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You probably will approach Birchington from Thanet Way, the A299, heading over rolling fields past the huge Planet Thanet greenhouses which supply a lot of our salad plants through the year.
Birchington speawls into the countryside, building up as the road approaches the main square of the town, now a traffic intersection. And standing tall beside the square is All Saints.
I can gladly report that the church is now open Saturday mornings until midday. Sadly, we arrived at ten to twelve meaning a rush round, so a return visit will be required.
We were driving to Margate, and as ever I was looking for signs that the church was open, it seemed the porch door was open and lights on inside.
My luck was in.
All Saints is clearly old, with the north aisle and chapel apparently older than the main body, and despite being heavily Victorianised, there is plenty of interest. Most in the side chapel, the family chapel of the families that owned Quex Park. The chapel has the most wonderful collection of memorials I have seen in Kent.
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Famous as the burial place of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and whose grave stands outside the main south door, this church contains so much more of interest. Mostly thirteenth century with a fourteenth century veneer it is full of treasures. The best collection of memorials in East Kent may be found in the north chapel owned for centuries by the series of owners of Quex House. The Quex, Crispe, Powell and Powell-Cotton families have been commemorated in monuments that reflect the styles oil the centuries. There are 6 brasses now on the wall, a huge 6-portrait bust tablet and a huge classical entablature. Opposite is a more usual but excellently crafted Prie- Dieu with gaudy colouring. The rest of the church does not disappoint. The SW corner of the church has dumpy piers and rudimentary vaulting showing that a new tower was planned there, though it was never built. The nave piers and chancel arch show remarkable degradation in the stonework. There seems to be no reason for this but it is almost that the church has been consumed by fire at some time. The reredos was designed by the 19th century architect Charles Beazley (see also Acol and Westgate) and painted by Nathaniel Westlake. It badly needs a clean to make it sing again. The altar rails are by the Canterbury College of Art, 1930s, and a really a fine period piece. What an interesting church this is – built to serve a farming village with a big house and later adapted to suit the holidaymakers who came here by the thousand. What a shame that it is difficult of access (though the helpful Church Office is happy to oblige).
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Birchington
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NORTHWARD from Minster lies the parish of Birchington, adjoining to the sea. It is said to have been antiently called, sometimes Birchington in Gorend, and at other times Gorend in Birchington, from a place called Gorend, in this parish, where it is reported the church formerly stood, though the most usual name was always, as it is at present, Birchington only.
THIS PARISH is within the liberty and jurisdiction of the cinque ports, and is a member of the town and port of Dover; and though Gorend in it, is said to have been united to that town and port, ever since the reign of king Edward I. yet in king Henry VI.'s reign it was disputed whether this parish was not in the county at large; to take away therefore all doubt of it, the king, by letters patent, united it to Dover, the mayor of which appoints a deputy here, to whom the inhabitants have recourse for justice.
By the Landtax act of 1711, it was enacted, that in future, the parishes of St. John, St. Peter, and Birchington, in the Isle of Thanet, within the liberty of Dover, should be deemed and taken to be a distinct division within the said liberty, and in the executing of that act, should be charged towards making up the whole sum charged on the town of Dover, and the liberty thereof, according to the proportion which was assessed upon the said parishes by the act of the 4th of William and Mary, for granting an aid of four shillings in the pound, &c.
THIS PARISH joins the sea shore northward, along the whole of which it is bounded by high cliffs of chalk, through which there are several apertures made for the conveniency of a passage on to the sea shore. The parish is, in general, high land, and very pleasantly situated; in the middle of it stands the church and village adjoining, tolerably well sheltered with elm trees. This village, in a pleasing situation, on a gentle eminence, commands many delightful prospects over sea and land; particularly a fine view up the delightful vale to Canterbury, the principal tower of which cathedral froms a conspicuous object, though at the distance of twelve miles; beyond which, in clear weather, are plainly seen the range of hills and the losty woods in Chilham and Godmersham parks, more than six miles further southward.
About three quarters of a mile north-west of the church, and near as much from the sea shore, is Goreend, antiently a place of note, being particularly men tioned in the great charter of the cinque ports, as one of the members of the town and port of Dover. Leland, in his Itinerary, vol. vii. says, "Reculver is now scarce half a mile from the shore, but it is to be supposid, that yn tymes paste these cam hard to Goreende, a two mile from Northmouth, and at Gore ende is a litle straite caullid Broode Staires to go downe the clive: and about this shore is good taking of mullettes. The great Raguseis ly for defence at Gore ende and thens again is another sinus on to the Forelande." Here it is said the church stood antiently, and that it was lost by the falling of the cliff on which it stood, and that the present one was built in its stead; near this is a farm, called Upper Gore end, which was given by the owner of it, Henry Robinson, gent. by his will in 1642, for the maintenance of two fellows and two scholars in St. John's college, in Cambridge, as has been already related before. About a mile southward, lie Great and Little Brooksend; and at a like distance eastward, Great and Little Quekes. At the north-east boundary of the parish is Westgate, where there is a small hamlet of houses; from which place Domneva's deer is said to have begun its course across this island, running for some space eastward, till it turned southward towards the boundary of it, at Sheriffs Hope, in Minster.
This parish is somewhat more than two miles and an half each way; about the village and Quekes, it is pleasantly sheltered with trees; the lands in it are fertile, and like the other parts adjoining to it, are arable and mostly uninclosed, lying high, with hill and dale intermixed. The high road from Sarre to Margate runs along the southern side of the parish. There is a bay of the sea adjoining to the shore of this parish, called Hemmings bay; probably so called from Hemming, the Danish chiestan, who landed with his companion Anlef and their forces in this island, in the year 1009.
By the return made to the council's letter by archbishop Parker's order in 1563, there were then computed to be in this parish forty housholds; and by the return of the survey made by order of the same queen, in her 8th year, of the several maritime places in this county, it appears that there were then here houses inhabited forty-two; that there was a landing place, but it had neither ship nor boat.
A whale was cast ashore within the bounds of this parish in the year 1762.
The manor of Monkton claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which is
THE MANOR OF QUEKES, or QUEX, as it is frequently spelt in the antient deeds of it. It is situated in the south-east part of this parish, about three quarters of a mile from the church, and was antiently the seat of a family who gave name to it, many of whom lie buried in this church, several of whose gravestones and inscriptions yet remain; among which are those of John Quek, who died possessed of it in the year 1449, anno 28 Henry VI. and of his son Rich. Quek in 1456; (fn. 1) from the latter of whom this seat devolved by paternal descent to John Quekes, esq. who about the beginning of king Henry VII.'s reign, left an only daughter and heir Agnes, who carried it in marriage to John Crispe, esq. descended of an antient family seated at Stanlake, in Oxforshire; he afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1500, anno 16 Henry VII. He left by her four daughters, married to Barret, Gosborne, Thomas, and Symons; and one sone and heir John Crispe, who was sheriff in the 10th year of king Henry VIII. and kept his shrievalty at this seat of Quekes. He had three sons, John, the eldest, was of Cleve-court, in Monkton, of whom further mention has been made in the description of that place; Henry, the second, was of Quekes; and William, the third, was lieutenant of Dover castle.
Henry Crispe, esq. the second son, of Quekes, kept his shrievalty at this seat in the 38th year of the above reign, anno 1546, being the last of it, and was a man of great name and eminency, and of singular estimation for his discretion and weight in the management of the public affairs of the county, as well as for his hospitality, insomuch that he was reputed to have the entire rule of all this island. He died at Quekes, at a good old age, in the year 1575, leaving by his second wife six children; of whom Nicholas Crispe, esq. the eldest son, was of Grimgill, in Whitstaple. He was sheriff in the 1st year of queen Elizabeth, and died here in his father's life time, anno 1564, leaving an only daughter Dorothy. John, the second son, by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Roper, esq. of Eltham, left a son Henry, heir to his grandfather, who will be further mentioned hereafter; and Henry, the youngest, had three sons, Henry, who was first of Great Chart, and afterwards succeeded to this seat of Quekes, of whom further mention will be made; Thomas, who was first of Canterbury and afterwards of Goudhurst, where he died in 1663. He left three sons, Thomas, who at length succeeded to Quekes, as will be mentioned hereafter; Henry, who was of Monkton, and died in 1678, being ancestor of Henry and Thomas Crispe, esqrs. of the custom-house, in London, and of West Ham, in Essex, the latter of whom ended in an only surviving daughter Susan, who married the late George Elliot, esq. of Upton, in that county; and Richard, the third son, died s. p.
Now to return to Henry, the only son and heir of John, the second son of Sir Henry Crispe, of Quekes, by his second wife, who became his grandfather's heir and possessed of Quekes; he was knighted and resided here till his death in 1648. He was twice married, but left no issue; he bore for his arms two coats for Crispe, viz. first, Ermine, a fess chequy; and second, Or, on a chevron, sable, five horse shoes, argent. (fn. 2) On his death in 1648, this seat came, by the entail of it, to his first-cousin Henry Crispe, gent. of Great Chart, before-mentioned, (the eldest son of Henry, the fourth and youngest brother of Nicholas Crispe, of Grimgill, the father of Sir Henry Crispe, last-mentioned.) He removed to Quekes, and in the year 1650 was appointed sheriff; but on account of his great age and infirmities, his son was suffered to execute this office in his room. He was commonly called Bonjour Crispe. from his having been kept a prisoner in France for some time, and never learning more French than those words, at least he never would use any other whilst there. In August 1657, he was forcibly, in the night time, taken away and carried from his seat of Quekes, by several persons, Englishmen and others, to Bruges, in Flanders, and detained there as a prisoner, till the sum of 3000l. should be paid for his ransom. A few days after his arrival at Bruges, he sent to his nephew Thomas, who then lived near Quekes, to come over to him, to assist him in his great exigencies and extremities. After some consultation together, he dispatched his nephew to England, to join his endeavours, with those of his son Sir Nicholas Crispe, for his ransom and enlargment, in which they found great difficulty, as Oliver Cromwell, who was then protector, suspected the whole to be only a collusion, to procure 3000l. for the use of king Charles II. then beyond the seas; and accordingly an order was made by the protector in council, that Mr. Crispe should not be ransomed; upon which much difficulty arose in procuring a licence for it; Sir Nicholas died before it could be effected, and then the whole care of it devolved on Mr. Thomas Crispe, to obtain the licence and raise the money, which finding himself not able to do without the sale of some of his uncle's lands, he impowered him and his son-in law, Robert Darell, for that purpose, who made every dispatch in it; but it was eight months before the ransom could be paid, and Mr. Crispe released out of prison; when he returned to England, and died at Quekes, in 1663. (fn. 3)
This enterprize was contrived and executed by Captain Golding, of Ramsgate, who was a sanguine royalist, and had sometime taken refuge with Charles II. in France. The party landed at Gore-end, near Birchington, and took Mr. Crispe out of his bed, without any resistance; though it appears that he had been for some time under apprehensions of such an attack, and had caused loopholes, for the discharge of muskets, to be made in different parts of the house, and had afforded a generous hospitality to such of his neighbours as would lodge in his house, to defend him; but all these precautions were at this time of no effect, so that they conveyed him, without any disturbance being made, in his own coach, to the sea side, where he was forced into an open boat, without one of his domestics being suffered to attend him, although that was earnestly requested as a favour. He was conveyed first to Ostend, and then to Bruges, both which places were then in the power of Spain, which had been at war with England for more than two years. (fn. 4) He died possessed of this seat above-mentioned, having had one son and one daughter, who married Robt. Darell, esq Nicholas the son was knighted, but died before his father at Quekes, in 1657, leaving an only daughter and heir, who married Sir Richard Powle, of Berkshire.
On Mr. Crispe's death in 1663, without surviving male issue, this seat came, by the entail made of it, to his nephew Thomas Crispe, (the eldest son of his next brother Thomas Crispe, of Goudhurst) who afterwards resided at Quekes, where he died in 1680, leaving by his wife, whom he married in Holland, four daughters his coheirs, viz. Maria Adriana, married to Richard Breton, esq. of the Elmes, in Hougham; Frantosi, or Frances, to Edwin Wiat, esq. of Maidstone, sergeant at law; Elizabeth, to Christopher Clapham, esq. of Wakefield, in Yorkshire, and Anne-Gertruy Crispe, who died unmarried in 1708. On the division of their inheritance, this seat fell to the lot of Richard Breton, esq. who immediately afterwards sold it to Edwin Wiat, esq. and he alienated it, after some little interval, to John Buller, esq. of Morvall, in Cornwall, whose son William dying s. p. the reversion of it, (after the death of his wife, who was entitled to it for life, as part of her jointure) (fn. 5) was sold to Sir Robert Furnese, bart. of Waldershare, but he never came into the possession of it; for Mr. Buller's widow, afterwards the widow of F. Wiat, esq. son of Edwin above-mentioned, enjoyed it till her death in 1760, when it came into the possession of Catherine, countess of Guildford, one of the three daughters and coheirs of Sir Robert Furnese, bart. who in 1767 sold it to Henry Fox, lord Holland, and he conveyed it to his second son, the hon. CharlesJames Fox, who passed away his interest in it to John Powel, esq. who dying s. p. his sister, then the wife of William Roberts, became his heir and entitled to this estate, and he is now in her right possessed of it. At this house king William used to reside till the winds favoured his embarking for Holland. A room said to be the bedchamber of the royal guest is still shewn. His guards encamped on an adjoining inclosure.
It has been a large commodious structure, built partly of timber and partly of brick, much of which has been within these few years pulled down, and the rest modernized and converted into a farm house. It is pleasantly situated among a toll of trees, which defend it from the winds. There was formerly a vineyard in the gardens, which are walled round.
This antient seat, like most others of the same rank, has been for some years going fast to ruin, the weather penetrated into most of the apartments, which had been the principal ones; the roof and windows were greatly demolished, and no part of it inhabited, or indeed capable of being so, except a small part at the end occupied by the farmer; a grand suit of apartments at the north-west corner was demolished in 1781, and much of the remaining parts of it were taken down by piecemeal at different times, for the sale of the materials; in which ruinated state this seat remained till the year 1789, when Mr. Powell took down great part of it, and rebuilt the rest as it remains at present. (fn. 6)
THE MANOR OF WESTGATE, alias GARLING, lies at the eastern part of this parish, extending likewise into the parish of St. John. It had antiently owners of its own name, for it appears by the book of knight's fees in the exchequer, and other records, that Robert de Westgate held it in the reigns of king Henry III. and Edward I. of the abbot of St. Augustine's, by knight's service. He left at his death his son Robert, under age, who afterwards was in the custody of Sir Henry de Sandwich, and he held it accordingly as such in the latter of those reigns. It went into the family of Leyborne very soon after this, for William de Leyborne died possessed of it in the 3d year of Edward II. leaving Juliana his grand-daughter his heir, (daughter of his son Thomas, who died in his life-time) who being heir both to her father and grandfather, became entitled to large possessions in this and several other counties, for the greatness of which she was usually stiled the Infanta of Kent, who having issue by neither of her husbands, (for she had three) whom she survived, this manor escheated to the crown for want of heirs; for it appears by the inquisition taken after her death, in the 43d year of king Edward III. that there was then no one who could make claim to her estates, either by direct or even collateral alliance. After which this manor continued in the crown, till king Richard II. in his 11th year, gave it to the priory of Canons,alias Chiltern Langley in Hertfordshire, where it continued till the dissolution of that house in the 30th year of Henry VIII. when it was, with all its possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, and was confirmed to him and his heirs, by the general words of the act, passed the next year for that purpose.
King Henry VIII. becoming thus possessed of it, granted this manor, with all itsrights, members, and appurtenances, among several other premises, for divers good causes and considerations, to Richard, suffragan bishop of Dover, to hold to him and assigns, during his life, without any account of rent whatsoever; provided, if he should be promoted to one or more ecclesiastical benefices, or other dignity or annuity, of the yearly value of 100l. that then this grant should be void. This certainly happened before the 36th year of that reign, for the king that year granted this manor to Sir Thomas Moyle, to hold in capite by knight's service; he alienated it in the first year of Edward VI. to Roger and Valentine Byer, alias Bere, (fn. 7) to the use of the former, who died possessed of it in the 4th and 5th year of Philip and Mary, and was succeeded in it by John Byer, his son and heir, and he conveyed it, anno 3 Elizabeth, to Thomas Adam, who in the 17th year of that reign, alienated it to Thomas Dane, of Herne, whose daughter and heir Thomasine marrying Robert Denne, esq. of Denne-hill, entitled him to the possession of this manor. His eldest son Thomas Denne, esq. who was recorder of Canterbury, died in 1656, and was succeeded in it by his eldest son Thomas, of GraysInn, esq. who dying s. p. devised it by will to his brother John, of the Inner Temple, esq. who dying likewise s. p. gave it by will to his four maiden sisters; the eldest of whom, Thomasine, on the share of the inheritance left them by their brother, became entitled to it, and afterwards marrying Sir Nicholas Crispe, of Quekes, he became in her right possessed of it, and died in 1657, leaving an only daughter Anne, who carried it in marriage in 1673 to Sir Richard Powle, K. B. of Berkshire, whose son John Powle, esq. of Lincoln's Inn, dying in 1740, s. p. this manor, among other estates, by the entail of it, reverted to the right heirs of his mother Anne Crispe, in the person of Tho. Crispe, esq. of West-Ham, in Essex, (descended from Tho. Crispe, of Goudhurst, the next brother of Henry, the father of Sir Nicholas Crispe, above mentioned) whose sole daughter and heir Anne married Sir Rich. Powle, K. B. the father of John, who died s.p. in 1740, as above mentioned.) He left an only surviving daughter and heir Susan, who married in 1757, the late Geo. Elliot, esq. of Upton, in Essex, who possessed it in her right, and in 1764 alienated it to Mr. John Wotton, of this island, as he did again to Mr. James Taddy, gent. of St. John's, whose surviving sons and devisees James and Edward Taddy, became entitled to it, but the latter is since become the sole possessor of it.
