5: Post medieval artefacts
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A variety of unusual objects belonging to this period may be found in and around our village. A naval cloak clasp (see "a") is quite uncommon. Broken clay pipe stems positively abound in some fields with the occasional intact bowl a nice find (see "b"). Two Nottingham School Board good attendance medals (see "c") have been found in a back garden and in a village field and provide interesting family histories. While horse shoes are turned up by the plough with regularity, it is nice to record two crotal bells that must have fallen from horse harnesses (see "d"). Military items include a nice find of a gun-flint (see "e"). Several lead balls from pistols and muskets have been found and numerous cap badges and buttons in poor states of preservation. The Victorians and Edwardians seem to have made commemorative medallions for almost any event (see "f"). Most fields in the village abound in 19th and early 20th century pot sherds and broken glass, both of which undoubtedly were introduced into the plough soil by the practice of using Nottingham's 'night soil' to enrich the ground.
a). Lion cloak clasp dating from the late 18th century
A suspect naval cloak clasp was found by a field walker. It consists of a silvered copper alloy circular boss with a roaring lion's head facing forward in high relief. The boss has an integral circular attachment on the left side whilst there are the remains of two stubbs on the right hand side which would have consisted of a sub-rectangular loop set at a right angle to the first loop. In use two of these fasteners would have been sewn onto the top corners of the cloak to be fastened. The other one of this pair would probably have had a hook that would latch into the loop to enable the cloak to be closed.
Lion cloak clasps were first found on the wreck of HMS Innocence and these are on display at the Portsmouth Historic Ships Yard. Archaeologists have also discovered them on Spanish colonial military occupation sites in America where they were dated as 1808-1814.
A further nine lion clasps are recorded on the Portable Antiquities data base run by the British Museum. Three were found in Cornwall at Padstow, Paul and Gwinear Gwithian. Four were found in Hampshire at Fareham, Thruxton, Bishops Waltham and at Winchester. One was found in Sussex at Glynde and one in Northamptonshire at Towcester. As eight of the ten known lion cloak clasps were found close to the coast, the occurrence of two in the Midlands (Towcester and Stanton on the Wolds) is a bit of a mystery.
b).Clay pipes
Fragments of 18th and 19th century clay pipe stems are
common finds on many Stanton fields. Over 1000 bits of pipe stem have been found
in the parish by field walking over the last two winters, some with makers marks on them. Intact
pipe bowls are much rarer and we present here details and pictures of five
interesting designs.
The pipe bowl on the left is a common pattern made by many small manufacturers between 1790 and 1820. The bowl slopes forward at an angle and is not upright like later pipes.
This pipe
b
owl bearing the fish scale decoration dates to the
period 1840 to 1920 and has a much more upright bowl.
The three photos above show the left side, the smokers view of the bowl and the right hand side of the same pipe. The left side of the pipe has a standing lion facing (lion rampant guardant). A Royal Coat of Arms faces the smoker and there is a standing unicorn (unicorn rampant) on the right-hand side of the bowl. It is dated to between 1790 and 1820 and examples are known from pipe makers in Bristol.
Maritime themed pipes like the example above were made between 1820 and 1840.
This pipe bowl bears the legend "O'Brien, Mayo St, Dublin". Little is known about this particular manufacturer. It is likely to date from around the turn of the 20th century 1890-1910.
If any parishioners have any other pipe bowls found locally, your editor would be delighted to see and assess them and photograph them for this page, please see Contact the Council.
c). School good attendance medals
Recently two gilded bronze medallions have been found in different parts of the village. They were both awarded to pupils by the Nottingham School Board. The reverse bears the legend “awarded to xxx for exemplary punctuality and attendance on every occasion on which the school has been open during an entire year”. The obverse shows a teacher marking an attendance register with a scholar, below Nottingham Castle with Goose Fair and St Mary’s Church on either side. Vaughtons of Birmingham, who were a very large company noted for their production of commemorative medals and medallions of all kinds, made both medallions.
