Author: Triskele Heritage

13 November 2023

In the charming south Gloucestershire market town of Wotton-under-Edge there is a quaint, timber and stone, building known as the Ancient Ram Inn. It has become well known online due to being a hotspot for ghost hunters. The building also has several rather curious claims made about its history which will be considered in this edition of the Mediaeval Myth-busting Blog.

The Ancient Ram Inn is a former public house which closed during the 1960s. It was then bought by a colourful character by the name of John Humphries who opened his doors to visitors craving paranormal experiences. The business is now run by John’s daughter, Caroline, and people who hope to encounter the supernatural pay a fee to spend time at the property.

Ancient and Macabre Claims

Ghost stories aside, there are many accompanying claims which are made about the history of the building. During a 2002 interview with John Humphries, for Cotswold Edge, it was noted that: “There is a continual stream of visitors, both young and old whom John willingly welcomes and regails [sic] with tales of ‘ghostly going on’… He knows that highwaymen regularly stayed there and plotted their next attack and believes that a secret passage runs from the house to the church which was used in the days when the pub was a Church house where the priest lived.”

Sign within the Ancient Ram Inn claiming it as a hideout of highwaymen (Picture Source: Brian Robert Marshall / Wikimedia Commons)

Elsewhere, during recent interviews with Caroline Humphries, in the Stroud Times and The Metro, it has been claimed that the building dates to the eleventh or twelfth century. Travel websites, such as Travel Awaits, The Blog of Travel, and Visit Stroud have noted that the building dates to 1145. Meanwhile, mainstream media outlets including The Mirror and The Daily Mail, and the BBC have repeated the story that the property is constructed directly over a pagan burial ground.

The various claims about the Ancient Ram Inn can be summed up in a section on, the paranormal investigations website, Haunted Rooms which asserts that: “The inn was built in 1145. Priests used the inn years ago to keep slaves and workers who helped construct the St. Mary Church… Furthermore, an ancient Pagan burial ground is reported to have resided on the site over 5,000 years ago.” Similar information can also be found on other paranormal webpages including Haunted Britain and Ireland, The Little House of Horrors, and Haunted Happenings.

These ideas are repeated across the internet and have bled through onto reference sites such as Wikipedia. Currently, the entry for the Ancient Ram Inn notes that: “The inn’s original use was to house the masons and other builders employed to construct the neighbouring church. It was later – 1154 – taken up as the dwelling of the first recorded vicar”. The citation which allegedly backs this information up is an archived version of John Humphries interview with Cotswold Edge. Yet, it is notable that the latter article does not refer to the building’s dates of use or its connection with stonemasons.

St Mary’s parish church, Wotton-under-Edge, looking south-east (Picture Source: Tim Heaton / Geograph)

Across the web, the sources of many of the claims are largely unreferenced and the foundations for the assertions are rarely revealed. The articles either completely omit mention of the sources or the writers refer back to similar websites making similar claims. Even the greenest of history students must admit that there might be a certain cause for concern over the provenance of such information.

The purpose of this blog will be to try and answer the following questions:

• What was the date of construction for the Ancient Ram Inn?
• Was the building ever used to house either stonemasons or the vicar of St Mary’s parish church? Has it ever had any other uses?
• Is the property constructed on the site of a pagan burial ground?

The Date of the Ancient Ram Inn

The official website for the property claims that: “The Ancient Ram Inn is an 800-year-old Grade II* listed former Inn… The Deeds to The Ram Inn, are mostly in Norman French and are held at Gloucester Records Office. They read: “The Ancient Ram Inn dates to Time Immemorial,” so it could have been in existence much earlier than 800 years ago.”

It is certainly true to say that the building is a “Grade II* listed former inn”. The information can be verified by viewing the listing entry which is available online via the National Heritage List for England. However, the listing description is somewhat at odds with the claim that the building is at least 800 years old. Instead, the detailed information notes that the earliest fabric present at the Ancient Ram Inn is: “Late medieval, remodelled in mid/late C16”. It then goes on to indicate various additions and alterations made between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries.

Ground floor plan of the Ancient Ram Inn (Picture Source: Hall 2014, 60)

The property was included as a location during the 2014 Vernacular Architecture Group Spring Conference. The expert author of the symposium guide, Linda Hall, noted that the Ancient Ram Inn was: “A complete small but high quality medieval house” and included plans and sectional elevations of the building (Hall 2014, 60-62). The entry indicates that the building was originally a single-storey, three-bay house featuring services, hall, and parlour with a later outbuilding. Hall’s text also refers to tree-ring dating for the building. Dendrochronology sampling has confirmed that the primary phase of construction took place immediately after timbers were felled during the winter of 1495-96 (Miles & Bridge 2014, 118).

