Mendenhall - Minall - Mildenhall connections. Ancestry ifs.

A comment appeared at this site re documentation of Mendenhalls.  Suggest:  Start at the Mendenhall Family Association at https://www.mendenhall.org/.  Our last personal foray into ancestry (this is my husband's side; his grandmother was a Mendenhall) was decades ago at a reunion at the Mendenhall Inn, Brandywine Valley, Mendenhall, PA, and Kennett Square.  The Kennet River runs through Mildenhall, Wiltshire, England;  see Kennett Square, PA.  Mendenhall land:  The Mendenhall married a Wilson, land included  at Toughkenamon, Chester County, PA. Understood that the Mendenhall family came over with or contemporaneous with William Penn, but I never went into documentation.  Enjoy!  Easy start, but verify, at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Mildenhall-46:  

"JOHN MENDENHALL was born on 30 Oct 1659 in Marridge Hill, Wiltshire, England. He died on 19 Aug 1743 in Newark, New Castle, Delaware.

"He was born with the last name of Mildenhall. When he and his brother Benjamin came to America the spelling was changed to Mendenhall. All their descendants used this spelling."

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Nottingham and Robin Hood. Sherwood Forest.

Robin Hood statue, Nottingham, England


















Robin Hood. He is understated in his town, Nottingham, and in his woods, Sherwood Forest. See http://www.localhistories.org/nottingham; and  http://www.robinhood.ltd.uk/robinhood/legend. There is a fine interactive museum, however, with tableaux and details and old ledgers.

• Update to 2016:  New archeological finds at nearby King's Clipstone, a village where The King's Houises, a/k/a King John's palace documented in 1164 are laid out at Archeology Magazine, Sept-Oct 2016, see http://www.archaeology.org/issues

Robin Hood, according to the exhibits, is a generic type of name, like John Doe, used for any unknown petty criminal or other hapless individual arrested for whatever.

 Robin Hood did this, Robin Hood did that. See the ledgers through the years.  All those activities over that long period of time could not have referred to one person. But as anywhere, stories illustrate larger truths, and may well not be true in themselves. Legend, myth. Robin Hood. See the tales at http://www.robinhood.info/robinhood/candidates.html

Many Robin Hoods:  Perhaps the main model for our Robin Hood was one Robin fitz Ooth, Earl of Huntingdon, born 1160, died 1247, Or Sir Robert Foliot, 1110-1165, or Robert Hod, or Robert de Kyme, 1210-1285, Robert Hood of the Wakefield Roles, 1290-1346, or several others not listed at the robinhood info site above.  Or a collage.

 Once a figure is identified, religions or social, the stories collect, and soon have a life of their own.

Sunday offers limited visiting hours. Visiting on a Sunday is good for leisurely strolls and a less crowded museum; but not all exhibit areas are open early. The underground caves and dungeon areas beneath the castle area did not open until much later.

Sing it again, Robin Hood riding through the glen, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w7ALMIUy74

Update 2010:  the new film, Robin Hood, at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0955308/, is fun and fast-fighting, but nothing at Nottingham seems to support the details.

Worcester. King Ceowulf II of Mercia, defender of England. Move over, King Alfred of Wessex.

Hwaet! An ally of King Alfred of Wessex seeks his time on the stage as a hero of England, against the Vikings.  Co-efforts shown on coins with faces together, equal, as to Alfred and Ceowulf.

Share, children.  Share.  History rewrites by the chroniclers serving the agenda of the king best equipped to chronicle, rule the day, but eventually some do get corrected.

Here, the chroniclers of Alfred the Great, King Alfred of Wessex, who beat back the Vikings at Edington and is therefore a great hero, had help.  Not only help, but perhaps the efforts of the unsung King Ceowulf II, king of Mercia 874-877 were dispositive.  Coins have been found that display Alfred and Ceowulf equally on the face of the coins.  A few of them had been found earlier, but a new discovery shows the widespread dissemination of them and points to a strong alliance between the kings. See support at http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesBritain/EnglandCeolwulf01.htm

Ceowulf is not only written out of history, the few accounts of him are unfavorable. See http://www.archaeology.org/issues/208-1603/trenches/4165-trenches-england-viking-hoard
Ceowulf was dismissed as a "foolish king's thane" holding lands for the interest of the Vikings in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, see historyfiles site, and http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=person&id=CeolwulfIIofMercia, for example.  Instead, he was independent, a "shrewd negotiator" (see anglo-saxons.net site), legitimate king, and with friendly relations as to Alfred.

