Mrs Malone

Mrs Malone

Mrs Malone
Lived hard by a wood
All on her lonesome
As nobody should.
With her crust on a plate
And her pot on the coal
And none but herself
To converse with, poor soul.

In a shawl and a hood

She got sticks out-o'-door,

On a bit of old sacking

She slept on the floor,

And nobody, nobody

Asked how she fared

Or knew how she managed,

For nobody cared.

Why make a pother

About an old crone?

What for should they bother

With Mrs. Malone?

One Monday in winter

With snow on the ground

So thick that a footstep

Fell without sound,

She heard a faint frostbitten

Peck on the pane

And went to the window

To listen again.

There sat a cock-sparrow

Bedraggled and weak,

With half-open eyelid

And ice on his beak.

She threw up the sash

And she took the bird in,

And mumbled and fumbled it

Under her chin.

" Ye're all of a smother,

Ye're fair overblown!

I've room fer another,"

Said Mrs. Malone.

Come Tuesday while eating

Her dry morning slice

With the sparrow a-picking

( " Ain't company nice!")

She heard on her doorpost

A curious scratch,

And there was a cat

With its claw on the latch.

It was hungry and thirsty

And thin as a lath,

It mewed and it mowed

On the slithery path.

She threw the door open

And warmed up some pap,

And huddled and cuddled it

In her old lap.

" There, there, little brother,

Ye poor skin-an'-bone,

There's room fer another,"

Said Mrs. Malone.

Come Wednesday while all of them

Crouched on the mat

With a crumb for the sparrow,

A sip for the cat,

There was wailing and whining

Outside in the wood,

And there sat a vixen

With six of her brood.

She was haggard and ragged

And worn to a shred,

And her half-dozen babies

Were only half-fed,

But Mrs. Malone, crying

" My! ain't they sweet!"

Happed them and lapped them

And gave them to eat.

" You warm yerself, mother,

Ye're cold as a stone!

There's room fer another,"

Said Mrs. Malone.

Come Thursday a donkey

Stepped in off the road

With sores on his withers

From bearing a load.

Come Friday when icicles

Pierced the white air

Down from the mountainside

Lumbered a bear.

For each she had something,

If little, to give —

" Lord knows, the poor critters

Must all of 'em live."

She gave them her sacking,

Her hood and her shawl,

Her loaf and her teapot —

She gave them her all.

" What with one thing and t'other

Me family's grown,

And there's room fer another,"

Said Mrs. Malone.

Come Saturday evening

When time was to sup

Mrs. Malone

Had forgot to sit up.

The cat said meeow,

And the sparrow said peep,

The vixen, she's sleeping,

The bear, let her sleep.

On the back of the donkey

They bore her away,

Through trees and up mountains

Beyond night and day,

Till come Sunday morning

They brought her in state

Through the last cloudbank

As far as the Gate.

" Who is it," asked Peter,

" You have with you there?"

And donkey and sparrow,

Cat, vixen, and bear

Exclaimed, " Do you tell us

Up here she's unknown?

It's our mother, God bless us!

It's Mrs. Malone

Whose havings were few

And whose holding was small

And whose heart was so big

It had room for us all."

Then Mrs. Malone

Of a sudden awoke,

She rubbed her two eyeballs

And anxiously spoke:

" Where am I, to goodness,

And what do I see?

My dears, let's turn back,

This ain't no place fer me!"

But Peter said, " Mother

Go in to the Throne.

There's room for another one,

Mrs. Malone."

Eleanor Farjeon

The Archaeology Files - Knowlton Circles

Date of visit: 1 March 2020

Location: 7 miles north of Wimborne Minster, Dorset

Time period: Neolithic, 4,000 BC to 2,500 BC
Type of site: A series of Neolithic henge monuments, the best-preserved of which contains the remains of a Norman church in its centre

Photos: Knowlton Circles site visit photo album 

Description and observations:

I love Knowlton Circles.  I first came here on an undergraduate fieldtrip with a coachload of other students back in 2003.  We'd been on-the-go all day, and this was our last stop before the journey home.  It was autumn, and the dusk was falling fast upon us, the sun was down, and the sky was silvery-grey.  I looked upon the site in an earthy, reflective mood, and I could almost hear it speaking back to me, the voice of some force from the deep past.  That dusk at Knowlton I experienced an atmosphere that I've never felt before - or since.  I suppose it was there that I first fell in love with the subject of archaeology.

