If you haven’t visited the Fashioning Our World exhibition yet, there is still time. And my experience has been that one visit isn’t enough. It is full of surprises, interesting ideas and an enjoyable mix of History and fashion.
My favourite exhibit is below, though choosing just one was difficult..
It was, of course, the eye-catching garment on the right which drew me to this display, but it is war which is the link between them. On the right is a dressing gown from the Second World War, now more than eighty years old. Made from scraps garnered from anywhere and anything, including a piece of parachute, this became, at a time of strict rationing, someone’s pride and joy.
On the left is an overall worn by female workers in munitions factories. I think the one on display is also eighty years old but it is very similar to those also worn twenty-five years before, in the First World War.
Both, very different, items of clothing seem to me to say so much about the resilience, determination, ingenuity and make-do and get on with it attitude of women of that generation.
Amongst his methods of recording excavations, Pitt-Rivers used photography. True or false?
9. Complete the names of these sites which he excavated: W–K–B–Y; R–H–L–; W–D–C–T-;
W– B–R–; W–D–T–
10. Anagrams of words/places associated with Pitt-Rivers. What are they? WOES TODAY; SOUR HERM;
FAN HARM; AL GREEN
Mary assures me that all the answers are in the museum’s Wessex Gallery, so if you are stuck for answers…and it is raining… and you would like a fascinating afternoon in the museum…
It is great to have another contribution to the blog from one of the Salisbury Museum Research Volunteers….
Salisbury had been no stranger to conflict between the religious and secular authorities since its inception, but with Henry VIII’s Reformation, and the ongoing distrust of Roman Catholicism, in the early 17th century disputes about religious practices widened in the city as well as the country as a whole. These, and their consequences, eventually led to Civil War.
The Puritans were a religious reform movement within the newly formed Church of England, that arose in the late 16th century. These believers felt that the practices of the Church of England itself were too close to Catholicism, and that any ceremony or practice not mentioned in the Bible should be abolished: not only that, they felt they had a direct covenant with God to enact such reforms. In 1629 one Puritan in Salisbury was the city’s Recorder, Henry Sherfield, and it was his actions that led to a famous religious quarrel with national as well as local repercussions.
In 1567 Bishop Jewel had ordered all stained-glass in Salisbury’s churches to be removed and replaced by plain glass: coloured glass was, he felt, ‘idolatrous’. For some reason, a single window in St. Edmund’s church showing the Creation survived the purge. True to his Puritan beliefs, early in 1629 Henry Sherfield obtained the permission of the Vestry to remove the window at his own expense. The matter was, however, referred to the High Anglican Bishop of Salisbury, Dr John Davenant, who promptly vetoed it.
To say Sherfield was unhappy was probably an understatement. He had sat opposite the window and apparently been disturbed by it for 20 years, so he persuaded the sexton’s wife to let him into the church, and promptly attacked the window with a pikestaff – history does not record what the sexton’s wife made of the pikestaff, though the phrase ‘as plain as a pikestaff’ has been known since the mid-1500s.
At this point, things descended into farce. The staff broke, and Sherfield fell 4’ into a pew. He injured himself so badly it was a while before he could summon a horse and be taken home to his bed – where he remained for the next month. The window was left damaged but still in place. Sherfield’s literal interpretation of the Bible meant he objected to the fact that the window had got the days of creation in the wrong order, as well as showing Eve arising from Adam’s body instead of being made from a rib, and that there were seven figures representing God, instead of one.
The subsequent legal uproar reflected the religious divisions of the time. In 1632 Sherfield was summoned to the Star Chamber in London by the Attorney-General, and required to explain himself to 22 Privy Councillors, of whom 18 gave separate judgements. A whole range of suitable punishments were proposed, the severity of which seemed to reflect the religious sensitivities of the people concerned. The Chancellor of the Exchequer wanted Sherfield to be removed from office and fined £1000: others proposed a fine only whilst yet others wanted no fine at all. In the end a compromise fine of £500 was imposed. This, however, was never paid: Henry Sherfield died the next year. In a final act of irony, only 10 years later in 1653 the church tower itself collapsed – luckily not during a Sunday service – and took the window with it.
The Memorial, today, at St Edmunds, marking the collapse of the tower
Thank you Megan. It seems Henry Sherfield was a feisty character! You can read more about him here.
Two striking photographs of our museum as it begins to emerge from the scaffolding in all its restored glory.
The beautiful new stonework, especially around the bay, is clear to see. it will soon blend in with the old.
At the rear, the lawn is being re-laid. The changes to the outside of the old chapel looking very smart.
