This book redresses popular interpretations of concealed objects, enigmatically discovered within the fabric of post-medieval buildings. A wide variety of objects have been found up chimneybreasts, bricked up in walls, and concealed within recesses: old shoes, mummified cats, horse skulls, pierced hearts, to name only some. The most common approach to these finds is to apply a one-size-fits-all analysis and label them survivals and apotropaic (evil-averting) devices. This book reconsiders such interpretations, exploring the invention and reinvention of traditions regarding building magic. The title Building Magic therefore refers to more than practices that alter the fabric of buildings, but also to processes of building magic into our interpretations of the enigmatic material evidence and into our engagements with the buildings we inhabit and frequent.
Author(s): Owen Davies, Ceri Houlbrook
Series: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 179
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Rise of the Modern Home
Aboveground Archaeology
Chapter 2: Foundation Sacrifice: The Survival of a Problem in Archaeology, Folklore, and History
Definitions
A Universal Practice from the Remotest Past?
Archaeologists Reconsider
The Survival of Survivals in the Study of Post-Medieval Building Ritual
Chapter 3: Bodies: Mummified But Not Ancient
Desiccated Babies
Feline Remains
Chapter 4: Folk Science Meets Folk Memory: Acoustics and Illumination
Skulduggery
Witch Balls
Manufacture
Enter the Witches
The Story Spreads
Darkness and Light
Chapter 5: Sealing Memories
Foundation Rituals, Public Ceremony, and Civic Pride
Sealing Sentiments and Memories
Chapter 6: Seeking Protection: Objects of Power
Potent Plants
Thunderbolts
Any Old Iron?
Hag Stones
Heart and Hearth
Chapter 7: Luck and Wellbeing in the Home
Of Shoes and Horseshoes
Hearth and Home
Chapter 8: Curators and Custodians of the Revealed Concealed
The Museum
The Pub
The Church
The Home
Chapter 9: Conclusion
Select Bibliography
Index
