Singing up the Country Reveals That Bob Trubshawhas Been Researching a Surprising Variety of Different Topics Since His Last Book Six Years Ago
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Singing Up the Country reveals that Bob Trubshawhas been researching a surprising variety of different topics since his last book six years ago. From Anglo-Saxon place-names to early Greek philosophy - and much in between - he creates an interwoven approach to the prehistoric landscape, creating a ‘mindscape’ that someone in NeolithicBritain might just recognise. This is a mindscapewhere sound, swans and rivers help us to understand the megalithic monuments. Continuing from where scholarship usually stops and using instead the approaches of storytelling, the final chapter weaves this wide variety of ideas together as a ‘songline’ for the Aveburylandscape. This re-mythologising of the land follows two ‘dreamtime’ ancestors along the Kennetvalley to the precursors of Aveburyhengeand SilburyHill. Few writers have Bob Trubshaw’sbreadth of knowledge combined with a mythopoeticability to construct a modern day story that re-enchants the landscape. Singing Up the Country will be an inspiration to all those interested in prehistory, mythology or the Neolithicmonuments of the World Heritage Site at Avebury. Previous books by Bob Trubshaw published by Heart of Albion: Explore Folklore Explore Mythology Sacred Places: Prehistory and popular imagination How to Write and Publish Local and Family History Successfully Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland Rutland Village by Village Good Gargoyle Guide: medieval carvings of Leicestershire and Rutland Leicestershire Legends retold by Black Annis Previous books edited by Bob Trubshaw published by Heart of Albion: Explore Phantom Black Dogs Singing Up the Country The songlinesof Aveburyand beyond Bob Trubshaw Heart of Albion Singing Up the Country: The songlinesof Aveburyand beyond Bob Trubshaw Cover photograph by Bob Trubshaw Sunrise at south entrance to Aveburyhengewith jackdaws, November 2007 Two ravens sit on Odin’sshoulders and speak into his ear all the news they see or hear. Their names are Hugin[thought] and Munin[memory]. He sends them out at dawn to fly over all the world and they return at dinner-time. As a result he gets to find out about many events. SnorriSturluson, thirteenth century ISBN978-1-905646-21-0 © Text copyright Bob Trubshaw2011 © Uncredited illustrations copyright Bob Trubshaw2011 © Other illustrations copyright of contributors 2011 The moral rights of the author and illustrators have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission from Heart of AlbionPress, except for brief passages quoted in reviews. Published by Heart of AlbionPress 113 High Street Avebury Marlborough Wiltshire SN81RF [email protected] Visit our web site: www.hoap.co.uk Printed in England by Booksprint Contents Prologue ix Preface x 1 Prehistoric wayfaring 1 2 Journeys with significance 14 3 Myths of place 25 4 The king alone stood on the mound 33 5 Do you ken the queen of the Kennet of her kithand kin? 44 6 By green hill to the broad ford 64 7 Anglo-Saxon sacred places 84 8 The hills are alive... 102 9 Swans and their celestial songs 115 10 The rivers of life and the cauldrons of creation 139 11 Towards a Kennetdreaming 155 12 A Kennetdreaming 160 References 175 Index 183 Acknowledgements Parts of this book draw heavily on the research of AndyCollins, MichaelDames, AlanGarner and the late MargaretGelling. In those sections I have listed their relevant publications but my debt to them is deeper – without pondering over their insightsI would not have been able to bring many of these ideas together. Understanding the prehistory of the upper Kennetvalley owes everything to the work of the many archaeologists who have excavated here – a full list would read almost like a who’swho of notable British archaeologists. Aveburyis largely how it looks today as a result of Alexander Keillerand, given his interest in early modern occultism, I hope he would at least partially approve of my approach. The published works of AubreyBurl, DavidField, Mark Gillings, JimLeary, JoshPollard, Andrew Reynoldsand their various collaborators (see References for details) have both given me an understanding of the prehistory of the area and also provided some limits on my imagination. I am grateful to DavidField for an emaildiscussion about rivers and sending a copy of the published version of his thesis. Thanks also to RosClealand Nick Snashallfor sharing their understanding of the Aveburyarchaeology and helpful discussions. My interpretations undoubtedly differ from all these academics – while their aim is broadly to use the evidence to establish what is probable, I have used their work more to avoid what is implausible. A number of people have, knowingly or otherwise, been of great help in the development of ideas presented here. To each of the following a big ‘thank you’. JamieBlackwaterfor, among much else, sharing his understanding of the spirits of