Inside, the new display in the temporary exhibition room has been up and running for three weeks already. It is quirky, interesting, made up of old and new and recycled, and is proving to be a draw. well done all concerned.
And not be missed…
New Fieldwork at Hinton St Mary, Dorset: The Mosaic in Context – Talk by Peter Guest
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Location: Lecture Hall £9 Members; £12 Non-members
The mosaic from Hinton St Mary is one of the most celebrated and iconic survivals from Roman Britain. Discovered (accidentally) in 1963, its central roundel features the bust of a man with the Christian Chi-Rho symbol behind his head, which most scholars have concluded is among the first representations of Jesus Christ from the ancient world. This talk will present some of the ground-breaking results of The British Museum’s on-going archaeological excavations at the site and explore what these tell us about one of the earliest Christian communities in Britain.
This is a fundraising talk for Salisbury Museum (registered charity no 289850)
This month, usual host Katy England was busy organising our latest temporary exhibition, ‘Fashioning Our World,’ so Owain Hughes took over Conversation Club, leading with a brief but fascinating talk about the Amesbury Archer.
We were able handle artefacts from the era and discuss questions prepared by Katy. Although most of us had seen the Archer in his case in the Wessex Gallery, a more in-depth discussion of his importance as a bringer of new technologies to a Stone Age world was revealing and relatable to the impact of new technologies today.
We went in to the Wessex Gallery and found ourselves looking at the Archer and the objects with new respect and wonder.
Under Fives Friday
Hopefully the last session to be held in the hall at Harnham…. although a very satisfactory venue, everyone is looking forward to be being back in the museum.
This event was a music session hosted by Liv and was as popular as ever with both children and parents.
Hopefully, our regulars and newer participants will all eventually become museum Members – at least one regular renewed at this session. We run through the benefits at each meeting.
The May meeting will be run by regular Volunteers Mary and Sally, introducing the new Natural History Gallery…back in the museum!
Volunteers are needed to help carry a giant statue through a city’s streets in a string of upcoming events.
(The photo above shows the original Giant in his place in the now almost complete new Salisbury galleries of The Salisbury Museum.)
The Salisbury Giant, which stands at 3.6m (12ft) tall, dates back more than 500 years.
A replica of the giant is brought out to celebrate significant events in Salisbury, continuing a custom that goes back to at least the 15th Century. People are now being sought to carry the giant at a number of spring events including St George’s Day celebrations.
Paul Sample said the tradition “won’t exist” without volunteers and urged people to come forward.
Originally owned by the Tailor’s Guild, the figure was used to display clothing produced by tailors in medieval Salisbury, when the town’s prosperity was founded on the wool trade. It was purchased by the city’s museum in 1873 for 30 shillings (£1.50).
Sometimes referred to as St Christopher, the giant later became a symbol of celebration and was often brought out alongside his horse, Hob Nob, to parade through the streets on significant dates like the coronation, carnivals and local civic events.
Volunteers known as ‘whifflers’ walk alongside the giant carrying processional guilds. Mr Sample, chief whiffler, said: “Salisbury has probably the oldest and longest tradition of giants. It means that we have a real place in the folk history of England and it’s really important internationally that we keep it going.”
This year’s events start with a St George’s Day procession on 28 April, and organisers are looking for seven volunteers to carry a replica of the giant.
“We’re hopeful that lots of people will come forward as volunteers this year, to help us continue the tradition into years and decades, and centuries to come,” Mr Sample said.
“He just had his cloak washed for the first time in about 30 years so he’s ready to go, we just need help getting him there,” he added.
Salisbury Museum still has quite a collection of former Director, Frank Stevens’ personal “clutter”.
Back in 2011 someone at the museum (a volunteer?) went through many of these items, placed them in plastic wallets and gave them MODES references.
We have just got round to scanning the images (photographs).
In one scan, I recognised the metal lattice work, This was the original bridge over the river Avon built near the Clock Tower in Fisherton Street. And, yes, there is the clock tower in the background on the far left of the image. The building in the centre background is also still there. I knew it as the Bull Hotel, 11 Fisherton Street, Salisbury.
Now for the image date. Frank Stevens had the image in his possession, so it dates from before his demise in1949. The car is around 1920s. The ladies dress styles* are around 1920s Who is the lady – a relative of Mr Stevens? Are the three ladies and two children behind also related? On the back of the photograph are the words “LUMENART FILMS” ; a change from Kodak!
This is where this small insignificant card photograph suddenly became of far greater importance. I put these two words into Google search and came up with:
Click here, or on the links above and find out more about the story of walking pictures by Simon Robinson. I had not known of “walking pictures” where a series of three photographs were taken in quick succession. So Frank or a friend of his, probably purchased this image with two other images from a professional travelling photographer. We may learn more.
