen to take the box to the safety of the magazine behind the Market House.
On further investigation it was seen that also inside the box was a “grim looking bottle” with ‘nitro-glycerine’ written on its label. Ultimately it was found to contain clear “gum” (glue). A hoax.
One night about two years later, there wasan explosion. A pound in weight of gun-powder in a small box had been ignited at the foot of the Hon Sidney Herbert’s statue, which stood then in the Market Place. Again, it seemed that it was somebody’s idea of a joke. Nevertheless a £50 reward was offered to anyone who could find the perpetrators.
Then a few weeks later, matters became more serious. A device was left by the Council Chamber, near where the”Russian Gun” then stood. and when it exploded, it damaged the wall of the building a little and smashed windows in the building, as well as those of the premises of a Mr Gould and a Mr Horder in Queen Street. This time a reward of £200 was offered for the apprehension of the perpetrators.
The 1884 attack on the Council House made news all over the country. This extract is from the Lincolnshire Chronicle 3 Oct 1884 (extract from copy held at the British Library)
From an old lithograph of the Council House. The explosion was to the left of the building and the shops which can be seen opposite, on Queen’s St , would have had damage.
However, it wasn’t until 1885 that an explosion in Warminster ultimately led to the arrest of two young men who were also linked to explosions in Andover as well as those in Salisbury. One was given twelve months hard labour, his accomplice two months.
TJ Northey, Popular History of Old and New Sarum. Description of events above taken from TJ Northey’s account