The Education Act of 1870 instituted a standardised school system based on local school boards. The government would pay the running costs as grants based on actual daily attendance records rather that the school roll. Various school boards quickly realised it was in their best interest to maintain attendance as high as possible and thus introduced various rewards for good attendance, punctuality and conduct. The awards were graded according to performance with picture cards, books or workboxes and medallions. Good attendance medals were first awarded to pupils in the early 1880s and there were various types; white metal, bronze, gilded bronze and silver.
The first medallion was issued to a “A. Hemingray” in 1890. The 1891 Census shows a family of that rather unusual surname living at 6 Milton Place, Independent Street in Radford, just a year after the medallion was issued. The family consisted of Charles Hemingray, head, 34 yrs, a moulder; Fanny his wife aged 33 yrs and their five children, Ada, a scholar aged 11yrs, Arthur aged 8yrs, Edward aged 6yrs, William aged 4yrs and Henry aged 1yr. It would seem highly likely that the Medallion was issued to Ada who would have been 10 at the time, rather than to Arthur who would only have been 7 years old, but this needs to be confirmed from the records. Ten years later the 1901 Census shows the family had moved slightly being resident at 12 Independent Street. Ada now 19 was a hosiery hand. ‘Ancestry’ then shows in October 1902 an Ada Hemingray of Nottingham as an immigrant, bound for Philadelphia aboard the Red Star Line SS Belgenland. The manifest for the SS Belgenland shows that Ada travelled to the United States alone, where she was to meet her cousin on the quayside.
The second medallion was awarded to a “J. Sewell” in 1899. The 1901 Census reveals that a family by the name of Sewell were living at 6 Kings Court, King George Street, St Mary’s, Nottingham in that year. A Jane Sewell, widowed, was the head of the household and at the time of the Census had her grandchildren, Jennie aged 16 and her brother George aged 10, staying with her. At the end of the school year in 1899 Jennie would have been between 13 and 14 years old.
The Melton Road where both the medallions were found was agricultural land at the time that they were issued and for several years after and it is almost certain that the medallions were introduced into the soil by the practice of buying in Nottingham’s ‘night soil’ from either Widmerpool or Plumtree stations, where it was sold as a valuable fertiliser. Farmers were frequently heard to complain about the number of "foreign objects"; broken glass, china sherds and bits of metal that were found in the compost ! The first medallion was found in plough soil and shows the damage caused by constantly working the soil over the years and by the corrosive action of fertilisers. The second medallion was found in a back garden where it had lain undisturbed for years. It is interesting to see that the Education Authorities have recently proposed a new rewards scheme for good attendance, where pupils will gain for example free music downloads or vouchers for ten-pin bowling.
d). Crotal bells
1) A broken bronze crotal bell was found during a spot
of gardening. It has the letters "WG"
along the top and a 'Google search' on the internet soon revealed that this
pattern of crotal bell was made by William Gwynn at foundries in Aldbourne in
Wiltshire. William is known to have been making these bells between 1770 and
1813.
The picture shows a complete example of a William Gwynn crotal bell by kind permission of John Winter and Rod Blunt of the United Kingdom Detector Finds Database. The group have a very interesting web site that is well worth visiting at http://www.ukdfd.co.uk Rod has written an incredibly detailed article on the history, descriptions and manufacture of crotal bells which is published on the UKDFD web site as http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/pages/crotal-bells.html
The following short notes are taken from Rod's article. Crotal bells were small circular bells frequently used on animal harnesses. Various sizes were produced to fit sheep and goats, cattle and more usually horses. The first rather crude examples were made in the 13th century and by the 1700s they were being made in one piece by casting molten metal into sand moulds. At the peak of their production and use, when horses were still used for all farm operations such as ploughing, tilling, sowing, reaping and carting, there were sixty foundries known to be producing them, often as sidelines to their main business. Many crotal bells must have been purchased at country horse fairs and agricultural events and also from travelling salesmen. In the 21st century there are only two foundries still involved in their production.
2) A second crotal bell was found in the plough soil in a village field.
It
was cast in one piece with an integral suspension loop and two sound holes in
the upper part of the body. It has a grey appearance and was cast in a high tin,
copper alloy with a thick cross section. There are no makers or foundry marks.
