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Was told by a friend, a builder that a beam in our house was likely to have been reused from a ship. I didn’t know any different so didn’t query it, was excited to think it may have been. I now realise how unlikely it is, we are by a river but miles from the sea #HouseHistoryHour https://twitter.com/househistoryhr/status/1326866304687550464
As a house it has changed over several centuries, from working building to several dwellings, finally becoming one cottage, so presumably parts of it have been reused & recycled, possibly even borrowed from elsewhere... #HouseHistoryHour
But without dendro dating it would be hard to know what changed when or where the components came from I suppose. Unfortunately that particular beam was painted black, & we made (I know know) the wrong decision to sandblast it #HouseHistoryHour
It upsets me to even think about it even now. One which we later uncovered under plaster had this wonderful surprise for us #HouseHistoryHour
Discovered in the stairwell: an #apotropaic or ritual protection mark probably inscribed during the cottage’s construction, usually to ward off evil. Commonly located in the drafty parts of a house, windows, stairways & hearths.
#hexafoil #daisywheel #HouseHistoryHour
#hexafoil #daisywheel #HouseHistoryHour
But then, have recently been reading that ‘witches marks’ themselves are subject to mythologising, & so we come full circle 
#HouseHistoryHour
#HouseHistoryHour
