Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
The birth of Heneb
A new organisation has come into being in Wales, in a bold move designed to increase the capacity of the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts (WATs) to compete for major developer-funded contracts, while building on their reputation for specialist regional expertise and service delivery. Heneb: the Trust for Welsh Archaeology was officially formed on 1 April 2024 by combining the staff of the four WATs (CA 314) – one for each of the new counties created by the 1974 local government reorganisation: Gwynedd, Dyfed, Clwyd-Powys and Glamorgan Gwent.
The big difference between the WATs and the units that evolved elsewhere in the UK was the focus on developing a deeper understanding of the archaeology of one region that would grow richer all the time. This would therefore give the WATs a competitive advantage when bidding for local contracts; improve the quality of the archaeological interpretation; and deliver the educational and community engagement activities that qualify archaeological units for charitable status.
That strategy has served Wales well since the first two WATs were formed in 1974 (the other two were formed in 1975 and 1976) and remains a fundamental strength. However, by combining the WATs under one trustee board, chair, and chief executive, Heneb (which means ‘monument’) now has more than 70 staff and the ambition to compete for the large-scale projects that it needs in order to grow. The merger also puts them in a better position to form partnerships with other units. This will allow them to field the large teams required for infrastructural projects, such as new roads, railways, power stations, pipelines, wind farms, or forestry schemes.
Dr Carol Bell has been appointed Chair of the new board of trustees, and Richard Nicholls is the new Chief Executive. Taking up his role on 15 April 2024, Richard said: ‘with the formation of Heneb, Wales now has a national charity for archaeology. This is a truly exciting moment for archaeology in Wales, as we combine the skills and expertise of the former regional trusts to become a significant heritage organisation. Heneb has responsibility for the Historic Environment Record in Wales, but can also provide the full range of commercial services required to provide solutions to planning needs and heritage site project management.’
Mudlarking exhibition
Sherds has only just discovered (too late, I am afraid, for CA readers to visit) that Emery Walker’s House in Kensington has been hosting a small exhibition called Mudlarking: unearthing London’s past. The highlight of this small display of finds from the River Thames was a complete set of the legendary Doves Type, once thought to be lost forever, which was used to print some of the most skilfully designed books to emerge from the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Despite advocating beauty and high ideals, the movers and shakers of the Arts and Crafts Movement could be irascible and disputatious. The Doves Press (and the specially designed typeface used to print its books) was a partnership between artist and bookbinder Thomas Cobden-Sanderson and the engraver and printer Emery Walker. In 1909, when the partnership was dissolved, a dispute arose over the ownership of the type; believing that he was being swindled, Cobden-Sanderson took matters into his own hands by throwing every last piece of type into the Thames.
From Cobden-Sanderson’s diaries, we know that he took 170 trips to the river, from midnight on 31 August 1916 to January 1917, to dispose of a tonne of lead. A century later, the type designer Robert Green used this information to pinpoint the spot where the printer ‘bequeathed the type’ (as he put it) to the river. After 20 minutes searching the foreshore, Robert found three pieces, and with the help of divers from the Port of London Authority and the officially licensed mudlarks operating around Hammersmith Bridge, he managed to recover enough type to recreate the complete alphabet.
Jason Sandy, architect, author, and member of the Society of Thames Mudlarks, also gave pieces to the exhibition. His contributions included prehistoric flint tools, Roman coins and pottery, medieval pilgrim badges, Tudor fashion accessories, 17th-century children’s toys, Georgian personal adornments, jewellery and Victorian curiosities, all salvaged from the river. Sandy commented that it was not unusual to find pieces of type in the river, ‘particularly around Fleet Street, where newspaper typesetters would throw pieces in the water when they couldn’t be bothered to put them back in their cases’. ‘The Thames’, he said, ‘gives you a clear picture of what people have been wearing or using over thousands of years. And it’s not carefully curated by a museum. The river gives up these objects randomly, and you experience these amazing stories of ordinary Londoners.’
Who invented sparkling wine?
One consequence of climate change is the increasing volume of high-quality wine being produced by British vineyards, like the excellent and award-winning 2018 Sparkling Brut that Sherds sampled recently on a visit to the Dedham Vale vineyard near Colchester.
This wine is produced using the méthode champenoise, but no wine can be called ‘champagne’ unless it comes from designated vineyards in the Champagne region of France. This irks British vineyard owners, whose products have been beating more expensive champagnes in blind tastings and winning international praise, not only because of the advantage it gives champagne when it comes to choosing a special occasion beverage, but also because it was the English who invented fizzy wine and made it popular.
According to The Story of Champagne by Nicholas Faith, fizzy wine was all but unknown until English glassmakers created the modern wine bottle in 1662. To withstand the additional pressure created by secondary fermentation in the bottle, the glass had to be at least three times stronger than normal (today’s champagne bottles are six times stronger). The invention of what the French call verre anglaise came about when English glassmakers turned to higher temperature coal-fired glass furnaces rather than charcoal (Britain needed the wood for shipbuilding; see CA 112). In the same year, Dr Christopher Merret gave a lecture to the Royal Society describing the technique of adding sugar to the still wines being imported from France to create the sparkle (not a new idea, because this was the technique already being used by cidermakers).
The Francophile court of Charles II and the metropolitan elite of London fell for the resulting ‘champagne’, as it was called, believing too that it had aphrodisiac qualities – though Jonathan Swift believed that true patriots should drink the wines of Britain’s ally, Portugal (‘Bravely despise champagne at court’, he advised, ‘And choose to dine at home with Port’). The French adopted verre anglaise and began producing their own sparkling wines, attributing the invention to a Benedictine monk called Dom Pérignon (1638-1715), but in reality he held bubbly wine as inferior to still, the former being ‘green’ and ‘acid’ in his view. Wikipedia even-handedly says Dom Pérignon ‘was an important quality pioneer for Champagne wine but did not discover the Champagne method for making sparkling wines’ – indeed, the champagnes we know today were developed in the 19th century.
Will British vineyards get the last laugh? The statistics for UK wine consumption show a marked decline in traditional champagne sales (27 million fewer bottles sold in 2022) in favour of prosecco, cava and crémant, which retail at less than half the price. The ‘cost of living crisis’ is blamed for the downturn – and for the rising cost of champagne – but one wine merchant believes that ‘entry-level champagne has become homogenised, can lack creativity, and is more of a mass-produced product’. That cannot be said of wines from vineyards like Dedham Vale, because their pioneering owners are passionate and proud of their products – not to mention just a little bit determined to win back the territory that French producers consider to be uniquely theirs.
You must be logged in to post a comment.