School’s Out!
It’s been a while since I posted. The last term of law school was insanely
hectic, but it’s all done now, and I have the next year (minus the time I need
to spend preparing for and then writing the licensing exam) to focus on my
writing. I began that year with a trip
to the UK
to research and visit a variety of sites that I use or have used in my
historical fiction. Dad came along and
will be acting as driver, guide, reader, and photographer.
A
Visit to the Museum
of Somerset (Thursday, May 16th, 2013
Today, my Uncle Charlie’s friend, Mike, arranged
for us to have a tour of the Museum of Somerset in Taunton. The museum building was originally built as a
Norman castle, and was used in the twelfth century civil war (between Stephen
and Matilda). It was then used by the
local bishops, and later by the courts of assize (travelling courts). It’s been a museum since 1870, and recently
underwent three years of restoration. If
you’re ever in Taunton,
I would highly recommend a visit. It has
a lot of hands-on exhibits, a number of audio stations, and some tactile games
for the kids. Best of all, it’s
completely free.
In
the Great Hall
We met up with Mary, who works at the
museum, and were led into what was originally the great hall of the
castle. This space was full of early artefacts,
ranging from ammonites the size of platters, to the only complete skeleton of a
Plesiosaur, an early deep-sea predator that Mary described as looking like the
Loch Ness monster. There were also a
handful of large bones from a dinosaur that seems to be unique to Somerset;
it’s called Camelotia because it was found near the presumed location of Avalon—I’m
serious!
At the far end of the hall, just below the
balcony so you could look down on it from upstairs, was a Roman mosaic,
depicting the story of Dido and Aeneas.
What makes this mosaic so special is the fact that it is almost
completely intact. Mary explained that
one of Rome’s finest artists would likely have
been brought to Somerset
to make this for a wealthy Roman landowner.
Settlement
in Somerset
 |
| A Roman mosaic
depicting the story of Dido and Aeneas (Museum
of Somerset, Taunton). |
Next, we made our way upstairs, passing an
earn that was found under the museum during restorations (it contained 52,503 Roman
coins!), and made our way along the gallery, looking at the things early man
had left behind: flint arrowheads; axes; ceramic bowls and beads; a piece of
jade, which suggests there was trade between Somerset and Europe; and, perhaps
most impressively, a wooden axe. This
last was likely made for a child—as a toy so the boy could copy his father—and
was preserved only because of the amount of peat in Somerset, which prevents
wooden objects from rotting away.
In the Roman gallery, Mary showed us the museum’s
collection of Roman broaches. These were
made of everything from bronze to Welsh gold, which was a lovely dark gold
colour. Then she brought us to a case
that contained the bodies of a woman and her dog. The woman was about five foot four, and the
dog she was buried with was about the size of a golden retriever. Mary said she felt very close to this woman,
because she spent two days with one of the curators helping to lay her out
properly in the case (originally, the woman’s torso and legs were laid out
facing in different directions). Apparently,
it wasn’t common for people to be buried with their pets, so this grave was a
curiosity, besides being touching.
The
English Civil War and Monmouth’s Rebellion
Next, we moved on to my favourite part of
the tour: The English Civil War gallery and the Rebellion Room. Taunton
changed hands a number of times during the English Civil War, moving from
Royalist hands to parliamentarian control and back again. Lord Edward Wyndham, a local land owner, was
involved in a number of negotiations between the Royalists and Parliamentarians,
and even managed to negotiate the surrender after the Siege of Dunster Castle,
which was concluded without bloodshed.
Later in the day, I was able to handle a number of his letters at the
Somerset Heritage Centre and Archives (again, thanks to Mike). The most interesting artefact in this room
was—believe it or not—a skillet. I’m not
big on historic cookware, but what made this interesting was the inscription on
the handle: “C U B true to the King.”
Seventeenth-century text-speak. ;)
The Rebellion Room is dedicated to artefacts
from the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 (also called the Pitchfork Rebellion, since
most of the rebels were farmers). The
supporters of James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II,
were tried and executed by Judge Jefferies in the Bloody Assizes of 1685. The Rebellion Room is the cell in which they
were held while awaiting their sentences.
Written on the walls are some of their stories—one man, who was accused
of firing the shot that warned the king’s men, was blamed by the women who came
to visit other prisoners, though he protested until the day he was hanged that
he had not fired the shot; a surgeon who was visiting Taunton when James Scott
was declared king joined the pretender and was later transported; and a man who
did not fight but whom had been seen shaking the hand of the Duke of Monmouth
was tried for treason and executed. “Sedgemoor,” the first story in my collection Beyond Reason, is an account of the
final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion from a Royalist perspective.
My favourite artefact in the Rebellion Room
was a Royalist sword. It was the story
behind the sword that made it interesting: a royalist soldier had made
“unwanted advances” to a young girl’s mother, so the girl took the soldier’s
sword and killed him. The royalists deemed
the man’s behaviour dishonourable, and let the girl keep the sword as a
souvenir, despite the fact that her family supported Monmouth.
Thanks to Mike and Mary for arranging
today, and to Dad and Uncle Charlie for struggling through seventeenth-century
manuscripts at the heritage centre—messy handwriting and pre-standardized spelling
makes for awkward reading! Dad and I
head to South Wales tomorrow to visit
family. I’ll post more about the trip
when internet access becomes available.
Check back soon!