Knowlton Circles from the air, courtesy of English Heritage

Knowlton Circles is a series of four Neolithic (4,000-2,500 BC) henge monuments, sitting in the landscape at the village of Knowlton, midway between Blandford Forum, Dorset, and Ringwood, Hampshire.  Three of them are barely visible now, but the fourth one is beautifully preserved.  Henges are a bit of a mystery to archaeologists - essentially, they are characterised by having a ring-shaped bank and ditch, within which is a relatively flat area (generally considered as more than 20m in diameter - smaller than this and they are termed hengiform monuments; larger and they are known as henge enclosures, such as the enormous example at Avebury.)  Their purpose, like so much in prehistory, is a matter of debate - we've seen in a previous blog how the henge at Maumbury, Dorchester, made a perfect amphitheatre, and this seems like a natural conclusion for other henges too.  We should always be wary of ascribing modern thought processes to the ancient past, so this isn't and shouldn't be the only interpretation, and archaeologists have also suggested ritual use and astronomical observation.  What is agreed upon is that henges weren't occupied, and that they weren't used as defensive structures - not least because (notwithstanding the atypical example of the famous Stonehenge) the ditches of henges just about always occur on the inside of the bank.  It's yet another mystery of prehistory that we can fascinate ourselves with.

Back to Knowlton, where most people's sole interest lies in the fourth henge, also called Church Henge, on account of the fact that in the 12th century, the Normans stuck a church in its centre.  Some commentators believe that the church's location symbolises the transition from Paganism to Christianity, and I suppose it does in a way, although I've no idea if that was the exact intention of the Norman builders, given that England had been largely Christianised since Roman times.  Having said that, something is clearly significant or spiritual about the site, which made it the right spot for Christian worship, and this is supported by the discovery, in 1958, of 16 Anglo-Saxon burials just to the east of the henge.  The church itself was extensively remodelled in the centuries following the Norman Conquest, and despite the fact that the village was utterly devastated and left virtually deserted by the Black Death in the 14th century, the church continued to hold a congregation until the roof collapsed in the 18th century.

Knowlton Church within its henge

There's an irony to the idea that a church which was built to stamp on the identity of an ancient religion, now lies in ruins alongside it, and I don't think this should be overlooked when trying to describe the atmosphere of the site.  My recent visit was on a bright, crisp March morning and I felt the site in perfect tranquillity, and would have been happy to linger.  But some say that ancient melancholy hangs in the air here, and the site is reported to be one of the county's most haunted, with legends of phantom horsemen, a ghostly face that appears in the tower's top window, and the kneeling figure of a weeping woman, or nun, trying to purge herself of some unknown sin.  I think for some, the unique atmosphere of Knowlton is rationalised through ghost stories, whereas my personal belief is that the history and ancientness of a place naturally means it will absorb the energy of human activity over the millennia.  I'm pretty sure this is what I've felt on my visits here, to this wonderful, spiritual place.

The ruins of Knowlton Norman church

Reasons to be cheerful III

Number one - cooking.  Well this peculiar time has given us the opportunity to spend more time in the (unfinished) kitchen, and the chance to cook up vibrant and tasty dishes.  This week it has been baked tomatoes in tortilla wraps; sloppy Joes; and homemade huevos rancheros.  Bellissimo!

Number two - camellias.  They're at their best right now, and they're providing a very welcome boost of colour to the early spring garden.  In fact, the garden as a whole has waltzed out of its winter shroud and has been basking in the April sunshine.  Bellissimo, bellissimo!

Number three - Lego pirates.  Lego's newest set is based on the narrative that the iconic "Black Seas Barracuda" pirate ship (released by Lego 30 years ago) has finally turned up shipwrecked, with the Lego pirates still on board.  Lego tapping into the absolute heart of their customer base, this is the best advert you'll see this year, and one that marketing students will study for years to come.  A real tear-jerker!  Watch it online.

Number four - beautiful views.  This is my hometown from Milber Down hillfort, where we took our once-a-day walk today.  Bellissimo, bellissimo, bellissimo!