BROOKSEND, antiently spelt Brookesende, is a manor situated about a mile south-west from the church of Birchington; it was part of the antient possessions of the priory of Christ-church; and in the 10th year of king Edward II. the prior obtained a grant of free warren for his demesne lands in this manor among others, after this it continued with the priory till the final suppression of it in the 31st year of Henry VIII. when this manor, among the other possessions of it, came into the king's hands, where it did not continue long, for he settled it, among other premises, in his 33d year, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose inheritance it still continues. There is not any court held for this manor.
The manerial rights the dean and chapter reserve in their own hands; but the scite and demesne lands are demised on a beneficial lease, the present lessee being Mr. John Friend, junior, who is the present occupier of it.
THE MANOR OF BROADGATE, otherwise called Brockmans, lies within the bounds of this parish, and extends likewise into Monkton; it was part of the possessions of Henry Beaufort, duke of Somerset, and on his attainder in the 8th year of king Edward IV. came to the crown, whence it was granted to John Brockman, esq. of Witham, in Essex, to hold by the same tenure and services as it was held in the 1st year of his reign, and he died possessed of it in the 16th year of king Henry VII. anno 1500, as was found by the inquisition then taken. (fn. 8)
Charities
TEN ACRES AND ONE HALF OF LAND, were given for the repairs of the church here, or perhaps purchased with the several legacies left to the church fabric, of which one acre is let by the churchwardens to a poor man employed by them, to keep the boys orderly at church; the residue is let out, and the rents applied to the use of the church.
ANNA-GERTRUY CRISPE, fourth daughter and coheir of Thomas Crispe, esq. of Quekes, by her will in 1707, devised to the overseers of the poor of Birchington and ville of Achole, for ever, 47 acres of land in Birchington and Monkton, then in lease at 18l. per annum, in trust, to pay to the clerk of the parish yearly 20s. to keep clean the isle and monuments belonging to Quex; to three widows of Birchington 3l. to two widows of Achole 2l. for wearing apparel to appear at church; to keep at school with dame or master, 12 boys and girls, and to give to each, at leaving the school, a bible; the overseers to take yearly ten shillings; to dispose of the remaining money for binding a school-boy apprentice; that the overseers fix up a yearly account of receipts and payments, and pass the same before a justice of the peace. (fn. 9)
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Westbere.
The church, which is exempted from the archdeacon, and dedicated to All Saints, is a handsome building, situated on a rising ground; it consists of a nave and two isles, reaching but half the length of it, and what is remarkable, they are all spanned by a single roof; beyond these are three chancels. That on the north side of it belongs to the antient seat of Quekes, in this parish, and is repaired by the owners of it; in it are many fine antient monuments and memorials of the families of Quekes and Crispe, &c. The south chancel is made into a handsome vestry, and just by stands the steeple, which is a tower, on which is placed a spire covered with shingles, of great use to ships at sea as a land-mark. There are five bells in it. In the windows of the church are some few remains of painted glass, just sufficient to shew that there was much more formerly. Before the reformation, there were here beside the high altar, altars and images with lights before them, for the blessed Virgin Mary, St. Nicholas, the Holy Trinity, St. Anne, and St. Margaret; to each of which legacies of a few pence and sometimes shillings, were almost constantly devised by the parishioners; as appears by their wills, remaining in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury.
Among other memorials in this church, in the high chancel, is a stone with a brass plate, having on it, the effigies of a priest in his habit, and an inscription for master John Heynes, clerk, late vicar of Monkton, obt. 1523. In the vestry, on a brass plate, an inscription for Mrs. Margaret Crispe, late wife of Mr. John Crispe, the youngest daughter and heir of George Rotherham, esq. obt. 1508. In the Quekes, formerly called St. Mary's chancel, are many gravestones, with brass plates and monuments well preserved, for the family of Crispe, of Quekes, with their busts, several of which, as well as the ornaments, are of excellent sculpture, from the year 1508 to 1737. A very handsome mural monument and inscription for dame Anne Powel, only daughter and heir of Sir Nicholas Crispe, of Quex, and relict of Sir Richard Powel, K. B. obt. 1707, leaving only one son John Powel, esq. of Lincoln'sInn, who died unmarried 1740, and lies here interred. By her death, all his mother's estates in Kent pursuant to her deeds of settlement, descended to Henry and Thomas Crispe, esqrs. of the custom-house, London, the only surviving branch in the male line of this antient name and family. A memorial for Wm. Buller, esq. of Quekes, ob. 1708; arms, Sable, on a cross, argent, four eagles displayed of the field, a crescent for difference; impaling sable, a chevron between three pelicans, or. John Blechenden, gent. of Birchington, appears, by his will, anno 1580, to lie buried in the nether end and north side of the chancel, where Sir Henry Crispe was buried. There are engravings of three of the monuments of the Crispe's in Lewis's History of Thanet.—On an antient tomb in this chancel, lie the effigies of a man and woman; on the sides and end of it are the arms of Crispe singly, and those of Scott, three catherine wheels in a bordure, engrailed, and Crispe, impaling the same several times. In the middle isle, a memorial for Capt. George Friend, of this parish, obt 1721; and several others for the same family. A memorial, shewing, that in a vault underneath, lie several of the Neames, of Gore-end, and Mockett, of Dandelion. One for Samuel Brooke, esq. obt. 1774. Several memorials for the Kerbys, of Southend, and Brooksend; Austens, and of Gore. A memorial for Thomas Underdown, late of Fordwich, and thrice mayor of that corporation; he died 1709. A stone, on which is a brass, with a priest in his habit, the inscription gone, but in small circular brasses at each corner are his initials, I. F. conjoined in the manner of a cypher.
In the church yard, on the north side, there stood formerly a small house, called the Wax-house, where they used to fabricate the lights for the church processions, &c. In the time of the sequestration of this vicarage, about the year 1642, or rather the resignation of it by Dr. Casaubon, on the ordinance against pluralities, this church was left by the vicar, to any one who would officiate in it, and this house was fitted up at the parishioners charge, or perhaps at the expence of the family of Crispe, who were defirous of a conformist's officiating here, for the minister to live in. Accordingly Mr. Edmund Fellows, A. M. of Sandwich, officiated here as minister from 1657 till after 1660; but in a late vicar's time, this house was, by his order, pulled down, and the materials carried away.
This church was one of the chapels belonging to the vicarage of Monkton, and is now the only one of them in being. As this church was a chapelry of the parish church of Monkton, and the chapel was erected for the ease of the inhabitants, they were antiently obliged to contribute towards the repairs of the mother church; but this usage, as well as that of the other chapels in this island, (except St. Nicholas, which still continues to pay a certain sum towards the repairs of its mother church of Reculver) has been for a long time discontinued.
By the endowment of the vicarage of Monkton in 1367, it was decreed, that the vicar of Monkton for the time being, should find one chaplain in this chapel of Birchington, dependant on that church, daily to celebrate, as far as he conveniently could, which chaplain should officiate in this chapel duly in divine services; for which the vicar allowed him a stipend of six pounds per annum.
In the valuation of the vicarage of Monkton, in the king's books, the vicar of it is charged for a priest at the chapels of Birchington and Wode, 11l. 13s. 4d. In 1640 here were 240 communicants.
The vicar of Monkton now finds a curate to officiate in this church, being collated by the archbishop, the patron, to the vicarage of Monkton, with the chapels of Birchington and Wode appendant to it; but the appropriate parsonage of this parish, including that of Wood adjoining, as an appendage to that of Monkton, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, was yet a distinct parsonage from it, and as such was granted, after the dissolution, by king Henry VIII. in his 33d year, by his dotation charter, to his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, in whom the inheritance of it is at this time vested.
The parsonage of Birchington, including that of Wood, alias Woodchurch, adjoining, is let on a beneficial lease for twenty-one years. In 1778 the rack rent of it was two hundred pounds per annum; but it was valued, on a survey, at six hundred pounds per annum, having 2000 acres of titheable land within the tithery of it. The family of Hugessen, of Provender, were lessees of it. From the coheirs of the late William Western Hugessen, esq. their interest in this lease was sold, in 1791, to Mr. George Bushell, of Minster, whose son Mr. Benjamin Bushell is the present lessee.
¶The parish clerk here had formerly some peculiar privileges, as appears by the antient book of the clerks for collecting his dues, (fn. 10) different from those enjoyed by other parish-clerks in this island; besides certain sums of money, amounting to 5s. 6d. and a groat a year for every cottage; and he had paid him in kind by the farmers, twelve cops and twelve sheaves of wheat, and twelve cops and two sheaves of barley; but in the year 1638, an assessment was made by the parishioners of this parish, and of the parish and ville of Wood, wherein they rated their lands at twelve pence the score acres, and the cottages at four pence each, for the clerk's wages.
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp294-310
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The oldest standing building in Birchington, is of course, the Parish Church of All Saints Birchington, which stands in the centre of the village adjacent to the Square, and like other churches of Thanet about three quarters of a mile back from the sea.
It is positioned at the crossroads of two old roads, one which led from Minster Abbey to the sea at the little port of Gore-end, and the other to Canterbury crossing the River Wantsum by the ferry at Sarre.
Its distinguished tower with its tall, graceful spire creates an unmissable landmark on the approach to Thanet, and years ago ships passing by on the offing used it as such.
It is believed that a Church stood in this location for many years before the present building was constructed. There is a possibility that a Church stood here in Saxon times.
It is most likely that the church was originally a chapel of ease under Monkton and in its earliest form had a simple nave and chancel.
This evidence of the older building, can still be seen in the outside south wall, where some stones have been re-used.
There is evidence of some of the pre-Reformation features, including the base panels of the medieval rood screen at the chancel steps, reinstated in 1905, and one of the corbels that held the great rood beam itself. Between 1863 and 1883 the Victorians made their contribution with a major renovation programme.
The most memorable windows in the church are in memory of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who died in Birchington in 1882. The left is a reproduction of one of his own paintings, while the right was designed by Frank Shields.
In recent times there have been less dramatic changes. Among them, through the generosity of the present owner of Quex Park, the Quex Chapel has been made into a chapel of worship once more. In late 2010, the spire of All Saints became illuminated at night. It still stands like a beacon, welcoming people into the village from St Nicholas roundabout, encouraging travellers, as it has done since about 1350, to travel those last two miles with a lighter heart, knowing they are so near home.
The exact date of the current church and the names of its founders are not known but it can be deduced from the records and from the style of architecture, the oldest parts of the Church are the Chancel with its side chapels, along with the Tower. It is believed that in c. 1250 the chancel was rebuilt, with the owners of Quex Park then adding a North Chapel, while the monks of Monkton added a southeast tower and chapel.
It is possible that the original owners of Quex may have built the original church, especially considering the north or Quex Chapel is the private chapel and property of the owners of the Quex Estate.
The Nave of the old church was increased in size in c. 1350 along with its five fine arcades of five bays, two narrow aisles and Norman door to the North side and is in the perpendicular style.
The large southwest pillar within the church suggest to us of plans that had to be altered, probably because of the Black Death, which resulted in us having two half aisles under one enormous roof. Around the same time, the spire was added to the tower - it still contains its original framework.
The walls of the Church are very thick and solid, built of rubble and faced with broken flints, the Kentish cobbles.
The south wall contains some old stones within it, which can be seen on either side of the south porch, which was added c. 1430. These old stones which are of anterior date to the other stones used in the building have suggested that in line with tradition, they were brought from an ancient church which stood at Gore-end and which was pulled down on the encroachment of the sea and used in the re-construction and enlargement of the present church.
There are old octagonal piers constructed from old Kent Ragstone, which have well moulded caps and bases. The east window was rebuilt of Bath stone during the Victorian restoration of the Church in 1863 when the present tracery was inserted.
One of the oldest parts of the building is the south chapel, or the St. Margaret's Chapel, above which is located the Tower in an unusual position at the south-east end of the Church. When the original small church of the three chapels was built in about 1250, before the Nave was added in the 1300's, the Tower was in the usual position — at the south-west end of the church. The Tower, crowned with an ancient shingle spire is the only ancient shingled spire in Thanet. The spire has been re-shingled several times, with the last occurring in 1968 using Canadian Red Cedar Wood shingles. Historically, sailing ships found the Spire great use at sea to steer by on their way from the Thames to the Foreland and Trinity House provided a grant of £100 in 1864 to repair it. Capping off the Spire is mounted a vane in the shape of an arrow with the date 1699 cut out in the centre.
The Church for many centuries had a tiled roof which has been renewed on several occasions. Much of the woodwork of the roof was renewed at the 1863 restoration.
At the base of the piers are stone seats which until the end of the 14th century were in most churches the only seats in naves.
In the near centre of the north wall behind the current location of the font, opposite the south door may be seen the outline of an arch used formerly as another door and blocked probably at the restoration of 1863.
The Chancel is dedicated to All Saints. The beautiful reredos, was completed in 1883 takes the form of a triptych. This was designed by a Mr. C. N. Beazley and painted by Mr. N. H. J. Westlake, F.S.A., a well known artist at that time. This was restored and cleaned at the end of 2010. On the north side of the Altar is what is probably an Easter Sepulchre. The oak Altar rails were installed in 1938, which were made by a local craftsman. On the south side of the Chancel attached to a pier is a brass of a priest wearing the vestments of the period. This was formerly on a ledger stone in the Sanctuary. The inscription states that the brass is to John Heynes, priest, sometime vicar of Monkton who died 9th October A.D. 1523.
The Crucifixion is the theme of the east window and was dedicated in 1873. The west window was the gift of Mr. Thomas Gray of Birchington Hall, which was later to become Spurgeons Childrens Home then Birch Hill Park and was dedicated in 1873.
In the vault beneath the Quex Chapel, formally the Lady Chapel, now filled in, are buried the previous owners and their relatives of Quex. This Chapel contains some wonderful and interesting monuments in brass, alabaster, stone and marble commemorating the owners of Quex from the early 15th century to the present day.
The Tower contains eight bells, the oldest being made in 1633. The Church Clock was installed in 1887, as a memorial of Queen Victoria's Jubilee. There are a number of old and interesting tombstones in the Churchyard, the one of most general interest is that of Rossetti whose grave lies near the south porch, which was designed by his friend Ford Maddox Brown. In 1910, the two vestries were added.
There is evidence of some of the pre-Reformation features, including the base panels of the medieval rood screen at the chancel steps, reinstated in 1905, and one of the corbels that held the great rood beam itself. Between 1863 and 1883 the Victorians made their contribution with a major renovation programme.
The most memorable windows in the church are in memory of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who died in Birchington in 1882. The left is a reproduction of one of his own paintings, while the right was designed by Frank Shields.
In recent times there have been less dramatic changes. Among them, through the generosity of the present owner of Quex Park, the Quex Chapel has been made into a chapel of worship once more. In late 2010, the spire of All Saints became illuminated at night. It still stands like a beacon, welcoming people into the village from St Nicholas roundabout, encouraging travellers, as it has done since about 1350, to travel those last two miles with a lighter heart, knowing they are so near home.
www.allsaintsbirchington.com/All_Saint_Birchington/Histor...
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I thought I had visited St Mary years ago. And indeed I had, or stood on the green in front of it, but didn't set foot inside.
This I didn't realise until Saturday when I was standing outside it looking at the row of cottages leading to the lych gate, I knew the scene was new to me.
The drizzle was still falling, so I could not linger in the churchyard, and scampered along the south side of the building, looking for the porch, but there wasn't one. Instead a simple door near to the chancel gave way when I turned the handle, after stepping over the void that acts as a drain for rainwater falling from the roof.
I tried hard to find the lightswitches, as in the gloom of the early afternoon, it was almost dark inside. Even when I found the switches in the south chapel, there seemed to be no power to them, so the church remained in half darkness.
What I did see, and was dazzled by, were tiles used to line the lower part of the chancel walls, like a mosaic, creating fantastic patterns.
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A mainly thirteenth century church restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott. There is a high window which originally shed light onto the Rood figures (see also Capel le Ferne). Some medieval glass survives in the heads of the windows in the chancel showing angels holding crowns. The west window was designed by Morris and Co in 1874 to commemorate a former Rector, whilst the south chapel has a set of continental glass brought here by the Beckingham family from their house in Essex. Above the nave arcade is a good set of murals including a figure of St Nicholas. The famous Elizabethan theologian Richard Hooker is commemorated in the chancel.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Bishopsbourne
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Bishopsbourne is another example of a parish church belonging to the church (the archbishop, in this case), which was totally rebuilt on a large(r) scale in the 13th century (cf. Chartham). The chancel, as rebuilt, was as wide as the nave, and there is no chancel arch (and probably never has been).
The nave and chancel both show at least two phases of work of about the mid to later 13th century, so it seems likely that a rebuilding programme was being carried on in stages during the 2nd half of the 13th century (no sign exists, above-ground, of the earlier church).
Perhaps the earliest visible work are the two pairs of two-light windows on either side of the chancel. They have geometrical tracery and all sit on an internal moulded string course (there is medieval glass at the top of all these windows). This string course rises up in the east wall, and has on it the five-light east window, within trefoiled lancets, which is perhaps slightly later in date. There is also a late 13th century piscina at the east end of the south wall (though with a 19th century back wall). Externally the N.E. and S.E. corners of the chancel have angle buttresses, but these are heavily restored. It is also just possible that there were further geometrical windows further west in the chancel, which were covered/removed when the 15th century additions were made.
In the nave, as John Newman has pointed out, the two slender arcades have slight differences (N. capitals more complex than the S. ones). Also that the nave abaci are undercut, while the chancel string course is not. Originally the south arcade was at least three bays long (ie. longer than the present nave), but on the north this is not so clear. The aisles themselves are very narrow, with shed roofs continuing the slope of the main nave roof (though this shape may only be 15th century when the aisles were remodelled). The only surviving feature of the 13th century in the outer aisle walls (again heavily restored externally in the 19th century) is the north doorway with its niche (called a stoup by some writers, but not necessarily one) immediately to the east. This doorway has slightly projecting pilasters on either side, and the whole was covered by a porch until 1837.