* cloche hats, bar strap shoes, knee length skirts, double breasted coats, round rim glasses, bobbed hair, loose fitting , dropped waist etc.
Thank you, as always, Alan, for a gem from the archives. And I think we have all learned something new!
Behind the Scenes Tour: Saturday 3rd February 2.30pm.
🔍Following last year’s sell-out Behind the Scenes Tours, we are now running the tours on the first Saturday of every month, starting at 2.30pm.🔎
Led by the museum Director or another member of the team, this 90-minute tour is a unique opportunity to explore areas of the museum not seen by the public and view some of the many fascinating items in hidden away in the King’s House. Limited to 10 places, pre-booking advised.
Please see our website for more information & booking. £12 Members; £15 Non-members Pre-booking essential – book here
Potential WW2 Archaeological Sites Discovered Volunteers on the Champion’s of the Past project have discovered many interesting features during their work using the Cranborne Chase LiDAR Portal, which shows super detailed scans of the landscape, and can show up previously unknown archaeological structures and formations.
The below image shows features that volunteers think were dug around 1940. These were possibly anti-landing pits – dug with the intention of preventing the landing of enemy aircraft. These were usually dug in a rough grid formation. On the image, you can see the pits as rows of ‘dots’ between the roads, covering the area. What do you think they could be??
The below image shows an early field system of banks and ditches, situated near the village of Chettle. These aerial images and LiDAR visualisations show how farming was organised in by-gone eras, and possibly inspire surveys for settlements or evidence in the field.
Volunteers have identified a whopping 1000+ new potential archaeological sites so far while using the LiDAR Portal, but there is plenty more to be found and discussed.
If you’re interested in finding out more, why not have a closer look by visiting the portal here:
The portal is free to use, and features training modules if you get stuck understanding the visualisations.
You’ll be able to join our other volunteers and explore the archaeology of the area from your home, and discover amazing buried secrets using this wonderful resource!
You can read more on our Volunteer Hub or email us at chaseandchalke@cranbornechase.org.uk
AND…
In 2023 The Chase & Chalke team launched the Creative Writing Competition, and over 80 of you responded to the theme ‘Cranborne Chase: A Sense of Place’ with an amazing range of entries. From short poems, to long form pieces.
We’ve learnt so much over the course of the competition.
Our wonderful panel of expert judges took to the task of delving into your wonderful words, and selecting the pieces that they felt best represented the response to the theme. Thank you to all entrants to the competition!
Chalke History Festival has a brand new website, name and branding for 2024. Visit the new website and take a look.
James May, The Rest is History’s Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook, Max Hastings & Bettany Hughes are just some of the big names already scheduled to appear.
Tuesday, 30th January, at 2pm – Snippets from Salisbury Museum’s History: 1860-1950 by Rosemary Pemberton, Volunteer, in the Museum Lecture Hall
Wednesday 24th January 7:30pm Salisbury Military History Society The flier below is available as a PDF here. For more details about further talks and membership please refer to the SMHS website https://salisburymilhist.com
‘Virtual’ Walks:
Join Stephen as he explores the wonderful world of shops in London past and present in this collection of virtual tours:
Thursday 18 January @ 6pm – Are you being served? – the Rise and Fall of Department Stores Thursday 25 January @ 6pm – West End stories – untold tales of London’s great shops Thursday 18 February @ 6pm – By Royal Appointment – London shops with regal approval
LECTURE: Roman Hoards from Wiltshire.An afternoon lecture at Wiltshire Museum, by Richard Henry
For thousands of years, the landscape of Wiltshire has played host to carefully concealed hoards of material wealth, from tools to weapons, jewellery to money. Over the last two hundred years, the discoveries of these previously hidden treasures have led to the rewriting of our understanding of this country and the people who lived in it.
This talk will explore some of the late Roman hoards that have been discovered and the stories that they can tell us, including the Wilcot hoard generously donated to Wiltshire Museum and recently conserved through support from members and supporters. It will shortly be going on display.
Date: Saturday 27 January Time: Start 2.30 pm Location: Wiltshire Museum (we are not able to make this a ‘hybrid’ event) Tickets: £8.00 (£5 WANHS members; £4 students) – booking essential.
For more information and to book online – click the link below.
Date: Thursday 25 January 2024 Tickets: FREE – booking essential to ensure we send the Zoom link. Ticket sales close at 5pm on the day of the lecture. Time: Start 7.30pm Location: An online event, using Zoom webinar – the link will be emailed on the day of the lecture. If you book on the day of the lecture (before 5 pm), you will receive the link before 7 pm.
For more information and to book online – click the link below.