Posted on 01/08/2015 3:45:11 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Fresh light has been shone on Norwich's grisly medieval history, after archaeologists uncovered evidence suggesting the site of a proposed £7m car park was once a 13th Century leather workshop...
Archaeologists have already dug seven trials trenches, each four metres by four metres, to investigate the low-lying site near to the River Wensum.
An eighth trench is set to be dug and evaluated after planned demolition works have taken place, with analysis of any finds to feed into a new report in early 2015.
Evaluation of the site to date has identified activity from the prehistoric period to the modern era.
And, from animal bones discovered at the city centre site, it seems our medieval ancestors knew of at least one way to skin a cat -- possibly so they could make hats or gloves...
They found so many goat horncores -- the bones at the centre of horns -- that archaeologists think the site may have been a high-quality leather tanning works, with animal corpses brought to the area to be processed.
And, with the site close to the river and near two friary sites, archaeologists are wondering whether the site might have served monks, producing high-quality leather items and vellum -- a parchment used for scrolls and books.
The report by archeologists speculates: "One interesting aspect is whether the name of this activity, the manufacture of vellum being carried out by parchmenters, is in some way retained as the derivation of Parmentergate and the church of St Peter Parmentergate on King Street."
(Excerpt) Read more at edp24.co.uk ...
Stunning building, the aesthetic jewel of the city.
But it's so much warmer if you leave the cat IN the skin!:
(Getting the cat to stay put may be problematic. I recommend a chin strap)
Wish I’d had this piece of information last night to post on yesterday’s FR Please Pray for my Kitty thread. Man, I got torn to shreds (as I should have been) just for posting the word “no”.
Cats did produce usable parts - gut, for example - and actually were eaten in many places, particularly in France and around Barcelona. In Spain, rabbits had to be sold with their ears on so that consumers could make sure they were not eating cat. There’s a Spanish phrase that means defraud, which is “dar gato por liebre,” meaning “offer cat as rabbit,” so you can see this was pretty widespread.
So that’s what Cat in the Hat is really about.
So...did The Cat in the Hat wear a hat made from human skin?
Did they find anymore Kings while they were digging?
"Hats for Bats...Keep Bats Warm."
- Alice, having an Adventure in Wonderland.
See this hat?
‘twas my cat.
My evening wear,
A Vampire bat.
My sweater, English setter
Nothing better!
See my vest, see my vest,
Made from gorilla’s chest.
This may explain the original purpose of cats an where the word hat came from.
Cat -> Chat -> hat
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