The second main phase of work took place in the later 15th century. First, the whole of the west end of the church was demolished and a new tower was constructed with diagonal buttresses. The tower is of three main stages with the top stage rendered. The whole of the south face is mostly rendered. As this was being built, short walls were erected from the eastern diagonal buttresses to the 13th century arcade (ie. leaving the western ends of the aisles outside). (This is perhaps due to a population decrease in the parish). New west walls (containing two light perpendicular square headed windows) to the shortened aisles were also built, and four new 2-light perpendicular windows were inserted into the outer aisle walls. Along the top of the inside of the aisles walls a new moulded timber stringcourse was made (the roofs were perhaps also remade, but they are hidden beneath plaster in the aisles, and the main nave roof was replaced in 1871). At the west end of the nave the new short north and south walls contain five 3-light windows with perpendicular tracery under a 2-centred arch in their heads. On the upper nave walls, above the arcade, are remains of some fine painted figures on a painted 'ashlar' background. These were perhaps painted after the 15th century rebuilding (a date of around 1462 for the rebuilding is perhaps suggested by the will of William Harte (see below). At the extreme west end of the nave are two areas (N. and S.) of in situ medieval floor tiles. It is just possible that they predate the tower building work. (They must continue eastwards under the pews). There is also a 15th cent. octagonal font bowl (on a 1975 base). The southern chapel (the Bourne Pew after the Reformation) with its diagonal buttresses and 3-light east window is also 15th century but it was very heavily restored in c. 1853 (date over new S. door). It has a separate roof (and plaster ceiling). The rectangular N. addition with a plinth is also 15th century and was perhaps built as a vestry. It had an external door and only a small door into the chancel until the rebuilding of 1865, when a massive new arch was put in to accommodate a new organ (earlier the organ was under the tower arch). At this time also a totally new pitched roof was built over the vestry, perhaps replacing a low pitched 15th century roof. There is a high up window on the north side above the pulpit, with some old glass in it.
A new boiler house was dug under the western half of the vestry (in the 1880s - date on radiator), and its N.W. corner was rebuilt, incorporating a fireplace and chimney. The cut through N. chancel wall (and foundation) can be seen in the boiler room below.
The door into the Rood loft is in the S.E. corner of the nave.
In 1871-2 a major restoration took place under Scott, when the boarded wagon roofs were put in (nave and chancel) and new pews were installed (and choir stalls). The c. 18th century pulpit was remodelled and has its larger tester removed. The west window contains 1874 Morris & Co glass with figures by Burne Jones. There is also much c. 1877 mosaic work on the lower chancel walls and a large Reredos. The chancel floor was also raised.
BUILDING MATERIALS (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles, etc.):
The main building materials are flintwork with Rag and Caenstone quoins/jambs, etc. However much of this has been removed externally by the heavy 19th century restoration. The nave arcades are of Reigate stone. The 15th century tower has fine large quoins of Kent Rag (Hythe/Folkestone stone with boring mollusc holes), and a few reused pieces of Caen, Reigate and Roman brick.
The south chapel was "partly of brick" in 1846 (Glynne) but this has now gone in the Restoration. There is also some fine early post-medieval glass in the east window of this chapel.
(For medieval glass, wall paintings and floor tiles ,see above).
(Also 15th century choir stalls, see below). There are also the arms and Cardinals Cap of Cardinal Morton (hence 1494-1500) in the S.W. chancel window.
There are now 4 bells (2 J Hatch of 1618; Christopher Hodson 1685 and Robert Mot 1597). The later from St. Mary, Bredman, Canterbury was installed in 1975 (a cracked bell was 'discarded').
A late medieval brass (of John and Elizabeth Colwell) lies under the organ - another of 1617 (John Gibon) is under the choir stalls.
EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH To Richard Hooker (1633) - originally on N chancel wall and moved to S chancel will c. 1865.
Also John Cockman (+1734) - also on N. chancel wall and moved to E. wall of N. aisle c. 1865 (when the organ was put under new vestry arch).
Also a fine Purbeck marble (14th century) grave slab under the N.E. corner of the tower.
There are also two fine 15th century (c. 1462) stall fronts in the chancel with carved panels and ends (and 'poppy heads'). The added Victorian choir stalls copy them.
CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:
Shape: Rectangular
Condition: Good
Earthworks:
enclosing: drop on N. and W. sides (?Ha-Ha) into Bourne Park adjacent:
Building in churchyard or on boundary: Lychgate of 1911
HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):
Earliest ref. to church: Domesday Book
Evidence of pre-Norman status (DB, DM, TR etc.):
Late med. status: Rectory
Patron: The Archbishop
Other documentary sources: Test. Cant. (E. Kent 1907) 23 mentions 'one piece of that stone on which the Archangel Gabriel descended when he saluted the 'BVM' to the Image of the BVM of the church of Bourne. Towards the work of the Church of Bourne, of the stalls and other reparations, 4 marcs. Wm. Haute (1462). Also 'Beam, now before altar of B. Mary in the church' (1477) and Lights of St. Mary, St. Katherine and St. Nicholas (1484) and light of Holy Cross (1462) and 'The altar of St. Mary and St. Nicholas in the nave' (1476).
SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:
Inside present church: Good - main nave and chancel floor raised in 19th century (earlier levels should be intact beneath (except where burials, etc.).
Outside present church: Drainage trench cut round outside of church.
Quinquennial inspection (date\architect): October 1987 David Martin
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:
The church and churchyard: A fine 13th and 15th century church, with an impressive collection of medieval wall paintings, stained glass, floor tiles and pew fronts inside. The 13th century architectural details of the chancel windows and nave arcade are very good. There are, no doubt, the remains of the earlier church beneath.
The wider context: One of a group of fine later 13th century rebuildings (cf. Hythe, Chartham, Adisham, etc.)
REFERENCES: Notes by FC Elliston Erwood, Arch. Cant. 62 (1949), 101-3 (+ plan) + S. R. Glynne Notes on the Churches of Kent (1877), 130-1 (He visited in 1846); Hasted IX (1800), 335-7; Newman BOE (N.E. and E Kent) (3rd ed. 1983) 144-5.
Guide book: by Miss Alice Castle (1931, rev. 1961, 1969, 1980) - no plan.
Plans & drawings: Early 19th century engraving of interior looking W. NW (before restoration).
DATES VISITED: 25th November 1991 REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown
www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/BIS.htm
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BISHOPSBORNE
LIES the next parish eastward from Bridge, described before, in the hundred of that name. It is called in Domesday, Burnes, that is, borne, from the bourn or stream which rises in it, being the head of the river, called the Lesser Stour; and it had the name of Bishopsborne from its belonging to the archbishop, and to distinguish it from the several other parishes of the same name in this neighbourhood. There is but one borough in this parish, namely, that of Bourne.
THIS PARISH lies about five miles eastward from Canterbury, just beyond Bridge, about half a mile from the Dover road, and the entrance of Barham downs in the valley on the left hand, where the church and village, the parsonage, the mansion and grounds of Bourne place, and the seat of Charlton at the opposite boundary, with the high hills behind them, topped with woods, from a most pleasing and luxuriant prospect indeed. In this beautiful valley, in which the Lesser Stour rises, and through which the Nailbourne at times runs, is the village of Bourne-street, consisting of about fifteen houses, and near it the small seat of Ofwalds, belonging to Mr. Beckingham, and now inhabited by his brother the Rev. Mr. Beckingham, and near it the church and court-lodge. On the rise of the hill is the parsonage, an antient building modernized, and much improved by the present rector Dr. Fowell, and from its whiteness a conspicuous object to the road and Barham downs. About a mile distant eastward, in the vale, close to the foot of the hills, is Charlton, in a low and damp situation, especially when the nailbourne runs. On the opposite side of the church westward, stands the ornament of this parish, the noble mansion of Bourne-place, (for several years inhabited by Sir Horace Mann, bart. but now by William Harrison, esq.) with its paddocks, grounds, and plantations, reaching up to the downs, having the bourn, which is the source of the Lesser Stour, which rises here in the front of it, directing its course from hence to Bridge, and so on by Littleborne, Ickham and Wickham, till it joins the Greater Stour river. This valley from this source of the bourn upwards, is dry, except after great rains, or thaws of snow, when the springs of the Nailbourn occasionally over flow at Liminge and Elham, and directing their course through this parish descend into the head of the bourn, and blend their waters with it. From this valley southward the opposite hills rise pretty high to the woodland, called Gosley wood, belonging to Mr. Beckingham, of large extent, and over a poor, barren and stony country, with rough healthy ground interspersed among it, to the valley at the southern boundary of the parish, adjoining to Hardres; near which is the house of Bursted, in a lonely unfrequented situations, hardly known to any one.
THE MANOR OF BOURNE, otherwise Bishopsborne, was given by one Aldhun, a man of some eminence in Canterbury, from his office of præfect, or bailiff of that city, (qui in hac regali villa bujus civitatis prafectus suit), (fn. 1) to the monks of Christ-church there, towards the support of their refectory. After which, anno 811, the monks exchanged it, among other estates, with archbishop Wlfred, for the manor of Eastry, and it continued part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in which it is thus entered, under the title of the archbishop's lands:
In Berham hundred, the archbishop himself holds Burnes in demesne. It was taxed for six sulings. The arable land is fifty carucates. In demesne there are five carucates, and sixty-four villeins, with fifty-three borderers having thirty carucates and an half. There is a church, and two mills of eight shillings and six pence, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of fifteen hogs. Of herbage twenty-seven pence. In its whole value, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty pounds, now thirty pounds.
The manor of Bishopsborne appears by the above entry to have been at that time in the archbishop's own hands, and it probably continued so as long as it remained part of his revenues, which was till the 35th year of king Henry VIII. when archbishop Cranmer, by an act specially passed for the purpose, exchanged this manor with the park, grounds and soil of the archbishop in this parish, called Langham park, with Thomas Colepeper, sen. esq. of Bedgbury, who that year alienated it to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Otterden, who gave this manor, with the rest of his possessions in this parish, to his second son Edward. Since which it has continued in the same line of ownership as Bourne-place, as will be more particularly mentioned hereafter, down to Stephen Beckingham, esq. the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.
BOURNE-PLACE, formerly called the manor of Hautsbourne, is an eminent seat in this parish, for the manor has from unity of possession been for many years merged in the paramount manor of Bishopsborne. It was in very early times possessed by a family who took their name from it. Godric de Burnes is mentioned in the very beginning of the survey of Domesday, as the possessor of lands in it. John de Bourne had a grant of free-warren and other liberties for his lands in Bourne and Higham in the 16th year of king Edward I. He left an only daughter Helen, who carried this estate in marriage to John de Shelving, of Shelvingborne, whose grandson, of the same name, died anno 4 Edward III. at which time this manor had acquired from them the name of Shelvington. He left an only daughter and heir Benedicta, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edmund de Haut, of Petham, whose son Nicholas Haut gave to William, his youngest son, this estate of Bishopsborne, where he afterwards resided, and died in 1462, having been knight of the shire and sheriff of this county. From him it descended down to Sir William Haut, of Hautsborne, sheriff in the 16th and 29th year of king Henry VIII. whose son Edmund dying unmarried in his life-time, his two daughters, Elizabeth, married to Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, and Jane, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allington-castle, became his coheirs, and on the division of their estates, this of Hautsborne was allotted to the former, and her hus band Thomas Colepeper, in her right, became possessed of it, and having acquired the manor of Bishopsborne by exchange from the archbishop, anno 35 Henry VIII. immediately afterwards passed away both that and Hautsborne to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Otterden, whose family derived their origin from Ealcher, or Aucher, the first earl of Kent, who had the title of duke likewise, from his being intrusted with the military power of the county. He is eminent in history for his bravery against the Danes, in the year 853. They first settled at Newenden, where more of the early account of them may be seen. He at his death gave them to his second son Edward, who afterwards resided here at Shelvington, alias Hautsborne, as it was then called, whose great-grandson Sir Anthony Aucher was created a baronet in 1666, and resided here. He left surviving two sons Anthony and Hewitt, and two daughters, Elizabeth, afterwards married to John Corbett, esq. of Salop, LL. D. and Hester, to the Rev. Ralph Blomer, D. D. prebendary of Canterbury. He died in 1692, and was succeeded by his eldest son, who dying under age and unmarried, Hewitt his brother succeeded him in title and estate, but he dying likewise unmarried about the year 1726, the title became extinct, but his estates devolved by his will to his elder sister Elizabeth, who entitled her husband Dr. Corbett afterwards to them, and he died possessed of the manor of Bishopsborne, with this seat, which seems then to have been usually called Bourneplace, in 1736, leaving his five daughters his coheirs, viz. Katherine, afterwards married to Stephen Beckingham, esq. Elizabeth, to the Rev. Thomas Denward; Frances, to Sir William Hardres, bart. Antonina, to Ignat. Geohegan, esq. and Margaret-Hannah-Roberta, to William Hougham, esq. of Canterbury, the four latter of whom, with their respective husbands, in 1752, jointed in the sale of their shares in this estate to Stephen Beckingham, esq. above-men tioned, who then became possessed of the whole of it. He married first the daughter of Mr. Cox, by whom he had the present Stephen beckingham, esq. who married Mary, daughter of the late John Sawbridge, esq. of Ollantigh, deceased, by whom he had an only daughter, who married John-George Montague, esq. eldest son of John, lord viscount Hinchingbrooke, since deceased. By his second wife Catherine, daughter of Dr. John Corbet, he had two daughters, Charlotte and Catherine, both married, one to Mr. Dillon and the other to Mr. Gregory; and a son John Charles, in holy orders, and now rector of Upper Hardres. They bear for their arms, Argent, a sess, crenelle, between three escallop shells, sable. He died in 1756, and his son Stephen Beckingham, esq. above-mentioned, now of Hampton-court, is the present owner of the manor of Bishopsborne, and the mansion of Bourneplace.
BURSTED is a manor, in the southern part of this parish, obscurely situated in an unfrequented valley, among the woods, next to Hardres. It is in antient deeds written Burghsted, and was formerly the property of a family of the same name, in which it remained till it was at length sold to one of the family of Denne, of Dennehill, in Kingston, and it continued so till Thomas Denne, esq. of that place, in Henry VIII.'s reign, gave it to his son William, whose grandson William, son of Vincent Denne, LL. D. died possessed of it in 1640, and from him it descended down to Mr. Thomas Denne, gent. of Monkton-court, in the Isle of Thanet, who died not many years since, and his widow Mrs. Elizabeth Denne, of Monktoncourt, is the present possessor of it.
CHARLTON is a seat, in the eastern part of this parish, which was formerly the estate of a family named Herring, in which it continued till William Herring, anno 3 James I. conveyed it to John Gibbon, gent. the third son of Thomas Gibbon, of Frid, in Bethers den, descended again from those of Rolvenden, and he resided here, and died possessed of it in 1617, as did his son William in 1632, whose heirs passed it away to Sir Anthony Aucher, bart. whose son Sir Hewitt Aucher, bart. in 1726, gave it by will to his sister Elizabeth, and she afterwards carried it in marriage to John Corbett, LL. D. of Salop, who died possessed of it in 1735, leaving his window surviving, after whose death in 1764 it came to her five daughters and coheirs, who, excepting Frances, married to Sir William Hardres, bart. joined with their husbands in the sale of their respective fifth parts of it in 1765, to Francis Hender Foote, clerk, who resided here. Mr. Foote was first a barrister-at-law, and then took orders. He married Catherine, third daughter of Robert Mann, esq. of Linton, by whom he had three sons, John, mentioned below, who is married and has issue; Robert, rector of Boughton Malherb, and vicar of Linton, who married Anne, daughter of Dobbins Yate, esq. of Gloucestershire, and Edward, in the royal navy; and three daughters, of whom two died unmarried, and Catherine, the second, married first Mr. Ross, and secondly Sir Robert Herries, banker, of London. Mr. Foote died possessed of them in 1773, leaving his wife Catherine surviving, who possessed them at her death in 1776, on which they descended to their eldest son John Foote, esq. of Charlton, who in 1784, purchased of the heirs of lady Hardres, deceased, the remaining fifth part, and so became possessed of the whole of it, of which he is the present owner, but Mr. Turner now resides in it.
Charities.
MRS. ELIZABETH CORBETT, window, executrix of Sir Hewit Aucher, bart. deceased, in 1749, made over to trustees, for the use and benefit of the poor, a tenement called Bonnetts, and half an acre of land adjoining, in this parish; now occupied by two poor persons, but if rented, of the annual value of 3l.
The poor constantly relieved are about eleven, casually seven.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large building, consisting of three isles and three chancels, having a tower steeple at the west end, in which are four bells. This church is a large handsome building, but it is not kept so comely as it ought to be. In the chancel is a monument for Richard Hooker, rector of this parish, who died in 1600; on it is his bust, in his black gown and square cap. A monument for John Cockman, M. D. of Charlton. His widow lies in the vault by him, obt. 1739; arms, Argent, three cocks, gules, impaling Dyke. Memorial for Petronell, wife of Dr. John Fowell, the present rector, second daughter of William Chilwich, esq. of Devonshire, obt. 1766. She lies buried in a vault under the altar. A large stone, twelve feet long, supposed to be over the remains of Mr. Richard Hooker. A memorial on brass for John Gibbon, gent. of this parish, obt. 1617; arms, Gibbon, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, impaling Hamon, of Acrise, quartering Cossington. Memorials for Mrs. Jane Gibbon, his wife, obt. 1625, and for William Gibbon, gent. obt. 1632. A memorial for William Gresham, obt. 1718. In one of the windows are the arms of the see of Canterbury impaling Warham. In the middle isle, in the south wall, above the capital of the pillar, opposite the pulpit, is a recess, in which once stood the image of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of this church, to which William Hawte, esq. by will anno 1462, among the rest of his relics, gave a piece of the stone on which the archangel Gabriel descended, when he saluted her, for this image to rest its feet upon. On the pavement near this, seemingly over a vault, is a stone with an inscription in brass, for William, eldest son of Sir William Hawt. A memorial for Farnham Aldersey, gent. of this parish, only son of Farnham Aldersey, gent. of Maidstone, obt. 1733. Memorials for several of the Dennes, of this parish. In a window of the south isle, are the arms of Haut, impaling Argent, a lion rampant-guardant, azure. The south chancel is inclosed and made into a handsome pew for the family of Bourne-place, under which is a vault appropriated to them. The window of it eastward is a very handsome one, mostly of modern painted glass; the middle parts filled up with scripture history, and the surrounding compartments with the arms and different marriages impaled of the family of Beckingham. On each side of this window are two ranges of small octagon tablets of black marble, intended for the family of Aucher, and their marriages, but they were not continued. In the church-yard, on the south side, is a vault for the family of Foote, of Charlton, and a tomb for Mrs. Elizabeth Corbett, obt. 1764; arms, Corbett, which were Or, two ravens, sable, within a bordure, gules, bezantee. At the north-east corner of the church-porch are several tombs for the Dennes.
