A visit to West Stow

This is another post about a place local to me in East Anglia. This one does have definite textile interest. On it’s web site (1) West Stow is referred to as one of England’s great archeological sites, I thought that was quite a boast  but after visiting I think it is well justified. 

The reconstructed village 

But first a bit  of background. West Stow is in Suffolk, about 30 miles from us and one of those places that you think you will go to ‘some time’ and this week was that time. It is just north of Bury St Edmund’s and in an area called Breckland or ‘The Brecks’ (2). My first zoom experience in lockdown was joining a lecture about Anglo Saxons in East Anglia and the lecture contained quite a bit about West Stow. Whilst the 125 acre country park it sits in was open during lockdown the museum section and ‘village’ was not. We decided we would wait to go until the children had gone back to school. Michael had taken the grandchildren before lockdown but I think I last went nearly 40 years ago and it has been much improved since then. 

We were lucky the weather was glorious for September. My main interest in going was to see the warp weighted looms there in a ‘weaving hut’ in the village. I had spent a day learning to weave with a warp weighted loom with Elizabeth Johnston in Shetland. (3)

West Stow Anglo Saxon Village is a recreation on the site of the original village. The settlers are thought to have arrived via the River Lark and to have built the village up a slight hill from the river. Evidence of other settlements occur in the area. By chance this one had been covered by a medieval sandstorm and equally luckily had been found after many years and thus  been more fully excavated. The main excavation was  between 1965 and 1972, although there was some excavation from  about 1878.  The site was occupied by Anglo Saxons  from about 450- 650 AD. There is evidence of 2 types of buildings, a larger type - eg a hall and smaller ones, with 69 of these being mentioned. The Anglo Saxon Village Trust was set up in 1972 and since then 8 buildings have been constructed and today there are 7 and some smaller ones.

A painting giving an impression of the village

 Each of the main buildings show increased complexity in build and their overall construction is noted at the entrance to each. Having lived in a thatched house of later date (15C) for many years, the construction of these Anglo Saxon huts was of much interest to us. 

View of the workshop. I meant to go back and take a picture of the smaller huts. I forgot…so that is another reason for returning. 

Reconstructed door lock 

One of the huts is called the weaving hut and contained the looms. I was pleased that I knew how these worked, and had woven on one myself, sadly these looms had clearly not been used for some time.

I can understand that they were tied so they could not be tampered with but it is a shame. One loom appears to be set up to be the equivalent of a four shaft loom and this is the weaving on it.

Apologies for my head appearing on this, flash was needed in the dark of the hut! 

However, I became interested in much more than what  was on offer in the weaving hut. The displays in the Anglo Saxon Gallery and Visitor Centre were well presented and more extensive than I expected. 

Thought was also given to the place of the Anglo Saxons in West Stow in relation to earlier peoples, particularly the Romans and also to the  later Vikings. East Anglia is such a great place to find out about the story of earlier inhabitants. 

It was actually the clothing and personal accessories that attracted me while I was there. A large number of personal combs (as opposed to combs to be used on fibre) were found- 106 and 120 have both been quoted! 

By studying these it has been possible to work out how they were constructed and this photo shows the different stages.

How the combs were constructed:

…and visually

For too many years Anglo Saxons have been regarded as ‘ lessers’, certainly in terms of their skills and organisation compared to Romans! It seems to me they were much more sophisticated than they have been portrayed as. The jewellery and skill shown in articles made from wood and metal, pottery, basketry and leather and textile work, to say nothing of gaming pieces, musical and art pieces show they were not just living a subsistence existence. Even from this small settlement in Suffolk, excavations have shown trade with other parts of England as well as the Baltic, Mediterranean and Rhineland !

Besides the usual shop items for the children to take home from a school trip, it was good to see a range of more detailed books. 

As usual we started the day with coffee and cake from the cafe, but had taken a picnic with us so cannot comment on what lunch was like. 

After lunch we took a stroll through the country park to see the River Lark. One could imagine the settlers arriving in their boats. Although I did wonder just how much they brought with them. I can’t imagine them unloading sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, horses etc  that had travelled with across the North Sea and then along this river once reaching Britain. 

The Anglo Saxons who settled in this village very much seem to have used local resources and I wonder if they took over animals left by the declining Roman population. 

All in all a great day out. 

Notes

1. More information can be found on the website. www.weststow.org including a short video giving an overview of the village.   The site is open  throughout the year but do check details of opening and admission. A Book ‘Understanding West Stow’ is available to purchase at a very reasonable price (£4.50 in Sept 2021, and gives a very good introduction to the site. The first photo is taken from that. 
2. ‘The Brecks’ is National Character Area number 85, as defined by Natural England and is an area of mainly sandy soil centred around Thetford, Norfolk  and stretching into Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is particularly interesting inn terms of nature and archeology. 
3. This was with Elizabeth Johnston in 2018 It was a superb day  and I have written about his previously, see post of 11Nov18.  Elizabeth has co authored a wonderful book about these with Hildur Hakonardottir and Marta Klove Juuhl. The Book concentrating on the the use of these looms in Iceland, Shetland and Norway.It is called The Warp Weighted Loom and the book itself is a thing of beauty.

Cley- a gem of the North Norfolk coast

I have several half written posts about places in East Anglia that we have visited this summer. Out latest was a trip to Cley on the North Norfolk Coast. I am determined to finish writing this post and then will try and work at finishing the others. 