The scientific data corroborates the stylistic dating by Historic England and the Vernacular Architecture Group. It confirms that the earliest fabric present at the Ancient Ram Inn dates to the last decade of the fifteenth century, rather than the twelfth century.

The Use of the Building

Haunted Rooms have claimed that the building was first used to house the “slaves” and stonemasons who built the parish church of St Mary in the twelfth century. Elsewhere, it has been mooted on Wikipedia that the property was inhabited by the local vicar from 1154. Logically, neither of these claims seem to be supported by the evidence.

The earliest fabric at St Mary’s dates to the thirteenth century. This post-dates the claim that the Ancient Ram Inn was built in twelfth century in connection to the construction of the church. Of course, it is possible that there may have been an earlier church but there is no documentary or archaeological evidence to indicate when this may have been built and nothing to link it with the Ancient Ram Inn. Furthermore, it has been established that the present structure of the Ancient Ram Inn dates to 1495-96, a point in time long after any putative twelfth century builders or vicars could have inhabited it.

Nave arcade of St Mary’s parish church, Wotton-under-Edge, looking east (Picture Source: John Salmon / Geograph)

As an aside, Haunted Rooms’ claim that the church was built using slave labour is unlikely. Slavery seems to have been largely absent from England by the opening of the twelfth century (Gillingham 2014, 8-9). Instead, major construction projects would have required monetary payment for the services of exceptionally skilled stonemasons (Hislop 2012, 8-15).

It is possible to construct something of the known of the history of the building through transcriptions of property deeds held by Gloucestershire Archives (Archive reference: D1193/16/1). The earliest of these, dated 1350, has revealed that a tenement was transferred from Maurice de Bathe to Peter le Couk. This is a reference to a previous building on the site as we know that the present structure dates to the late fifteenth century. It should be noted that there is no information given as to the professions of either man so it cannot be said that they were masons or vicars.

Subsequently, there are records of the transference of the extant building between various owners in 1521, 1532, and 1538. The deed for 1532 indicates that the building had formerly been in the possession of clothmakers. This connection with the textile industry has also been raised through reference to tenterhooks found in the service bay during archaeological surveys (Hall 2014, 61; NHLE 1088885). It may be that the building was originally the domestic house and workshop of those involved in the lucrative late mediaeval Gloucestershire wool trade.

Ancient Ram Inn, Wotton-under-Edge, looking north (Picture Source: Ray Bird / Geograph)

Curiously, the building was held by multiple individuals in 1532 and 1538. For example, in 1532, Thomas Hycks of Tortworth granted the property to: “John Gower, George Simondes, Thomas Byshuppe, John Hewes, William Coldwell, Richard Smyth, Thomas Colman and Galfred Bruton, all of Wotton-under-Edge, yeomen, on behalf of and in the name of all the parishioners”. It is possible that the named individuals may have been trustees who operated the building as a church house for the parish at this period, a factor which was raised in the listing description (NHLE: 1088885).

Church houses became an increasingly popular feature of parish life during the late mediaeval period. They were used for a variety of secular purposes including venues for legal courts, schools, markets, and business meetings. Church houses also provided locations for entertainments such as mystery plays and social gatherings which included the serving of food and drink after feast days, baptisms, weddings, the annual reading of the churchwardens accounts, and during parish fundraising events known as church ales. In many respects these buildings acted as a forerunner of our modern church or village halls, and the early sixteenth century example at Crowcombe in Somerset is still used as such (Friar 1996, 109). In other cases, the bibulous events held within such buildings led to their transformation into public houses. This occurred at the church house for the parish of St Thomas’ in Salisbury, constructed during the mid-fifteenth century, which is now the Haunch of Venison pub (NHLE: 1273531).

Haunch of Venison, Salisbury, looking north-west (Picture Source: Colin Smith / Wikimedia Commons)

The Ancient Ram Inn was in clear use as a public house by at least 1820 (NHLE: 1088885). Although there was a considerable passage of time between the 1530s and the early nineteenth century, it is an intriguing prospect that the use of the building as a pub could potentially have developed from its former use as a church house. Subsequently, the transcribed title deeds reveal that, in 1905, the building was transferred to the Coombe Valley Brewery by the Trustees of Wotton-under-Edge General Charities. Is it possible that the latter was a descendant organisation of the group who may have run a sixteenth century church house? In 1912, the property passed to Arnold Perrett and Co. Ltd., who became a subsidiary of Cheltenham and Hereford Breweries, later known as West Country Breweries. It was this company who sold the building to John Humphries in 1968.