The church of Bishopsborne, with the chapel of Barham annexed, was antiently appendant to the manor, and continued so till the exchange made between the archbishop and Thomas Colepeper, in the 35th year of king Henry VIII. out of which the advowson of this rectory was excepted. Since which it has continued parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury to the present time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.
This rectory, (including the chapel of Barham annexed to it) is valued in the king's books at 39l. 19s. 2d. and the yearly tenths at 3l. 19s. 11d. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred. In 1640 one hundred and forty-eight, and it was valued, with Barham, at two hundred and fifty pounds per annum.
Church of Bishopsborne with the Chapel of Barhan annexed.
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp328-337
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Richard Hooker (March 1554 – 3 November 1600) was an English priest in the Church of England and an influential theologian.[2] He was one of the most important English theologians of the sixteenth century.[3] His defence of the role of redeemed reason informed the theology of the seventeenth century Caroline Divines and later provided many members of the Church of England with a theological method which combined the claims of revelation, reason and tradition.[3] Scholars disagree regarding Hooker's relationship with what would later be called "Anglicanism" and the Reformed theological tradition. Traditionally, he has been regarded as the originator of the Anglican via media between Protestantism and Catholicism.[4]:1 However, a growing number of scholars have argued that he should be considered as being in the mainstream Reformed theology of his time and that he only sought to oppose the extremists (Puritans), rather than moving the Church of England away from Protestantism.
This sermon from 1585 was one of those that triggered Travers attack and appeal to the Privy Council. Travers accused Hooker of preaching doctrine favourable to the Church of Rome when in fact he had just described their differences emphasising that Rome attributed to works "a power of satisfying God for sin;..." For Hooker, works were a necessary expression of thanksgiving for unmerited justification by a merciful God.[11] Hooker defended his belief in the doctrine of Justification by faith, but argued that even those who did not understand or accept this could be saved by God.
Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie is Hooker's best-known work, with the first four books being published in 1594. The fifth was published in 1597, while the final three were published posthumously,[2] and indeed may not all be his own work. Structurally, the work is a carefully worked out reply to the general principles of Puritanism as found in The Admonition and Thomas Cartwright's follow-up writings, more specifically:
Scripture alone is the rule that should govern all human conduct;
Scripture prescribes an unalterable form of Church government;
The English Church is corrupted by Roman Catholic orders, rites, etc.;
The law is corrupt in not allowing lay elders;
'There ought not to be in the Church Bishops'.[12]
Of the Lawes has been characterised as "probably the first great work of philosophy and theology to be written in English."[13] The book is far more than a negative rebuttal of the puritan claims: it is (here McAdoo quotes John S. Marshall) 'a continuous and coherent whole presenting a philosophy and theology congenial to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and the traditional aspects of the Elizabethan Settlement."[14]
Quoting C. S. Lewis,[15] Stephen Neill underlines its positive side in the following terms: Hitherto, in England, "controversy had involved only tactics; Hooker added strategy. Long before the close fighting in Book III begins, the puritan position has been rendered desperate by the great flanking movements in Books I and II. . . . Thus the refutation of the enemy comes in the end to seem a very small thing, a by-product."[16]
It is a massive work that deals mainly with the proper governance of the churches ("polity"). The Puritans advocated the demotion of clergy and ecclesiasticism. Hooker attempted to work out which methods of organising churches are best.[2] What was at stake behind the theology was the position of the Queen Elizabeth I as the Supreme Governor of the Church. If doctrine were not to be settled by authorities, and if Martin Luther's argument for the priesthood of all believers were to be followed to its extreme with government by the Elect, then having the monarch as the governor of the church was intolerable. On the other side, if the monarch were appointed by God to be the governor of the church, then local parishes going their own ways on doctrine were similarly intolerable.
In political philosophy, Hooker is best remembered for his account of law and the origins of government in Book One of the Politie. Drawing heavily on the legal thought of Thomas Aquinas, Hooker distinguishes seven forms of law: eternal law ("that which God hath eternally purposed himself in all his works to observe"), celestial law (God's law for the angels), nature's law (that part of God's eternal law that governs natural objects), the law of reason (dictates of Right Reason that normatively govern human conduct), human positive law (rules made by human lawmakers for the ordering of a civil society), divine law (rules laid down by God that can only be known by special revelation), and ecclesiastical law (rules for the governance of a church). Like Aristotle, whom he frequently quotes, Hooker believes that humans are naturally inclined to live in society. Governments, he claims, are based on both this natural social instinct and on the express or implied consent of the governed.
The Laws is remembered not only for its stature as a monumental work of Anglican thought, but also for its influence in the development of theology, political theory, and English prose.
Hooker worked largely from Thomas Aquinas, but he adapted scholastic thought in a latitudinarian manner. He argued that church organisation, like political organisation, is one of the "things indifferent" to God. He wrote that minor doctrinal issues were not issues that damned or saved the soul, but rather frameworks surrounding the moral and religious life of the believer. He contended there were good monarchies and bad ones, good democracies and bad ones, and good church hierarchies and bad ones: what mattered was the piety of the people. At the same time, Hooker argued that authority was commanded by the Bible and by the traditions of the early church, but authority was something that had to be based on piety and reason rather than automatic investiture. This was because authority had to be obeyed even if it were wrong and needed to be remedied by right reason and the Holy Spirit. Notably, Hooker affirmed that the power and propriety of bishops need not be in every case absolute.
King James I is quoted by Izaak Walton, Hooker's biographer, as saying, "I observe there is in Mr. Hooker no affected language; but a grave, comprehensive, clear manifestation of reason, and that backed with the authority of the Scriptures, the fathers and schoolmen, and with all law both sacred and civil."[17] Hooker's emphasis on Scripture, reason, and tradition considerably influenced the development of Anglicanism, as well as many political philosophers, including John Locke.[2] Locke quotes Hooker numerous times in the Second Treatise of Civil Government and was greatly influenced by Hooker's natural-law ethics and his staunch defence of human reason. As Frederick Copleston notes, Hooker's moderation and civil style of argument were remarkable in the religious atmosphere of his time.[18] In the Church of England he is celebrated with a Lesser Festival on 3 November and the same day is also observed in the Calendars of other parts of the Anglican Communion.
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The Dome
A vertical section of the dome of the Main Reading Room would show an exact half circle, with a diameter of 100 feet. The dome is of stucco, and applied to a framework of iron and steel, filled in with terra cotta. Although it appears to rest upon the deep upper entablature, it really springs immediately from the eight arches resting upon the great piers. The entablature, as will be seen on close inspection, bears no part in the construction. It is projected so far forward from the dome that one may easily walk between the two.
The entablature is about seven feet high, with a richly molded architecture and a heavy projecting corners. The ground of the frieze is gilt, with a relief ornament in white of eagles standing upon hemispheres and holding in their beaks a heavy garland of laurel. Over the north, south, east, and west arches are two female figures, the work of Philip Martiny, represented as seated upon the architrave molding and supporting a heavy cartouche—another instance of the emphasis that the architect has so often placed upon the four main axes of the building.
The Stucco Ornamentation
The dome is so simply planned that a description of its main features may be given in a very brief space. The surface is filled with a system of square coffers. The ornamentation of the body of the dome is in arabesque. The eight ribs that mark off the dome into compartments or reach divided into two by a band of gilded ornament representing a guilloche. The coffers diminish in size from 4½ feet square at the bottom to 2½ feet at the top. The total number of coffers is 320—or 40 in each compartment, and in each horizontal row, and eight in each vertical row. The ground of the coffers is blue, sky blue, as if one were really looking out into the open air—and therefore the color traditionally used in coffer in. To give sparkle and brilliancy, many shades and kinds of blue are used, the darker and heavier at the bottom, and the lighter and area are toward the top. The transition is so gradual and natural that the eye does not perceive any definite change, but only a generally increased vividness. The border moldings of the coffers are cream-colored—old ivory is the usual term—strongly touched with gold, and in the center of each is a great gold rosette.
Although the purpose of the dome arabesque is primarily to give an agreeable impression of light and shade, the individual figures of which it is composed are nearly as interesting a subject of study is the general effect of the whole. The variety of the figures is almost bewildering—lions’ heads, seahorses, dolphins, urns, cartouche’s, griffons, shells, storks, caryatids, tridents, eagles, cherubs, half figures, genii—altogether something like forty-five principal designs, interwoven with very many smaller but no less beautiful pieces of ornament. They all are adapted from Renaissance models of the best and purest period and are combined with the utmost spirit and harmony in an arabesque whose every portion has equal artistic value. No single figure catches the eye; broad horizontal and vertical bands of decoration, gradually diminishing as they approached the top, and circle and ascend the dome, each with its “note” of arrangement and design, but all cunningly united to form an indisputable whole, everywhere balanced and restrained.
Edwin Howland Blashfield’s Paintings
The position of Edwin Howland Blashfield’s decorations in the collar and lantern of the dome is the noblest and most inspiring in the Library. They are literally and obviously the crowning glory of the building and put the final touch on the whole decorative scheme of the interior. The visitor will see how, without them, not a painting in the building would seem to remain solidly and easily in its place, for they occupy not only the highest but the exact central point of the Library, to which, in a sense, every other is nearly relative.
Blashfield was almost certainly drawn to select some subject as he has here chosen: the Evolution of Civilization, the records of which it is the function of a great library to gather and preserve.
The ceiling of the lantern is sky and air, against which, as a background, floats the beautiful female figure representing Human Understanding, lifting her veil and looking upward from Finite Intellectual Achievement (typified in the circle of figures and the collar) to that which is beyond; in a word, Intellectual Progress looking upward and forward. She is attended by two cherubs; one holds the book of wisdom and knowledge, the other seems, by his gesture, to be encouraging those needs to persist in their struggle toward perfection.
The decoration of the collar consists of a ring of twelve seated figures, male and female, ranged against a wall of mosaic patterning. They are of colossal size, measuring, as they sit, about ten feet in height. They represent the twelve countries, or epics, which have contributed most to the development of present-day civilization in this country. Beside each is a tablet, decorated with palms, on which is inscribed the name of the country typified, and below this, on a continuous banderole or streamer, is the name of some cheese or typical contribution of that country to the sum of human excellence. The figures follow one another in chronological order, beginning, appropriately enough, at the east, the East being the cradle of civilization. List is as follows: Egypt, typifying Written Records; Judea, Religion; Greece, Philosophy; Rome, Administration; Islam, Physics; The Middle Ages, Modern Languages; Italy, the Fine Arts; Germany, the Art of Printing; Spain, Discovery; England, Literature; France, Emancipation; and America, Science.
Each figure is winged, as representing an ideal, but the wings, which overlapped regularly throughout, serve mainly to unite the composition in the continuous whole and in no case have been allowed to hamper the artist in his effort to make each figure the picture of a living, breathing man or woman. Four of the twelve figures, it will be observed, stand out more conspicuously than the rest because of the lighter tone of their drapery: Egypt, Rome, Italy, and England. They occupy respectively the East, South, West, and North points in the decoration and furnish another instance of the stress that has been laid, throughout the Library, upon the four cardinal points of the compass that governed the axial lines of the building and that, in turn, have been enriched and dignified in the final decorative scheme of the interior. Each of these axial figures is painted in a more rigid attitude than those beside it informs, as will be noticed, the center of a triad, or group of three, each of flanking figures leaning more or less obviously toward it. It should be noted that there was no intention on the part of the painter to magnify the importance of before figures thus represented over any of the others. The emphasis of color is solely for decorative purposes. The arrangement being chronological, Blashfield was unable to exercise much control over the order in which each figure should occur and still retain his original selection of countries.
Egypt is represented by a male figure clad in the loincloth and with lappets so familiar in the ancient monuments. The idea of Written Records is brought up by the tablet he supports with his left hand, which is inscribed in hieroglyphics the cartouche or personal seal of Mena, the first recorded Egyptian king, and by the case of books at his feet, which is filled with manuscript roles of papyrus, the Egyptian paper. Besides the idea of Writing and Recording, Blashfield brings out the fact that the Egyptians were among the first doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The figure holds in the right hand the Tau, or cross with a ring head, the emblem of life both in this world and beyond; and on the tablet behind his feet is the winged ball, the more familiar symbol of the same idea.
Judea is shown as a woman lifting her hands in an ecstatic prayer to Jehovah. The over garment that she wears falls partly away and discloses the ephod, which was investment borne by the high priests, ornamented with a jeweled breastplate and with shoulder clasps set in gold, which were engraved the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. On the face of the stone pillars set beside her is inscribed, in Hebrew characters, the injunction, as found in Leviticus 19:18: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”—a sentence selected as being perhaps the noblest single text contributed by the Jewish religion to the system of modern morality. In her lap is a scroll containing, presumably, a portion of the Scriptures; and that her feet is a censer, typical of the Hebrew ritualism.
The figure of Greece is distinctively suggestive, so far as attitude drapery are concerned, one of the beautiful little Tanagra figures of terra cotta—so called from the ancient Greek town in which the first discovered—which are so familiar to students of Greek art. A bronze lamp is set beside her, and in her lap is a scroll—the emblems of wisdom. Her head is crowned with a diadem, perhaps a reference to the City of the Violet Crown, Athens, the Mother of Philosophy.
Rome, the second axial figure, where’s the armor of a centurion, or captain in a legion. A lion’s skin, the mark of a standard-bearer, is thrown over him, the head covering the top of his casque. The whole conception is that of the just but inexorable administration of Rome founded upon the power of its arms. One foot is planted upon the lower drum of a marble column, signifying stability. His right arm rests upon the fasces, or bundle of rods, the typical emblem of Roman power and rule. In his right hand, he holds the baton of command.
Islam is an Arab, standing for the Moorish race, which introduced into Europe not only an improved science of physics—as here used by Blashfield in its older and less restricted sense—but of mathematics and astronomy also. His foot rests upon a glass retort, and he is turning over the leaves of a book of mathematical calculations.
The term Middle Ages, represented by the female figure that comes next in the decoration, is usually understood to mean the epic beginning with the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire in 455 and ending with the discovery of America in 1492. No single country is here indicated, for Europe was throughout that. In a state of flux, so to say, during which the principal modern languages were finally involved from the Latin and Teutonic tongues. But it was an epic notable for many other things, also. The figure typifying the epic is distinguished by an expression at once graven passionate, and has a sword, casque, and cuirass, emblematic of the great institution of Chivalry; a model of a cathedral, standing for Gothic architecture, which was brought to its greatest perfection in these thousand years; and a papal tiara and the keys of St. Peter, signifying medieval devotion and the power of the church.
The next figure, Italy—the Italy of the Renaissance—is shown with symbols of four of the Fine Arts that she represents: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Music. She holds a pallet in her left hand and with the brush in her right seems to lay another stroke of color on her canvas. To her left is a statuette after Michelangelo’s celebrated David, in Florence. At her feet is a Renaissance capital; and leaning against the wall of violin, at once the typical musical instrument and one the Italians excelled in manufacturing.
Germany is the printer, turning from his press—a hand press, accurately copied from early models—to examine the proof sheet he has just pulled. His right foot is placed upon a pile of sheets already corrected, and a roller for inking lies convenient to his hand.
Spain is the sixteenth-century Spanish adventurer. He wears a steel morion on his head and is clad in a leathern jerkin. Holding the tiller of the ship in his right hand, he seems to be watching for land to appear in the seat. Behind him is a globe of the earth, and that his feet a model of a caravel, the sort of ship in which Columbus sailed on his voyages, is introduced.
England wears the ruff and full sleeves of the time of Elizabeth—the era when English literature, both poetry and prose, was at its peak. She is crowned with laurel—the reward of literature—and bears in her lap an open book of Shakespeare’s plays, the right-hand page with a for simile of the title page of the first edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, dated 1600.
France, standing for emancipation and the great revolutionary upheaval of the 18th century, is dressed in a characteristic garb of the First Republic: a jacket with lapels, a tricolor scarf, and a liberty cap with a tricolor cockade. She sits on a cannon and carries a drum, a bugle, and a sword—emblems of her military crusade on behalf of liberty. In her left hand, she displays a scroll bearing the words Les Droits de l’Homme, the famous Declaration of the Rights of Man adopted by the French Assembly in 1789.
The twelfth and last figure, bringing us once more round to the east, is that of America—represented as an engineer, in the garb of the machine shop, sitting lost in thought over a problem of mechanics he has encountered. He leans his chin upon the palm of one hand, while the other holds the scientific book that he has been consulting. In front of him as an electric dynamo, recalling the part that the United States has taken in the advancement of electrical science.
On the base of the dynamo Blashfield has signed his work in an inscription that recalls also the name of the artist who assisted him and laying it upon the plaster: “These decorations were designed and executed by Edwin Howland Blashfield, assisted by Arthur Reginald Willet, A.D. MDCCCLXXXXVI.”
