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May Day history and folklore

May 1, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

image: [ Morris men making merry ]

In medieval times, May Day was often celebrated by young men and women dancing on the village green around a specially-decorated tree called a maypole.

The branches of a slender tree were cut off, coloured ribbons tied to the top and the revellers held on to the ends of the ribbons and danced. Some villages still carry on the tradition today.

Before the dancing began there was also a procession led by a woman appointed May Queen for the day. Sometimes she was accompanied by a May King, who dressed in green to symbolise springtime and fertility.


[ image: The maypole was a symbol of fertility]
The maypole was a symbol of fertility

In Germany, it was the tradition that a fir tree was cut down on May Eve by young unmarried men. The branches were removed and it was decorated and set up in village square. The tree was guarded all night to prevent it being stolen by the men of a neighbouring village. If the guard was foolish enough to fall asleep the going ransom rate for a maypole was a good meal and a barrel of beer.

A similar festival existed in ancient Rome called Floralia, which took place at around the end of April and was dedicated to the Flower Goddess Flora. On May 1, offerings were made the goddess Maia, after which the month of May is named.

Pagan groups call the fertility festival by its Celtic name of Beltane.

The church in the middle ages tolerated the May Day celebrations but the Protestant Reformation of the 17th century soon put a stop to them. The Puritans were outraged at the immorality that often accompanied the drinking and dancing – and Parliament banned maypoles altogether in 1644.

But when Charles II was restored to the throne a few years later, people all over the country put up maypoles as a celebration and a sign of loyalty to the crown.

May Day had a boost in popularity again in the 19th century when the Victorians seized on it as a “rustic delight”. But many of the significant pagan aspects of the day were ignored by our strait-laced ancestors and instead of a fertility rite, dancing around the maypole became a children’s game.

For traditionalists other things to do on May Day include getting up before dawn and going outside to wash your face in dew – according to folklore this keeps the complexion beautiful.

“Bringing in the May” also involves getting up very early, gathering flowers, making them into garlands and then giving them to your friends to wear. If you are feeling particularly charitable, folklore advises that it is good time to make up a “May basket” of flowers to take to someone who needs cheering up.

HisTOURies UK
Mystical Landscape, Magical Tours 

Posted in England facts, english culture, English Heritage, folklore, May Day History | Leave a Comment »

Crop Circle Season Starts in Wiltshire 2012

April 30, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

The first formation to be reported in 2012. It was first reported on Sunday 15th April and is in oilseed rape (canola/colza) measuring approx. 140 feet in diameter. A pretty 12 pointed double flower at Lurkeley Hill on the outskirts of the village of East Kennett close to Marlborough in Wiltshire

East Kennett, Wiltshire
Crop Circle 2012
 This is a beautiful pattern to open the 2012 season, although because we were unable to photograph it straight away (the pictures here were taken when the formation was approximately 5 days old), we assume the plants have sprung back up quite a lot. 

Follow our Blogs and on Twitter for all the latest Crop Circle news (https://twitter.com/#!/HisT0URies)

Wiltshire Crop Circles

In the early 1970’s Crop circles used to be unexplained patterns that were generally found in corn fields – hence the terminology ‘corn circles’. However, in more recent years teams of ‘circle-makers’ within the South of England have openly admitted creating some of these fantastic formations, and have constructed them in crops as diverse as Linseed and Rapeseed.

Most frequently these art forms have appeared in Wiltshire near ancient monuments that are themselves considered to be built on sites of powerful natural energies. Many people believe that it’s no coincidence that the phenomenon appears close to these ancient sites, and some have even reported crop circles forming in under 20 seconds under incandescent or brightly coloured balls of light.

Whatever you choose to believe about the crop circle phenomenon, there is no doubt that the circles are responsible for attracting huge amounts of media attention, which consequently results in thousands of visitors coming to Wiltshire every year in order to catch a glimpse of some of the more spectacular ones.

Link: http://www.wccsg.com
Link:  http://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/

Needless to say we will be offering guided tours of all the best formations in the Wiltshire throughout 2012

HisTOURies UK
Mystical Landscape, Magical Tours

Posted in 2012 crop circles, Avebury, crop circles, Stonehenge, visit wiltshire, wessex, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Crop Circles | Leave a Comment »

History Tours. The Chalke Valley History Festival 2012

April 9, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

The Chalke Valley History Festival is planning to launch a series of History Tours in 2012, some in conjunction with the Natural High travel company.

We want to capitalise on our relationship with this country’s most compelling and authoritative historians by offering some as guides for historic tours and holidays.

