M.J. Rose

Hear ye! Did you catch this news when it was first announced? This one seems to have slipped through our fingers!

Shakespeare’s Curtain theatre unearthed in east London

Theatre where Romeo and Juliet was first performed is rediscovered in Shoreditch centuries after it was dismantled

(The Guardian)

“Well preserved remains of Shakespeare’s original “wooden O” stage, the Curtain theatre where Henry V and Romeo and Juliet were first performed, have been discovered in a yard in east London.

The Curtain theatre in Shoreditch preceded the Globe on the Thames, showcasing several of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. But it was dismantled in the 17th century and its precise location lost.

Now part of the gravelled yard in Shoreditch where the groundlings stood, ate, gossiped and watched the plays, and foundation walls on which the tiers of wooden galleries were built have been uncovered in what was open ground for 500 years while the surrounding district became one of the most densely built in London.

Experts from Museum of London Archaeology (MoLA) have found two sections of exterior wall, crucial for giving the dimensions of the theatre, and are confident of revealing more as the site is cleared for redevelopment. An outer yard paved with sheep knuckle bones could date from the theatre or slightly later housing….”

For the rest click here.

Have you heard of the Lancashire Witch Trials? It’s a 400 year old tale of witch hangings. Here’s a new find related to this local history:

From BBC News,

‘Witch’s cottage’ unearthed near Pendle Hill, Lancashire

“Engineers have said they were “stunned” to unearth a 17th Century cottage, complete with a cat skeleton, during a construction project in Lancashire. The cottage was discovered near Lower Black Moss reservoir in the village of Barley, in the shadow of Pendle Hill.

Archaeologists brought in by United Utilities to survey the area found the building under a grass mound. Historians are now speculating that the well-preserved cottage could have belonged to one of the Pendle witches.

The building contained a sealed room, with the bones of a cat bricked into the wall. It is believed the cat was buried alive to protect the cottage’s inhabitants from evil spirits…”

For the rest, and a great video segment on the story, click here.

Shazam!

Happy October!

‘The Power Of The Witch’ – super rare British witchcraft documentary from 1971

“What a find! The Power Of The Witch is a documentary about witchcraft as it was practised in the late 60s and early 70s in the UK – apparently it was only screened once and there is practically no information about it on the web. From the uploader taitsitarot‘s YouTube description:

An extremely rare documentary about Witchcraft aired once in the UK in 1971. Featuring contributions from Eleanor Bone, Cecil Williamson, Alex & Maxine Sanders [above], Doreen Valiente et al. Very much of its time and with some very rare footage, also includes reference to the famously unsolved murder of Charles Walton on Meon Hill.

The Power Of The Witch is worth a watch even if you are not particularly interested in the occult – rather watch it as a document of its time, capturing as it does people’s attitudes, beliefs, fashions and plummy Brit accents. It’s a curious mixture of patriarchal stiff upper lip-ism and unerring belief in both Christianity and the forces of magic, making it feel very much as if it comes from a completely different era. Not to mention, it’s a goldmine of potential witch haus footage:…”

For the rest of the article, click here.

To watch the film, click here.