Knight Time

We love a good art trail here on Nich About Town. I mean, we really love a good art trail.  Seriously, we just love a good art trail.  So it should come as no surprise that, when the city of Lincoln put together their very own knights trail, we just had to get up there and see what all the fuss was about.  The trail commemorates the 800th anniversary of the (second) Battle of Lincoln, in which the barons of England, largely reunited after the death of their bitter enemy King John, rose to fight for the nine-year-old King Henry III, against Prince Louis of France, who had entered London and proclaimed himself King of England.  At the time of the battle - May 1217 - Lincoln Castle (a strategically important site) was under siege from the French forces, but William Marshal, first Earl of Pembroke, was mobilising an army of knights to join him in nearby Newark, to march to Lincoln and relieve the castle.  Their campaign was a success, although ironically they took revenge on the people of Lincoln, who they believed had aided the French troops, by sacking the city.

There's a second part to this story, also being celebrated along the trail.  Following the establishment of Henry III as king, the Charter of the Forest was sealed in November 1217.  The Charter, sealed under the regency of the aforementioned William Marshal, re-established the rights of access to the royal forest, which had been eroded by William the Conquerer.  The charter, often overlooked in British history, provided real rights and protections for common men in England, against the abuses of the aristocracy, allowing various activities around gathering fuel, charcoal burning, pasture, grazing, and cutting turf.  This was economic protection for free men - a unique document in its time.

In total, there were 36 knights to discover, spread across the city centre, from the Cathedral Quarter on the top of the hill, to the Brayford Pool at the bottom, with Lincoln's famous and aptly-named Steep Hill sandwiched between the two.  Our trail began at the top, and there was an appropriate reminder that we are but a handful of miles from Sherwood Forest, with Lincoln Green, a knight celebrating the legendary outlaw, complete with bow and arrows.

In the shadow of the great cathedral - a real marvel in its own right - sat several more knights on our trail.  My eye was particularly drawn to the knight called Inside Out, created by an artist truly inspired by both the interior and exterior of the cathedral.  On one side, the flying buttresses and vaulted ceiling are displayed in stunning detail, whilst on the other, the beauty of Lincoln's stained glass windows - and in particular, the legend of that most curious characters, the Lincoln Imp.  Legend says that two imps were sent to Earth to do the Devil's work in the 14th century, and on wreaking havoc in Lincoln Cathedral (in which they smashed tables, threw rocks, and tripped up the Bishop!) one was turned to stone by an angel.  The second was given the chance to escape, but is said to return to the cathedral, creating a draft as it circles the building in search of its missing comrade.

Leaving the cathedral and heading towards Lincoln Castle, we almost immediately run into Knight of the Skies, which pays homage to the region's wartime heritage and association with Bomber Command.  It's a regular theme around the whole city, for there were several airfields in Lincolnshire from where RAF pilots set off during the dark days of war, many never to return again.  The knight's shield proclaims the motto of Bomber Command - Strike Hard, Strike Sure - whilst the artist has gone to some length to portray the crew returning from a night of horror in the skies, walking amongst the poppies to commemorate the fallen.

Down the hill, just outside Lincoln's fabulous archaeology museum, sits another of my favourites, named The Luttrell Psalter.  The design is based on a Medieval text of the same name, which was produced in Lincolnshire in the 1300s, and is considered one of the most important documents of the period.  The knight's design features all manner of mythical and wondrous creatures, the sort that dwell deep in the forests, mountains and swamps of 14th century England.  To me, it evokes an age before we knew so much, when imagination turned the mundane into mystery.  The artist apparently applied an ageing technique to the painting, in order to give a unique appearance.

If one knight was designed to provide a centrepiece for the entire trail, it would have to be Knight in the Forest, a beautifully-decorated sculpture which displays the native flora and fauna that can be seen around Lincolnshire and beyond.  It isn't a stretch of the imagination to transport yourself back to the ancient forests, where our badgers, foxes, deer, squirrels and owls roam freely, threatened only by the appearance of the occasional woodsman.  Stunningly designed, an easy favourite that perfectly sums up the trail - and the Charter of the Forest - to me.

Ok, so there's one more knight worthy of mention as, following on from Lincoln City FC's remarkable 2016-17 season, they also put one together in red-and-white stripes.  Remembering some of Torquay's encounters with Lincoln in the past, a sword-wielding knight certainly wouldn't look too out of place in their defence, and although I'm not completely sure about the lipstick, there's no denying that the football club has been a source of great celebration here recently, which lends itself nicely to a trail celebrating the city's long and fascinating history.

Of course, there were several other knights all worthy of mention, but I'll leave you to see what you think of the rest, by visiting my Flickr album.  As for me - well, after a tiring day hiking around trying to spot them all, there's only one real choice of drink for the evening - A Knight's Ale, available from the Lincoln Castle shop.  You know it's going to be a good mix when an art trail meets with a good delve into English history - thanks Lincoln, always a pleasure.

Thomas Mussell's stray bullet

The next instalment of family history takes us back to 1839, to the Wiltshire village of Downton in the northern New Forest.  Here, a 38-year-old Thomas Mussell lived with his second wife Charlotte and five young children.  Thomas was a lifelong resident of the forest - he was born there, and he later died there, so it was only natural that he should find employment there, working at this time as a woodsman.  We don't know for whom Thomas worked, but he would have been employed by a local landowner, on an estate that drew its income from the sale of wood.  In the course of a typical day, Thomas' work would probably have been very varied - he would have been responsible for looking after and maintaining young trees, and keeping a constant supply of wood that could be felled and sold to coppice dealers, merchants, and craftsmen.  Many woodsmen were also charcoal burners and gamekeepers, and it is likely that Thomas' role incorporated all of these.

Certainly, we know that Thomas knew his way around a gun, and controlling the local deer population was another job set by his employer.  This took a rather grisly turn on the evening of Monday 15 April 1839, as was described in the Devises and Wiltshire Gazette:

Of course, in the eyes of the justice system, the blame for this tragedy was laid squarely at the door of the deceased, Ann Hayter, who "had no doubt been stealing the wood." Because of this, no charges were brought against Thomas, but a deodand of one shilling was imposed.  A deodand was an article that, having caused the death of a human being, was forfeited to the crown and put to pious use.  In reality, this took a form of a fine. Interestingly, deodands were abolished seven years later, in 1846.

As for Thomas; he continued to work as a woodsman in the New Forest until his death in 1885.  He had ten children in total - two with his first wife Sarah (who incidentally died in childbirth, and was laid to rest on the same day as the child, also named Thomas, was baptised in 1832) and a further eight with his second wife, Charlotte.  Thomas' relationship to me is through my paternal grandmother - Thomas is my great-great-great-great grandfather.

Edgar Barclay's 1901 painting, Children of the New Forest, evokes the memory of Ann Hayter