The visitor will perhaps have been a little perplexed by the familiar appearance of some of the faces in Blashfield’s decoration. It is an interesting fact that in several cases Blashfield has introduced a resemblance, more or less distinct, to the features of some real person to give greater variety and, above all, greater vitality to his figures. The persons chosen were selected because the character of their features seemed to him peculiarly suited to the type that he wished to represent. In the case of Abraham Lincoln—the figure of America—and of General Casey—Germany—the choice was fitting for other reasons. Among the female figures, the Middle Ages is Mrs. De Navarro (Mary Anderson), and England, Ellen Terry. The faces of Italy and Spain are from sketches made from Amy Rose, a young sculptor in New York, and William Bailey Faxon, the painter, respectively. France suggests the features of the artist’s wife. Throughout, however, it must be remembered that, to use Blashfield’s own words, “no portraiture has been attempted, but only characterization.”
(from Art in America .. more info on sources below)
Chinati Foundation, Marfa
The Marfa plans had a long gestation. The initial contract for the work to fulfill Judd's conception of a museum of permanently installed work by him, Flavin and John Chamberlain was issued by the Dia Art Foundation in 1979. Flavin traveled to Marfa in the early 1980s, and models of the buildings and meeting notes suggest that he conceived his plans around that time. Nonetheless, he did not disclose his ideas completely until March 1996.[3]
The six buildings are U-shaped structures that have been renovated in the local vernacular architectural style with adobe walls and metal roofs. To accommodate Flavin's installation, all the windows except two at the end of each long wall have been closed over; entrances are on the inside of the U toward the ends of the long sides. Inside, two parallel corridors have been constructed at the bottom of the U, with walls--86 feet on the outside and 44 feet on the shorter courtyard side--that lean left, making a 76-degree angle with the floor.
Passage through the leaning corridors is blocked by eight back-to-back pairs of 8-foot-long fluorescent fixtures that extend from floor to ceiling, parallel to the walls. Gaps the width of the lamps are left between each pair of fixtures, allowing one to see through the color cast by the lamps on the fronts to the different color at the backs.
In three of the buildings, these light barriers are placed at the centers of the corridors' lengths, so that color is largely contained within the leaning walls. In the other three (they alternate from one building to the next), the lights are placed on both ends of the corridors, which allows color to flood into the long arms of the building as well as the inaccessible interiors of the corridors. The first two buildings contain pink and green lamps; in the second two, yellow and blue lamps are similarly placed; and the last two have both a pink/green and a yellow/blue corridor.
The repetition of arrangement and color in the Marfa corridors is characteristic of much of Flavin's art. As in the work of other Minimalists, such as Judd, Carl Andre or Sol LeWitt, an inherent systematic order distinguishes his art from the expressionism of the previous generation and takes on relevance with regard to many issues of the early '60s: handmaking versus industrial production, the nature of individuality, the importance of part to whole, and so on. For Flavin, the projection of a system was particularly important because it provided a kind of framework to work with and against. The repetition and regularity of his elements and his arrangements provided a structure within which he employed a strategy of systematic change.[4]
Although Marfa's tilting corridors were a striking new development for Flavin, the use of diagonals and other aspects of the piece derive from earlier works. Flavin's first solely fluorescent piece to be exhibited employed a diagonal element: the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Robert Rosenblum) was a single 8-foot fixture with a cool-white lamp placed on the wall at a 45-degree angle. The spacing of the parallel lamps at Marfa relates to untitled (to Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein on not seeing anyone in the room), 1968, a work in which a rank of single cool-white lamps is set vertically into a doorway.[5] In that work, the lamps face away from the viewer, illuminating an empty room while blocking passage into it, like the Marfa works that are barricaded at each end. In both cases, the architecture and lights operate in tension with each other. The walls invite passage but the lamps prevent it; the lights shine forth brilliantly only to be contained and framed by the walls. The Marfa works, however, are neither as blunt nor as austere as the 1968 work, with its cool, colorless light. Also in contrast, the exposed backs of the fixtures in the earlier piece suggest prison bars and give a vaguely political character to the work. At Marfa, the double-sided arrangement and the intensity of the paired, contrasting colors fill and complicate both the existing and constructed space. The physical experience of the work becomes dynamic and visually disorienting.
The Marfa installations in which lamps are midway down the passage recall an earlier corridor, untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard), 1972-75, a hall 8 feet tall and wide, of a length dependent on the available space,[6] with back-to-back pink and yellow lamps placed floor to ceiling midway down its length. As in Marfa, to see the work completely, the observer is forced to walk around the construction (in Marfa, this means going outside and crossing the courtyard to reenter the building). This experience introduces some surprises, as the color and intensity of the lights change from side to side. The construction of the earlier work set up a square frame that tends to play with notions of perspective; one's gaze travels down the visually converging lines of the walls, much as in Renaissance perspectival painting, to meet a plane of light fixtures.[7] In the Marfa works, the angled walls and fixtures disrupt the expected order of right angles, subverting the sense of architectural proportion and balance. In this regard, they recall a corridor conceived and built around the time Flavin was first thinking about the Marfa works, untitled (to my dear bitch, Airily), 1981, in which diagonally placed blue lamps ran along the walls and ceiling of an 8-foot-high and -wide corridor.[8] The familiar structure encouraged one to pass through; while the lights did not block the passage, their placement warped one's sense of rectilinear order.
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The dynamic quality of the installation in Marfa is amplified by color. Though he utilized a limited range of commercially available hues, Flavin combined colored lights to very different effects, both expressive and spatial. In Marfa, he paired bright, contrasting colors: pink/green and blue/yellow. Green is the most luminous and intense of the fluorescent colors; when pink and green are mixed they seem to radiate yellow. As one looks into the corridor toward the green lamps, the color turns white as the eye compensates for the intensity of the green light. This physiological effect strengthens the pink light as seen from the green side. When one walks around to look at this light barrier from the other side, the yellow reflection on the barrack walls is seen to be the result of emanations of soft pink highlighted by green. These subtle transformations play against the predictability of the repeated structures.
... from
Dan Flavin, Posthumously
Art in America, Oct, 2000 by Tiffany Bell
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Dan Flavin was born on April 1, 1933 in New York City. In the mid 1950s he served in the US Air Force as an air weather meteorological technician in Korea, after which he returned to New York and attended art history classes at the New School for Social Research and Columbia University. While he had an interest in art and drawing throughout his life, he never received formal art instruction.
In 1961 Flavin had his first solo exhibition at the Judson Gallery, New York City. Later that year he began experimenting with electric light in a series of works called 'icons,' which led him to his inaugural work in pure fluorescent light, the diagonal of May 25, 1963. Flavin married Sonja Severdija in 1961, and their son, Stephen Conor, was born in 1964. In 1965 Flavin moved from Manhattan to the shores of the Hudson River where he continued his drawings of water and landscape and developed his interest in nineteenth-century Hudson River landscape painters.
With a recommendation from Marcel Duchamp, Flavin received an award from the William & Norma Copley Foundation, Chicago, in 1964, the same year that he exhibited his 'icons' at the Kaymar Gallery and had his first exhibition in fluorescent light at the Green Gallery, both in New York City. He also began his nearly life-long series of monuments dedicated to the Russian Constructivist Vladimir Tatlin. Flavin became known as an originator of 'Minimal' art through inclusion in key group exhibitions such as "Black, White, and Gray" at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut in 1964 and "Primary Structures" at the Jewish Museum in New York City in 1966.
Flavin's recognition began to spread to Europe in 1966 following his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Cologne, and his first 'barrier' installation greens crossing greens (to Piet Mondrian who lacked green), created for the exhibition "Kunst Licht Kunst" at the Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. He was featured in the "Minimal Art" exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, in 1968.
Flavin's first single large-scale installation, alternating pink and 'gold', was made for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, in 1967. In 1969 his retrospective exhibition "fluorescent light, etc. from Dan Flavin," opened at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, before traveling to the Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, and to the Jewish Museum in New York City.
Circular fluorescent lights entered Flavin's artistic vocabulary in 1972 in an installation at the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York, and were a key element of an important exhibition at the St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri in 1973.
From its inception in 1974, the Dia Art Foundation acquired numerous works by Flavin, and supported larger projects including: an outdoor work for the four corners of the courtyard of the Kunstmuseum Basel, in 1975; lighting several train platforms at New York's Grand Central Station in 1977; and a permanent installation of nine works in a former firehouse and Baptist Church in Bridgehampton, New York (The Dan Flavin Art Institute) in 1983.
Among Flavin's most important late large-scale installation was his project to light the entire rotunda of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City to commemorate its restoration and reopening in 1992 (based on a smaller installation he had made there for the 1971 "Sixth Guggenheim International"). Flavin married Tracy Harris, at the Guggenheim, in 1992. He completed a major installation for the Kunstbau Lenbachaus, Munich, in 1974.
Flavin died in Riverhead, New York, on November 29, 1996, near his Long Island, New York home.
Three of Flavin's most ambitious permanent installations were completed after his death: the lighting of Santa Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa, a 1920s designed Catholic Church in Milan, in 1997; a project for Richmond Hall at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas in 1998; and the completion of an installation in six former army barracks at Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas in 2000.
This photo of a power mast framework in black and white is one of a series. Another one can be found here: flic.kr/p/dPS5w3
I shot it with my Canon 60D and a Walimex Pro 8 mm Fisheye lens.
blog.ted.com/2010/06/fellows_friday.php
From pollution-eating robots to abstract animated films, TED Fellow Cesar Harada is involved in an ocean of projects. He was able to squeeze in this interview with TED, where he talks about architecture, his love of the sea and a special cartoon cat.
What are the most important things you're working on right now?
The project I'm working on right now is called the "Energy Animal." I had the first iteration when I was working for the British government Renewable Energies Department at the University of Southampton in the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory.
I built a prototype that makes energy from the waves, the wind, and the sun simultaneously. It's a device that can be working in any type of weather condition, anywhere. It doesn't necessarily produce a lot of energy, but produces it steadily.
I'm still working very much on the World Environment Action. It's in coordination with Ushahidi [another TED Fellows project]. Three weeks ago I was in Kenya working on this environmental monitoring software that I'm going to use in the next application.
Since two weeks ago I am a researcher at MIT SENSEable City Lab and I am working on the project I mentioned before called Energy Animal. We're trying to build devices that make energy while collecting pollution -- apprehending pollution as a resource. Originally I was commissioned by MIT to collect the North Pacific Garbage Patch, but I've been redirected to work on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, so now I am designing a machine to collect oil. It will use oil as a combustible, as a gasoline fuel to actually move around. The idea is to make autonomous robots that would swarm around and collect garbage or different types of pollution.
I'm designing not one specific device, but a floating open source design "framework" so it can generate many other boats for different applications. It can be used for the oil spill, or the North Pacific Garbage Patch or even for fresh water to purify, for example, the Laguna Venice, where the prototype will be presented for the International Architecture Biennale to represent the MIT SENSEable City Lab.
I am now pushing the lab staff to help me make this robot self-replicating: a robot that can fabricate its own children. Since we are collecting a lot of raw material, the best use we can make of that material is fabricating more robots to accelerate the cleaning. So that means that you make a robot, and if it accumulates energy and raw material, it can build, if you want, a baby -– the same of its own. So it's very futuristic. That is also why we are not working at solving this precise problem but more for longer-term.
We have problems that are very big, like the North Pacific Garbage Patch, and we never have the money to actually build an entire fleet. So we'd rather build a fleet that builds itself!
How will one device feed off of completely different types of pollution?
What I was saying about "framework" -- it's very much like the evolutionary process. You can't have a robot that does everything. The idea is that we build a framework, for example from a simple kind of boat, and you can swap organs. So say that you go for the oil spill -- you will have some oil combustion chamber. In Venezia you will have some anaerobic digester so it will make energy from gas -- methane, propane -- from organic waste digestion, and also create fertilizer. And if it's in the case of the North Pacific Gyre, it will collect the plastic, process some of it, and some will be reused to fabricate more raw materials. So the robots themselves will be made of plastic.
Read more of this interview with Cesar Harada after the jump >>
(Continued)
You have different labs like the "Energy Animal" that make up your overarching project, Open_Sailing. Tell me more about this project.
The purpose of Open_Sailing is to build an International Ocean Station. That's really the main target. Whatever the intermediary experiments we're doing, the objective is the International Ocean Station. So if NASA has as a target to explore space, Open_Sailing's would be to explore the ocean, and to do so, involving probably inventing this new generation of devices.
Open_Sailing has many different applications. For example the Instinctive Architecture could be inhabited human beings. For the Energy Animal, it's autonomous drones. The Nomadic Ecosystem are moving farms. They are designed for a world even without humans.
ABOVE: Cesar and a Nomadic Ecosystem float prototype
You compare your project to the International Space Station. A lot of expertise, money and time were invested in that. You've said you expect to achieve something comparable with a fraction of the resources. Why are you convinced you can succeed?
The first reason is that many, many people have access to the sea, so the testing ground is near us. Secondly, I'd like to actually probably moderate what I said because I said this when I was quite early in the research. And a few days after I wrote these words for the first time, I went to meet Professor Masubuchi in the MIT Center for Ocean Engineering. He happens to also have been the chief welding engineer of NASA for the rocket that went on the moon.
We had a long discussion and I asked him why we don't have already an International Ocean Station if we already have an International Space Station. And he told me that it's because the International Ocean Station is much more complicated to make. And that is also why he himself was transferred from NASA to ocean engineering –- because the ocean is the next frontier.
Space is empty, cold, and the gravitational forces are very predictable, depending on where you are in space. You can deploy these very huge solar panels, like 100-meter long solar panels, with almost no support because there is little gravity. It's mostly empty space, it's cold and there's no acidity.
But in the ocean you have the mechanical action of the waves, some of which impact can be tens of tons per square meter. You have salinity, UV, winds, strong currents all the time, and the conditions are changing very, very quickly. In other words the surface of the ocean is very, very difficult. And on the bottom you have extreme high pressures, darkness….
How did you move from architecture to designing ocean structures?
I'm not a qualified architect, I didn't graduate from architecture. My family is in construction. Most of my uncles are structure engineers in Japan, which is subject to a lot of earthquakes, so since I'm a kid I've been building houses and participating in architectural plans for buildings. When I was in Kenya, again, I was construction manager, so I'm not an architect officially but I'm an architect in the fact. Also my father actually is a professor in an architecture school. These 2 last years I was assistant of the Architect Usman Haque, Angel Borrego Cubero and the biochemist Natalie Jeremijenko.
I've always been passionate about the ocean. Since I was a kid –- before I could walk -- I was a very good baby swimmer [laughs]. Actually the first time I went to the hospital, it was because when I was four years old, I was left alone and I went smashing myself in the waves. I was found on the beach side, my lungs full of sand and my nose cavity full of pebbles. So I had to have my first operation to remove the pebbles out of my nose when I was four.
ABOVE: Cesar on his boat, Vela
And since I'm passionate about sailing and windsurfing … that is also why I'm in MIT, because a few minutes from the office I can sail. So 3 or 4 times a week I am windsurfing and sailing now. I'm really happy here.
Let's talk about World Environment Action.
World Environment Action is a website that is crowdsourcing environmental data. The idea is that to be getting everybody to participate to create the most reliable and multi-platform service. We are using Ushahidi, which is a crisis reporting system, so people can use their mobile phones, they can send just a simple SMS, MMS, they can make a phone call, or they can go directly on the website w-e-a.org and report an environmental problem.
The idea is very simple. If you are passing in front of some environmental damage, you can just take a picture with your mobile phone and you upload it to the website, and almost in real time –- maybe just a couple of hours after because we have to moderate every post -- then you will be able to see this environmental report, amongst a lot of others. So the idea is that everybody can become an environmental activist. You don't have to be part of an NGO, or you don't have to be part of a government, or claim that you belong to anybody, you can just actively report and take action against environmental problems.
Ushahidi was started by two TED Fellows. Can you tell us more about that partnership?
The whole TED experience instantly bounded a TED family that one can only be delighted to be part of. I was looking for partners in software development and environmental monitoring, I found Erik Hersman and the Ushahidi project. I was looking for good programmers, I found Jessica Colaco. Together Erik and Jessica are building the iHub in Nairobi, the Kenyan innovation incubator that will soon be the hottest place in mobile application development in East Africa.
ABOVE: Jessica Colaco, Erik Hersman and Cesar Harada: A TED Fellows Coalition
I brought them an ambitious project clearly answering the question TED asked: "What the World Needs Now." The answer: a powerful environmental governance. We are currently looking for partners and contributors for this world-changing project. We can make it happen, together.
Let's talk about the films you've produced.
Films used to be my goal, but now I consider them only a way to share ideas. So I actually studied animation film until I was 23. I made a couple of things but now when I look back at them I feel they are very intimate and poetic.
Maybe three weeks ago I just republished a film that I re-masterized. One is called Arvo Part -- it's a remix of Arvo Pärt, one of my favorite composers, and it's really abstract. The second is called disponible (available), a roadtrip I made in nature on a boat I fabricated for the purpose of the film.
What cartoon character are you most similar to?
I wish Doraemon! Doraemon is a mechanical cat. He's such an important character. Basically he's a big lazy cat and he's really funny and ingenious. He has a big pocket in front of him like on his belly here, and he always pulls out the craziest gadgets from it. He's the best product designer in history.
Anything else before we wrap up?
I have to stress that a lot of what I do is very propositional. The International Ocean Station is a very, very big endeavor, and the World Environment Action is the same –- it's a very ambitious project. What MIT has asked me to solve are global-scale problems.
Look at me, I'm just a little guy, I do my best, I don't sleep very much already, I don't know how much I can do for the world, but I have lots of ideas and I try hard. I really consider myself a contributor. Even if in my lifetime none of the stuff that I'm talking about and working on everyday exists before I die, it's ok. If I can contribute to the fact that it comes into existence one day, for me it's a very big satisfaction.
