Historic ships on the Thames

This month's Totally Thames Festival brought an awesome range of historic ships to the heart of London. On Saturday, September 16, Tower Bridge opened to allow a flotilla of traditional Thames barges to pass through.

Crowds lined the banks to watch as the past met the present.

A few days earlier, in nearby St Katherine's Dock, there was a reunion of some of the Little Ships that had been part of the heroic operation to rescue trapped troops from the beaches of Dunkirk back in 1940. Their efforts were dramatised in the recent film, Dunkirk, and one of the ships in the dock, the Elvin (above), was actually used in the film.

These survivors of an epic chapter in warfare have their own, fascinating, histories. The Massey Shaw (above) made three trips from Ramsgate to Dunkirk with a volunteer crew, bringing back 110 troops and ferrying a further 500 out to larger ships offshore. During the Blitz she helped save St Paul's Cathedral by pumping water from the Thames to fight the fires that were raging. She was decommissioned in 1971 and deteriorated until discovered at St Katherine's Dock by a fireman who had been on her at Dunkirk. A trust was formed and she returned to full working order in 2012/13.

The Anne (above), built in 1925, suffered considerable damage during and after Operation Dynamo, and developed rot. She changed hands several times. A restoration in the 1970s meant she was able to take part in the 70th anniversary return of the Little Ships in 2010 and is now back with the family of her original owner, Percy Derby, after being spotted for sale on eBay by his great-grandson. The latest restoration reflects her original condition, though with the addition of a wheelhouse.

The Hilfranor was attacked by German dive bombers during the evacuation and abandoned on the coast of France. The story has it that two French soldiers, desperate to escape, baled her out and got the engine going. They made it as far as the Goodwin Sands, where she sank again, but was spotted by a British minesweeper and towed into Ramsgate. Repaired, she stayed in service for the rest of the war, used as an auxiliary patrol vessel and by the Fire Service.

The Betty, now the Nuala, was requisitioned from the Thames and went across to Dunkirk. She was later fitted with an Oerlikon gun on her foredeck and served as a patrol vessel along the east coast of England. After the war she returned to civilian life and her name was changed to Nimrod, and later to Nuala. Her owners had no idea of her Dunkirk provenance until papers were released by the Admiralty in 1985.

The Firefly, built in 1923, was one of three vessels of that name that took part in the evacuation and, at just 26 ft long, among the tiniest. In 1995 a Dunkirk veteran, Dennis Kinnel, told the then owner the story of how he'd been rescued by the Firefly after swimming out to her, pulling a seriously-injured comrade. She was, he said, the ship that probably saved his life.

Also on show at St Katherine's Dock and attracting much attention was another, instantly recognisable boat - the Queen's rowbarge, Gloriana. A lasting legacy of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, she is now managed by a charitable trust to promote better use of the Thames.
The Totally Thames Festival runs until the end of September. Details and events at:
http://totallythames.org/

Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia

Two and a half thousand years ago, bands of fearsome horse-riding warriors roamed across a homeland that stretched from southern Russia and the Black Sea to China. They were masters of mounted warfare, with deadly bows and pointed battle axes. Their encounters with the Greeks, Assyrians and Persians were recorded by ancient historians but they themselves had no written language and built no cities, so for centuries all trace of their culture was lost. It was not until the discovery of ancient tombs, buried in the frozen ground and containing a wealth of Scythian treasures like this gold buckle (above), that the truth about their lives was revealed.

Some of the objects, like this torc with lion-head terminals, on loan from the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, were uncovered during scientific expeditions sent to southern Siberia in the 1720s by Peter the Great; others were found quite recently in large burial mounds in the Pazyryk valley of the High Altai mountain region of southern Siberia. Excavations are ongoing, and, as this fascinating exhibition at the British Museum in London shows, continue to reveal more insights into a lost world.

The displays begin with the treasures brought back to the Czar. Buried so as to accompany their owners into the afterlife, they are stunning - intricately decorated with real and imaginary creatures like these dragons (above). For the Scythians, constantly on the move, these burials are their monuments. They contain not just bling, but everything needed for life after death, including cooking pots and food. There are even some lumps of cheese on display. Found in a decorated bag, thanks to the permafrost they look dairy-fresh despite being well past their use-by date.

Also well-preserved are these women's felt stockings, beautifully embroidered and discovered in one of the Pazyryk burial mounds.

The lifestyle of the Scythians depended on horses, and they took their favourite ones with them to the grave. These were buried with elaborate bridles (above), saddle pendants, covers for the mane and tail and even masks (below), perhaps to ensure they were reborn as some kind of mythical super-beast.

Life in the Siberian landscape was tough and there was heavy competition for survival, with tribes fighting against each other. The Scythians developed a fearsome set of weapons. The exhibition includes the mummified head of a tribal chief who was killed in battle, seemingly by the three battle-axe blows to the head. (His skin bears tatoos of fearsome beasts designed to protect him.)