It may be concluded that this is a property for which we have a reasonably clear idea of its form, dating, development, and history. The Ancient Ram Inn was probably built as a domestic house and textile workshop in 1495-96. It may have been acquired as a church house by 1532. By c 1820 it was a public house, and it only closed its doors in the 1960s. Since then, the Humphries family have hosted paranormal events at the building. Significantly, there does not seem to be any evidence for its use in the twelfth century as a mason’s lodge or vicarage.

Pagan Burial Ground

It has been demonstrated above that there is a widespread belief that the Ancient Ram Inn was built directly on top of a pagan burial ground. The claims vary, with some stating that the cemetery dates to the Neolithic period, whilst others assert that it is early mediaeval in date.

Whilst there are known burial sites from both periods across Gloucestershire, there does not seem to be anything in the archaeological record for a cemetery in in the locale of the Ancient Ram Inn. Such a discovery would ultimately make its way into the catalogues of repositories such as the Archaeology Data Service, National Heritage List for England, National Monument Record Excavation Index, Historic England Research Records, and the Gloucestershire County Council Historic Environment Record. However, none of these databases refers to the discovery of a pagan burial ground in the vicinity. Quite how and why this claim came to be made can only be speculated on.

Toad Hall (left) and the Old Medicine House at Blackden, Cheshire, looking south-east

Should anyone feel a little deflated by this revelation, I’d like to draw your attention to a mediaeval house which is genuinely built on top of a prehistoric burial mound. Toad Hall at Blackden in Cheshire is such a property. It is owned by the author Alan Garner and is the spot where he has completed all his novels from The Weirdstone of Brisingamen onwards. The interconnected property, known as the Old Medicine House, is occasionally open to the public, via The Blackden Trust, on select dates. Genuine archaeological artefacts which have been discovered at the site, dating from the Mesolithic onwards, are on display.

Conclusions

It is widely claimed that the Ancient Ram Inn dates to the twelfth century, was built as a stonemason’s lodge or a vicarage, and was constructed on the site of a pagan burial ground.

The evidence presented here indicates that the standing building dates to 1495-96 and was built as a domestic house with connections to the wool trade. By the early sixteenth century it may have become a church house. Latterly it was a public house and is now run as a paranormal events venue.

There does not seem to be any evidence to back up claims for a twelfth century date, use as a mason’s lodge or vicarage, and the archaeological data for a pagan cemetery on the site is absent.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Linda Hall and Martin Toms for their assistance in helping to compile data for this article.

The header image is by Steve H / Tripadvisor.

References

Friar, S., 1996 (1998 edition), A Companion to the English Parish Church. Sutton Publishing. Stroud.

Gillingham, J., 2014, ‘French Chivalry in Twelfth-century Britain’ in The Historian. Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society.

Gloucestershire Archives D1193/16/1 – Deeds of a messuage in Sinwell, near the Cloud Mill, later called the Tan House and subsequently the Ram Inn, 1350-1724
(Accessed 12/11/2023)

Hall, L., 2014, Vernacular Architecture Group Spring Conference 2014 – Gloucestershire: Gloucester and the Vale. Vernacular Architecture Group.

Hislop, M., 2012, Medieval Masons. Shire. Botley.

Miles, D. & Bridge, M., 2014, ‘Tree-ring Dates from the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory List 263: General List’ in Vernacular Architecture Vol. 45. Vernacular Architecture Group.

[NHLE] National Heritage List for England: Ancient Ram Inn
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1088885?section=official-list-entry
(Accessed 12/11/2023)

About the author

James Wright (Triskele Heritage) is an award-winning buildings archaeologist who frequently writes and lectures on the subject of mediaeval building myths. He has over two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.

He welcomes contact through Twitter or email.

The Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog blog is the basis of a forthcoming book – Historic Building Mythbusting – Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology which will be released via The History Press on 6 June 2024. More information can be found here:

Advice & Guidance for Researching the Archaeology of Historic Houses

Most settlements in the British Isles contain at least one, and sometimes many, ancient buildings. Historic houses are familiar and popular elements of urban and rural landscapes. However, it may come as a shock to discover that the vast majority of old properties have never been researched in a meaningful sense. This lack of knowledge extends to both well-known and more obscure buildings. Consequently, there is often a cloudy understanding about the true age of many ancient structures.

