Sheffield: Closing Time

September 2018

At last the time had come. The handing in of the thesis, and the saying goodbye to my little flat - the longest home I had had since I left NZ, and most importantly, the amazing friendship group I had made in Sheffield.


My little room! Goodbye awesome little flat.

 Deciding what to write your thesis on is incredibly difficult, but its also an organic process.
You start with an idea, talk to your supervisor about it, (or if you have no idea, your supervisor makes suggestions based on access to collections and research that would be useful). I started off thinking about re-examining the osteological sex of viking warrior burials from the Isle of Man and Scotland, as most hadn't been looked at since their discovery in the late 1800s and early 1900s (before osteological sexing was even a thing). Things such as the shape of the eye sockets, the angle and robustness of the brow, the shape of the pelvis, these can all add up to allow us to work out whether an individual was male or female.

Back then people simply went 'Oh look a sword! Must be a dude" and on they went. Due to some recent examples in Scandinavia where re-examinations had in fact led to a number of these 'men warriors' actually being reclassified as women, I hypothesized the same could also be true of the UK.

However most of the skeletal collections were lost, degraded, or scattered across the UK in difficult-to-access collections. I was advised that this was more of a PhD level project due to its scope and complications, and sadly had to let it drop.

Now what? I had no idea, except a faint interest in pathologies from one of my class projects previously. Luckily my supervisor Dr. Lizzy Craig-Atkins was used to dealing with uncertain students, and pointed me in the direction of a collection that hadn't been re-examined since she herself had briefly provided an osteological report when they had been excavated. 

The only thing I knew for certain was I wanted to bridge that lamentable gap between the disciplines of archaeology and history, if only they would work together, the patchwork pieces would perhaps slot together, revealing a far more detailed and wide ranging picture than we are capable of alone. Come on multi-disciplinary work! 

First I realized medieval hospitals were fascinating, and somewhat overlooked, and that I was examining a most excellent hospital population. From there it was simply a matter of using historical records and secondary sources based on actual historians (unlike myself) on hospitals,
and building conclusions based on both skeletal changes and changing demographics within the buried population. 

For example, here is a case of leprosy from an individual I examined: the thinning and malformation of the bones in the feet (as seen below) indicate septic arthritis. Leprosy leads to a loss of sensation in the hands and feet, causing individuals to continuously damage their appendages and not notice. This symptom along with a number of other signs, allowed me to diagnose the unfortunate individual as a leper.

I won't bore you much longer, and will instead simply leave you with the introduction to my thesis.

This project seeks to address a significant gap in our current knowledge of hospitals in England during the late medieval period, through a case study of the hospital site of St Leonard at Grantham. Employing detailed skeletal analysis of the affiliated cemetery population, the study argues that the hospital of St Leonard began as a leprosarium; leading to the accepted demographic profile that typifies leprosaria in England to be challenged.

 It is then argued that St Leonard later underwent a shift in function to an almshouse. Such changes are visible across several contemporary hospital sites and must therefore be discussed in the wider context of the institution of the charitable hospital as well as the social and economic shifts that took place over the eleventh to fourteenth centuries. 

Although the rise of the almshouse was a phenomenon grounded in the fourteenth century, the study of St Leonard and other contemporary sites makes it apparent that this shift was not unilinear or instantaneous, but a slow and organic progress. 

The study suggests the usefulness of an interdisciplinary approach that integrates historical sources, as the development of medieval perspectives on leprosy, disease and charity are crucial to an understanding of the archaeological data examined here. Overall, this project endeavours to point a way forward for further study of the long-neglected area of medieval English hospitals.

Ta-daa!

Summer in Sheffield

Summer 2018

Summer in Sheffield meant long hot days, barbecues in the park, hikes, pub visits and generally a lot more time outside.

Did I mention the barbecues and picnics? Because we had a lot of them! 

Disposable one-use BBQs are super popular in England, and allowed in many parks, so the number of times we bussed over to Jenessa's house, walked to the park and spent a lovely afternoon there cooking and hanging out were probably countless!

As Sheffield heated up, so too did my little flat, until it became unbearable to be in there from the afternoon until about 8pm in the evening. To combat this, we spent most evenings walking down to Kelham Island (pictured below) to have a drink at one of our favourite pubs the Stew and Oyster, to play cards and scrabble.

Of course the most important event of the summer should not be forgotten! The Football world cup frenzy had come to England, and we joined in wholeheartedly (even if Ben and I were on opposing teams) dragging our friends along to watch at pubs as much as we could! For some strange reason me jumping up in down in my football shirt as the french won the final didn't seem to be met with any enthusiasm from the English, who lost in the semi final. Funny that. 