Both dates and itineraries are yet to be confirmed, as are costs.  However, we are very interested to know whether there is demand for the idea from those who have enjoyed our Festival.

These Chalke Valley History Tours will vary between a few days and a week’s duration, and will be of general rather than specialist interest.

Below are some of the initial tours we are hoping to organise in our first programme of History Tours.  If you would like to learn more about them, please do let us know on info@cvhf.org.uk

THE INDIAN MUTINY
led by Professor Saul David
It began as a mutiny of East India Company sepoys in Meerut in May 1857 and was only contained after the fall of Gwalior a year later.  It rocked the British Empire to its foundations and led to the downfall of the Company.  This tour, by the world’s leading authority on the subject, will tell the story of the Indian Mutiny by visiting its main sites amidst the drama of central India.

Saul David is Professor of War Studies at the University of Buckingham and a specialist in the wars of the Victorian period.  He is particularly well placed to lead this tour; not only is he well-known and popular television historian, the Indian Mutiny was the subject matter of his PhD, and his subsequent book is considered the definitive history of this dark episode from the Raj.

ANCIENT ROME
led by Tom Holland
Was it the greatest empire the world has ever seen?  Certainly, it lasted almost a thousand years and incorporated, at its zenith, most of the known world.  This tour will focus on the city of Rome and those towns to the south, Pompeii and Herculaneum, recapturing the spirit and glory of Ancient Rome.

Tom Holland is an award-winning and highly acclaimed historian of antiquity.  Rubicon, his book on the rise and fall of the Roman Republic, was an international best-seller and was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize.  He is currently working on a new book about the first Emperors.  A brilliant raconteur, Tom Holland is working exclusively for Chalke Valley History Holidays.

THE ZULU WARS
led by Dr Peter Caddick-Adams
The Battle of Isandlwana and the defence of Rorke’s Drift are two of the most dramatic events in the British Imperial story.  For the victors of each, both were triumphs over incredible odds; at Isandlwana, it was the Zulus who won the day, while at Rorke’s Drift, it was the British, in one of the most astonishing last stands in British history.  At both, many men on both sides showed incredible courage.  This tour to some of the most unspoiled battlefields in the world, will tell the story and characters of a war that resonates still to this day, and against the captivating landscape of South Africa.

Peter Caddick-Adams is the doyen of battlefield guides.  Learning his craft from the legendary Richard Holmes, he also chose Battlefield Tourism as the subject matter for his PhD.  Since then, he has worked with British and American armed forces on numerous staff rides, as well as guided politicians and leading public figures around some of the best-known battlefields in Europe and further afield.  Quite simply, Peter Caddick-Adams is one of the very best Battlefield Guides we have.

D-DAY & THE BATTLE FOR NORMANDY 1944
led by James Holland
The Battle for Normandy was one of the fiercest battles ever fought, with higher daily casualty rates than were suffered at the Somme, Passchendaele or Verdun.  From the landings themselves to the bitter fighting as the Allies inched inland, this is a tour that will include little-known sites and bunkers as well as some of the more iconic beaches and D-Day locations.  Told with a mass of anecdotes and new, searing, analysis, this will be a comprehensive guide to the D-Day battlefields, and set to the backdrop of the glorious Normandy countryside, with its wonderful food, wine and calvados.

James Holland is one of the country’s leading authorities on the Second World War, and has written and broadcast on the Battle of Britain and Dams Raid amongst other subjects. With an encyclopaedic knowledge and understanding of the war, he has also conducted Staff Rides for the military and a number of historic tours around many of the Second World War battlefields.

The excellent Chalke Valley History Festival 26th June – 1st July 2012 – http://www.cvhf.org.uk/

HisTOURies UK
Mystical Landscape, Magical Tours

Posted in Chalke Valley History Festival, events in wiltshire, histories, History, history tours, visit wiltshire, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Heritage | Leave a Comment »

Museum was ‘so close to history’

April 2, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

A major West museum which last week feared it would have to close in a funding crisis has been saved and will be better than ever thanks to a whopping £370,000 lottery bonanza.

The Wiltshire Heritage Museum has been awarded the cash by the Heritage Lottery Fund at the end of a month which started with local council chiefs refusing its pleas for more cash.

The lottery money will not only save the museum’s immediate future, but create a new gallery focusing on its prize collections of Bronze Age artefacts.

The Devizes-based museum has long been recognised as housing one of Britain’s most important prehistoric collections outside of London, but after Wiltshire Council refused to increase its annual grant, raised the level of council tax the museum had to pay and reinforced a costly pensions deal, the museum said redundancies would follow and the museum could end up being mothballed. But now the future is bright for the museum after the successful lottery bid, which has been made as part of the beneficial ripple effect of the £25million plan to revive the visitor experience at Stonehenge.