This online talk will delve into the reasons for such limited understanding and will then offer practical guidance on how to use archaeological techniques to research ancient buildings. We will consider advice on how to track down buildings using archives; the pros and cons of dendrochronology will be outlined, and the techniques of buildings archaeology will be explained. The event will be useful for landowners of ancient buildings, for community groups interested in local architecture, and for anyone with a wayward curiosity about understanding just how old historic buildings are.

The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage), is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period. He is the author of the popular Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog.

All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.

The event will take place at 19:00 GMT on Thursday 14 December 2023 via Zoom. There will be a talk until approximately 20.15 GMT and then a questions and answer session. It will end around 21.00 GMT.

Booking is now available via Eventbrite:

This lecture is crowdfunded through donation. It will be the debut of a new bespoke talk. There is no minimum donation so its possible to contribute as little or as much as you want. Your donation is your ticket and you will be sent a link to access the event by Eventbrite.

Please note that this live event will not be recorded and made available online afterwards.

If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.

Eventbrite recommend using the most up to date version of Google Chrome to access the meeting.

If you have any problems accessing the event please email: james@triskeleheritage.com
This address will be monitored throughout the event.

In the town of Athlone (County Westmeath, Ireland) is a very famous pub with the rather unassuming name of Sean’s Bar. The establishment is routinely claimed as the oldest pub in Ireland – confidently dated to 900AD – “and perhaps soon The Oldest Pub in the World.”

Now, there are many pubs which assert to be the oldest in a particular town, county, or country… but to lay the groundwork to be the most ancient pub on Planet Earth is quite another thing. This is a building that has been long overdue for investigation by the Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog.

The Claim

It is proudly claimed on the pub’s website that an inn was founded by Luain Mac Luighdeach at a ford over the River Shannon in 900AD. A settlement then grew up around the pub and this became Áth Luain (the Ford of Luain), later Athlone. It is alleged that the public house, now known as Sean’s Bar, has been serving drinks to locals and travellers continuously since Luain started trading.

Signage at Sean’s Bar claiming 900AD as the date of foundation (Image Credit: Matthewvetter / Wikimedia Commons)

By way of verification, it is stated that: “Sean’s Bar has a detailed and documented history right back to 900AD. During renovations in 1970, the walls of the bar were found to be made of “wattle and wicker” dating back to the ninth century.” Furthermore, it is noted that Sean’s Bar was “researched thoroughly” by Guinness World Records and still holds the record for “The Oldest Pub in Ireland”.

The claim is uncritically repeated across the internet by varied organisations including news outlets, clickbait social media sites, and tourist guides. This all sounds as if it is a cut and dried case with some excellent sources to verify the claim… but is any of it true?

Screengrab of a Twitter post from October 2023 made by @historyinmemes, at the time followed by over 3 million accounts, which claimed that Sean’s Bar dates to 900AD.

Foundation of Athlone

The history of the foundation of Athlone is perhaps more complex than Sean’s Bar might claim. Although the placename Athlone is correctly stated to derive from “the ford of Luan” nothing is actually known about Luan, let alone whether he founded a pub on the site. Neither is it precisely certain whether the settlement existed by 900AD.

There is some evidence for activity along that part of the Shannon during the Bronze Age and The Old Athlone Society have noted that the presence of several early Christian grave slabs which may indicate the location of an unrecorded monastery in the locale. However, the town probably developed from 1129 after the construction of a bridge and castle for Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair of Connacht. These structures were later replaced in the early thirteenth century for John de Grey, bishop of Norwich and Justiciar of Ireland for the English crown. Such urban developments, found in close association with the foundations of castles and bridges, occurred often in mediaeval Ireland and this seems a reasonable suggestion for how the town of Athlone originated (O’Keefe 2021, 39, 41-43, 46-47,128-29).

Athlone Castle (Image Credit: Olliebailie / Wikimedia Commons)

Meanwhile, it is claimed by Sean’s Bar that the pub and settlement came first and that the castle was built many centuries later. However, literally nothing beyond the personal name is known about Luan, let alone that he set up a pub in 900AD. Given the sparsity of evidence for early development it seems more likely that the bridge and castle led to the settlement in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Significantly, there is not “a detailed and documented history right back to 900AD” for either the town or the pub.

