Dr. Grissea Fox (who also writes as Emma Barrett-Brown) is an author and historian from Plymouth, Devon. Here she presents bite-sized portions of local history, folklore, and so called "dark" history on her Official Blog.
Hallsands - The Village that was Reclaimed by the Sea
In the Western Daily Mercury, 1917, it was reported that the village of Hallsands had “ceased to be” (1). This came after a mass of storms and horrific weather conditions rendered the village uninhabitable. Almost the entirety of the village was built on the shore-front and was engulfed by water, battered by storms, and destroyed. By the end of winter 1917, only one house in the entire village was left habitable. One house – from a population of 189. A stark and life-changing natural disaster which left the citizens of Hallsands facing the awful truth that this was, “The end of [their] village” and that they would have to “go elsewhere” (2)
These days, there’s not much left of the village. A few modern houses and an old guesthouse are perched up on the cliffs above and now make up what is still known as the village of Hallsands. There is a small beach cove and the ruins of the chapel on the hill. The path down is broken and unwalkable so the National Trust has installed a viewing platform for people to look down on the two remaining houses and the ruins of the rest. (3)This was a natural disaster caused by unnatural means. This disaster was completely man made. The BBC Devon website gives the details: from the spring of 1897 - 1901, 660,000 tonnes of material were dredged from the shorelines around the village to provide silt for the new expansion on the naval dock in Plymouth(3). It took 18 years for this dredging to herald the end for Hallsands. What’s more, the villagers tried to warn the men responsible more than once.
This was not just local news but was even reported nationally. In the Scotsman in 1903 an article appeared entitled “A Village Threatened.” (3) In this article a correspondent from Kingsbridge claimed that “for years, the contractor has been taking the beach shingles which rise up the terraces. […] he has also taken away a large amount of sand from the skerries which form the breakwater which protects the village”.
For much more in-depth info on what happened at Hallsands, look HERE
SOUTH HUISH - Quietly Abandoned
Another, much lesser known abandoned place in Devon is the village of South Huish. South Huish is a tiny village (and also a civil parish) out in the countryside near Kingsbridge. Not truly abandoned, there are now several homes on the land which was once the original South Huish Village surrounding the only true ruin which remains, the old church which was abandoned in the 1860s (6). The church itself is quite eerie, especially on a quiet day. The old graves lay mainly untended as the old ruins stand preserved by the Friends of Friendless Churches charity.
The reason for South Huish’s downfall is much less dramatic and is a tale of simple migration. By 1869, the church was considered no longer viable, as the population using it had grown so poor. Nowadays, there are no housing or cottage ruins, but four homes still standing as well as a couple of farms thereabout. After the church was abandoned, making an end to the village, the congregation was all moved to the more viable Galmpton Village. The ruins of the church and graveyard are free access and worth a look. I photographed the stones and submitted the files to the “findagrave” website recently, so if you are a family historian with a family member in South Huish, Malborough or Gamlpton before the 1860s, those might be of use to you :)
“Hallsands disaster”, Western Daily Mercury, 29th January, 1917. P.3
This quote was printed on the national trust’s information board at the scene.
"Inside Out - Hallsands; The Village That Collapsed Into The Sea", Bbc.Co.Uk, 2002 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/southwest/series1/hallsands.shtml> [Accessed 20 January 2020].
