Posted on 08/18/2020 6:37:36 PM PDT by marshmallow
Among the finds are manuscripts possibly used to perform illegal Catholic masses, silk fragments and handwritten music
While most of England was on lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, archaeologist Matt Champion was working solo at Oxburgh Hall, a moated Tudor mansion in Norfolk.
As part of the site’s £6 million (roughly $7.8 million USD) roof restoration project, workers had lifted the floorboards in the estate’s attic for the first time in centuries. Probing the recesses beneath the boards with gloved fingertips, Champion expected to find dirt, coins, bits of newspapers and detritus that had fallen through the cracks. Instead, he discovered a veritable treasure trove of more than 2,000 items dating as far back as the 15th century.
The cache is one of the most remarkable “underfloor” archaeological finds ever made at a National Trust property, the British heritage organization says in a statement. Together, the objects offer a rich social history of the manor’s former residents.
Among the discoveries are the nests of two long-gone rats that built their homes out of scraps of Tudor and Georgian silks, wools, leather, velvet, satin and embroidered fabrics, reports Mark Bridge for the Times.
The critters also repurposed roughly 450-year-old fragments of handwritten music and parts of a book. A builder recently found the rest of the volume—a relatively intact 1568 copy of Catholic martyr John Fisher’s The Kynge’s Psalmes—in a hole in the attic.
Another worker discovered a rare item in the rubble underneath one of the attic’s eaves. Per the statement, the team collaborated with James Freeman, a medieval manuscripts specialist at Cambridge University Library, to identify the 600-year-old parchment fragment, still glimmering with gold leaf and bright blue ink, as part of the Latin Vulgate’s Psalm 39.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
How exciting.
Decades ago, I worked in the attic of my (then) house, built in 1911. I found a Portland Journal (Oregon) newspaper from the early 1940s. There was an editorial about the Nazi’s threat to bomb Britain. The paper’s writer dismissed the threat by saying it would be too evil, and that there was goodness in every man that would prevent Goering from bombing Britain.
Makes you wonder how many other treasures are lying under attic floors in other manors across the country.
1536- the year of three queens
Catherine of Aragon wsa Henry VIII's first and only legitmate wife.
That’s some shack.
“Makes you wonder how many other treasures are lying under attic floors in other manors across the country.”
Years ago I was interesting in metal detecting and was reading and learning on various websites.
I recall one guy telling the story of how one of his detecting buddies quit doing that, and would explore abandoned houses instead. But would still meet up with his detecting buddies at the bar to swap stories.
One day the guy came in and had one beer and bought a round for his buddies. Then told them that he was done with searching the old houses.
He sold his home that he had had forever and they never saw him again. His buddies like to think that he had found suitcases stuffed full of $100 bills and went to the Bahamas!
#5. Looks like “Lego Mansion”. Dig the tower on the left. (Sorry for the word “dig” but I was an archaeologist at one time. As the nuns used to say, “Old habits die hard”).
Looks likes it wants to eat you.
Must be a b**** to dust though.
Was there a Ford Tudor in the garage?
“Where’s the priest hole?”
Around back.
L
Glad there was never a convertible version, because, uh, punchline redacted.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing. That’s a great story, and I hope his friend did find a fortune, and lived happily ever after.
Nope. It was a real editorial.
Amazing!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.