The Building

So, if the documented history cannot take us back to 900AD, what can the structure of Sean’s Bar tell us? The pub notes that: “During renovations in 1970, the walls of the bar were found to be made of “wattle and wicker” dating back to the ninth century.” This claim was confirmed by Declan Delaney, manager of Sean’s Bar, on 7 February 2018 in The Journal when he reported that: “The history of the pub was only discovered in 1968 when local man Sean Fitzsimons purchased the bar and carried out renovations.”

Wattled wall from Sean’s Bar (Image Credit: Matthewvetter / Wikimedia Commons)

The problem here is that the fabric of the building is claimed to date to the ninth century, and this is repeated from one website to another, but no archival or archaeological evidence is ever offered as the root source of the information. Instead, the listed entry for Sean’s Bar on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (administered by the Irish state’s Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage) notes that the current standing building was constructed c 1725 as a coaching inn which was known as The Three Blackamoors Heads by 1738. The record goes onto confirm that renovations were indeed carried out c 1970 but, instead of finding ““wattle and wicker” dating back to the ninth century”, the walls in question were dated to the seventeenth century. That is a potential exaggeration of at least seven centuries.

Therefore, Sean’s Bar may not have any confirmed records taking its foundation back to 900AD and it appears as if its extant fabric is not that old either.

Guinness World Records

Sean’s Bar is not alone in boasting that Guinness World Records have included them as an entry for the category of oldest pub in a particular country. In England, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks at St Albans (Hertfordshire) and the Bingley Arms at Bardsey-cum-Rigton (West Yorkshire) both make similar claims. The issue with the contention is that Guinness World Records no longer maintain a category for oldest pub… anywhere. Although they may once have done so, their website is now completely empty for such a category. They have even confirmed this via their official social media account.

Sean’s Bar certificate from Guinness World Records (Image Credit: Serge Ottaviani / Wikimedia Commons)

Given that Guinness World Records no longer monitor the category of oldest pub, Sean’s Bar might no longer officially hold such a title. This is somewhat ironic as Guinness World Records were originally set up by an Irish brewery to settle pub arguments… yet they are now unable to identify the oldest pub in Ireland.

The Oldest Pub in Ireland

Given that Sean’s Bar is probably a seventeenth- and eighteenth-century building, which does not appear to have any documented records dating it to 900AD, and it is no longer a Guinness World Record holder, it seems unlikely that the pub is still officially the oldest in Ireland.

Several other pubs in the country make claims to antiquity and are listed on various news and travel websites. However, in common with the claims made by various pubs in the United Kingdom, a level of detailed research to back up the boasts is often lacking. For example, the Brazen Head in Dublin is usually cited as dating to 1198, yet the building is entirely of c 1755 or later.

The Brazen Head, Dublin (Image Credit: psyberartist / Wikimedia Commons)

Perhaps any attempt to identify the oldest pub in Ireland is doomed to failure. Instead, lets ignore the blarney and enjoy the craic… Sláinte!

References

O’Keefe, T., 2021, Ireland Encastellated, AD 950-1550 – Insular Castle-building in its European Context. Four Courts Press. Dublin.

Header Image: Sean’s Bar at Athlone by Serge Ottaviani / Wikimedia Commons

Postscript

Given the risk of coming across as an Englishman having a pop at Irish pub history three points should be made:

1. The author of this article has Irish ancestry.
2. He was educated at high school by Irish members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers.
3. He has written extensively to debunk the ancient claims of many English pubs too!

About the author

James Wright (Triskele Heritage) is an award-winning buildings archaeologist who frequently writes and lectures on the subject of mediaeval building myths. He has over two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.

He welcomes contact through Twitter or email.

The Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog blog is the basis of a forthcoming book – Historic Building Mythbusting – Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology which will be released via The History Press on 6 June 2024. More information can be found here:

Some of the most significant archaeological remains are those of stone buildings from the mediaeval period. Whether it be complete buildings, partial ruins, excavated foundations or architectural fragments – stonework has the potential to reveal a huge amount about how people lived and worked in the past. This talk will take a look at the the practices of stonemasons and how archaeological research can shed light on construction and life in the mediaeval period.

Drawing upon over twenty years of experience as both a conservation stonemason and a buildings archaeologist the speaker, James Wright, will include case studies from surveys of churches, monasteries, cathedrals, hospitals, castles and great houses. He will look in detail at the evidence left on the very stones of buildings by stonemasons and the ways in which archaeologists use recording techniques to gain a deeper understanding of their sites.

The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage), is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period. He is the author of the popular Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog.

All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.

The event will take place at 19:00 GMT on Thursday 16 November 2023 via Zoom. There will be a talk until approximately 20.15 GMT and then a questions and answer session. It will end around 21.00 GMT.