The other notable event of the summer was Janae's birthday, as we had discovered a mutual love of ABBA by now, we took her on a surprise day, starting with a trip to see the second Mamma Mia movie, followed by a bottomless brunch! 

Ben had a cold but powered through like a champion, and a few glasses later we were all reliving the movie probably a little too much. Lucky we had been given a private booth!

Collingham, June

June 2018

For our last fun event in June before things got serious with thesising (that's totally a verb right) and before everyone came back from their holidays, we decided to book a cheap cottage for a weekend away. 
After trawling airbnb, we settled on Collingham, as not only did the place look cute and affordable, but it was only a two hour train journey away.

It felt like such a cosy cottage and we were super pleased with it! The bathroom also lived up to expectation, with an epic bath. I bought bath bombs in preparation! This was extremely exciting as my flat in Sheffield was sadly bathless. 

We decided on a countryside walk once we had settled in, which proved very pretty indeed. As it was summer time, all the flowers were out, reminding me how charming English countryside could be. I felt like I was in one of my childhood books called Brambly Hedge.

After a nice walk around, we decided to order fish and chips from the local, as we were too lazy to cook and it had excellent reviews. My first time actually eating fish from a fish and chip shop, and I loved it! (The batter and lemon juice helped immensely).

The next day we were feeling more energetic, so we went for a longer walk in search of a stream showing up on google maps, but ended up wandering along fields for ages until we had to admit defeat, Google Maps had led us astray again! We enjoyed the walk regardless, and found huge dandelions along the way (and luckily no marauding cows, which is always my concern in the countryside).

Having worked up an appetite, we decided to make pizza from scratch, and played cards in the sun while we waited for the dough to rise.

And of course, beers in the sunshine!

And an aperitif of mushroom bruschetta

...followed by said pizza...

And finished off with pikelets for breakfast the next morning (and Lotus biscoff spread!)

Did I mention the bath bomb and the glass of Prosecco in the bath? Heaven. All in all we had a lovely couple of days away, relaxing and enjoying the sunshine.

 I wasn't looking forward to going back to serious study!

June: Cheese and a Ball

June 2018 

Although we were working hard on thesis research, classes were out (and undergraduates were on holiday the lucky bastards). We felt a sense of that holiday feeling, which was helped along by the Archaeology Ball!

To nobody's surprise I'm sure, I took Ben along with me as my plus one. It was fun getting dressed up together, taking photos, and forgetting about research for the night. It was rather low-key however, and by 9pm most people were drifting out. Still, it was a fun experience and I didn't regret going at all.

My friends all went away over June on mini European holidays to make the most of the sun. Ben and I were feeling rather poor, however so kept things a little more small scale. We decided to treat ourselves to a weekend away somewhere close by (see my next post) and an epic cheese tasting in Sheffield. 

I found the event quite by chance on Facebook, and at 25 pounds a head, it felt reasonable, though on the pricier end. We had no idea what to expect, so had a light dinner first (this would prove to be a mistake!) before walking down to the local neighbourhood of Kelham island.

 First we were treated to a warm welcome, and then given a tour of the cheese making process. Aside from having to wear silly-looking gear to keep things hygienic, the tour was extremely interesting. I couldn't wait for the tasting!

We were absolutely blown away by the portions! The first course involved a whole baked brie EACH!! Paired with a beautiful Rosé. 

Unlimited bread, crackers, and seven courses of cheese (each paired with a different wine) we could barely roll ourselves out of there! 

Each course was accompanied by an interesting description from our host on both the cheese and the wine, and we left feeling like we would we have paid double the price for such an amazing and generously portioned 'tasting', our only regret was not being able to book again!

Bakewell

June 2018

One of Sheffield's selling factors is its proximity to the Peak District, and although this is best seen by car, buses do run some routes here. One weekend we decided to go to Bakewell, home of the famous tart by the same name (by which I mean food item).

The village is wonderfully quaint, featuring tearooms and cheese shops and all sorts of adorable places to pop into. (Yes, of course I bought a cheese wheel!) I was quite excited to discover that Jane Austen revised her book 'Pride and Prejudice' whilst staying in the town.

We were lucky enough to have picked a wonderfully sunny day, and decided to stroll by the river to work up an appetite for the packed sandwiches we had brought (taking a train with sandwiches had made me gleefully feel like I was in a Famous Five novel). 

The medieval five-arched stone bridge dating from the 1300s, was especially lovely to walk by.


