Rain, rain go away

[bunn]

Blue sky this morning and it was mild and springlike as I set out to walk the dogs, so I abandoned my rainhat and even Az did not demand his coat. Fools! For no sooner were we at the furthest point from the house than the rain arrived, in a great persistent soak that followed us all the way home and drenched my trousers.

I always forget how suddenly new weather arrives here. It almost always comes up on us out of the west, and you can't see west from our house, the shoulder of Hingston Down is in the way.

Speaking of Hingston Down, it struck me as I was cursing it for hiding the rain clouds that there is, so far as I am aware, no sign or plaque or indication anywhere on the Down that this was the location of the last stand of the Cornish in 838. It's a long time ago and I'm not sure how 100% accurate the location is, but that doesn't normally stop people putting up signs.

You'd think the end of an independent British princedom would deserve some sort of marker, but no, all we have is a quarry. The nineteenth century mine buildings have signs (presumably something to do with the Mining World Heritage funding) but not the battle, which seems to me just as interesting and a lot more Romantic... I bet there would be a sign if it were in Wales.

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I think there's a monument to Erik Bloodaxe and the end of the Northumbrian kingdom in 954 at Stainmore Pass, where Erik was killed by the forces of the English king Edred, but I might be making that up as I've never passed it. Definitely discrimination against British kingdoms within what's now England, then.

[wryelle.livejournal.com]

There was a person really called Erik Bloodaxe? I thought that was only D and D characters!

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Oxford DNB article (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/49265?docPos=1)

Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Bloodaxe)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I was trying to think of similarly excellent names, but could only come up with Charles the Fat. I'm sure there must be loads more though.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

... Ivar the Boneless, I always liked. And Sweyn Forkbeard.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Theophylact the Unbearable!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Haven't you always secretly wanted to be 'the something...'? I have. The what, though? The Indecisive, perhaps... :-D

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I think I prefer "The Ditherer."

I wonder if there are more "bad" epithets around than "good" ones, or vice versa, or if most of them are merely descriptive. There's the Longshanks and Curthose sort of names, too. I like to envisage Robert Curthose as being plagued with perpetually too-short tights, giving everyone an unwelcome glimpse of parts of him that shouldn't be seen.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

... and that Henry Beauclerc had particularly neat handwriting.* He was rather an underachiever at school, but his teachers feared they'd be executed if they put that on his report, so waxed lyrical about the one good quality he had. He also won a red rosette in the children's handwriting class in the local flower show and fete for three years running. He kept them in his box of Special Things.

* Yes, I know what the nickname is really supposed to mean, but I like my story better, so there.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

What is it meant to mean?

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

It's supposed to be something like "good scholar", because of his alleged love of learning. I prefer "good handwriting", though.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Ta.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Ooo, I've always imagined him with very long legs sticking out of tiny tight 3/4 length trousers. Yours is worse!

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Maybe I was influenced by Pellinor's infamous first Taruithorn banquet appearance, with the low-slung tights and the high-slit tunic...

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

Richard Swineshead, of Merton College in the 14th century, was nicknamed "The Calculator."

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Richard Swineshead is no mean name in itself!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Ragnar Hairybreeks.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Sweyn Forkbeard
Ingvar the Far-travelled
Ivar the Boneless
Nogbad the Bad

Maybe not the last one.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Oh and if we're doing Carolingians, what about Charles the Bald?

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Louis d'Outremer was a name I liked - he was brought up in England and therefore exotic.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

From the little bit of online research I've done into the battle, there doesn't seem to be any concrete evidence that our Hingston Down was actually the battlefield. In fact more recent research suggests that another 'Hingston Down' is more likely to be the one in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

http://www.cornishworldmagazine.co.uk/content/view/71/101/1/0/

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know - but as I said, that doesn't normally stop people putting up signs.

That Weatherhill article is interesting, but I'm sure this bit is wrong: "This proposal is perhaps the first time that the site of Hengestesdun has ever been questioned". I think I last had a rummage in 2005-ish, and I'm sure I found several different proposed locations then.

Also I'm not sure that really counts as 'research'. I think for research you should really have to come up with something new, like a new source or archaeology or something - not just re-read the anglosaxon chronicle and go 'hey, that gives me an idea!'