Museum chairman Negley Harte said “We are delighted as this project is vital for the future sustainability of the museum. “The grants from the HLF and English Heritage will enable us to develop this new gallery to tell the stories of this unique collection in a more engaging way. It will bring more visitors to the museum, help us with our battle to make the museum financially sustainable and bring economic development to Devizes,” he added. The new gallery will tell the story of the people who built and used the world renowned monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury. The new Prehistoric Galleries will provide an opportunity to display for the first time in generations the unique gold and amber finds from Wiltshire that date back to the Bronze Age, over 4,000 years ago. “This was a time of shaman and priests, learning and culture and contacts across Europe.

The museum will be able to build on its existing learning and outreach programme, and inspire local people and visitors to become engaged and informed about the prehistoric landscapes of Wiltshire,” added a museum spokesman. Regional Heritage Lottery Fund boss Richard Bellamy said the links between the museum at Devizes and Wiltshire’s famous Neolithic sites were key. “These Neolithic and Bronze Age collections provide a fascinating insight into our prehistoric past, and they have the potential to play a key role in telling the wider story of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site,” he said.

Source: http://www.thisisbath.co.uk

HisTOURies UK
Mysical Landscape, Magical Tors

Posted in Avebury, English Heritage, events in wiltshire, histories, Stonehenge, Stonehenge private tours, wessex, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Heritage | Leave a Comment »

Wiltshire Bronze Age artefacts put on show

March 31, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

Bronze Age items which were excavated in Wiltshire200 years ago are to go on display in the county after spending

A picture of a gold bronze age diamond shaped lozenge found in Wiltshire

A picture of a gold bronze age diamond shaped lozenge found in Wiltshire

recent years in a bank vault.

The Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes, which had been at risk of closure, has been awarded a £370,000 lottery grant to create a new gallery.

The new Prehistoric Galleries will display Wiltshire’s gold and amber finds dating back to before 2,000 BC.

Museum director David Dawson said he was “absolutely delighted”.

“The best thing is we’ve got completely unique gold items from the time of Stonehenge and we’ve been able to put those on display for the first time in generations,” he said.

‘More visitors’

“It was excavated almost 200 years ago but it’s been buried away in bank vaults for the last few generations – simply because we’ve not been able to display it.

“We haven’t had the security in place but this lottery cash means that we’ll be able to.”

The museum currently receives a grant of £35,500 per year from Wiltshire Council.

But last month, the council rejected the museum’s request to increase its grant despite the trustees claiming it could run out of cash within two years.

Negley Harte, the museum chairman, said the new gallery would be “vital for the future sustainability of the museum”.

“It will bring more visitors to the museum and help us with our battle to make the museum financially sustainable.”

Link Sourc: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-17553249
Link: http://www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk/
Link: http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/
Linl: http://www.HisTOURies.co.uk

HisTOURies UK
Mystical Landscape, Magical Tours 

Posted in Archaeologists, british history, prehistory, salisbury museum, visit wiltshire, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Heritage | Leave a Comment »

Hoard of Roman coins found near Roman Baths in Bath

March 23, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

More than 30,000 Roman coins were found by archaeologists working in Bath in 2007, it has been revealed.

The silver coins are believed to date from 270AD and have been described as the fifth largest UK hoard ever found.

The coins were found close to the Roman Baths

The coins were found close to the Roman Baths

The coins are fused together and were sent to the British Museum. Conservators are expected to take at least a year to work through them.

A campaign has now been started at the Roman Baths to try to raise £150,000 to acquire and display them.

The size of the find is not as large as the Frome Hoard in April 2010 when more than 53,500 coins were discovered by metal detectorist Dave Crisp near Frome in Somerset.

The coins found in this hoard date from a similar time and are thought to be the largest ever discovered in a Roman town in the UK.

Roman Baths spokesman Stephen Clews said: “We’ve put in a request for a formal valuation and then hope to buy the coins to display them at the baths.

“At the time there was a lot of unrest in the Roman Empire so there may be some explanation for why the coins were hidden away.

“The find is also unusual as it was discovered by professional archaeologists as opposed to an amateur using a metal detector,” he added.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-17480016

HisTOURies UK 

Posted in Archaeologists, archaeology, bath and stonehenge tours, bath tours, british history, roman baths, Romans, UK Tourism updates, wessex | Leave a Comment »

Who was St.Patrick ?

