Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
Wrestling with the history of workhouses
Regarding the feature on workhouses in CA 406 and the letter published in CA 407, parts of Kings Norton Union Workhouse and the later Infirmary have been kept and repurposed on the site of the former Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, including gatehouses.
As a local GP in the 1960s and 1970s, my mother was careful how she related with patients who were to go to this hospital. Some would have been born there or had relatives who were resident there under the Poor Law and its successors. Even now, in teaching medical students, I advise them to know the history of local hospitals and to be aware of people’s inherited memories. They are also encouraged to appreciate the archaeology contained in what remains of these buildings.
John Latham, Birmingham
Mistaken memento mori?
I think it’s most unlikely that the face of the young woman on the rosary bead found at Queenhithe (CA 409, ‘News’), with a skull facing the other way, represents the Virgin Mary. I’m even more surprised to see that the Portable Antiquities Scheme database, as well as making the same assertion about that bead, states that the bearded male head on a similar bead (LON-806576 on the database) ‘probably depicts the head of Christ’. The pre-Reformation Church was perfectly clear that Christ ascended, bodily, into Heaven, and that Mary was likewise taken up, body and soul, when she died (the doctrine of the Assumption). They were the two persons whose bodies did not see corruption. The beads are surely a reminder that the rest of us, however good-looking, shall all end up like the death’s heads: ‘remember thy mortality’.
Alan James, Gatehouse of Fleet, Galloway
Images: © Trustees of the British Museum
Searching for slaves in Anglo-Saxon England
If women from the Continent with well-furnished burials are interpreted as elite brides cementing alliances (see ‘News’ in CA 409), I suggest that those from the Atlantic fringe with poorer burials probably arrived as slaves, whether raided or traded or both. We know from St Patrick’s writings that both the British and Irish raided coastal areas, as did the later Vikings, and the Saxons would have been no different.
The Old English word wealh, meaning Welsh, or originally any Romanised people, also meant ‘slave’; traditionally, it was thought that this term referred to Romano-Britons being enslaved in conquered territory, but it could equally refer to imported slaves, just as our word ‘slave’ came from captured Slavs.
Why women rather than men? Maybe more were captured, or they gained their freedom or married and hence got a proper burial?
Philip Anderson, By email
Covering children
I just wanted to report on how much my children enjoy Current Archaeology. While too young to read it themselves yet, the covers always manage to spark their interest. I do have to say, however, that in the eyes of my four-year-old you have yet to live up to the cover of CA 391 and the black LEGO octopus. Every time the magazine comes through the letterbox now, he rushes to see whether more LEGO will be gracing the cover, only to be sorely disappointed (although the diver with fish on the front of CA 406 was a strong runner-up!).
Perhaps, this might be a good way to capture young future archaeologists? The more LEGO infused into CA’s pages the better – at least to my son, if not to fellow readers…
Ann Scott, Southwold, East Suffolk
Did you dig with the Sutton Hoo Research Project 1983-1992?
This year marks 40 years since the Sutton Hoo Society came into being. The Society was established to support the work of the Sutton Hoo Research Project, which had just begun excavation work, led by Professor Martin Carver on the site of the Anglo-Saxon burial ground in Suffolk in 1984.
Were you there when they found ‘Horace’ the sandman? Were you there when the caravans were blown over by the gales or when the Duke of Edinburgh visited? Were you there when soil-sounding radar was being trialled or when the ‘sandmen’ models were made? Did you learn your archaeological techniques and field recording skills on one of the training excavations?
To mark the 40-year anniversary, the Sutton Hoo Society is planning a number of celebratory events and projects. To help us with achieving those goals, we would be delighted to hear from people who excavated or were involved with the Project between 1983 and 1992. We have a long list of names – but would like to make contact with you to hear your stories.
Please send an email to anniversary40@suttonhoo.org with your name at the time (in case you have changed your name since), and the dates you were there (assuming you can recall that far back!). If you want to add any details, please feel free, and we will get back to you.
Dr Rosemary Hoppitt, Chair, Sutton Hoo Society
Edible Archaeology
I have been a reader of Current Archaeology since the early 1970s and have enjoyed many of the interesting reports, along with the brilliant ‘Sherds‘ and ‘Letters’ page.
My lifelong interest in the subject was inspired by my parents who encouraged me to participate in my first excavation in York in 1976, aged 11. Many decades later, they still support me, and my mother, Ros Curteis, made this fantastic birthday cake. The cake is actually vanilla with a coating of stratigraphy and some Coco Pops boulders!
Dr Mark Curteis, Assistant Museums Manager, Chelmsford Museum
CA ONLINE: What you shared with us this month
Ben Cottam @TheCottam
Excellent article in the latest edition of @CurrentArchaeo about the fascinating and massively important work of @RCAHMWales. Really interesting to get a taste of the breadth of its activity and its importance to #heritage in #Wales
National Trust Archaeology @NatTrustArch
Very enjoyable & informative day at Current Archaeology Live! Though we didn’t win an award this time, happy to be nominated alongside some great projects. Well done to all winners. Thank you @CurrentArchaeo for putting the conference together & hopefully see you next year #CALive24
Cotswold Archaeology @CotswoldArch
What a great day @CurrentArchaeo #CALive24! A brilliant series of lectures were given across the day. We learnt that a room full of archaeologists can tell the difference between a roundabout and a barrow And who knew safety regulations were different in Nottingham (at least on @Archaemedia sites ). Now, do we hear rumblings of the pub…
Write to us at: CA Letters, Current Publishing, Office 120, 295 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 4HH, or by email to: letters@archaeology.co.uk . For publication: 300 words max; letters may be edited.