Booking is now available via Eventbrite:

This lecture is crowdfunded through donation. It will be the debut of a new bespoke talk. There is no minimum donation so its possible to contribute as little or as much as you want. Your donation is your ticket and you will be sent a link to access the event by Eventbrite.

Please note that this live event will not be recorded and made available online afterwards.

If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.

Eventbrite recommend using the most up to date version of Google Chrome to access the meeting.

If you have any problems accessing the event please email: james@triskeleheritage.com
This address will be monitored throughout the event.

Header image credit: Ibex73 / Wikimedia Commons

Opening the door on the world of mediaeval and early modern houses

We might think of doors as purely functional – a way to ensure privacy and to get from one space to another. In some ways this is entirely accurate. However, the study of ancient doors can reveal so much more.

This talk will literally open the door on how doors are constructed, how we can understand how old a door is, and how doors were used in the past. It will also delve deeper to look at what the design of a door can tell us about the status of the room beyond, who was able to use certain doors but not others, and something of the folk beliefs surrounding doors.

The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage), is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period. He is the author of the popular Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog.

All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.

The event will take place at 19:00 GMT+1 on Thursday 12 October 2023 via Zoom. There will be a talk until approximately 20.15 GMT+1 and then a questions and answer session. It will end around 21.00 GMT+1.

Booking is now available via Eventbrite:

This lecture is crowdfunded through donation. It will be the debut of a new bespoke talk. There is no minimum donation so its possible to contribute as little or as much as you want. Your donation is your ticket and you will be sent a link to access the event by Eventbrite.

Please note that this live event will not be recorded and made available online afterwards.

If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.

Eventbrite recommend using the most up to date version of Google Chrome to access the meeting.

If you have any problems accessing the event please email: james@triskeleheritage.com
This address will be monitored throughout the event.

15 August 2023

Header Image Credit: Frances W. Pritchett / Columbia University / Wikimedia Commons (Munster, S., 1544, Cosmographia)

Each year on International Left Handers Day (13 August), my Twitter feed lights up with folk tagging me in on corporate tie-in posts claiming that the Scottish mediaeval Kerr family were congenitally left-handed. A good example of the genre, this year, was a post by Historic Environment Scotland. Such posts will inevitably state that the spiral staircase in the Kerr family castle at Ferniehirst turns anti-clockwise so that the left-handed family would have the advantage in swordfights.

Now, we’ve covered the swordsman theory of spiral staircases before on this blog. So, for a short discussion on why the story that spiral staircases turn clockwise in castles to advantage right-handed defenders is a myth, please follow this link. One of the primary arguments for the tale being inaccurate is that a substantial minority – around 30% – of castle staircases turn anti-clockwise.

The inevitably leads advocates of the swordsman theory to offer a predictable defence when challenged by the widespread presence of anti-clockwise newels: that they were built for pre-dominantly left-handed defenders. Quite how this argument tallies with the reality that most castles with anti-clockwise newels also have clockwise examples is beyond me (as happened at Caernarfon, Conwy, Bodiam, and the Tower of London).

Ferniehirst Castle (Image Credit: Mainlymazza / Wikimedia Commons)

One of the most famous iterations of the left-handed defence comes from Ferniehirst Castle (Roxburghshire) located in what, for many centuries, were the disputed borderlands between England and Scotland. The tale proposes that the Kerr family, who commissioned the castle, had a high preponderance of left-handed members. Consequently, it is supposed that the stair turret of the late sixteenth century tower-house at the heart of the castle was built with an anti-clockwise newel to better advantage their fighters in the vicious border raiding (Serdiville & Sadler 2018, 103; Wolman 2005, 39; Meikle 1988, 448; Fraser 1971, 52)

The reputation of the Kerrs for being left-handed can be found in a few Victorian poems including the Raid o’the Kerrs by James Hogg (1830) and The Reprisal by Walter Laidlaw (1900). It is also there in contemporary texts on the history of the region which point to the surname Kerr as possibly deriving from the Gaelic word ‘cair’ or ‘cear’ meaning left (Alexander 1855, 157). More recent scholars have shown that the name Kerr is more likely to derive from the Old Norse ‘kjarr’ meaning marsh dweller or a variant on the Gaelic ‘ciar’ meaning ‘dusky‘. The tradition linking the Kerrs to genetic left-handedness might not be more than a couple of centuries old.