Glastonbury Abbey: Archeology and King Arthur

Archeology at Glastonbury Abbey.  Review of the old, and exploration of the new: Glastonbury Abbey back in the news  Archeology may produce ambiguous results, but continual look-backs are valuable. What was dismissed, or advocated earlier, may be a springboard for new information.  Here, the Abbey site was indeed occupied in the 5th Century, the time of King Arthur, but alleged remains of his body and that of Guinevere?  Not definitive, not really anything.  Just a pit.

Here, the interface of legend and fact, see Legends of Glastonbury at  http://www.archaeology.org/issues/208-1603/trenches/4172-trenches-england-glastonbury-abbey

Timeline highpoints

33-35 CE -- Legend.  Joseph of Arimathea, holder of the Holy Grail (do a search) founds "Christian" church at Glastonbury.  Church?  What institution was in effect so soon after the death?  No mind.

5th Century -- Site is occupied, with "definitive proof" at the Abbey site, and this from the time of the actual King Arthur, see Legends of Glastonbury

600's -- Saxons, now Christian, conquered Somerset county. King:  Ine of Wessex, who built on the Abbey site, see http://www.glastonburyabbey.com/history_archaeology.php?sid=38bbee268aa83067928b28b92614b9ff

1066 -- Norman invasion.  Normans added to the existing structures at the Abbey.

1184 -- Huge fire at the Monastery, see Glastonburyabbey.com site.  Monks rebuild, with some new but old-looking structures, to add to the pilgrimage value, see Legends of Glastonbury site.

1191 -- Monks at the Abbey find a log, hollow but with two bodies inside and a cross with the inscription indicating that here lie "King Arthur and his wife Guinevere."

1278 -- Edward I oversees reburial, bones said to be the royals Arthur and Guinevere

1536-1541 -- Protestant Dissolution of the Monasteries, with Glastonbury Abbey included in 1539.  In 1536, there were 800 monasteries, convents, friaries, reign of Henry VIII.  By 1541, none, with 10,000 religious persons displaced. See Glastonburyabbey site.

1904-1979 --  Era of 36 or so excavations, but unpublished, often misinterpreted

1950's - 1960's -- more excavations, but affirmative evidence for the royals Arthur and Guinevere are contested.

England and Pulp Icons. Country Life. What's For Sale?

Country Life. British pulp magazine in large glossy. 

This is a magazine, oversized, laying out Brit properties for sale.  Property!  A British obsession.  Look at the house hunting international. The British talk of property. The concept uber alles. Not just a piece of real estate, but a property.   Great estates just for you.  Photography.  Vistas.  History.  A delight over coffee before the stress of the day o'ertakes.  Who would not enjoy it? Things for sale.  Acquisition.  Profit.  Find this icon for the uppah classes and wannabes who drool, at http://www.countrylife.co.uk/

For sale signs.  All over for the Brits to pick and choose.

Who else is property and, accordingly, pointedly included as available?  Ah, yes. The youngish or still-searching Ladies. The bloodline preserves the concept of property. If the property goes by male primogenture (does it still?)  marry up to one of them. Get in line.

• In each issue, toward the center, more toward the prominence of the beginning than the afterthought of the ending, is this.  The Broad of the Day.  Somebody's Lovely Dottah!  A dewy or airbrushed blooming young thing, or a little past young but hunting for a permanent buyer.  Lady this or that.  The daughter of Who Big and Who Bigger and the genealogy for all to scrutinize.

Buy me says she.  Like Alice in Wonderland.  A cookie.  Eat me. A poor one. Shrink.  Wrong cookie. Eat me.  Grow. 

So, asks she, who will my husband be? 

Go to Country Life and see the dames' daughters in waiting.  There should be an audio attached.  Perhaps a scratch and sniff for the hedgerows.  Ha-has.  See the function of the ha-ha, to preserve boundaries without spoiling the view. at http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/heritage/england/teesside/article_1.shtml


Go for the before centerfold first, like in Playboy. 

That's the spirit. Pip pip.

WILTSHIRE. Stonehenge and Healing; Acoustics

 STONEHENGE
Ceremonial, Healing, Acoustics, Other? 
2020 update

The origin of the tallest Stonehenge stones is a mystery now solved.  See the BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-53580339.  The "sarsens" come from a distance of some 15 miles from the site, near Marlborough.  The lower blue (not really) stones come from Wales.  This discovery stems from matching a core sample from the 1950's, now returned to England, to nearby areas.  

This one, frowning, is one of the low stones.

 

Stonehenge: Stone,  Outside Main Perimeter, Wiltshire, England

Stonehenge is a setting of ancient ceremonial standing stones near the town of Amesbury, in Wiltshire. Find it at http://www.aboutstonehenge.info/index.php?pg=stonehenge-location. 

The site is an easy ride from the airport at Heathrow.  A motorway after landing eases practice driving on the left on where there are lots of lanes.  What is Stonehenge?  There are various and ever-changing theories. It continues to amaze.