The river Wye was also ridiculously pretty, and we wandered along it imagining who lived in those grand houses and how lovely it must be to have dinner overlooking the river, listening to it burble by.


You could tell summer was finally upon us, as we took welcome respite in the shade of the trees. Of course, we had to picnic by the river!

Sandwiches eaten, we started on the real reason we were there, Bakewell tarts! The story (largely unfounded but who knows) goes that in 1820 the landlady of the local inn left her cook instructions to make a jam tart with an egg almond base. 

However the foolish cook instead spread the eggs and almond paste on top of the jam instead of putting them in the pastry, and thus the Bakewell tart was born! It was rather tasty, though quite crumbly. 

Bakewell had a timelessness to it, which made me feel like I could return in 30 years, and nothing would have changed. That sense is after all, one of my favourite things about England. 

Alton Towers

 May 2018

May was a fun month as it was Ben's birthday! It was also the birthday month of Darryl, Jenessa's husband. They were both part of our awesome little group in Sheffield, and Ben and Darryl got on super well, making our group hang-outs extra fun. Here is a photo of the stupidly rich chocolate cake we made for his birthday!

For Ben's birthday, he was set on going to a theme park, as New Zealand only has Rainbow's End, which is tiny in comparison to anywhere else. He picked Alton Towers, which is so huge we decided to do it over two days, and stay overnight in the park hotel. The positive of this was getting in early before the crowds!

Having only been to Rainbow's End myself, I was feeling rather nervous of the enormous rides. But Alton Towers was actually incredible! Firstly, unlike most theme parks you might think of, this one had history. I was hooked already. 

Alton Towers was once a private estate belonging to the Earls of Shrewsbury (who sound like they belong in posh children's story about mice, but sadly aren't!) Alton castle was built in the 11th century, on top of an earlier Saxon fortress. 

It was the fifteenth earl that began work extending the estate and gardens, turning them into the beautiful grounds you can wander today. In the 1800s, however, the owners were becoming destitute, so opened the gardens to the public for extra revenue. 

Despite this, the estate was eventually sold in 1924. You wouldn't imagine it now, but the buildings were stripped of anything of value in the 1950s, and whatever was left was piled in the east end of the house and set alight, leaving an empty and partially burned out shell of the former luxurious estate. 

It seemed a sad end to the story, but luckily, in the 1970s, a millionaire property developer married into the family of stakeholders, and began redeveloping it into a theme park, adding rides and opening up the grounds. Parts of it have been beautifully restored, and the expansive gardens are immaculate and wonderful to wander. 

Being a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to large rides, my favourite experiences included the aquarium (a welcome bit of chilling after all the adrenaline)  

The congo river rapids, and some of the less terrifying rollercoasters. Look, it's us!

Aside from a slightly hairy moment where one of the rides stopped for about 15 minutes and we were quite stuck (but hey we got free fast track passes through the lines due to it!) We had an amazing time, especially on my favourite ride of all, the Wickerman! Coolest ride ever. 

Peaks, Protests (and a dash of Panic!)

Spring 2018

With sunnier, warmer weather on the way, the snow in the Peak District melted and day trips were on the cards again!

The air was still incredibly chilly, so warm jackets were donned all round, but it didn't stop us from exploring!

Sometimes we just needed a break from the student stresses, and exploring together proved to be the perfect distraction! A perfect place to stop and have a picnic. 

Our destination was Stanage Edge, requiring a bit of a scramble, but worth it for the dramatic views across Hope Valley. A road known as the Long Causeway once ran along the top, acting as a medieval pack horse route. Now it is the realm of walkers and rock climbers.

However the reason we were so excited about the area, was this is where Elizabeth Bennet stood in one of the scenes from Pride and Prejudice! We decided to recreate the scene though instead of Kiera Knightly, there were three of us - minor details!

As always, it was a lovely day out, and a welcome respite from the stresses of university. Unfortunately this year saw Universities go on strike throughout the country due to proposed pay cuts for lecturers. This resulted in strikes throughout the year which left us with cancelled classes, leaving us to self study (and panic!)

Here is a photo from one of the strikes we attended! Like all self respecting students, we wanted to get behind the protests to support our lecturers even as it added stress to our studies. This was an experience I won't forget.

Before we knew it, we were in May, the weather was warming and classes began again. All was well in the world!.. Actually, now that I think about it, it was hard not to forget it was May.. with a certain someone reminding me every day that their birthday was coming up.. and constantly bringing up this strange place called Alton Towers..more on that next time!