History Study 2021 January 2021: HAZARDOUS INDUSTRIES First meeting of the New, hopefully better, Year. It was a grim subject, Hazardous Industries, and some of our presentations were pretty horrifying. I think by the end of the meeting we were all thankful that, in spite of Covid lockdown, we live in these times and not in the Industrial Revolution or Victorian times. A very informative and interesting meeting, however. We covered Coal Mining (a full length 20 minute video), leather tanning, hat-making (mercury to help soften beaver skin produced the mad-hatter disease), textiles, chain making and the radium dial workers of US/Canada. This latter industry was one I have never heard of before – in the 1920s it became a fashion to paint watch and clock dials with luminous radium paint. In spite of the fact that the men working in the labs to produce the paint wore lead aprons and took other precautions, the girls painting the dials were told it was completely safe (including licking the tiny paint brushes to “point” them). The resulting illnesses were similar to “phossy jaw” in match making. For a while it was believed that radium gave you energy so it was put into drinks, toothpastes etc. and, liking the luminescent look, women bought radium cosmetics too. It is thought around 50 dial painters died but many more were made seriously ill and after protracted court cases were compensated, Chain making is another lesser-known industry – if you want to learn more look up the white slaves of Cradley Heath. This was a major “cottage” industry for women living in the black country in the late 19th century. Their forges were essentially in their back yards (slum housing of course), very lowly paid, taking their babies and children with them running around near in the dangerous conditions or slung on their backs or in hammocks from the ceiling, while the women worked 12 hours a day hammering 1000 tonnes of chain a week. Kath showed us some photos she had taken herself in Morocco of the leather tanning industry in modern times – an echo of how our UK industry would have been 100 years ago. Other members at the meeting said they had visited the same factory or others in India. Shameful to think that all the leather we buy today comes from conditions that should no longer exist. The video we saw of the 1866 Oaks (Barnsley) mining disaster was a first for our zoom meetings, as were the few short videos embedded in the Textiles PowerPoint presentation (not completely successful but almost). Our computer skills are expanding all the time. Sadly not all of our History members want to, or are able to, join Zoom Meetings. We do miss you all and are looking forward to the day when we can hold our face-to-face meetings and outings. Leather Tanners Chain Makers March 2021: PRIEST HOLES and HIDING PLACES We held another great meeting with a mix of talks, PowerPoints and videos, on the subject of Priest Holes and Hiding Places. There are a lot of sources for material on these topics so it is always interesting to see what our group members choose to bring to the meetings. First we covered the Hiding Places:- Minster Lovell Hall in Oxfordshire – legend has it that Francis Lovell had hidden there after the Battle of Stoke (1487) for years. A skeleton was found in the basement in 1718 but the rumour was largely dispelled. Another theory remains that after the battle when Francis (a close colleague of Richard III) disappeared, he was buried in All Hallows Church, Gedling, and lies under an alabaster slab – whilst the date can no longer be read it is said that the slab was originally dated 1487. Mortimer’s Hole under Nottingham Castle. Another local story is that of Queen Isabella (wife of Edward II) and Sir Roger Mortimer – self-appointed regents to the young Edward III after they deposed the King. By the time he reached the age of 18 young Edward took exception to the way his mother and Mortimer had allocated all regal powers to themselves. In 1330 when they were taking refuge in Nottingham Castle and by all accounts living lavishly, young Edward led a group of his loyal nobles via a secret passage through the caves and into the castle. Mortimer was arrested (and hung at Tyburn) and Queen Isabella imprisoned whilst Edward took on the crown. On the topic of Priest Holes, we watched a video about the life and work of Nicholas Owen. He was a carpenter by trade, a staunch catholic and lay brother of the Jesuits. Living in Elizabethan times when the Catholics were mercilessly hunted down, persecuted and hung for practicing their religion; Nicholas played a vital role in saving the lives of the many priests who travelled around the country holding secret meetings and services in the Great Houses of catholic families. He spent the last 18 years of his life as a travelling carpenter visiting those same houses and building priest-holes – ingenious hiding places where one or more catholic preachers could spend days or weeks hiding from their persecutors. Nicholas was eventually caught, imprisoned and tortured at the Tower of London and died there without giving up any names or locations of Catholics. In 1970 he was canonized by Pope Paul VI and now Saint Nicholas Owen is patron saint of Illusionists and escapologists. Hever Castle (the home of Anne of Cleves after Henry VIII discarded her). During Elizabeth I reign Sir Edward Waldgrove lived there and was imprisoned for being catholic. It is not surprising that three centuries on when the Astor Family restored the castle a priest hole was found as well as many passages into the unused towers. The Astors appear to have hidden their drinks cabinet in the priest hole. Then we had presentations about several of the great houses where Nicholas Owen priest holes can be found today – Baddesley Clinton (Owen adapted the sewerage system to create a priest hole), Harvington Hall (it has 7 priest holes including an large attic accessed only via a false fire place and through a series of doors. It is thought to have housed a printing press), and Coughton Court (the home of Robert Catesby, catholic leader of the Gunpowder Plot). The photo image shown here is of the priest hole at Coughton – accessed from the top of the coloured decoy secret rooms, the actual hiding place is at the lowest coloured point. Coughton Court Harvington As ever these presentations inspired us to dream about trips out and about. Until then, however, more and more videos are springing up online about these places – the Nottingham Caves, Nottingham Castle restoration, the Great Houses listed above and priest holes. Do take a look for yourselves. Next month we meet to share information about the Ancient Guilds – please let me know if you would like to join us – we have a few new members - the more the merrier. Lynne April 2021: MEDIEVAL GUILDS Before I start, I want to thank our wonderful members for the work they do each month to make our zoom sessions interesting, varied and dynamic. We have even had two instances recently when members could not attend the meeting at the last minute but still sent me their presentations for the benefit and enjoyment of the group. How dedicated is that ? In April we discussed Medieval Guilds, the opening presentation being about when and why these emerged in Europe and England around the 11th Century, initially as Merchant Guilds but then later with the addition of Crafts Guilds. Even quite early on Paris boasted 120 Guilds and today London still has 110. However they did decline in numbers and in purpose from the 18th Century, nowadays remaining mostly to link members together socially and professionally and as charitable educational institutions. Then we had presentations on women in guilds, The Hanseatic League (a loose Trade Agreement across the coastline of the Baltic and North Sea), and some of the beautiful Guildhalls that still can be visited today. Finally we had the history of some specific Guilds – Cordwainers (footwear), Scriveners (the Mysterie of the Writers of the Court Letter and, since its incorporation, as Master Wardens and Assistants of the Company of Scrivenors of the Cittie of London), and the Watermen and Lightermen – these were the men who provided transport through London on the River Thames, both as water taxis but also to carry cargo up river to warehouses from the ocean going craft delivering goods into England. A major element of the Guild system was the apprenticeship scheme with young boys (mainly) training under a Master craftsmen for many years hoping to become a Journeyman in his own right and eventually even a Master. Lynne May2021: BRITISH (QUIRKY) TRADITIONS This had the potential to be very frivolous (think of cheese rolling and welling wanging), and whilst it was entertaining we found some serious history and some mysteries buried in the myths of yonderyear. On the dark side was the Wickerman, shrouded in myth but still powerful enough for one to have be built and rebuilt on the side of the M5. Likewise the Lewes Bonfire could be a tale of a particularly popular and large Guy Fawkes celebration but which hides a history of religious persecution, rebellion and riots. The strength of local feeling led to 7 Bonfire Societies in Lewes and 30 more across the whole of Sussex being set up with Guy Fawkes season spread across 10 weeks September to November.