On Wednesday March 5th, 1862, two gentlemen and an “unfortunate” girl (A prostitute) were brought to Inspector Reid (The same man who investigated the Jack the Ripper murders, incidentally) in Southwark, London, under accusation of the murder of a local brothel keeper and the arson of a house in order to hide their crime. Their defense – her crinoline caught fire! Just as she was about to kiss her lover goodnight, said lover stated, suddenly her clothing was “All of a blaze” and she “screamed out”. Upon questioning, this witness agreed that there had been a fire in the grate. The unfortunate lady fled from the room with skirts ablaze, and down past a corridor which contained a room where the other two witnesses were located, engaged in such activities as could be expected. Upon hearing the commotion and throwing open the door, they witnessed the lady fall to the ground, and her lover declare that she was “Dead, quite dead”
Picture by G Vickers 1858
This particular incident then went to inquest and into obscurity, however the tale is not an isolated one! So, what was a crinoline? Basically, a big petticoat! As any avid watcher of costume dramas will be aware, dresses went through a multitude of changes throughout the late 1700s and early 1800s. From ridiculously wide, to very slim and narrow, and then back out again. In 1837, a young queen Victoria took to the throne and at once became an icon of fashion! She was, in fact, to remain interested in fashion until the death of her husband, Prince Albert. With her, the slim pointed waist-lines and wide skirts began to return. This fashion spread out not just to members of the gentry, but to mistresses and servants alike! In fact, one 1861 victim of a crinoline fire was a domestic servant in her late 50s, as recorded by the Cork Examiner. Initially, crinolines were made of linen and horse hair which were heavy and layered. Later, in 1856, the metal cage crinoline was first designed. This must have been a real relief, for where before the ladies were swamped in heavy skirts, now they had the freedom of a light-weight alternative. Perhaps it was this sudden change in weight which caused the rise in fires in the 1860s? Certainly, they were on the rise. In Boston, America, 1858, a newspaper reporting a death by crinoline fire stated that there had been, by that time, at least 19 crinoline fires in England over the past decade. In 1863, in the Nairnshire Telegraph, an article spoke of how, at the inquest of such a death, the coroner had beseeched ladies to speak to their laundresses about adding a “chemical preparation” to their muslin in order to render the dresses “uninflammable”, adding that the cost was such a trifle, and that it could save their lives. Sulphate of Ammonia was offered up as such an example. Quoting another article from The Times, he added that with as many crinolines as were worn by the ladies in his life, and “with as little caution as women-folk are known to show”, if the dresses were not soaked in such a solution, and a fire-guard not been installed, like they would all “by now, be burnt sacrifices”.
French Cartoon "The final Minutes of Madame Crinolina" - 1860
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It can be seen also, that these fires were considered normality, rather than abnormality. In a report from the Western Mercury, a young newly-wed woman named Katherine Hackett, from east London ended her days ablaze due to her two crinolines touching the grate and coming alight as she turned to hang up her bonnet by the fireside. Katherine had been out for the day and was in the act of changing from her walking clothes to her house clothes, and had already removed coat, bonnet and overdress when her layered petticoats caught fire. Sadly, the poor lady did not survive this fire. However, before she died, she was able to give evidence as to what had happened, and there stated that twice before she’d caught her crinoline alight, but had not been hurt in these prior fires. Her husband was able to confirm this. Aside from this incident, there was the rise too in the sale of protective fireguards. Once such product was advertised under the headline “Save your wives and daughters from the fire!” in the Wiltshire gazette
So why were they so dangerous? Mainly, it was the fabric of the dresses themselves. Worn at the time were often of fine silk or muslin or stiffly starched cottons. These types of materials needed to be treated at the time to stop them being flammable. In cases such as the lady above, a single spark falling on the dress could lead almost instantly to an inferno. In the quoted Nairnshire article, an investigation found that untreated muslin “Burned up like paper” when touched to a lamp. As stated above, I do wonder, too, if the sudden change from wearing heavy skirts, to these new much lighter cages led to underestimating what they wore, leading then to mistakes in going too close to the fires.
Sources:
DE BLAQUIERE, (1883). Precautions Against Fire. The Leisure hour: an illustrated magazine for home reading, 183-185.
The Dundee Courier, Sepember 24th 1862, p4
The Staffordshire Advertiser, Oct 1st 1864, p5
The Western Morning News, Feb 8th, 1861, p2
The Western Morning News, April 7th 1865 p.3
The Morpeth Herald, March 2nd 1861, p.7
The Taunton Courier, Oct 8th 1862, p.7
The Wiltshire Gazette, XLV-2031, March 8th, 1860, p.1
The Cork Examiner (evening edition), Nov 19th, 1861, p.4
The Dublin Evening Mail, December 21st, 1861, p.1
The Nairnshire Telegraph, Feb 4th, 1863.
Matthews David, Alison, Fashion Victims: The Dangers Of Dress, 1st edn (Bloomsbury, 2015), Chapter 6
Godfrey, S. (2010). Moving through Fashion in Nineteenth-Century France. Critical Studies, 33, 143.
Vincent, Susan J, The Anatomy Of Fashion, 2nd edn (Oxford: Berg, 2009)
In 1774, a chapbook entitled “Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book” was first published in London, England. This book is now ultra rare, with only two copies remaining intact, one of which is is held by the British library. This book was the second part of a set which is described by the British Library catalogue as being the first ever compilation book of nursery rhymes in print. It was in this book, that the rhyme “Bah Bah Black Sheep” was first recorded in its original form:
Bah, Bah, a black sheep,
Have you any Wool?