Posted by Alana Herro
The next phase of the development on Baltic Wharf is under way, looking like the highest of high hurdles at the moment.
A Jack in the Green is a participant in traditional English May Day parades and other May celebrations, who wears a large, foliage-covered, garland-like framework, usually pyramidal or conical in shape, which covers his body from head to foot.
The Romans dedicated May Day to the Goddess Flora and would go to the woods to cut a tree and decorate it with ribbons and flowers, this is the origin of the May Pole. In the 16th and 17th centuries in England people would make garlands of flowers and leaves for the May Day celebration.
In Hastings there were at least two groups who paraded a Jack in the Green until about 1889. By the turn of the century the custom was seen no more.
The custom was revived in Hastings by Mad Jacks Morris Dancers in 1983.
In Hastings, the celebrations start with 'The Gathering'
The Bogies, Morris sides, Sweeps and a host of colourful characters gather outside the Fisherman's museum on Rock-a-Nore Road eagerly awaiting the Jack. The greening begins here!
Then the Jack is released from the Fisherman's Museum and bursts into the crowd. Mad Jack's Women welcome him by performing a dance around him. Then the procession forms up. Following the Jack and the Bogies are Mad Jack's Morris, the Sweeps and the May Queen, Hannah's Cat, The Lovely Ladies and the Gay Bogies, Giants, visiting performing groups and the rhythm section.
The procession weaves its way through the Old Town and stops in the High Street befire winding up Swan Terrace, Croft Road, along Collier Road and finally along Priory Road and onto the West Hill.
The procession reaches its climax on the West Hill festival site.
The Jack arrives at the festival site on the West Hill where the Bogies drum the procession in. After the Morris Dancing on the West Hill, the Bogies parade the Jack down to the main stage where he is symbolically slain and the Spirit of Summer is released for another year.
ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2022. Aggiornamento, Maggio 2022. “Roma, gli scavi Danesi nel Foro di Cesare: 3000 anni di nuove testimonianze archeologiche alla luce.” Testo in Danese e Inglese; in: The Past / London (17/05/2022) & The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark [with additional Facebook & You-Tube links] (18/05/2022). Anche Foto di: “Roma, Il Foro di Cesare” in: and.lezzi / Instagram (18/05/2022).
Foto: Roma - Il Foro di Cesare, I Fori Imperiali & Via dei Fori Imperiali; in: and.lezzi / Instagram (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084141678
1). ROMA - Scavare il Foro di Cesare: tremila anni di vita quotidiana a Roma.
The Past / London (17/05/2022).
Riassunto - Fresche tracce di vita urbana di quasi tre millenni stanno venendo alla luce nel centro di Roma. Nuovi scavi italo-danesi hanno portato alla luce molto di più del progetto monumentale del forum di Cesare. Scavando attraverso strati archeologici, viaggiando indietro nel tempo dalle costruzioni di Mussolini degli anni '30, Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Eva Mortensen, Claudio Parisi Presicce e Rubina Raja districano la complessa stratigrafia urbana della Città Eterna.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363139
ROME - Digging Caesar’s Forum: three thousand years of daily life in Rome. The Past / London (17/05/2022).
Abstract - Fresh traces of urban life spanning almost three millennia are coming to light in central Rome. New Danish-Italian excavations have uncovered far more than Caesar’s monumental forum project. Delving through archaeological layers, while travelling back in time from Mussolini’s 1930s constructions, Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Eva Mortensen, Claudio Parisi Presicce, and Rubina Raja disentangle the complex urban stratigraphy of the Eternal City.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142673
For some years, the buzzing sound of mechanical digging has been emanating from a green-screen enclosure standing beside Rome’s monumental avenue, the Via dei Fori Imperiali. This is because an excavation site lies entrenched between the broad avenue and the adjacent portion of Caesar’s Forum, which is open to the public as part of an archaeological park. There, in the south-eastern section of the complex, heavy mechanical excavators and trucks operate alongside archaeologists, conservators, geologists, and radiocarbon specialists, who are committed to figuring out what was going on here in the past. Inside the enclosure, two trenches are cordoned off with plastic fences that proclaim there are ‘lavori in corso’: works in progress. Sure enough, our team has reached deep into the archaeological layers, revealing an incredible amount of new knowledge about the long history of Rome.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084119366
This work is taking place in the heart of the city. The Roman Forum lies close at hand, while the remains of the imperial fora established by the emperors Augustus (reigned 27 BC to AD 14), Nerva (reigned 96-98), and Trajan (reigned 98-117) are visible on the far side of the Via dei Fori Imperiali. Over the recent winter months, trowels and buckets were stowed away, and the Bobcat excavator rested, surrendering the site to restoration specialists and architects. Meanwhile, the archaeologists, finds specialists, and soil scientists headed indoors to study the excavated material and process a wealth of samples. Together, their findings can lead us from the 20th century AD back to the 6th century BC.
Clean up first, then demolish
Our journey starts on 28 October 1932, when the Via dei Fori Imperiali, which today leads people from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum, was inaugurated by Benito Mussolini. Back then it was called the Via dell’Impero, a parade street that simultaneously celebrated the ideology of the fascist regime and physically connected it to Rome’s ancient and glorious past.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
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The street cut through the late Republican Forum of Caesar and all of the imperial fora. When this new thoroughfare was first planned, though, most of the Roman-era remains were obscured beneath a densely inhabited residential area known as the Alessandrino Quarter. Its housing blocks were razed together with five churches, causing about a thousand families to be evicted and rehomed in newly built neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Rome. Once exposed, most of Caesar’s Forum was excavated, alongside portions of the other fora. Speed was the defining quality of this work, though. After just a year and a half of demolition and excavation, the centre of Rome lay transformed. Afterwards, its appearance before this intervention by the fascist regime was soon largely forgotten, with most modern visitors never realising that the ruins looked radically different less than a century ago. Fortunately for us, the area currently being excavated in Caesar’s Forum was not dug out at that time. Neither was it overbuilt by the parade street, because Mussolini needed a turning space for his grandiloquent parades.
Foto: Our excavations revealed remains of a residential unit that was once home to the Alessandrino Quarter’s last inhabitants.
The Past / London (17/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142723
The Alessandrino Quarter had a long pedigree. It was first established in the second half of the 16th century, meaning that its three- to four-storey high housing blocks had accommodated part of Rome’s fast-growing population for over three centuries. While it has always been possible to get a sense of the Alessandrino Quarter from photographs, historic maps, and written sources, prior to our excavations very little was known about the material culture of daily life. Indeed, even then it has not always been easy to bring its former inhabitants into sharp focus. Not only did they take their possessions with them when they vacated their homes, but they also scrupulously swept the floors – even though the buildings were about to be torn down. This compulsion for cleanliness was not just a matter of pride. Instead, it can be explained by a pending inspection from the state architects, who were brought in to make precise measurements of the apartments. This was important for the families, in order for them to receive the correct compensation from the state, after being forced to leave their homes.
Foto: Various different types of floors were found in the Alessandrino Quarter building complex. Here we see pebble flooring (right), hexagonal cementine tiles (centre bottom), and rectangular tiles with a geometric decoration (centre top). A toilet once occupied the hole in the upper left-hand corner. The Past / London (17/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084618495
Naturally, such sprucing up did not extend to hidden spaces like underground sewers and channels, allowing traces of the last inhabitants to survive there. Systematic excavation and recording of these spaces is granting an insight into the residents’ domestic activities, social standing, and even their diet. Pieces of jewellery and shirt buttons made of bone probably entered the sewers accidentally when washing clothes, whereas plates, forks, and glasses must have come from one or more kitchens above. Animal bones, mostly from pigs, alongside the many mussel shells and chicken eggs found, tell us about the dietary habits of the inhabitants. In addition, the excavations allow us to understand the practical manner in which the buildings were demolished and the rubble discarded – often packed into sewers or used to level off cellars. We even found tools and personal belongings of the workmen who carried out the demolition.
Foto: Furthest down in the large trench, the granite columns from the eastern portico of Caesar’s Forum were uncovered together with architectural elements and statue bases in marble. Below them are the openings of the draining channels that directed the water away from the central square of the forum. The Past / London (17/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363259
The remains of some rooms in the housing blocks were also preserved. Here, the floors are of interest, as, far from being uniform, different materials were employed and different patterns created. These allow us to chart shifts in architectural fashions and the impact of modernisation over the course of three centuries. From these floors emerges a narrative whereby Renaissance houses were rebuilt during the second half of the 19th century to install modern commodities, including electricity and flushable toilets. While we lack small finds from the rooms, the floors are still a great help when it comes to deducing what these spaces were used for. After all, the different demands of domestic living quarters, kitchens, and laundries often result in distinctive flooring.
Contagion
Though the thorough clean-up makes it difficult to peek into the daily lives of those living on top of Caesar’s Forum in the first three decades of the 20th century, finds from the Alessandrino Quarter do bring us closer to some earlier residents. One such discovery was made in 2021. Objects recovered from a short stretch of sewer testify to one or more infectious diseases spreading through the area in the second half of the 16th century – that is at just the time housing blocks were first sprouting in what was then Rome’s newest neighbourhood.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142743
The sewer contained numerous intact and broken vessels, including fragments of around 30 uroscopy flasks. Such receptacles were used by medics from the medieval period through to the 18th century in order to study the colour, smell, consistency, and even taste of human urine when diagnosing a range of diseases. Today, we view uroscopy as essentially a pseudoscience, but in the 16th century it was a cornerstone of many medical practices. Small, intact terracotta containers found in the sewer also offer an insight into healing, as they were used to hold various types of medicine during the Renaissance. At first sight, the numerous broken plates also recovered from the conduit seem a less obvious fit with healthcare. When we examined the plates more closely, though, it became apparent that they had been discarded intact. Why? During this period, it was well understood that some diseases could be caught by touching objects handled by the infected. One solution was simply to throw away patients’ possessions when they died. Sure enough, traces of this approach have been found associated with hospitals in Italy.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142753
It is interesting to ponder how material suited to a hospital-style setting ended up in a residential sewer. If a hospital had existed in the excavation area we would know about it from the written sources, but they are silent on the matter. However, it is possible that the objects had been transported some distance from a hospital in central Rome, before being chucked into the sewer. An overview of the material should give a sense of the number of patients concerned. If we allow for one plate per patient, then the belongings of 23 deceased individuals were dumped in the sewer. An additional, poignant, detail is provided by the presence of at least two terracotta figure toys, indicating that one or more of the victims were children.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142758
Farming central Rome
Moving further back through time brings us to the era before the Alessandrino Quarter developed. Archaeologically, this period was marked by a thick mud layer, which fits neatly with the contemporary name for the area: i Pantani or ‘the swamp’. The origins of this expanse of boggy ground can be traced to the breakdown of earlier drainage systems. Back in the Roman period, water from the entire forum area drained directly into the River Tiber via the large Cloaca Maxima sewer. By the 10th century AD, though, this sewer was no longer being properly maintained. Eventually it became blocked, leaving the area at the mercy of the elements. It would not have taken long for living conditions to suffer. Our mud deposit accumulated between the 11th and 15th centuries, and may well contain valuable information about how the people of medieval Rome interacted with their changing environment. Micromorphological analyses and radiocarbon dating hold the promise of further clarifying this story, as well as the speed with which the area silted up in the centuries leading up to the construction of the Alessandrino Quarter in the 16th century.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083088117
Below this thick, informative mud lay a very different version of central Rome: an area of vegetable gardens, orchards, vineyards, and small farm houses. Excavations conducted in the southern part of Caesar’s Forum between 1998 and 2000 had already revealed that a peasant society developed in the heart of the ancient city. Badly preserved and poorly built farmhouse walls and floors were also detected in the new excavations. These medieval farms are called domus terrinee, with each house consisting of a single room. Reused architectural elements from earlier periods are a common feature of these humble dwellings, leaving column parts and marble blocks, so-called spolia, randomly jutting from the walls.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142778
Another layer of muddy soil emerged below the medieval farmhouses. Here, too, there was evidence for the reuse of fine architecture from the Roman Imperial period: heaps of marble had been chopped up into football-size pieces, most likely in preparation for burning in lime-kilns. The quicklime this produced could be slaked with water and used as building material, allowing the marble of the imperial fora to live on in a very different guise among the constructions of Late Antique Rome. Fortunately, the fragments we found avoided this fate, telling us not only about an important episode of recycling, but also providing an example of the sumptuous marble decorations that once graced the fora.
Splendours of Caesar
Before the end of the 2021 season, our excavations in the main trench along the Via dei Fori Imperiali reached Caesar’s Forum. In Antiquity, this was known as the Forum Julium, and Gaius Julius Caesar took care to site it next to the Roman Forum – the great public space at the heart of civic life, where speakers’ platforms, stores, markets, administrative buildings, and temples could be found. To put it another way, by initiating his grand forum project, Caesar radically reimagined the fabric of urban life in Rome.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
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He pleased as well as vexed with his investment, which according to the ancient authors was the most expensive land-acquisition and building project of its time. One reason why the plot commanded such a high price was that it contained the residences of socialite Romans. Their homes were duly demolished, and the ground levelled as part of the forum project. This created a space covering approximately 100m by 50m, which was paved with slabs of travertine stone. It was enclosed by three porticoes, formed of granite columns rising from marble steps. A bronze equestrian statue of Caesar took pride of place in the centre of the forum, while the northern end of the square was dominated by a temple of Venus Genetrix, which stood on a 6m-high podium. This choice of deity allowed Caesar to advertise his divine ancestry: Venus was the mother of the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose son Julus (also known as Ascanius) was claimed as an ancestor by the Julian family.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363244
Construction work on the forum began in 52 BC, with Caesar inaugurating it in 46 BC, even though the complex was still unfinished. As it transpired, Caesar did not live long enough to see the full splendour of his building project. Instead, his adoptive son Octavian – later Emperor Augustus – brought the building project to fruition and also made a few tweaks to the original architectural plans. These amendments were geared towards making the forum even more grandiose than Caesar had originally conceived. The end result was a new meeting place for the people of Rome. Here was a public space where business could be conducted, love affairs could unfold, friends could meet, and the Romans could gaze in awe at the magnificence of their hometown. Above all, it rammed home the message that Caesar was in charge as sole ruler of the vast Roman Empire.
So far, our excavations have unearthed tumbled granite columns from the forum’s eastern portico, as well as statue bases. Drainage channels have also come to light, with one dating to Caesar’s time, while another was installed during Trajan’s reign, providing a sense of how the forum was maintained over a century after its inauguration. Such measures ensured that heavy rain could drain towards the Cloaca Maxima, some 100m to the south.
Our spring campaign will reveal more about this late-Republican tour de force and its restoration under Trajan. We are also hoping these investigations might answer a long-standing mystery concerning the complex: how it connected to the famous Forum of Augustus. These two fora shared an adjoining wall, but to this day it remains unclear whether this contained a passage permitting movement between the two. Caesar’s Forum itself could be entered on either side of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, while there was also a connecting passage to the Roman Forum. So, were the ancient Romans able to walk dry-shod all the way from the Roman Forum to the Forum of Augustus? With the new excavations, the entire width of Caesar’s Forum will be exposed for the first time, shedding more light on movement in the heart of ancient Rome.
Rearranging the landscape
In 2021, we also opened a smaller trench closer to the paved forum square. In this part of the excavation, the stratigraphy ‘jumps’ from the Middle Ages directly back to the archaic period, long before the heyday of Republican and Imperial Rome. The archaeological layers belonging to the centuries in between, including the era of Caesar’s Forum, are gone. This loss can be traced back to the inhabitants of the medieval domus terrinee, who exposed the area to rough treatment by digging down to reach the fertile soil below. One side effect of their handiwork is that this modest – but crucial – trench has allowed us to reach far deeper into the past of ancient Rome.
Whereas the Middle Ages’ peasant society really let this part of the site have it, the architects and workers that built Caesar’s Forum adopted a softer touch. When the complex was built, the ground had to be levelled, and this meant that in places, especially the north-eastern part of the forum, 3-4m of ground needed removing. Where our trench lay in the south-eastern part of the site, though, the remains of the archaic period were left largely untouched by Caesar’s grand development.
Thanks to this, the floor level and some walls of a 6th-century BC building still survived in the archaic levels. The area was once again residential in nature at this point in time, with earlier excavations in the vicinity revealing more houses, as well as wells and a street. It is clear from the quality of the material that people from the upper echelons of society resided here during the archaic period. Even so, the most striking finds from our new excavations belong to the funerary rather than to the domestic sphere. This is due to the discovery of four children buried in the first half of the 6th century BC.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363274
Three of the children were entombed in storage jars known as ollae. Their graves were fashioned by pushing together two of these squat, belly-rounded jars, with the body of the child placed inside. Another grave was found under one of the olla graves. It contained an inhumed child, who had died at the age of three or four. On top of each olla grave was a little pile of material that included, among other things, tile fragments. Rather than being grave markers, these miniature mounds were probably placed there to provide protection – perhaps so that animals could not dig through the earth to reach the graves.
Although the dead were usually destined for cemeteries established outside towns, it is not uncommon to find infants buried in houses. Even so, it is unique for so many to be bunched together from the same period. Inevitably, it raises the question of whether we are dealing with victims of a disease or some other catastrophic event. We expect the upcoming analyses of the graves and the bodies in 2022, together with further excavations in the area, to shed more light on this.
Rise of Rome
We have now delved through cultural layers reaching back roughly 2,600 years in time. But Rome’s story does not stop there. Earlier excavations in Caesar’s Forum have found traces of even more ancient activity: in the 11th and 10th centuries BC, a necropolis occupied the site, while before that, from the 13th to the 11th centuries BC, handmade impasto pottery, postholes (probably from a hut), wheel tracks, and evidence for the area being carefully levelled speak of settlement activity.
