We saw an interesting story on Digging For Britain last night. I can provide little detail because I was discussing tea with Julia and thinking about writing. It was Series 7 from 2018, detailing The North, if you want to look it up. The North, in this case, starts in Lincolnshire and ends up with a crashed Spitfire in Norway. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Alastair Gunn, bailed out and ended up in the real life Great Escape from Stalag Luft III in 1944, being one of the 50 men selected to be murdered on Hitler’s orders.
The Great Escape is a lesson for modern life. It featured cooperation between nations – Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Poland, Norway, France, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Belgium, Rhodesia, Holland and Argentina _ and is a lesson in what can be done with organisation and a common purpose. There were probably more nationalities in volved, as I have only been able to find the origins of the escapers. My apologies to any who have been missed out.
However, I really meant to talk about wood turning.
Basically, digging in an Iron Age floor covering of a Scottish Iron Age village, the archaeologists discovered a turned wooden pole (possibly part of a loom) and a turned wooden bowl. They were about 2,500 years old. I had to look it up. There were various sorts of lathe available, and the pole lathe is still in use today – I have seen them in action. The continuous rotation lathe was possibly a Roman invention. The Egyptians and Etruscans used lathes at this time. I may have got the date slightly wrong as we didn’t usually adopt things as early as the Egyptians and Etruscans.
However, the dates are Iron Age, which was worrying me, as I couldn’t see lathes and flint tools going together. It was interesting, because it was a whole technology I’d never thought about in an historical context.
Sometimes you hear discussions about how did anyone think about inventing the wheel or milking a cow, but seriously, what thought process led to wood turning? It’s quite a leap.
From the Great Escape to the history of wood turning, I always learn something new here. Thank you!
No worries. I’m always finding new stuff and astounding myself with how little I really know.
Same here!
That’s fascinating! I always presumed lathes were a product of the industrial revolution. But most inventions fascinate me.
It’s a whole new field of enquiry. In my next life I’d like to be an engineer, but about 1880-1920 rather than in the days of CNC and AI.
Oh, yeah. They must have been fabulous times to be an engineer
Years ago I saw a programme about a watchmaker in Rutland – he even turned his own screws on the lathe. I realised at that time we all have choices in life, and mine, which featured huge amounts of poultry manure, had been a bad choice.
Can’t say chickens are my favourite animal, we had loads on the farm and all I can remember are all the rats running around when we mucked them out.
Yes, manure and rats and mice. A mouse nearly killed me.
I will leave it there – it sounds much more dramatic that way . . .
That last line is interesting. I wonder if he had any idea how important and invention it was.
Probably not. To him it was just a better way to make chair legs or drinking bowls – no idea how important it would become to later generations.
why are you awake at this time of the night?
I fell asleep in front of the TV and when I woke up I needed to take my pills, which are stored near the computer. While I let them settle I look at the computer and contemplate mortality . . .
Nice to know we were both alive at the same time.
During lockdown I established a relaxing routine of working till 3am and sleeping until 10am. It worked well. I tried it again after I retired, but I can no longer sleep . . . 🙂
There’s a comfort to be derived from knowing someone at the other side of the world is blogging at the same time.
Yes. We are real people. Back just before COVID I visited England and stayed with Andrew Petcher and Derrick Knight both of whom I had only known through our blogs.
Again, the internet is a great thing, but it gets wasted on teenagers, extremists and fraudsters.
The Great Escape is quite a story and an excellent example of cooperation.
As always, so impressed with Julia’s work. Wood turning is certainly an ancient craft!
Much older than I realised. 🙂