sweasel.com

Over in Woodbridge in Suffolk, in the Long Shed on Tide Mill Way, under a mile from the burial mound, on the west side of the river Deben, some guys are building an exact copy of the longship, using period tools and techniques. The lockdown has slowed them down a lot, but they are persevering. You can buy a nail or two for a contribution, and they send you a nice letter and a cool lapel pin.

https://saxonship.org/

Thank you, Drew – that’s really interesting.

@Drew – how cool is THAT!

90 footer! Damn!

I drove past that dig site virtually every day for 8 years and never once stopped by. I was stationed at RAF Woodbridge, just down Heath Rd from the site, from 1982-86 & 1989-93 when they shut the base down. Never even realized it was there….

Totally off topic – There is a breed of chicken called a Dorking. Very good meat, lays lots of eggs. While some might say that backyard chickening is a very good definition of dorking, poultry pundits profess that this rare chook is the way to go. And the jokes nearly write themselves.

https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/dorking-chicken/

Sutton Hoo –

Am I the only one that thinks he remembers the word “how” (perhaps not spelled exactly that way) was once used to refer to a burial site such as Sutton Hoo?

Or do I have yet another short circuit going in my tea kettle?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/howe#Middle_English
Faugh, the English of the Middles is that which I seek. Too much time reading paper bound by leather hide printed when Victoria was Queen.

What a wonderful journey this post has taken me on!

Beats going to Seattle to watch the daily riots 🙂

Durned, they still use howe, as in Maes Howe.

Drew, behold the Dorking Cockerel. They’re proud of their chicken, is Dorking.

This thread is worth a thousand twitters, et al.

I stumbled across The Dig the same time Stoaty did and thought it pretty well done considering how awful it could have been (See Tutankhamun with Max Irons).

Raf Fiennes is, um, mighty fine.

Stoaty that’s awesome. Love it! Kind of reminds me roadside Americana, like the giant Lucy the Elephant statue in Margate NJ, only with a better wardrobe. Or the Red Mill that is the de facto symbol of our little town of Clinton NJ, and is recognized all over the world. Good for them. Every quaint place needs a strong symbol.

But is dorking a good chicken for a run like yours?

And Howe ( couldn’t resist ); Maes Howe being a neolithic cairn from nearly 5000 years ago. I guess things don’t change over there if they work, eh? The early English Hoo seems to mean How, but Howe doesn’t mean How. I gather Howe comes from the Norse Haugr, which means a hill or a burial mound. So cairn, howe, mound; all pretty similar. Hoo is the name of the Howe in Sutton? I dunno, third base. But it could just as easily, perhaps more properly, be Sutton Howe. Well done, that comment!

Rædwald !!! Or for you lovers of modern children’s books, a RedWall!!! Any relation, besides imagination and alliteration?

I’ve been a supporter of the ship project for several years, buying them a few rivets from time to time. They send out a nice newsletter too, all full of odd Saxon bits of info, like how bog iron was made in a bloomery furnace a bit bigger than a bucket, and how it’s actually a kind of mild steel. Well, it can turn out that way if you make the clay pot you use as a forge a little too deep below the tuyere and put a bit too much charcoal on top, the extra heat and carbon transform the purified soft iron into a kind of steel. So those Dark Ages folks weren’t quite so dim after all. A tuyure? Like on a cahhr? No, ayuh comes in through the tuyure. Huh, the time I’ve spent keeping air from getting out of the tire. Don’t be so dorking Drew, different
as ponies and peonies.

And this should give the thread at least 3 new directions to play in.

I’ve read several of those Redwall books, with Matthias the monk mouse and the animal wars against the Abbey. Chickenhound is in there somewhere, just to bring thing full circle back to chickens. Or is the new term now “circle back”?

Past my bedtime obviously.

you have a great site , thank you