In addition to its ceremonial attributes, Stonehenge was an acoustic wonder.  By way of update,  today, New Year's 2013, a New York Times review by Katherine Bouton of the book, Discord, the Story of Noise (book by Mike Goldsmith) notes that Stonehenge originally was an acoustical marvel. In 2600 BC, its sound reverberated much like a concert hall, thanks to "thanks to the smooth and slightly curved inner face of the stones," see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/science/discord-sound-noise-and-our-elusive-quest-for-quiet.html
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We had been told that this was a place of sun worship - example http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.16465. With the carbon-dating of cremated remains that had been in storage, archeologists then said that the purpose of Stonehenge is clearer. It was a burial ground, and apparently for rulers that dominated the area for some 500 years. Stonehenge itself dates from about 2500-3000 BC. See http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-stonehenge_30may30,0,3850894.story

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Earlier Update 2011-2013.
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Research and archeology are now finding more to this famous setting of monolithic standing stones at Stonehenge, Stonehenge long thought to be for ceremonial and/or burial purposes.  There are other henge monument traces nearby, remains of a mound circle,  gaps, ditches, seen by below-ground imaging and without the digs initially, see  http://www.archaeology.ws/stonehenge.html.  This also dates from 2500-3000 BC, as does mainstream Stonehenge.  Named Bluestone Henge in 2009, at its discovery (after our trip),

Stonehenge, for all its other possible uses, was apparently also a place of healing, its own Lourdes where those with illness or deformity could come for relief.  See http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/stonehenge/

Stonehenge, near Amesbury, Wiltshire, England

See September 2008 articles, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26838058/

Early pilgrims coming to Stonehenge - pre-Christian came from other parts of Europe, not just local. This was the Neolithic era. Some skulls even show signs of surgery (didn't the ancient Egyptians also drill through skulls successfully?), see http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2008-09-22-stonehenge-healing_N.htm
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Current dating: at 2300 BCE (Before Christian Era), and more precise than the broader range laid out before,  see http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/science/September-October/Stonehenge-Said-to-Be-Place-of-Healing.html

2. Logistics

Comment reply -

• We were able to get very close, but not to touch. Park across the highway, then follow the pedestrian tunnel underneath to the stones' side. There was a gravel walkway around a tight perimeter, with some stones nearby on the other side of the walkway as well. There was a very light wirey fence, nothing formidable, more a guide. We could not wander freely inside the main area of the stones, however.  Everyone stayed on the walkway.

• These areas, for us, are too manicured. We liked the rough settings of other stone circles and standing stones in the middle of fields in England and Ireland, and in Orkney, see the Ring of Brodgar at http://orkneyroadways.blogspot.com/2007/10/layers-of-culture.html and Callenish, Lewis, Hebrides, see http://hebridesroadways.blogspot.com/2006/06/callanish-lewis-standing-stones.html sites at Europe Road Ways.  Enjoy more those wilder settings for standing stones. More impressive, we thought.

Dartmoor. Saxon Roots. Widicombe; Widukind?

1.  Widecombe.  An old town of Devon, Dartmoor. Spelling sometimes Widdecombe. Inspiration for the jolly rouser about Uncle Tom Cobley and all, perhaps on the gray mare at the Widecombe Fair, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16chelA5pTc. There is apparently a traditional Saxon Well nearby; the area was a Saxon administrative center centuries ago, see http://www.moorlander.co.uk/about_dartmoor.html. 

The area's inhabitants resisted William the Conqueror in his push westward, requiring William to build several castles (not seen by us) to establish his domains. 

2.  Saxons. Where is the research about them in particular, not just the Domesday or general Old English ideas?

Our understanding is that Saxons arrived along with or not long after the first Angles, when the Romans left.  See http://historymedren.about.com/od/sterms/g/Saxons.htm. Angles and Saxons intermarried apparently, or at least did not severely conflict with each other, and voila, Anglo-Saxons.  The royal mints for Saxon Kings Ethelred, Harald, Edward, were located at Dartmoor.  See Moorlander.  Widecombe-in-the-Moor: a topic of great tomes, see this 1865 Google Book, Western Antiquary.  There was an Anglo-Saxon settlement at Dunstone, see http://www.widecombe-in-the-moor.com/about.php, and the word root dun itself as Saxon, see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dun

3.  Venture farther back than Saxons already in the British Isles.  Move to their own source, many in Saxony.

In Saxony, pursue a famous chieftain of the Saxons, Widukind, who harried Charlemagne for some 30 years before forced to capitulate, as he did in part.  See Germany Road Ways, http://germanyroadways.blogspot.com/2010/12/enger-widukind-saxon-bane-of.html.  A church dedicated to him, and containing bones said to be his (no comparative DNA?) behind the altar are at Enger, Germany.  See http://germanyroadways.blogspot.com/2010/12/enger-sudden-saint-widukind-and-church.html. 