The village has Anglo Saxon roots, Cley being a derivation of clay! Cley is pronounced to rhyme with ‘shy’ but at times the village has been called Clay! 

If you are a bird watcher then the word  Cley will mean something to you ….a bit like when I hear the name Shetland which is tied up with spinning, lace and fair isle  in my head! 

Cley is described as one of the best bird watching sites in the UK and the home of birding in Britain. It sits looking north with only sea between it and land over the globe on the other side! It attracts a lot of migrants, especially in autumn and spring, acting as a staging ground. We actually visited as we hadn’t been for far too long due to Covid 19 restrictions. We weren’t intending to see any bird in particular but as you approach the beach this is a common sight.

Like many places along our coastline it is but a shadow of its former self due in the case of Cley to silting up ! Cley is now ‘Cley next the sea’ but the village has been a decent walk from the beach since the 17th Century. The much photographed and ‘ loved by artists’ windmillI was actually built in the early 19th Century. Over the years it has been more or less fully restored and now operates as a rather special B and B and self catering venue. (The Church in the photo is in a neighbouring village!) 

I spent a notable birthday there a few years back- great views from the windows over the surrounding area. The sides of the window were mirrored! 

 Cley  used to be one of the busiest ports in the country, where cloth, grain, and fish were exported or imported.Along with other Norfolk ports there was much trade, in particular connected with weaving, with the Low Countries and probably more goods moved this way than by land to other parts of the country. Goods were taken to Hull and London by sea rather than by land. 

The village used to be based around the Grade 1 listed Medieval church, set even further inland. As with many Norfolk Churches it seems large, parts date back to 1320-1340. The village itself is a nightmare for both pedestrians and traffic. If driving when you want to pull on the side to get out of the way of the local bus there will be a building jutting out into the road! Much patience and driving skill is needed. When built the narrow roads and lanes were not designed  for the volume or size of modern traffic. However the village is worth pursuing, there is a free car park at the village hall, delightful lanes and alleyways and some very nice shops - a great deli, a second hand bookshop, art gallery, pottery, smoke house and at least one really good coffee shop with views over the marshes. If you do venture to the village, take a look at the buildings, everything from flint cottages to very modern via Dutch Gables (reminding one of the trading links) and grand Georgian. 

 View from the West of the village near Artemis coffee shop and the Deli. 

Cley itself sits in the area of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding National Beauty. The bird reserve is to the East of the village and is surrounded by  marshes important for their populations of rare and breeding birds. It is the oldest county Wildlife Trust reserve in the country being set up in 1926. It is a special place and one of the iconic birds is the avocet, to me such an elegant bird. 

The previous thatched reserve building now hosts exhibitions during the year and in 2007 a new eco friendly visitor centre opened. It has a good cafe, nice shop with cards by local artists and a good book section besides the usual gifts. There is an interpretation area, and talks and workshops are held in a separate ‘education’ building. One can sit having coffee and cake and look over the reserve.

(In the following photo the deeper blue line across the centre is the sea, the avocet photo was taken from one of the hides in the centre of the photo.) 

There are many hides allowing good viewing of the frequent flocks of birds and access to the beach is possible if one is prepared to walk.

Typical reeds

View  of the Beach looking west from the East Bank walkway-it was this busy whe we were there in the week! 

A great place to blow away the cobwebs and appreciate the natural beauty of our surroundings. 

Fladda / Alchemilla is finished and I love it

During June / July I was fortunate to attend a series of lace knitting workshops with Elizabeth Williamson, close by in Suffolk. During this time we saw a range of Elizabeth’s shawls, by range I mean in shape, colour, fibre, stitch pattern and challenge. You name it Elizabeth had an example. I fell in love with Elizabeth’s Fladda instantly, I loved the crescent shape and the openness of the design and determined to knit it. 

You will see that I also call it Alchemilla and that will be the name I use for it. Fladda is the name of the pattern, given by Elizabeth, it is a Shetland word. I decided that I would knit the pattern in my own naturally dyed yarn. I have had a couple of Alchemilla plants in pots on my patio and they have flowered profusely this year and given me real joy. 

Alchemilla plant

I also decided that this shawl would be great alongside my Hand Made Harris Tweed Skirt. The Alchemilla dyes  the yarn in a yellow hue and I decide I would do a sample dye using both madder and iron, after dyeing it yellow. 

I lived with these skeins on the skirt for some days before deciding to go with the madder modified one. I am delighted with my choice and I am only sorry that there was not enough dye to do the green version as well.

The yarn I used was Jamieson and Smith 2 ply Supreme. It dyed beautifully and was a joy to knit. It is a thicker yarn than the 1ply supreme and 1 ply cobweb that I normally use but my eyes have been opened to the superb lace shawl that can be made with slightly thicker yarn and bigger needles and I will certainly be doing such a design again. (After sampling I choose to use 3.5mm needles.) 

A corner of the crescent

The long edge

Some facts: 

Finished mass : 49g

Knitting Time : 38 hours - added to this should be the checking stage, finishing ends etc and dressing, which is probably another 4 hours. 

shawl being dressed 

I knitted the shawl using 30 cm dpns, as I use a knitting belt. I have 40 cm needles but never needed to swap even when the number of stitches got large.  

Finished width - 133cm and depth - 44cm centre back

Me, wearing the shawl 

It has been a very wet day and the light was poor! 

You can find Elizabeth’s patterns on Ravelry, under Elizabeth Williamson. Elizabeth was born and brought up in Shetland surrounded by Shetland Knitters.