Yes merry, I Have,
Three Bags full,
One is for my Master,
One is for my Dame,
One is for the Little Boy
That lives down the lane
The final line, however, was changed by 1765 to "the little boy who cried in the lane" and has since then been changed back to the original. As you can see, there’s not a great difference between the original lyrics and today’s lyrics, but the question is begged, what is it about? Is there any significance to the black sheep, or the three bags for the specific people? Firstly, it should be noted that this rhyme is probably one of the most contentious of the nursery rhymes, with several schools in America and Australia banning it or even changing the lyrics to “rainbow sheep”, or adding an extra verse “baa baa white sheep” The most likely reason for this controversy is that in the 1980s, several experts suggested that it might be linked to the slave trade. This theory however, has no evidence to back it up, and so cannot be confirmed. New Scientist Magazine even ran a small article in 1986 which attempted to squash this rumour, reminding readers that the plantation slaves to whom the rhyme was being attributed tended to farm cotton, not wool, and also that the rhyme was likely a lot older than its 1744 publication, due to how rhymes were often passed mouth to mouth for many many years before being committed to publication.
Another often given explanation for this rhyme is that of wool tax. In 1275, Edward I put a tax on wool, which raised its price by up to a third of its value. This then, led to grievances amongst the shepherds and the “black sheep” could be explained as an expensive deviation, since it’s wool could not be dyed, limiting it to black cloth only and thus decreasing its value. In 1930, Katherine Thomas, a scholar, published a book named “The real personages of mother goose”. Here, she considered how, centuries later than the wool tax, the already present discontent amongst the poor was in fact exacerbated by the low wages paid to farmers and shepherds in the time of Henry VIII, and that in Exeter there was a rising of several thousand people. She concluded that the Master and the Dame could refer to the king and queen, or simply nobility of the time, and refers to “the little boy who cried in the lane” being unable to afford his own wool. Sadly, the lyric she quotes, of the little boy crying in the lane, is not the original, as seen above, and likely was found in the 1765, “Mother Goose Melody” version of the rhyme. Therefore, it is likely that she was unaware of this earlier version.
Further investigation into the wool trade in the 1700s, closer to the time of publication of this rhyme, shows that there was another event which would have directly affected it during the reign of William and Mary in the late 1600s, that is, the restriction of the exportation of wool from England and Ireland. This led to conflict amongst clothiers and wool merchants within England and Ireland, due to the fact that the Irish merchants took little notice of legislation, and continued to trade, angering the Englishmen. This however, is mere speculation as there is no evidence that this could have become part of the origin of this nursery rhyme. In much the manner of the research which has been done previously, this too is merely a possibility. Without evidence, it is impossible to say which of these events, if any influenced the origin of this rhyme.
So, the conclusion of this article is one which shows only speculation. This rhyme was first recorded in 1744, but it’s true origins are unknown. The most likely speculation gives it to the unhappy farmers or shepherds of the wool trade, but in truth, nobody really knows where it came from!
Sources Used.
"Ariadene", New Scientist, 1986, p. 80 Baring-Gould, William Stuart, and Ceil Baring-Gould, The Annotated Mother Goose, 4th edn (London, 1962) "BBC News | EDUCATION | Nursery Rhyme Ban Scrapped", News.Bbc.Co.Uk, 2017 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/600470.stm> [accessed 28 March 2017] Irish Wool and Woollens. III.” The Irish Monthly, vol. 10, no. 108, 1882, pp. 414–428., www.jstor.org/stable/20496779. Opie, Iona Archibald, and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary Of Nursery Rhymes, 1st edn (Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1951) Thomas, Katherine Ewes, "The Real Personages Of Mother Goose", 1930 <https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.75797> [accessed 28 March 2017]
Hello and welcome to my blog. Take a seat, pull off your boots and take a load off, just for a moment.
Firstly let me introduce myself. My name is Emma, I'm a writer from Plymouth with a background as both a history researcher (PhD) and a psychologist (Ma). I've been writing for as long as I can remember, and indie publishing for about ten years. This blog is intended for my readers to learn a little more about me, my methods and my research for various novels. You can also expect some of my research - a bit of history, a bit of local research and some random adventures too. Finally, this blog will be where I do my updates on what I'm working on, and what is due out soon, and any personal signings I am doing!