The fine statue of Widukind at Enger, a pride of the town, was melted by the Nazis for war materiel.

Widukind,Saxon Chieftain, fighter against Charlemagne. Enger, Germany; Widukind Museum

Some spellings, some phonetics, are so close as to suggest a connection between otherwise separate-looking ideas, places, histories.  After finding Widicombe Fair in an old piano book of folksongs, listen to it at youtube again, above, and then think of the Saxons, some migrating peaceably to the British Isles in the course of things; others forced out by Charlemagne after Sachsenhain's slaughter, numbers may vary but the impact on the population did not, see http://germanyroadways.blogspot.com/2011/02/sachsenhain-saxons-grove-charlemagnes.html

4.  Widukind's folk to Widecombe?

Saxon Widukind's kin to live on, in a way, in Dartmoor? That is up to the venerables on the moor:  can you check for us?  The root "wid" also is of Scandinavian-Saxon origin, do a search on Google Images for Runes Widing for an example of an amateur etymological sleuth enjoying life, and matching an old family story with old runes.  WID.

Runes.  Here experts are needed.  Our look into runes WID and runes produces fun, but little to withstand a serious researcher on the root wid, as it is also found in old incantations.  See http://swedenroadways.blogspot.com/2010/07/anglo-saxon-runes-ingwaz-moves-widing.html

The surprise is finding so little about Saxon roots in the Dartmoor materials.  Spur on. Inform us all. Please.

Rochester, Charles Dickens, Kent

Charles Dickens and Rochester

Rochester was founded by the Romans in some 53 AD, but often that would have been on a site earlier used by others.  Charles Dickens' moved there when he was a child, and his father was struggling to support the family.  He, the father, was constantly in debt, and in and out of debtors' prisons until he lucked out on one job -- found his employer a cheat -- blew the whistle, and then could move elsewhere for a fresh start.   The senior Mr. Dickens was the model for Mr. Micawber, one of the characters in Great Expectations.
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Joseph Clayton Clarke illustrated much of Dickens, here Mr. Micawber,  fair use.  Smithsonian magazine has a fine article on Dickens, at Going Mad for Charles Dickens,  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Going-Mad-for-Charles-Dickens.html
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Mr. Micawber, from David Copperfield:

Kyd's Mr. Micawber, Charles Dickens

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Our additional Kyd illustrations are still framed, so a little dark.  Enjoy!

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The Artful Dodger, from Oliver Twist:

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Kyd's The Artful Dodger, Charles Dickens

Sam Weller, from The Pickwick Papers:

Kyd's Sam Weller, The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens

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Uriah Heep, from David Copperfield:

Kyd's Uriah Heep, Charles Dickens

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Mr. Pickwick, from The Pickwick Papers:
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Kyd's Mr. Pickwick, The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens

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Charles Dickens' life was complex, as anyone's.  Meet Ellen "Nelly" Ternan, at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Dickens-Secret-Affair.html?onsite_source=relatedarticles&onsite_medium=internallink&onsite_campaign=SmithMag&onsite_content=Dickens'Secret Affair

Rule, Rhubarbiana. West Yorkshire M1 and M62.

Rhubarb country.  Food alerts. The Rhubarb Triangle.  An inauspicious-looking triangle where the M1 and the M62 motorways intersect. The Financial Times zeroes in.  See the highways at http://www.motorwaycameras.info/.  That would be West Yorkshire:  bounded by Wakefield, Rothwell, Morley.  Go from Manchester to Wakefield, and continue south to Nottingham, perhaps. 
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Why?  Because rhubarb is a metaphor for the dedicated, stubborn life, growing where little else of value will. Bad climate, lots of waste from wool industry waste known as "shoddy", but good roads for transport.  See Fool's Paradise, on our US paper edition, The Rhubarb Ruse, at http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/2db41de4-4c88-11e1-b1b5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1nV2gxhkV.
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What else but rhubarb: it takes a ruse.  Kid the plant into thinking spring has sprung. Leave the root out during fall; let it feel the sharp frost. Then take it indoors where it is warmer, and it will think it is okay to grow. Or, if it is too mild, apply an acid. See details. 

Rhubarb poisoning. Do not eat leaves.  We did, nice and chopped and sauteed, but it did not taste tastey. Hop on the internet: poison. Rhubarb info, poison! Fast to poison control at the drugstore, call Poison Central. Everybody fine.  Noone seems to post the antidote process, so just remember to call.