Shotley Bridge swordmakers

[Triarii]

Short version as the website ate my longer reply.
There are multiple versions of the Strafford portrait, with the Pappenheimer one owned by the NT (after Van Dyke, if I recall correctly) and the other by the NPG (school 0f Van Dyke). The NPG have another with him facing to the right, but it shows the same sword hilt in both. It also appears in Van Dykes full length portrait of Charles I in armour. I suspect that it is therefore a prop supplied by the artist, along with the cuirassier armour. That armour was rarely used in England, with only one regiment and a few troops of horse using it in the ECW, but it usefully displays the martial connections of the sitter, being used even as late as the early C18th.

To be fair to AVB Norman, there are good depictions of eg Irish Hilts in portraits of Colonels Booth, Massey and Hutchinson and a Type 91 hilt in Rembrandts 'Self portrait with Saskia', which can also be seen on contemporary tomb monuments in Bristol and Gloucester cathedrals.

[urbanspaceman]

Just as a hint of a suggestion: I always type/compose my longer responses in MS Word, then copy and paste into the forum, as too many times the website eats my efforts.
On to the issue at hand:
Artist's 'Props', now there is an obvious reason that never crossed my mind... thank-you.
Of course, getting important folk to sit still for lengthy periods on an often basis was never easy was it/is it?
I have abandoned all efforts to unravel the family lineage involved in the Wentworth/Woodhouse/Watson affair: simply way too many variations on the names and titles to achieve coherence. I do think I got it right except the caskets were made post 1750 by the latest WWW incumbent.
All good fun until your brain melts.
Thank-you Folks.

[Brian Moffatt]

Way off beam I know Keith,
But just for the information of anyone researching "Shotley"... for some weird reason the posting on my blog on the subject no longer appears to be accessible to search engines.... so best way in is just to go straight to the front page and scroll down.
We now have what I believe to be a Medieval Derwent valley anvil... it came from very close to Hexham Abbey... fascinating thing with a cross and other detail on the side.... must have been put in when the metal was still malleable.
I'll get it up online in due course....
We are still working on the descriptions for the Museum... a truly massive task,
So currently access is rather limited since we have personally to talk the way through all of the exhibits.... which takes well over an hour.
Hopefully by next year we will have it all on tablets..
All the Best,
Brian Moffatt

[urbanspaceman]

Hi Brian. You forgot to include your museum website address.

[Brian Moffatt]

Easiest way in Keith,
...is an image web search

Reivers! The Borderlands Museum

That will produce lots of decent pictures, on quite number of Arms and Armour subjects plus much more..

I am currently working on the most important post I have ever attempted...hopefully I will get the bones of it up online in the next few days...

This one will change everything, but making all of the parts connected with it
make sense... is a job for a team really, and being in ones 80's does not help, as some of the sites (locations) connected are near impossible to access..

"Official" assistance is out of the question, since my activities interfere with "Government" / Landowner policy.
And so... the Tourism and Development folk are very reluctant to talk to us..
"More than me jobs worth" Etc.
This goes right back to the end of the 16th century!
All the Best,
Brian

[Peter Hudson]

Dear Kieth;
Please launch the details of the computerised publication so that Forum can show this detail to all those members who will be delighted to see this information freely available...This interesting document is thus being corrected/updated and added to as a rolling project ...and shows how important was the Shotley Bridge enterprize and how vital is your information on this world class Sword Maker.
Regards; Peter Hudson.

[urbanspaceman]

Hi Peter. My latest draft has been sent to the Shotley Bridge Village Heritage site for uploading and it will soon be available to download as a free pdf for all and everybody.
I have added another section at the rear for additional and recently developed peripheral thoughts and occasional fresh info that constantly dribbles in. It is now up to 165 heavily illustrated pages of B5 format (in full colour most of the time) and I will post a notification here when it is active... soon!
High quality stock, spiral bound hard copies are available on a cost-price basis from my local printer by mail and details of how to obtain it are included on the SB heritage website.
It is also available to read online at the village website if downloads are not desired.
The official commercial publication will be a companion piece to the eventual BBC documentary; it will not be up to the production quality of this privately printed copy.