March 17, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17th, the saint’s religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. On St. Patrick’s Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast–on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

St. Patrick and the First St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Saint Patrick, who lived during the fifth century, is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. Born in Roman Britain, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16. He later escaped, but returned to Ireland and was credited with bringing Christianity to its people. In the centuries following Patrick’s death (believed to have been on March 17, 461), the mythology surrounding his life became ever more ingrained in the Irish culture: Perhaps the most well known legend is that he explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock.

Since around the ninth or 10th century, people in Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Patrick on March 17. Interestingly, however, the first parade held to honor St. Patrick’s Day took place not in Ireland but in the United States. On March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched throughNew York City. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as with fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.

Source: http://www.history.com

HisTOURies UK 

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World’s oldest sea-going boat to sail again – Dover team rebuilds Bronze Age boat with ancient tools to understand how people crossed the Channel in time of Stonehenge

March 9, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

The world’s oldest sea-going boat, the Dover Bronze Age Boat is to sail again 3500 years after it crossed the English Channel.

A new project, ‘Boat 1550 BC’ aims to rebuild the boat, which had lain hidden under the centre of Dover for 3,500 years until it was rediscovered in 1992 during the construction of an underpass.

The oak-built boat sailed across the Channel at a time when Stonehenge was still in use, and before Tutankhamun became ruler of Egypt.

The team will use Bronze Age tools and ship-building techniques to reconstruct the Dover Bronze Age Boat, a vessel thought to have crossed the Channel in 1500BCThe team will use Bronze Age tools and ship-building techniques to reconstruct the Dover Bronze Age Boat, a vessel thought to have crossed the Channel in 1500BC

The half-size replica will take two years to construct The half-size replica will take two years to construct

The world's oldest sea-going boat: it will take two and a half years to reconstruct in a half-size replicaThe world’s oldest sea-going boat: it will take two and a half years to reconstruct in a half-size replica

The project aims to understand how people were able to cross the Channel in 1550 BC, using ancient boatbuilding techniques and Bronze Age tools to construct a half-size replica boat.

The boat will launch in the sea when it’s completed in two and a half years time, and will be part of a touring exhibition which visit France, Belgium and the UK to mark the 20th anniversary of the boat’s discovery.

The boat was located during the construction of an underpass and sparked several frantic days of rescue excavations to save it from destruction.

It was removed from the site in sections and rebuilt in the museum.

Canterbury Archaeological Trust Deputy Director, Peter Clark, said: ‘I have been working towards this moment for more than ten years. It’s very exciting. As the days and weeks go by we will learn so much about how our ancestors were able to build such a remarkable vessel.’

The Dover Bronze Age boat on display in a museum. Researchers aim to find out how people crossed the channel in 1550BC The Dover Bronze Age boat on display in a museum. Researchers aim to find out how people crossed the channel in 1550BC

The boat was located during the construction of an underpass and sparked several frantic days of rescue excavations to save it from destructionThe boat was located during the construction of an underpass and sparked several frantic days of rescue excavations to save it from destruction

The researchers will reconstruct the boat using ancient techniques and Bronze Age tools to understand how people crossed the channel in the time of Stonehenge The researchers will reconstruct the boat using ancient techniques and Bronze Age tools to understand how people crossed the channel in the time of Stonehenge

‘We can only speculate about how often people crossed the channel and how close were the ties, but one thing is certain, this project will bring the modern communities in Northern France, Belgium and England just that little bit closer together.’

Link Source:  http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2110578/Worlds-oldest-sea-going-boat-sail-scientists-rebuild-Dover-Bronze-Age-Boat-ancient-tools-understand-people-crossed-channel-1500BC.html

HisTOURies UK –  Bringing History alive

 

Posted in archaeology, british history, Stonehenge, wessex, Wiltshire | Leave a Comment »

Marlborough Downs selected as Nature Improvement Area

February 28, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

The Marlborough Downs is to be part of a government project to create wildlife havens.

Twelve places out of 76 in England that applied to become Nature Improvement Areas have been chosen.

Defra said establishing dewponds would encourage birds, newts and other amphibians

Defra said establishing dewponds would encourage birds, newts and other amphibians

The project aims to restore habitats and encourage local communities to get involved with nature.

The work will be carried out by partnerships involving community groups, conservation organisations and landowners.

The 12 areas will share £7.5m of government funding.

Defra said establishing dewponds would encourage birds, newts and other amphibians and help re-establish viable grazing.

The Wiltshire project is the only farmer-led scheme in the country to have won government funding.

‘Educating people’

Environment Minister Richard Benyon visited the site on Monday.

He said: “We’re standing beside a classic Wiltshire downs dewpond.