As we reach the spring of 2022, the buzzing sound of excavations is once again to be heard behind the green-screen enclosure. It brings the promise that this year our dig might reach the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age layers, thus shedding light on the origins of Rome. Whatever the results, we can be confident that a longue durée narrative about daily life in the heart of Rome will continue to be revealed through the excavation of a small patch of land hidden away beneath Mussolini’s parade-street turning space for almost a century.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The excavations at Caesar’s Forum are undertaken as a collaboration between Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, the Danish Institute in Rome, and the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (Aarhus University). The project is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation and Aarhus University Research Foundation. Further support comes from the Danish National Research Foundation under the grant DNRF119 – Centre for Urban Network Evolutions. Project publications include, among others:
T A Hass & R Raja (eds.) (2021) Caesar’s Past and Posterity’s Caesar, Rome Studies 1. Turnhout: Brepols.
J K Jacobsen, G Murro, C P Presicce, R Raja & S G Saxkjær (2020) ‘Practicing Urban Archaeology in a Modern City: the Alessandrino Quarter of Rome’, Journal of Field Archaeology 46.1: 36–51.
J K Jacobsen, G Murro, C P Presicce, R Raja, S G Saxkjær & M Vitti (2021) ‘High-Definition Urban Narratives from Central Rome: virtual reconstructions of the past and the new Caesar’s Forum excavations’, Journal of Urban Archaeology 3, 65–86.
Project webpage: cas.au.dk/en/cfp
UrbNet webpage: urbnet.au.dk
ALL IMAGES: Sovrintendenza Capitolina and The Caesar’s Forum Project, unless otherwise stated.
Fonte / source, foto:
--- The Past / London (17/05/2022)
the-past.com/feature/digging-caesars-forum-three-thousand...
Fonte / source, foto:
--- Roma - Il Foro di Cesare, I Fori Imperiali & Via dei Fori Imperiali; in: and.lezzi / Instagram (18/05/2022).
www.instagram.com/p/CdtiUcWsmNX/
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083086827
2). ROME - Børnegrave, luksusglas og kloaker gravet frem af jorden under Cæsars Forum i Rom. (18/05/2022). The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
En lang række enestående genstande gravet frem af jorden under Cæsars Forum kaster nyt lys over Roms fortid fra Antikken og helt op i 1900-tallet. Foreløbig er der fundet alt fra tallerkener, lysekroner, legetøj og medicinflasker til granitsøjler og dræningskanaler. De kommende måneder vil flere nye områder blive genstand for omfattende undersøgelser, der vil kaste yderligere lys over liv og skikke i Roms fortid.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083086877
2.1). ROMA - Tombe di bambini, vetri di lusso e fogne scavate nel terreno durante il Foro di Cesare a Roma
. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
** Nota: Di seguito è riportato un estratto dell'articolo in lingua danese originale tradotto in italiano e inglese. **
Un gran numero di oggetti unici scavati nel terreno durante il Foro di Cesare gettano nuova luce sul passato di Roma dall'antichità e fino al XX secolo. Finora è stato trovato di tutto, da piatti, lampadari, giocattoli e bottiglie di medicinali a colonne di granito e canali di drenaggio. Nei prossimi mesi alcune nuove aree saranno oggetto di approfonditi studi che faranno luce sulla vita e sui costumi del passato di Roma.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084119251
2.2). ROME - Children's tombs, luxury glass and sewers dug out of the ground during Caesar's Forum in Rome
. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
** Note: Below is an extract of the original Danish language article translated in Italiano and English. **
A large number of unique objects excavated from the ground during Caesar's Forum shed new light on Rome's past from antiquity and all the way up to the 20th century. So far, everything from plates, chandeliers, toys and medicine bottles to granite columns and drainage channels have been found. In the coming months, several new areas will be the subject of extensive studies that will shed further light on the life and customs of Rome's past.
A large number of unique objects excavated from the ground during Caesar's Forum shed new light on Rome's past from antiquity and all the way up to the 20th century. So far, everything from plates, chandeliers, toys and medicine bottles to granite columns and drainage channels have been found. In the coming months, several new areas will be the subject of extensive studies that will shed further light on the lives and customs of Rome's past.
Since 2019, Danish and Italian archaeologists, with support from the Carlsberg Foundation and the Aarhus University Research Foundation, have carried out an extensive archaeological excavation of one of Rome's five representative forums from Antiquity, Caesar's Forum. From the Danish side, the excavation is led by Ph.D. Jan Kindberg Jacobsen affiliated with the Danish Institute in Rome and professor and center manager Rubina Raja from the Center for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet) at Aarhus University.
One of the areas that archaeologists have been investigating is the so-called Alessandrino neighborhood, which was laid out in the second half of the 16th century and existed until the early 1930s, when it was demolished on order from? Benito Mussolini (Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943).
Excavation with a high degree of detail
The excavation of Caesar's Forum has also resulted in new finds from the Middle Ages in the 9th and 10th centuries, possibly during this period Rome had been in disrepair for several centuries. Caesar's Forum no longer functioned as a 'forum', and agriculture was instead moved within the city walls. At the Caesar's Forum itself, farms had been built and fields laid out.
“In the period April to July 2021, we excavated the remains of one of these farms. The excavation has given an insight into the architectural expressions of the farms, the material culture associated with the farms, the agricultural system and the farmers' changes of the landscape ”.
Jan Kindberg Jacobsen summarizes that the excavation of Caesar's Forum is generally the most scientifically advanced excavation carried out so far in central Rome:
“The finely detailed excavation technique, new registration methods and a large number of scientific methods, which we have used in the work at Cæsars Forum, have made it possible to get right down to the last detail. With this, we have been able to describe the long cultural development as a unified history, where the earliest and most recent finds are treated within the same methodological and interpretive framework. This task has been undertaken by UrbNet at Aarhus University, which has leading specialists in the field of science - partly under the auspices of the center and partly through UrbNet's enormous international research network ”.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084361974
Until July 1, archaeologists continue the excavation in the area where the children's graves were found.
“We have expanded the excavation area and are now on our way down. However, we are still two meters above the level where we found the graves, so more than 1000 years of cultural layers still need to be excavated and recorded. We anticipate that the archaeological excavations will be completed in the summer of 2023, ”concludes Jan Kindberg Jacobsen.
Fonte / source:
--- The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
www.carlsbergfondet.dk/da/Nyheder/Nyt-fra-fondet/Nyheder/...
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084617270
3). ROM - Dr. Jan Kindberg Jacobsen & Opsigtsvækkende fund: Tre børnegrave i et beboelsesområde er dukket op under udgravningen af Cæsars Forum. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / Facebook (18/05/2022).
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142663
ROME - Three children's graves in a residential area have emerged during the excavation of Caesar's Forum.
During excavations in Rome, archaeologists have come across three vases that were close to each other. It turned out to be coffins, as each vase contained the skeleton of a child aged 1-2. The tombs date from the Archaic period between 700 and 600 BC, and the find is very unusual. Usually, the dead were not buried in the areas where the Romans themselves lived.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084361984
Fonte / source:
--- The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / Facebook (18/05/2022).
3.1). ROM - Dr. Jan Kindberg Jacobsen & Tre børnegrave i et beboelsesområde er dukket op under udgravningen af Cæsars Forum = ROME - Three children's graves in a residential area have emerged during the excavation of Caesar's Forum. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022) [3:01].
Video: Three children’s graves in a residential area have emerged during the excavation of Caesar’s Forum. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P93VZdLyzeU
During the excavation in Rome, archaeologists came across three vases that lay close together. It turned out to be coffins, as each vase contained the skeleton of a child aged 1-2 years. The tombs are from archaic times between 700 and 600 BCE, and the find is very unusual.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084141628
For usually the dead were not buried in the areas where the Romans themselves lived. "When they have nevertheless been located within the settlement, it is probably due to the fact that children at that time were not considered to be 'real' people until they reached a certain age.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084361989
This is because at that time there was a very high infant mortality rate, and they therefore waited to be considered members of society until they had reached a certain age, ”says excavation leader Jan Kindberg.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083086842
Archaeologists are now studying the tombs in more detail. to become wiser, why the three tombs are located in a residential area. Here the archaeologists work with 2-3 theories, which you can hear more about in the video.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084362014
Fonte / source, foto & video:
--- The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022) [3:01].
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084118186
S.v.,
Foto: Il Foro di Cesare e gli scavi; in: ROMA | THREAD STORICO ARCHEOLOGICO / Skyscraper City # 944 (12/03/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52020804396
--- ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2022. #NatalediRoma Update: Rome, the Forum of Caesar Excavations, April 2022; and Dr. Rubina Raja, “Excavating the Untouched History of Rome;” in: Arrhus, University of Denmark (28 Feb. 2022). And New On-Site Excavation Photographs (12 March & 16 April, 2022); in: Rome: Skyscraper City (21/04/2022). S.v., Roma, Scavo e Valorizzazione nel Foro di Cesare (04/2022); in: Foto di Francesco Campanini / Facebook (15/04/2022). wp.me/pbMWvy-2CR
ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2022. Aggiornamento, Maggio 2022. “Roma, gli scavi Danesi nel Foro di Cesare: 3000 anni di nuove testimonianze archeologiche alla luce.” Testo in Danese e Inglese; in: The Past / London (17/05/2022) & The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark [with additional Facebook & You-Tube links] (18/05/2022). Anche Foto di: “Roma, Il Foro di Cesare” in: and.lezzi / Instagram (18/05/2022).
Foto: Roma - Il Foro di Cesare, I Fori Imperiali & Via dei Fori Imperiali; in: and.lezzi / Instagram (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084141678
1). ROMA - Scavare il Foro di Cesare: tremila anni di vita quotidiana a Roma.
The Past / London (17/05/2022).
Riassunto - Fresche tracce di vita urbana di quasi tre millenni stanno venendo alla luce nel centro di Roma. Nuovi scavi italo-danesi hanno portato alla luce molto di più del progetto monumentale del forum di Cesare. Scavando attraverso strati archeologici, viaggiando indietro nel tempo dalle costruzioni di Mussolini degli anni '30, Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Eva Mortensen, Claudio Parisi Presicce e Rubina Raja districano la complessa stratigrafia urbana della Città Eterna.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363139
ROME - Digging Caesar’s Forum: three thousand years of daily life in Rome. The Past / London (17/05/2022).
Abstract - Fresh traces of urban life spanning almost three millennia are coming to light in central Rome. New Danish-Italian excavations have uncovered far more than Caesar’s monumental forum project. Delving through archaeological layers, while travelling back in time from Mussolini’s 1930s constructions, Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Eva Mortensen, Claudio Parisi Presicce, and Rubina Raja disentangle the complex urban stratigraphy of the Eternal City.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142673
For some years, the buzzing sound of mechanical digging has been emanating from a green-screen enclosure standing beside Rome’s monumental avenue, the Via dei Fori Imperiali. This is because an excavation site lies entrenched between the broad avenue and the adjacent portion of Caesar’s Forum, which is open to the public as part of an archaeological park. There, in the south-eastern section of the complex, heavy mechanical excavators and trucks operate alongside archaeologists, conservators, geologists, and radiocarbon specialists, who are committed to figuring out what was going on here in the past. Inside the enclosure, two trenches are cordoned off with plastic fences that proclaim there are ‘lavori in corso’: works in progress. Sure enough, our team has reached deep into the archaeological layers, revealing an incredible amount of new knowledge about the long history of Rome.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084119366
This work is taking place in the heart of the city. The Roman Forum lies close at hand, while the remains of the imperial fora established by the emperors Augustus (reigned 27 BC to AD 14), Nerva (reigned 96-98), and Trajan (reigned 98-117) are visible on the far side of the Via dei Fori Imperiali. Over the recent winter months, trowels and buckets were stowed away, and the Bobcat excavator rested, surrendering the site to restoration specialists and architects. Meanwhile, the archaeologists, finds specialists, and soil scientists headed indoors to study the excavated material and process a wealth of samples. Together, their findings can lead us from the 20th century AD back to the 6th century BC.
Clean up first, then demolish
Our journey starts on 28 October 1932, when the Via dei Fori Imperiali, which today leads people from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum, was inaugurated by Benito Mussolini. Back then it was called the Via dell’Impero, a parade street that simultaneously celebrated the ideology of the fascist regime and physically connected it to Rome’s ancient and glorious past.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142693
The street cut through the late Republican Forum of Caesar and all of the imperial fora. When this new thoroughfare was first planned, though, most of the Roman-era remains were obscured beneath a densely inhabited residential area known as the Alessandrino Quarter. Its housing blocks were razed together with five churches, causing about a thousand families to be evicted and rehomed in newly built neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Rome. Once exposed, most of Caesar’s Forum was excavated, alongside portions of the other fora. Speed was the defining quality of this work, though. After just a year and a half of demolition and excavation, the centre of Rome lay transformed. Afterwards, its appearance before this intervention by the fascist regime was soon largely forgotten, with most modern visitors never realising that the ruins looked radically different less than a century ago. Fortunately for us, the area currently being excavated in Caesar’s Forum was not dug out at that time. Neither was it overbuilt by the parade street, because Mussolini needed a turning space for his grandiloquent parades.
Foto: Our excavations revealed remains of a residential unit that was once home to the Alessandrino Quarter’s last inhabitants.
The Past / London (17/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142723
The Alessandrino Quarter had a long pedigree. It was first established in the second half of the 16th century, meaning that its three- to four-storey high housing blocks had accommodated part of Rome’s fast-growing population for over three centuries. While it has always been possible to get a sense of the Alessandrino Quarter from photographs, historic maps, and written sources, prior to our excavations very little was known about the material culture of daily life. Indeed, even then it has not always been easy to bring its former inhabitants into sharp focus. Not only did they take their possessions with them when they vacated their homes, but they also scrupulously swept the floors – even though the buildings were about to be torn down. This compulsion for cleanliness was not just a matter of pride. Instead, it can be explained by a pending inspection from the state architects, who were brought in to make precise measurements of the apartments. This was important for the families, in order for them to receive the correct compensation from the state, after being forced to leave their homes.
Foto: Various different types of floors were found in the Alessandrino Quarter building complex. Here we see pebble flooring (right), hexagonal cementine tiles (centre bottom), and rectangular tiles with a geometric decoration (centre top). A toilet once occupied the hole in the upper left-hand corner. The Past / London (17/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084618495
Naturally, such sprucing up did not extend to hidden spaces like underground sewers and channels, allowing traces of the last inhabitants to survive there. Systematic excavation and recording of these spaces is granting an insight into the residents’ domestic activities, social standing, and even their diet. Pieces of jewellery and shirt buttons made of bone probably entered the sewers accidentally when washing clothes, whereas plates, forks, and glasses must have come from one or more kitchens above. Animal bones, mostly from pigs, alongside the many mussel shells and chicken eggs found, tell us about the dietary habits of the inhabitants. In addition, the excavations allow us to understand the practical manner in which the buildings were demolished and the rubble discarded – often packed into sewers or used to level off cellars. We even found tools and personal belongings of the workmen who carried out the demolition.
Foto: Furthest down in the large trench, the granite columns from the eastern portico of Caesar’s Forum were uncovered together with architectural elements and statue bases in marble. Below them are the openings of the draining channels that directed the water away from the central square of the forum. The Past / London (17/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363259
The remains of some rooms in the housing blocks were also preserved. Here, the floors are of interest, as, far from being uniform, different materials were employed and different patterns created. These allow us to chart shifts in architectural fashions and the impact of modernisation over the course of three centuries. From these floors emerges a narrative whereby Renaissance houses were rebuilt during the second half of the 19th century to install modern commodities, including electricity and flushable toilets. While we lack small finds from the rooms, the floors are still a great help when it comes to deducing what these spaces were used for. After all, the different demands of domestic living quarters, kitchens, and laundries often result in distinctive flooring.
Contagion
Though the thorough clean-up makes it difficult to peek into the daily lives of those living on top of Caesar’s Forum in the first three decades of the 20th century, finds from the Alessandrino Quarter do bring us closer to some earlier residents. One such discovery was made in 2021. Objects recovered from a short stretch of sewer testify to one or more infectious diseases spreading through the area in the second half of the 16th century – that is at just the time housing blocks were first sprouting in what was then Rome’s newest neighbourhood.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142743
The sewer contained numerous intact and broken vessels, including fragments of around 30 uroscopy flasks. Such receptacles were used by medics from the medieval period through to the 18th century in order to study the colour, smell, consistency, and even taste of human urine when diagnosing a range of diseases. Today, we view uroscopy as essentially a pseudoscience, but in the 16th century it was a cornerstone of many medical practices. Small, intact terracotta containers found in the sewer also offer an insight into healing, as they were used to hold various types of medicine during the Renaissance. At first sight, the numerous broken plates also recovered from the conduit seem a less obvious fit with healthcare. When we examined the plates more closely, though, it became apparent that they had been discarded intact. Why? During this period, it was well understood that some diseases could be caught by touching objects handled by the infected. One solution was simply to throw away patients’ possessions when they died. Sure enough, traces of this approach have been found associated with hospitals in Italy.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142753
It is interesting to ponder how material suited to a hospital-style setting ended up in a residential sewer. If a hospital had existed in the excavation area we would know about it from the written sources, but they are silent on the matter. However, it is possible that the objects had been transported some distance from a hospital in central Rome, before being chucked into the sewer. An overview of the material should give a sense of the number of patients concerned. If we allow for one plate per patient, then the belongings of 23 deceased individuals were dumped in the sewer. An additional, poignant, detail is provided by the presence of at least two terracotta figure toys, indicating that one or more of the victims were children.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142758
Farming central Rome
Moving further back through time brings us to the era before the Alessandrino Quarter developed. Archaeologically, this period was marked by a thick mud layer, which fits neatly with the contemporary name for the area: i Pantani or ‘the swamp’. The origins of this expanse of boggy ground can be traced to the breakdown of earlier drainage systems. Back in the Roman period, water from the entire forum area drained directly into the River Tiber via the large Cloaca Maxima sewer. By the 10th century AD, though, this sewer was no longer being properly maintained. Eventually it became blocked, leaving the area at the mercy of the elements. It would not have taken long for living conditions to suffer. Our mud deposit accumulated between the 11th and 15th centuries, and may well contain valuable information about how the people of medieval Rome interacted with their changing environment. Micromorphological analyses and radiocarbon dating hold the promise of further clarifying this story, as well as the speed with which the area silted up in the centuries leading up to the construction of the Alessandrino Quarter in the 16th century.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083088117
Below this thick, informative mud lay a very different version of central Rome: an area of vegetable gardens, orchards, vineyards, and small farm houses. Excavations conducted in the southern part of Caesar’s Forum between 1998 and 2000 had already revealed that a peasant society developed in the heart of the ancient city. Badly preserved and poorly built farmhouse walls and floors were also detected in the new excavations. These medieval farms are called domus terrinee, with each house consisting of a single room. Reused architectural elements from earlier periods are a common feature of these humble dwellings, leaving column parts and marble blocks, so-called spolia, randomly jutting from the walls.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142778
Another layer of muddy soil emerged below the medieval farmhouses. Here, too, there was evidence for the reuse of fine architecture from the Roman Imperial period: heaps of marble had been chopped up into football-size pieces, most likely in preparation for burning in lime-kilns. The quicklime this produced could be slaked with water and used as building material, allowing the marble of the imperial fora to live on in a very different guise among the constructions of Late Antique Rome. Fortunately, the fragments we found avoided this fate, telling us not only about an important episode of recycling, but also providing an example of the sumptuous marble decorations that once graced the fora.