Rievers at Gilnockie Tower, Nineteenth century print (Image Credit: G Catermole / Wikimedia Commons)

Despite this, a survey of 200 members of the Kerr family, made during the 1970s, seemed to show that they really did have a higher preponderance of left-handedness (29.5%) when contrasted with a control group (11%) (Research Unit 1974, 437-39). However, a later research project found that the methodology of the 1970s study was fatally flawed by a small sample size coupled with voluntary response bias. Writing in the British Journal of Psychology for 1993, Duncan Shaw and Chris McManus reported that, under more scientifically meticulous circumstances, just 9.2% of the 706 Kerr family members proved to be left-handed – which was slightly less than the 12.97% of 695 people in the control group (Shaw & McManus 1993, 545-551).

Although there is still great debate on the subject – two studies published in 2004 claimed that left-handedness was variously genetic and not genetic in origin – McManus, a professor of psychology at University College London, has a certain form for looking into the subject of handedness. He has stated that: ‘You’re left-handed because you carry a gene as an embryo that, through different biomechanisms, made the two different sides of your brain unequal’ (Wolman 2005, 40).

McManus’ scholarship largely follows the prevailing work of Marian Annett who proposed Right Shift Theory during the 1970s. Annett suggested that the 90% of humans who show a predominance towards right-handedness are decidedly at odds with other animals who demonstrate an approximate 50/50 split of right to left bias. She argued that this dramatic shift was triggered by an evolution of cognitive functions which rely on the left hemisphere of the brain – connected especially to speech, which is unique to humans. The conclusion is that although there may be a gene which determines right-handedness in 90% of the population, there is no corresponding one for left-handed people. She attributes the cause of left-handedness to a lack of the right shift gene, or a random preference as found in other animals (Wolman 2005, 44-46, 49).

Image Credit: Kara98 / Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile, McManus has demonstrated that two left-handed parents have only a 26.1% chance of producing left-handed offspring. It therefore seems unlikely that, even if there was a pre-dominance for left-handedness amongst the Kerr family (which there isn’t), it could not have been reliably passed on through the family even with significant levels of inbreeding or selective partnering (McManus 2002, 156-57).

The connection between the Kerrs and left-handedness may have come about due to a comment by one of their English enemies, the beleaguered Lord Dacre, who described their fighting characteristics as being ‘devilish’ during the 1523 siege of Ferniehirst (Moffat 2008, 153). The demonic or subversive has been commonly associated with the left-hand side in European culture and remained a feature of folk belief well into the modern era (Opie & Tatem 1989, 231). As the Kerrs’ standing as ferocious fighters grew in later legend, so did their demonic reputation in the eyes of their detractors.  This may have been stretched to link the sinister stories regarding the very hand that they wielded their swords with and a misinterpretation of the staircase at their principal castle.

What is almost overwhelmingly overlooked, though, is that the stair at Ferniehirst changes direction. It has sections which are both clockwise and anti-clockwise (although it is pre-dominantly clockwise). This is unusual, but Ferniehirst is not alone. The late thirteenth century newel within the great tower at Dudley (West Midlands) begins as an anti-clockwise turn but changes to a clockwise one mid-way up the structure. This feature can also be found in the fifteenth century at Caister (Norfolk) where the change in direction marks the transition between higher status and lower status areas of the tower.

Part of the staircase at Ferniehirst which does actually turn anti-clockwise (Image Credit: Andy Sweet / Stravaiging around Scotland)

Conclusions

In a five-volume study of Scottish castles, published in 1887, David McGibbon and Thomas Ross noted that Ferniehirst was not particularly defensible and, accordingly, made no conclusion regarding the direction of the anti-clockwise stair. Neither did they mention the legend of the left-handed Kerrs in their assessment – it was just not relevant to the discussion (MacGibbon & Ross 1889, 156-62). In fact the direction of a spiral stair had not even been linked to handedness yet, that only occurring after the art critic Theodore Andrea Cook invented the swordsman theory in 1902 (see Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog #3)

The belief that the Kerrs, with their devilish reputation, had many left-handed members and so built the staircase at Ferniehirst anticlockwise to advantage their fighters seems to be circular reasoning. There is no evidence to suggest that the family really were overwhelmingly left-handed and their staircase at Ferniehirst twists both clockwise and anti-clockwise.

Acknowledgements

My great thanks to Simon Forder (The Castle Guy) for his advice on the precise arrangements of the spiral staircase at Ferniehirst.

References

Alexander, J., 1855, History and antiquities of Roxburghshire and adjacent districts, from the most remote period to the present time. T. C. Jack. Edinburgh.

