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Issue 67October 2002ContentsnewsHopeful dead clutching their tickets to heaven Long survival of York’s Roman fortress defences Drinking den below streets of Edinburgh All the emotions on display in Southwark Roman cemetery Treasure Act brings in the gold and silver once again featuresRoads from Rome Shipwreck to slavery Great sites lettersThe origins of industry, Tolkien’s inspiration and museums issuesGeorge Lambrick on the power of public support Peter EllisbooksViking Weapons and Warfare by J Kim Siddorn Prehistoric Cooking by Jacqui Wood European Landscapes of Rock Art edited by George Nash & Christopher Chippindale The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland by John Waddell Vikings and the Danelaw edited by James Graham-Campbell, Richard Hall, Judith Jesch & David Parsons favourite findsRob Ixer on a lump of lead ore that made a nice paperweight
ISSN 1357-4442 Editor Simon Denison |
Copperas in KentFrom Mr Ian Pearce Sir: Tim Allen's report on the Whitstable copperas industry was fascinating ('The forgotten chemical revolution', August). However, I cannot accept his implication that northern industries did not start until some 200 years after the copperas industry in the south of the country. In the north, we have been brought up to believe that we were the true founders of the modern chemical industry. Alum was produced on the North Yorkshire coast from at least 1604, and probably earlier. Copperas and alum have much in common in terms of their extraction, processing, the associated business risks, and their end uses. From 1604 an unbroken and well-documented line of chemical manufacture leads to the large chemical manufacturing sites in Teesside today. However, before we claim 'forefather status' for the chemical industry in the north, we should all look to the south-west - as Mr Allen notes. An inventory of Okeman's works near Poole in Dorset, dated November 1583, records 55 hogsheads of copperas, along with the equipment for manufacturing alum and copperas. Yours sincerely, From Ms Priscilla Gadzinski Sir: In his article on copperas, Tim Allen writes that 'copperas (ferrous sulphate) has nothing at all to do with copper . . .' This caught my eye because I live about 20 miles from old copper mines in Strafford and Vershire, Vermont. Copper and copperas were associated here, and live on in local place names - Copperas Hill, for example. Encyclopedia Britannica 1958 says 'cupri rose, the flower of copper, a term formerly synonymous with vitriol and applied to the sulphates of copper, iron (ferrous) and zinc . . . is now applied exclusively to ferrous sulphate . . .' So copperas did originally have something to do with copper - hence the name. Yours sincerely, From Mr Ray Martin Sir: Tim Allen writes that many modern chemical factories are built on or near old copperas works 'such as the GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical works at Deptford'. I believe he may mean Dartford. Dartford is the site both of a GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical facility and also of gunpowder works dating back to at least the Elizabethan period. As a GlaxoSmithKline employee of nearly 40 years, I am unaware that either Wellcome (the previous company based at Dartford) or Glaxo ever had a factory at Deptford. Yours sincerely, Tim Allen replies: Chemical industries certainly originated in the south of England. The North Yorkshire copperas industry was in fact established by Richard Laycolt, who had formerly worked at copperas works in Dorset with Cornelius De Vos. Alum and copperas manufacture were established in Dorset by the 1570s. Ms Gadzinski is quite correct about the etymology of the name copperas. Mr Martin is also correct about Dartford. Lord of the ringsFrom Mr Fred Mustill Sir: After a visit to Kinver Edge in Worcestershire, there is little doubt in my mind where Tolkien got his inspiration for hobbit holes ('Lord of the Hrungs', June). There are numerous dry and well-drained dwellings there, hewn into the soft sandstone cliffs. They are nothing like Saxon sunken-floored dwellings - which David Hinton suggests may have the inspiration - but are true subterranean houses with large doors, windows, and chimneys. In fact, they are just as Tolkien described hobbit holes. There are even pine trees there, just as in Tolkien's drawings of Hobbiton. From the hill top at Kinver Edge, Tolkien's home ground on the southern outskirts of the Black Country can be seen. The countryside here is full of small, rounded sandstone hills ideal for underground houses. In Kinver Edge there is a large underground factory which I believe manufactured aero engines during the Second World War. Yours sincerely, From Mr Andrew Gough Sir: In the epic poem Beowulf, the hero Beowulf did not cut off the hand of Grendel, but ripped it off with his bare hands; and the combat does not take place in a barrow - like Frodo's battle with the barrow-wight in The Lord of the Rings - but in a meadhall, a place used for feasting. The closest combat in Beowulf to anything in Tolkien's fiction is probably the contest between the hero and a dragon. The dragon had been terrorising a region and storing its booty gained from its ravages in a barrow, where it had taken up residence. This is very similar to the contest between the heroes of The Hobbit and a dragon which had similarly been terrorising a region and storing its hoard in a hollow mountain where it had taken up residence. In both works the slayer of the dragon is not the main character, but a secondary figure in the narrative. Comparison of the dates of publication of The Hobbit and Tolkien's essay Beowulf: the monsters and the critics - respectively 1937 and 1939 - suggests that Tolkien was at least thinking about, if not actively writing both of these compositions in the same period of time. Yours sincerely, Undervalued museumsFrom Mr Philip Wise Sir: George Lambrick is right to raise the issue of 'undervalued museums' (Issues, August). The state of archaeology in museums is as parlous as I have known it in nearly 20 years. The list of museums suffering cuts is lengthening and many famous institutions are mere shadows of their former selves, Stoke-on-Trent being perhaps the most serious casualty. But it is wrong to lay the blame solely on 'best value' or on purely economic causes. The truth is that those of us who are concerned about museum archaeology have failed to capitalise on the current popular interest in the subject. This may be seen at Stoke-on-Trent where the enthusiasm generated by a Time Team programme on the 18th century pottery industry failed to ward off the cuts. So what is to be done? In some museums 'Renaissance in the Regions' may enable archaeologists to undertake more outreach work in marginal and marginalised communities. The extension of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, making it a fully national scheme in England, will likewise be beneficial. Although I have my doubts, there may even be opportunities for field archaeologists 'to collaborate more inventively with national and local museums' as George Lambrick suggests. However, there is something that we can all do to improve the situation. A short letter to a museum expressing appreciation of good service can be of immense value to the recipient. Increasingly those charged with assessing public services, especially Best Value inspectors, take notice of the comments of users. The more people who demonstrate their support for a particular archaeological museum, the more difficult it is to cut its services. Yours sincerely, We welcome letters from readers. They may be emailed to Mike Pitts the Editor at editor@britarch.ac.uk or faxed to 01904 671384. They may be edited. |
CBA web:British ArchaeologyFebruary 2000 CBA BriefingFieldwork CBA homepage |
