James Wright of Triskele Heritage has signed a book contract with The History Press for Historic Building Mythbusting – Why the Stories We’ve Been Told Are Wrong.
Go to any mediaeval building in the land and there will be interesting, exciting and romantic stories presented to the visitor. These stories include those of spiral staircases in castles giving advantage to right-handed defenders, grooves left in church porches by archers sharpening their arrows and secret passages leading from the manor houses to nunneries. Ship timbers are often cited as being used in terrestrial buildings. Burn marks on those timbers are said to be the result of unattended candles. Blocked doors in churches are thought to keep the Devil out. Delightful as these tales are, they can be a tad misleading in some cases and absolute myths in others.
The spiral staircase myth was invented in 1902 by an art critic obsessed with spirals, left-handedness, and fencing – it is intricately bound up with Victorian ideals of militarism. Grooves left in churches reflect long lost ritualised medical potions to ward off fevers. Tunnel tales are invariably connected to the Reformation and an emerging cultural identity. Ship timber yarns can be linked to a seafaring nation. Burn marks can be demonstrated to be the result of deliberate protective rituals. The blocked doors in churches are connected to forgotten processions on church feast days. Understanding the truths behind the myths is just one part of this book – it will also seek to understand how those tales came to be.
This book links folklore, history, art, architecture, archaeology, sociology, and psychology to delve into the myths surrounding many mysterious features in mediaeval buildings. We can learn so much of value about a society through what it builds. By explaining the development of myths and the underlying truth behind them, a broader and deeper understanding of historic buildings can bring us that little bit closer to their former occupants. Sometimes the realities hiding behind the stories are even more interesting, romantic and exciting than the myth itself…
The book will be due out in mid-2024.
In the meantime the Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog will give an idea of some of the content.