Fraser, G., M., 1971 (1995 edition) The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. HarperCollins. London.

MacGibbon, D. & Ross, T., 1889, The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century Volume II. David Douglas. Edinburgh.

McManus, C., 2002, Right Hand, Left Hand: The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms and Cultures. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Meikle, M. M., 1988, Lairds and gentlemen : A study of the landed families of the Eastern Anglo-Scottish Borders c.1540-1603. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Edinburgh.

Moffat, A., 2008, The Reivers. Birlinn. Edinburgh.

Opie, I. & Tatum, M., 1989, A Dictionary of Superstitions. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

Research Unit (The Royal College of General Practitioners, Birmingham), 1974, ‘The handedness of Kerrs – a surname study’ in Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners Vol. 24

Serdiville, R. & Sadler, J., 2018, Castles: Fortresses of Power. Casemate. Oxford and Havertown.

Shaw, D. & McManus, I. C., 1993, ‘The handedness of the Kerrs’ in British Journal of Psychology Vol. 84. Wiley-Blackwell / British Psychological Society.

Way, G. A., 1994, Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia. HarperCollins. Glasgow. 

Wolman, D., 2005, A Left-hand Turn Around the World. Da Capo Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About the author

James Wright is an award-winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.

He welcomes contact through Twitter or email.

The Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog blog is the basis of a forthcoming book – Historic Building Mythbusting – Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology which will be released via The History Press on 6 June 2024. More information can be found here:

A look at the buildings archaeology of early modern timber-framed vernacular buildings

The Tudor period witnessed significant changes in the design, appearance and use of domestic houses in England and Wales. Elements of the house which we take for granted in the modern age first began to appear in significant numbers – chimneys, upper floors, multiple bedrooms, and attics. These changes can be sensed through the writings of contemporaries and also through the study of buildings archaeology.

The talk will begin with a short summary of late mediaeval buildings which will help to articulate the basis for identifying the new architecture of the Tudor period. It will also consider how the changes continued through into the seventeenth century so that the architecture of the early modern period can be appreciated in its wider chronological context.

The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage), is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period. He is the author of the popular Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog.

All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.

The event will take place at 19:00 GMT+1 on Tuesday 19 September 2023 via Zoom.

Booking is now available via Eventbrite:

This lecture is crowdfunded through donation. It will be the debut of a new bespoke talk. There is no minimum donation so its possible to contribute as little or as much as you want. Your donation is your ticket and you will be sent a link to access the event by Eventbrite.

Please note that this live event will not be recorded and made available online afterwards.

If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.

*** If you have any problems accessing the events please contact Eventbrite in the first instance ***

Archaeology and the Works of Alan Garner

The books of the Cheshire author Alan Garner are steeped in foklore, mythology and archaeology. His great skill has been to create a tapestry of tales with a deep connection to the Cheshire landscape. Beginning with The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, published in 1960, most of Garner’s works are set within a few miles of Alderley Edge.

Although Garner’s world of wizards, elves, mara, svarts and morthbrood is fantastical the landscapes which they inhabit is all too real. Much of that landscape has been shaped by man and, as such, there is the firm weight of archaeology behind his books.

This talk will follow Dr James Wright’s attempt to walk the locations from Garner’s Weirdstone Trilogy (The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, The Moon of Gomrath and Boneland) with an especial focus on archaeological sites. It will include prehistoric burial mounds, ancient standing stones, mediaeval houses, Victorian copper mines and the seventeenth century farm which was the inspiration for Highmost Redmanhey. Interwoven within the presentation will be a consideration for Garner’s own published fieldwork and research within the world of archaeology.

The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage), is an award winning buildings archaeologist and a self-confessed Alan Garner fan. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period. He is the author of the popular Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog. He runs The Weirdstone Walk website which seeks to track down every location mentioned in the Weirdstone Trilogy. Alan Garner himself has described the venture as: “the first to give the subject a proper treatment.”

This lecture is a collaborative event by Triskele Heritage and Chester Heritage Festival. It is crowdfunded through donation. It will be the debut of a new bespoke talk. There is no minimum donation so it is possible to contribute as little or as much as you want. Your donation is your ticket and you will be sent a link to access the event by Eventbrite.

All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.

The event will take place at 19:30 GMT+1 on Wednesday 28 June 2023 .

Booking is now available via Eventbrite:

Please note that this live event will not be recorded and made available online afterwards.

If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.

*** If you have any problems accessing the events please email with your booking reference to james@triskeleheritage.com ***