Greetings Alan
In message <[log in to unmask]>, Alan Rowe
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>In the Devon Stannary town of Tavistock, a roof boss in the church depicts
>three rabbits or hares with shared pairs of ears. It is a symbol thought to
>be related to tin-mining and to have connections with eastern Europe and
>even as far east as China.
>I should be interested to receive any further information on the subject.
>Alan Rowe
No direct information. Even Arthur Mee mentions only the stags on the
writing desk in whose antlers the Roman St Eustachius saw a vision of
the Cross and was converted. This is in King's England (Devon volume)
about Tavistock Church. The position of the boss in the Church may be
important as one aisle was built for the Clothworkers Guild, Tavistocks
being a type of wollen coth with (by 1539 and the dissolution of the
monasteries) the right granted to the guild of exclusivity to make it.
Caesar mentioned that the hare was sacred to the ancient Britons
(Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book V Chap XII).
This is an extract from http://www.endicott-studio.com/forssft.html
which involves a hare in the birth of Taliesin.
This story is echoed in the magical Celtic tale of the resourceful
Gwion Bach -- a young man who went on to become the great Welsh poet
Taliesin. Gwion Bach stole the gift of prophesy from the cauldron of the
witch Ceridwen -- and then he fled, with the furious old witch in hot
pursuit. He transformed himself into a hare; the witch transformed into
a hound. He turned into a fish, she turned into an otter, etc., etc.,
until Gwion Bach became a grain of wheat. The witch became a hen,
gobbled him up, and gave birth to him (as the infant Taliesin) nine
months later.
Hares are known from Mesolithic middens in Britain, whilst rabbits are a
Roman introduction.
--
John Colby
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|