The First Haverleigh Novel: A stand-alone novel which birthed the creation of a whole lore universe. When Ella rescued the injured wolf in the forest, she had no idea of the events that act would set in motion. In the eyes of a creature, she saw the glimmer of humanity, she acted on it and was rewarded with a curse which would leave her ageless and lonely throughout the centuries. As she sits, lonely and forgotten, she begins to write her memoirs. A journey written by the hand of a woman who has survived the odds. From the witch-hunts of sixteenth century Germany, to the brothels of nineteenth century Paris. A tale of werewolves and vampires, of hopes dashed and of a love which refuses to die, even as the centuries pass.
The Second Haverleigh Novel: Frances Hodge was just a child when she met the man in the marshes, a man who gave her a gift which would stay with her and shift the whole course of her life. No longer entirely human, she stumbles into the world of the drinkers and the changers, into a life where fear and hatred is the only motivation for survival. As the seasons change and a new century falls, Fran’s group come head to head with a powerful enemy, an enemy which has already killed her husband and some of her closest friends. For Fran, the changers are primal, unfettered and viscous, but then she meets William Craven and everything begins to change. This book is an indirect sequel to Ella’s Memoirs but can be read as stand alone.
The Third Haverleigh Novel: The world of the Drinkers survives on Donors. Some of them are willing, others are not! Bree Morgan is one of those who was not. Kidnapped and used as an unwilling blood donor, Bree barely has time to process the ordeal when she finds herself rescued by the hands of another of their kind. Once safely home, Bree faces a choice: return to normality, or follow her rescuer into the darkness. It's time to learn the difference between "good drinkers" and "bad drinkers", but when both have to hunt, drink, and sometimes even kill to survive, those lines become blurred. With her head turned one way, and her heart the other, Bree takes the only path she can… but the darkness isn’t done with her yet, and neither are the drinkers who took her in the first place….This book is an indirect sequel to Ella’s Memoirs but can be read as stand alone.
Jessie was just eight years old when she found the dead body of a woman in the woods. The corpse which she stumbled upon, decayed and forgotten, fast becoming the key to a life she'd never have lived otherwise. Through this, she learns to love Ethan, the strange boy who moves to the village with his aunt and no other family, and apparently no history. But Ethan has a secret, one he will defend to the very end, and one which could get them both killed.
Book One of the Rostalis Darkfire Chronicles: In a world of peace and prosperity, a golden king sits on the throne of a land once ravaged by war. His illegitimate daughter, Niamh, a solitary and quiet girl, often jeeringly called “the king’s idiot” by her peers, begins to find where the cracks form in the gilt of the golden keep. A pressure is building below a façade of gentle rule, and the king’s new ideas on religion are driving the Woldermen – the wild savages of the marshes – back into the kingdom. Led by desperation as their temples are torn down, their sacred forests are felled and their priestesses murdered, the Woldermen are gathering their forces. When Niamh is taken hostage by a group of Wolder, led by a familiar face from her past, she is faced with a choice. If she takes one path, it could lead to the destruction of her kingdom, but if she takes the other, a whole new world awaits her. Torn between two worlds, the princess must make her choice quickly. On one side is her father, a man beloved by his people and who raised a bastard child as though she were his true daughter, but on the other is the man she loves, a man with a cause, with a motive to bring it all down around them. Whichever path Niamh chooses, conflict is imminent and the golden reign is at risk.
Book Two of the Rostalis Darkfire Chronicles First there was treachery, and then there was war. For the inhabitants of Rostalis, surely a return to peace was due? As Queen, Niamh was faced with a whole new set of challenges now that the war was won. The rebuilding of the mage council, the purging of her father’s influences on the land and, most of all, the mending of the conflicts caused by her ascension to the throne. But peace is hard come by and once the door is open for war, it’s hard to push it closed again. Niamh will have to give everything she has if she is to survive and hold the throne, and this time - with her husband missing and her Wolder Army disbanded - she’ll have to do it alone.This epic fantasy is the follow on from The King's Idiot, and is set twelve years into the future. Niamh needs to stop this new war before it destroys everything, put the council back together with only child-mages left alive, and on top of it all, she needs to discover if her husband is alive or dead!
A gothic romance with a twist! When Anna is orphaned in a terrible house fire, she finds herself thrust friendless and penniless into the world. From pampered child to dowdy governess, Anna has to fend for herself taking work where she can find it. Through this, she meets and falls in love with the strange and solitary painter, Nathaniel, who resides at the neighbouring Kellisham Hall. But who is Nathaniel? Who is he hiding from and why does he live such a solitary life, locked away in the dark behind firmly closed curtains? As circumstance once more pushes Anna out into the world, darker forces are at play and they won't stop at anything to get to Nathaniel... ...even if that means preying on the ones he loves.