“What’s really exciting about what we’re announcing today is that this is going to be a feature people will see right across the Wiltshire downs.”

Chris Musgrave, estate manager at Temple farm in Rockley, near Marlborough, said: “All 41 farmers said they would be interested in joining together in terms of having wildlife corridors running through their estates, dewponds linking chalk grassland and also involving the community as well.

“I think if you were walking down the Ridgeway, which is a spine going right through this area, you would see dewponds, you would see wildlife corridors.

“It’s educating people, it’s getting people involved.”

Link source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-17176283

HisTOURies UK

 

Posted in countryside, England facts, events in wiltshire, Marlborough Downs, visit wiltshire, Wiltshire | Leave a Comment »

Prehistoric BBQ Leftovers Found – Amesbury Discovery

February 22, 2012 by HisTOURies U.K Tours

Around 8,000 years ago, prehistoric hunters killed an aurochs and their grilling techniques were frozen in time.

THE GIST

Remains of a butchered and cooked female aurochs (a prehistoric cow) have been identified from a Stone Age Netherlands site.
The hunters appear to have cooked the meat over an open fire, eating the bone marrow first and then the ribs.
Aurochs hunting was common at the site for many years, but humans drove the large horned animals to extinction

aurochs bones AmesburyStone Age barbecue consumers first went for the bone marrow and then for the ribs, suggest the leftovers of an outdoor 7,700-year-old meaty feast described in the July issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The remains, found in the valley of the River Tjonger, Netherlands, provide direct evidence for a prehistoric hunting, butchering, cooking and feasting event. The meal occurred more than 1,000 years before the first farmers with domestic cattle arrived in the region.

Although basic BBQ technology hasn’t changed much over the millennia, this prehistoric meal centered around the flesh of an aurochs, a wild Eurasian ox that was larger than today’s cows. It sported distinctive curved horns.

Another big difference is how meat was obtained then.

NEWS: Mammoths Roasted in Prehistoric Kitchen Pit

“The animal was either caught in a pitfall trap and then clubbed on the head, or shot with a bow and arrow with flint point,” co-author Wietske Prummel, an associate professor of archaeozoology at the University of Groningen, told Discovery News.

Prummel and colleague Marcel Niekus pieced together what happened by studying an unearthed flint blade found near aurochs bones. These show that after the female aurochs was killed, hunters cut its legs off and sucked out the marrow.

According to the study, the individuals skinned the animal and butchered it, reserving the skin and large hunks of meat for carrying back to a nearby settlement. Chop marks left behind by the flint blade show how the meat was meticulously separated from the bones and removed.

Burn marks reveal that the hunters cooked the meaty ribs, and probably other smaller parts, over an open fire. They ate them right at the site, “their reward for the successful kill,” Prummel said.

The blade, perhaps worn down from so much cutting, was left behind and wound up slightly scorched in the cooking fire.

Niekus told Discovery News, “The people who killed the animal lived during the Late Mesolithic (the latter part of the middle Stone Age). They were hunter-gatherers and hunting game was an important part of their subsistence activities.”

The researchers suspect these people lived in large settlements and frequented the Tjonger location for aurochs hunting. After the Iron Age, the area was only sparsely inhabited — probably due to the region becoming temporarily waterlogged — until the Late Medieval period.

NEWS: Pre-Stonehenge Megaliths Linked to Death Rituals

Aurochs must have been good eats for Stone Age human meat lovers, since other prehistoric evidence also points to hunting, butchering and feasting on these animals. A few German sites have yielded aurochs bones next to flint tool artifacts.

Aurochs bones have also been excavated at early dwellings throughout Europe. Bones for red deer, roe deer, wild boar and elk were even more common, perhaps because the aurochs was such a large, imposing animal and the hunters weren’t always successful at killing it.

At a Mesolithic site in Onnarp, Sweden, for example, scientists found the remains of aurochs that had been shot with arrows. The wounded animals escaped their pursuers before later dying in a swamp.

The aurochs couldn’t escape extinction, though.

“It became extinct due to the destruction of the habitat of the aurochs since the arrival of the first farmers in Europe about 7500 years ago,” Prummel said. “These farmers used the area inhabited by aurochs for their dwellings, arable fields and meadows. The aurochs gradually lost suitable habitat.”

The last aurochs died in 1627 at a zoo in Poland.

Source: http://news.discovery.com/history/ancient-barbeque-aurochs-110627.html

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Posted in Amesbury, Archaeologists, archaeology, aurochs bones, british history, english culture, English Heritage, neolithic, prehistory, sightseeing, stone age, Stonehenge, visit wiltshire, wessex | Leave a Comment »

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