These features are all characteristic of crotal bells made in the early to mid
17th century.
e). A gun flint and lead balls
A
small worked black flint from a flintlock pistol/musket was recently found in a
Stanton field alongside a public footpath by Tamsin Chambers. The flint measures 25 x 31mm and is
9mm thick with a central raised tabular area. According to E.J Blackley & Sons
of Suffolk who specialise in antique firearm supplies, it was for use in a
musket. Gun flints are still made at Brandon in Suffolk in five sizes: 11mm,
14mm, 19mm, 23mm and 25mm.
Lead balls are not uncommon finds in village fields. Four lead balls have been found within the parish; the first three had diameters of 0.45”, 0.47" and 0.54" (12.5, 13 and 15mm) and were probably fired from pistols and the fourth had a diameter of 0.75” (20.8mm) and probably came from a musket. Early pistols commonly had fairly short barrels with a large bore of up to 0.7” but by the 17th century barrels had become longer and had smaller bores of 0.3 to 0.5”
f). Commemorative medallions
1) Stanton school children celebrate coronation of King and Queen
A very battered aluminium medallion was found in plough soil. The obverse bears the likenesses of King George V and Queen Mary and has the legend "Our beloved King and Queen Mary". The reverse shows the Royal Arms and the mottoes 'Dieu et mon droit' and 'Honi soit qui mal y pense'. The first motto is that of the Sovereigns of Great Britain whilst the second is that of the Order of the Garter. The legend is "Coronation Souvenir".
Strangely, a second medallion was found in another field commemorating the same event. This one is made of gilded bronze and the front face has the images of the King and Queen and the legend 'King George V and Queen Mary crowned June 22nd 1911'. The reverse side has the arms of the City of Nottingham with stag supporters. It is believed that both types of medallion were given to school children as mementoes of the occasion.
2) Stanton school children get 24th June 1924 off school
A very corroded and scratched bronze medallion was found in plough soil. After cleaning the words "Visit to the City of Nottingham 24th June 1924" with the Arms of the City of Nottingham with two stag supporters on one side. On the other side were the images of the King and Queen. The 24th June 1924 was designated a 'local' bank holiday as the King George V and Queen Mary were to make the first official visit to the city of Nottingham since Prince Leopold of Albany in 1881. Among the many events planned, the Council ordered between 40,000 and 50,000 commemorative gilded bronze medallions from the Birmingham firm of H B Sale. These were given to all children at school at the time including the 20,000 plus 8 year olds or older, who gathered to welcome the Royal couple in Nottingham.
3) Stanton residents holiday at Blackpool
A commemorative medallion found in a Stanton field.
The very first big wheel was completed by its designer G W G Ferris for the Chicago Worlds Fair which opened in 1893. This 250 foot "Ferris wheel" carried a full load of 750 people. Blackpool decided one would enhance the Pleasure Beach and commissioned a 220 foot Big Wheel designed by W S Bassett Esq, engineer. The wheel weighing 440 tons and with a 28 ton axle was erected within 6 months and opened on the 22nd August 1896. It stood on the corner of Adelaide Street and Coronation Street and was owned and operated by a new company, the Auto Music Co Ltd. There were 30 carriages capable of holding 30+ people for a 15 minute ride at a cost of sixpence. In spite of issuing commemorative medallions and many illustrated picture post cards the wheel was never a success, even when two of the carriages were refitted as tea rooms and a ping-pong room. The wheel made its last trip on the 20th October 1928 after which it was completely dismantled by June 1929 with the carriages being auctioned off for use as garden sheds. Another copper medallion was actually issued made from metal taken from the wheel.
4) Stanton residents enjoy weekend in London
A very battered and scratched aluminium commemorative medallion was found in plough soil at the south end of the village. It bears the legend "Bernado and Antonio's Restaurant D'Italie, 25 Old Compton Street and Shaftesbury Avenue" The restaurant was apparently awarded 'Hors Concours, Paris" and advertises 'special lunch only 1s 6d'.
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