Splendours of Caesar
Before the end of the 2021 season, our excavations in the main trench along the Via dei Fori Imperiali reached Caesar’s Forum. In Antiquity, this was known as the Forum Julium, and Gaius Julius Caesar took care to site it next to the Roman Forum – the great public space at the heart of civic life, where speakers’ platforms, stores, markets, administrative buildings, and temples could be found. To put it another way, by initiating his grand forum project, Caesar radically reimagined the fabric of urban life in Rome.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084618515
He pleased as well as vexed with his investment, which according to the ancient authors was the most expensive land-acquisition and building project of its time. One reason why the plot commanded such a high price was that it contained the residences of socialite Romans. Their homes were duly demolished, and the ground levelled as part of the forum project. This created a space covering approximately 100m by 50m, which was paved with slabs of travertine stone. It was enclosed by three porticoes, formed of granite columns rising from marble steps. A bronze equestrian statue of Caesar took pride of place in the centre of the forum, while the northern end of the square was dominated by a temple of Venus Genetrix, which stood on a 6m-high podium. This choice of deity allowed Caesar to advertise his divine ancestry: Venus was the mother of the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose son Julus (also known as Ascanius) was claimed as an ancestor by the Julian family.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363244
Construction work on the forum began in 52 BC, with Caesar inaugurating it in 46 BC, even though the complex was still unfinished. As it transpired, Caesar did not live long enough to see the full splendour of his building project. Instead, his adoptive son Octavian – later Emperor Augustus – brought the building project to fruition and also made a few tweaks to the original architectural plans. These amendments were geared towards making the forum even more grandiose than Caesar had originally conceived. The end result was a new meeting place for the people of Rome. Here was a public space where business could be conducted, love affairs could unfold, friends could meet, and the Romans could gaze in awe at the magnificence of their hometown. Above all, it rammed home the message that Caesar was in charge as sole ruler of the vast Roman Empire.
So far, our excavations have unearthed tumbled granite columns from the forum’s eastern portico, as well as statue bases. Drainage channels have also come to light, with one dating to Caesar’s time, while another was installed during Trajan’s reign, providing a sense of how the forum was maintained over a century after its inauguration. Such measures ensured that heavy rain could drain towards the Cloaca Maxima, some 100m to the south.
Our spring campaign will reveal more about this late-Republican tour de force and its restoration under Trajan. We are also hoping these investigations might answer a long-standing mystery concerning the complex: how it connected to the famous Forum of Augustus. These two fora shared an adjoining wall, but to this day it remains unclear whether this contained a passage permitting movement between the two. Caesar’s Forum itself could be entered on either side of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, while there was also a connecting passage to the Roman Forum. So, were the ancient Romans able to walk dry-shod all the way from the Roman Forum to the Forum of Augustus? With the new excavations, the entire width of Caesar’s Forum will be exposed for the first time, shedding more light on movement in the heart of ancient Rome.
Rearranging the landscape
In 2021, we also opened a smaller trench closer to the paved forum square. In this part of the excavation, the stratigraphy ‘jumps’ from the Middle Ages directly back to the archaic period, long before the heyday of Republican and Imperial Rome. The archaeological layers belonging to the centuries in between, including the era of Caesar’s Forum, are gone. This loss can be traced back to the inhabitants of the medieval domus terrinee, who exposed the area to rough treatment by digging down to reach the fertile soil below. One side effect of their handiwork is that this modest – but crucial – trench has allowed us to reach far deeper into the past of ancient Rome.
Whereas the Middle Ages’ peasant society really let this part of the site have it, the architects and workers that built Caesar’s Forum adopted a softer touch. When the complex was built, the ground had to be levelled, and this meant that in places, especially the north-eastern part of the forum, 3-4m of ground needed removing. Where our trench lay in the south-eastern part of the site, though, the remains of the archaic period were left largely untouched by Caesar’s grand development.
Thanks to this, the floor level and some walls of a 6th-century BC building still survived in the archaic levels. The area was once again residential in nature at this point in time, with earlier excavations in the vicinity revealing more houses, as well as wells and a street. It is clear from the quality of the material that people from the upper echelons of society resided here during the archaic period. Even so, the most striking finds from our new excavations belong to the funerary rather than to the domestic sphere. This is due to the discovery of four children buried in the first half of the 6th century BC.
Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363274
Three of the children were entombed in storage jars known as ollae. Their graves were fashioned by pushing together two of these squat, belly-rounded jars, with the body of the child placed inside. Another grave was found under one of the olla graves. It contained an inhumed child, who had died at the age of three or four. On top of each olla grave was a little pile of material that included, among other things, tile fragments. Rather than being grave markers, these miniature mounds were probably placed there to provide protection – perhaps so that animals could not dig through the earth to reach the graves.
Although the dead were usually destined for cemeteries established outside towns, it is not uncommon to find infants buried in houses. Even so, it is unique for so many to be bunched together from the same period. Inevitably, it raises the question of whether we are dealing with victims of a disease or some other catastrophic event. We expect the upcoming analyses of the graves and the bodies in 2022, together with further excavations in the area, to shed more light on this.
Rise of Rome
We have now delved through cultural layers reaching back roughly 2,600 years in time. But Rome’s story does not stop there. Earlier excavations in Caesar’s Forum have found traces of even more ancient activity: in the 11th and 10th centuries BC, a necropolis occupied the site, while before that, from the 13th to the 11th centuries BC, handmade impasto pottery, postholes (probably from a hut), wheel tracks, and evidence for the area being carefully levelled speak of settlement activity.
As we reach the spring of 2022, the buzzing sound of excavations is once again to be heard behind the green-screen enclosure. It brings the promise that this year our dig might reach the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age layers, thus shedding light on the origins of Rome. Whatever the results, we can be confident that a longue durée narrative about daily life in the heart of Rome will continue to be revealed through the excavation of a small patch of land hidden away beneath Mussolini’s parade-street turning space for almost a century.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The excavations at Caesar’s Forum are undertaken as a collaboration between Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, the Danish Institute in Rome, and the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (Aarhus University). The project is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation and Aarhus University Research Foundation. Further support comes from the Danish National Research Foundation under the grant DNRF119 – Centre for Urban Network Evolutions. Project publications include, among others:
T A Hass & R Raja (eds.) (2021) Caesar’s Past and Posterity’s Caesar, Rome Studies 1. Turnhout: Brepols.
J K Jacobsen, G Murro, C P Presicce, R Raja & S G Saxkjær (2020) ‘Practicing Urban Archaeology in a Modern City: the Alessandrino Quarter of Rome’, Journal of Field Archaeology 46.1: 36–51.
J K Jacobsen, G Murro, C P Presicce, R Raja, S G Saxkjær & M Vitti (2021) ‘High-Definition Urban Narratives from Central Rome: virtual reconstructions of the past and the new Caesar’s Forum excavations’, Journal of Urban Archaeology 3, 65–86.
Project webpage: cas.au.dk/en/cfp
UrbNet webpage: urbnet.au.dk
ALL IMAGES: Sovrintendenza Capitolina and The Caesar’s Forum Project, unless otherwise stated.
Fonte / source, foto:
--- The Past / London (17/05/2022)
the-past.com/feature/digging-caesars-forum-three-thousand...
Fonte / source, foto:
--- Roma - Il Foro di Cesare, I Fori Imperiali & Via dei Fori Imperiali; in: and.lezzi / Instagram (18/05/2022).
www.instagram.com/p/CdtiUcWsmNX/
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083086827
2). ROME - Børnegrave, luksusglas og kloaker gravet frem af jorden under Cæsars Forum i Rom. (18/05/2022). The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
En lang række enestående genstande gravet frem af jorden under Cæsars Forum kaster nyt lys over Roms fortid fra Antikken og helt op i 1900-tallet. Foreløbig er der fundet alt fra tallerkener, lysekroner, legetøj og medicinflasker til granitsøjler og dræningskanaler. De kommende måneder vil flere nye områder blive genstand for omfattende undersøgelser, der vil kaste yderligere lys over liv og skikke i Roms fortid.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083086877
2.1). ROMA - Tombe di bambini, vetri di lusso e fogne scavate nel terreno durante il Foro di Cesare a Roma
. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
** Nota: Di seguito è riportato un estratto dell'articolo in lingua danese originale tradotto in italiano e inglese. **
Un gran numero di oggetti unici scavati nel terreno durante il Foro di Cesare gettano nuova luce sul passato di Roma dall'antichità e fino al XX secolo. Finora è stato trovato di tutto, da piatti, lampadari, giocattoli e bottiglie di medicinali a colonne di granito e canali di drenaggio. Nei prossimi mesi alcune nuove aree saranno oggetto di approfonditi studi che faranno luce sulla vita e sui costumi del passato di Roma.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084119251
2.2). ROME - Children's tombs, luxury glass and sewers dug out of the ground during Caesar's Forum in Rome
. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
** Note: Below is an extract of the original Danish language article translated in Italiano and English. **
A large number of unique objects excavated from the ground during Caesar's Forum shed new light on Rome's past from antiquity and all the way up to the 20th century. So far, everything from plates, chandeliers, toys and medicine bottles to granite columns and drainage channels have been found. In the coming months, several new areas will be the subject of extensive studies that will shed further light on the life and customs of Rome's past.
A large number of unique objects excavated from the ground during Caesar's Forum shed new light on Rome's past from antiquity and all the way up to the 20th century. So far, everything from plates, chandeliers, toys and medicine bottles to granite columns and drainage channels have been found. In the coming months, several new areas will be the subject of extensive studies that will shed further light on the lives and customs of Rome's past.
Since 2019, Danish and Italian archaeologists, with support from the Carlsberg Foundation and the Aarhus University Research Foundation, have carried out an extensive archaeological excavation of one of Rome's five representative forums from Antiquity, Caesar's Forum. From the Danish side, the excavation is led by Ph.D. Jan Kindberg Jacobsen affiliated with the Danish Institute in Rome and professor and center manager Rubina Raja from the Center for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet) at Aarhus University.
One of the areas that archaeologists have been investigating is the so-called Alessandrino neighborhood, which was laid out in the second half of the 16th century and existed until the early 1930s, when it was demolished on order from? Benito Mussolini (Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943).
Excavation with a high degree of detail
The excavation of Caesar's Forum has also resulted in new finds from the Middle Ages in the 9th and 10th centuries, possibly during this period Rome had been in disrepair for several centuries. Caesar's Forum no longer functioned as a 'forum', and agriculture was instead moved within the city walls. At the Caesar's Forum itself, farms had been built and fields laid out.
“In the period April to July 2021, we excavated the remains of one of these farms. The excavation has given an insight into the architectural expressions of the farms, the material culture associated with the farms, the agricultural system and the farmers' changes of the landscape ”.
Jan Kindberg Jacobsen summarizes that the excavation of Caesar's Forum is generally the most scientifically advanced excavation carried out so far in central Rome:
“The finely detailed excavation technique, new registration methods and a large number of scientific methods, which we have used in the work at Cæsars Forum, have made it possible to get right down to the last detail. With this, we have been able to describe the long cultural development as a unified history, where the earliest and most recent finds are treated within the same methodological and interpretive framework. This task has been undertaken by UrbNet at Aarhus University, which has leading specialists in the field of science - partly under the auspices of the center and partly through UrbNet's enormous international research network ”.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084361974
Until July 1, archaeologists continue the excavation in the area where the children's graves were found.
“We have expanded the excavation area and are now on our way down. However, we are still two meters above the level where we found the graves, so more than 1000 years of cultural layers still need to be excavated and recorded. We anticipate that the archaeological excavations will be completed in the summer of 2023, ”concludes Jan Kindberg Jacobsen.
Fonte / source:
--- The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
www.carlsbergfondet.dk/da/Nyheder/Nyt-fra-fondet/Nyheder/...
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022)
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084617270
3). ROM - Dr. Jan Kindberg Jacobsen & Opsigtsvækkende fund: Tre børnegrave i et beboelsesområde er dukket op under udgravningen af Cæsars Forum. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / Facebook (18/05/2022).
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142663
ROME - Three children's graves in a residential area have emerged during the excavation of Caesar's Forum.
During excavations in Rome, archaeologists have come across three vases that were close to each other. It turned out to be coffins, as each vase contained the skeleton of a child aged 1-2. The tombs date from the Archaic period between 700 and 600 BC, and the find is very unusual. Usually, the dead were not buried in the areas where the Romans themselves lived.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084361984
Fonte / source:
--- The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / Facebook (18/05/2022).
3.1). ROM - Dr. Jan Kindberg Jacobsen & Tre børnegrave i et beboelsesområde er dukket op under udgravningen af Cæsars Forum = ROME - Three children's graves in a residential area have emerged during the excavation of Caesar's Forum. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022) [3:01].
Video: Three children’s graves in a residential area have emerged during the excavation of Caesar’s Forum. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P93VZdLyzeU
During the excavation in Rome, archaeologists came across three vases that lay close together. It turned out to be coffins, as each vase contained the skeleton of a child aged 1-2 years. The tombs are from archaic times between 700 and 600 BCE, and the find is very unusual.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084141628
For usually the dead were not buried in the areas where the Romans themselves lived. "When they have nevertheless been located within the settlement, it is probably due to the fact that children at that time were not considered to be 'real' people until they reached a certain age.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084361989
This is because at that time there was a very high infant mortality rate, and they therefore waited to be considered members of society until they had reached a certain age, ”says excavation leader Jan Kindberg.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083086842
Archaeologists are now studying the tombs in more detail. to become wiser, why the three tombs are located in a residential area. Here the archaeologists work with 2-3 theories, which you can hear more about in the video.
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084362014
Fonte / source, foto & video:
--- The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022) [3:01].
Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084118186
S.v.,
Foto: Il Foro di Cesare e gli scavi; in: ROMA | THREAD STORICO ARCHEOLOGICO / Skyscraper City # 944 (12/03/2022).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52020804396
--- ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2022. #NatalediRoma Update: Rome, the Forum of Caesar Excavations, April 2022; and Dr. Rubina Raja, “Excavating the Untouched History of Rome;” in: Arrhus, University of Denmark (28 Feb. 2022). And New On-Site Excavation Photographs (12 March & 16 April, 2022); in: Rome: Skyscraper City (21/04/2022). S.v., Roma, Scavo e Valorizzazione nel Foro di Cesare (04/2022); in: Foto di Francesco Campanini / Facebook (15/04/2022). wp.me/pbMWvy-2CR
Javier Ramírez mostró los beneficios de Spring Framework de código abierto para desarrollo de aplicaciones en la plataforma Java
Foto: @falconantonio
Mediterranean river discharge patterns depend on properties of the atmospheric water budget as well as on the geographical characteristics of the Mediterranean catchment. A substantial latitudinal gradient characterizes Mediterranean precipitation year-round, with dry areas along the African coast and significantly wetter ones north of the Mediterranean Sea (Struglia et al. 2004). Winter is the main rainy season for the European land regions, which contribute most of the discharge, while summers south of 40 degrees N are basically dry. Most of the water discharge in the northern region occurs during short floods associated with maximum river flow after heavy rainfall, which generally occurs between February and May. The strong summer-winter rainfall contrast, which increases from north to south and from west to east, is the major characteristic of the Mediterranean climate (UNEP/MAP/MED POL, 2003). In the large and medium-sized river basins in north and central Europe, wide-ranging and continuous precipitation is the most common cause of flooding. Floods also occur in association with snow melt in late spring and early summer. Intense shortlasting rainfall during spring and fall affecting small coastal catchments is the main cause of coastal floods in arid and semiarid parts of the Mediterranean area.
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This photo has been graciously provided to be used in the GRID-Arendal resources library by: GRID-Arendal
I've seen a lot of versions shooting the old port but the skies that day demanded a bit of a straight forward approach for me to compose the scene. This image was shot about 4 months ago. I wanted to show our newly inducted alumni's of the Chasing Light workshop how rewarding it is to be a Landscape photographer and what our place has to offer. Building the right attitude and mindset, We all can be great with what we love to do. I miss shooting with great light. I hope to capture more after the stormy weather. Batch 22 lets do a group shoot this time around! its gonna be an adventure!
Javier Ramírez mostró los beneficios de Spring Framework de código abierto para desarrollo de aplicaciones en la plataforma Java
Foto: @falconantonio
Javier Ramírez mostró los beneficios de Spring Framework de código abierto para desarrollo de aplicaciones en la plataforma Java
Foto: @falconantonio