place. JanetBordvery promptly offered a selection of photographs from the Fortean Picture Library archives. JillBourn for helping me understand place-names over the last twenty-or-so years, detailed discussions about Leicestershire and Rutland toponyms, and for loaning AnnCole’sthesis. Ben Ferneefor drawing my attention to the role of FrederickHockleyin promoting the idea of Holy Guardian Angels. Alan Haylockfor his splendid illustration of swans. Peter Knight for his detailed knowledge of West Kennettchambered long barrow. AlanLathamfor information about farmers buying and selling at different markets, following their fathers’ precedents. Heather Smith for bringing my attention to the Pearl poet. HelenWard for describing the singer at StOuenin Rouen. ShaunOgbournefor sharing relevant parts of his vast experience and knowledge of the Wiltshire landscape, and for unwittingly instigating this book – preparing a talk about prehistoric journeys for the WyvernDowsing Society (which he chairs) opened the proverbial floodgates to ideas which came together as this work. AlbyStone for his long-standing friendship and much needed advice on Proto-Indo- Europeanetymologies. He has helped me avoid several major errors – and pointed out that the dog was inexplicably missing – although any remaining blunders are mine. He probably does not entirely agree with the published version but we can agree to differ as only good friends can. AdamStout for being on a personal journey that seemingly started as a passenger when I edited At the Edge and going on to become a much better engine driver than I ever could be. Oh yes, also for most helpful discussions and encouragement. His comments on the draft of this book were pertinent, not least for his own keen interest in both Aveburyand the confluence of the Kennetand Thames at Reading. My discussion of the ‘otherness’ of the initial burials in West Kennettlong barrow incorporates some of Adam’sideas. Adamalso spotted the spectre of John Barrett’sideas of a ‘mobile Neolithic’ wandering, uncredited, in my opening chapters. In his 1994 book Fragments from Antiquity, Barrettwas the first to see the Neolithicpeople moving across a landscape made up of a myriad of places each with their own social and religious significances. This idea had become so integral to my own thinking that, truth to tell, I had forgotten its origin. Due thanks to John Barrett– and to Adamfor spotting my oversight. IanBrown has, as for many previous Heart of Albiontitles, provided some stunning illustrations; he also read a draft and offered a number of constructive suggestions, notably on the origins of Guinevere’sname. AlisonSkinner stepped in at the eleventh hour to provide much-needed proofreading and also corrected a few wonky facts. I am especially grateful to the various land wights of the upper Kennetvalley for ‘singing’ their songs to me – if only my hearing was more attuned to their ways this book would have been much better. The ghost of TedHugheswalks through this book in his manifestations as the twentieth century’smost insightful bird shaman; hearing a radio version of Cave Birds broadcast on 26 May 1975 was the first major WTFmoment in my life, and one which still resounds. The jackdaws nesting in the trees around this house, disturbed from time to time by rooks, noisily remind me that this alchemical drama continues, several thousand years ‘off key’. Lines from songs by LaurieAnderson, NicoCase and SamGenders have inspired short sections of the Kennetdreaming. The blessing for peace at the end of the final chapter is from the YajurVeda. Finally, my greatest thanks is to JudiHolliday, without whom this book would most certainly never have happened. Prologue Dear Diary Today Grandma and I went in the boat up the River Kennetto the White Lady’scountry. Grandma chanted lots of songs about the White Lady and swans and white dogs and bulls and many other things. Sometimes she sang too quietly for me to understand the words. We are going to stay here with lots and lots of other people for several nights. Grandma said next year when we come up the Kennetshe’lltell me why she chants the songs. I want her to tell me now but she won’t! Kenna OK, perhaps a young girl living around 3,500 BCEmight not have left a diary quite like that. Nevertheless, by the end of this book, I hope her Grandma’ssongs will make sense to us – although perhaps not in exactly the way young Kennamight have been told. To understand what such ‘songs’ of the upper Kennetvalley might have been back then we need to understand what early Neolithicpeople might have been thinking – especially their myths and legends. That requires some fairly wide-ranging rummaging around various academic specialisms, together with a certain amount of looking beyond the slowly-changing horizons of academic preconceptions, plus a modicum of imagination. My aim is not to create the most probable view of early Neolithicthinking – there are too many unknowns – but rather to re-create a viewpoint which, based on current scholarship, is plausible.