Weapons were highly prized by their owners - this gold scabbard, found in a tomb in the north-west Caucasus and dating from the 7th c BC, is decorated with lions and winged bulls. When united, the tribes were a continuous threat to the Persian empire and according to the Greek historian, Herodotus, they defeated King Darius and his powerful army in about 513 BC.

The archers were known to the Greeks; at one point some served as city police in Athens. This decorated Athenian plate from around 500 BC shows an archer running while looking back and  pulling an arrow from his quiver.

Life was not all battles however - they knew how to enjoy themselves. Among the finds on display is a hemp-smoking kit - Herodotus said the fumes made the Scythians 'howl with delight' as they inhaled them, and that it was also employed in cleansing rituals and for pain relief. And while sitting relaxing in their tents, drinking fermented mare's milk or imported Greek wine, it's tempting to imagine them listening to tales of past exploits and heroes.

One of these has come down to us from Herodotus - the story of how Scythes, the son of Heracles, became ruler of the Scythians after managing to string his father's bow. This beautiful bowl shows Heracles either setting up the test or concluding the tale. The Scythians outlasted the Persian empire, and there was some cultural interaction between them and their settled neighbours, but in about the second century BC they disappeared and were replaced by other nomadic powers. Now, however, the centuries of oblivion that followed are over, and their lives and achievements are being rediscovered.  A British Museum blog even suggests that George R.R.Martin may have had them in mind when he created the bloodthirsty, horseriding Dothraki in Game of Thrones.
The BP exhibition, Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia, is at the British Museum until January 14, 2018. Admission £16.50 (concessions available).
www.britishmuseum.org

Charlton House - a Jacobean gem

The Royal Borough of Greenwich is best known for its naval connections and of being the home of Greenwich Mean Time. But less than two miles to the east is a little-known gem: Charlton House, one of the finest surviving Jacobean manor houses in England. It sits on a hill, and when construction began in 1607, the estate stretched right down to the river. The diarist, John Evelyn, described the view as ‘one of the most noble in the world, for city, river, ships, meadows, hills, woods and all other amenities’. Today it's surrounded by urban sprawl. The house, however, retains many of its original features. It was built for Sir Adam Newton, tutor to James I’s son Henry, older brother of Charles 1. He sadly died at the age of 18 but the royal connection features in several places, including the Prince of Wales feathers above the east door to the Minstrel Hall, where you enter.

 Leading off this is the Grand Staircase, where the decoration becomes more ornate as you ascend. It was believed evil spirits grew more dangerous the higher you were, so carved into the banisters are grotesque faces whose mouths grow bigger as you ascend – all the better to devour them.

On the first floor the Long Gallery, designed to provide space for exercise in bad weather, is unusual in that it stretches from front to back, rather than sideways.

Next to it is the Grand Salon, recently used as a set for a film about the Getty family.

Ceilings have elaborate plaster-work, and the numerous fireplaces are decorated with beautiful tiling.

On the ground floor, each of the doorways to the Chapel and Wilson room (now a public library) bear panels with crests. The house is thought to have been designed by John Thorpe, one of the earliest known British architects, who lived c 1560 – 1620. It passed through several owners, and between 1767 and 1923 was owned by the Maryon-Wilson family, who added the Old Library with its striking ceiling (below) and the Minstrel Gallery in the entrance hall (now a tea room).

They also enclosed the village green at the front of the house, which is why the original gateway, with its elaborate decoration (below), now stands apparently stranded in the middle of the front lawn.

During World War I the house was used as a hospital for officers, and in 1925 was bought by Greenwich Council. The building’s front was damaged in WWII when a German V2 rocket struck in the garden.

Among the interior casualties was this statue of Vulcan, on the Grand Salon fireplace, who lost some toes, and the plaster work ceiling in the Long Gallery. This was recast using the original moulds that had been stored in the basement; the facade was rebuilt with non-matching bricks (all that were available in wartime). Today Charlton House is cared for by the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust.

In the grounds you will find Jacobean stables, an Amnesty International Peace Garden (above), and a magnificent gnarled mulberry tree, said to have been ordered by King James I to encourage the establishment of a silk industry in England. (Unfortunately it never took off, as the trees he procured were black mulberries, while the silkworms feed on white.)

It still produces fruit, which is used in the cafe’s seasonal desserts. There’s also a Summer House, originally a banqueting house.

This was built in 1630 and attributed to Inigo Jones, who designed the nearby Queen’s House in Greenwich. After having been converted to public toilets, it was closed in the early 90’s. Restoration is now underway, thanks to a donation from the World Monuments Fund. Once the first stage of this is completed, it will become home to temporary exhibitions and events - yet another reason to visit Charlton House.
Entrance to the house and grounds is free.
https://www.greenwichheritage.org/visit/charlton-house