Amber

January 2020

Granny's Earrings

Now, as the storms of winter are in the process of lashing at our east coast, is a very good time to hunt for Amber on the foreshore. Mark you, it's not easy to find!

For those of you familiar with Amber jewellery, it would be a mistake to look for gleaming gems amongst the pebbles, as before processing, the raw material can resemble a piece of battered bone, or a dull and unremarkable stone. Most finds in the UK are small but in 2013, a lady beachcomber who knew what amber in the raw looked like, picked up a 700g piece near to Cromer pier that is probably the largest ever found along our coast.

It is possible to find other semi-precious gemstones such as agate, carnelian and serpentine if you look hard enough too, but amber is not a stone at all. It is in fact the fossilised resin of long-dead and buried pine trees from sunken Baltic forests that now lie deep beneath the North Sea. These trees stood around 50 million years ago and when they fell became layered over with silt and afterwards subjected to immense pressure. The woody parts long ago vanished but the gooey resin survived and within it, many insects, flies and even small lizards were trapped. These tiny creatures are often revealed in the final polished products and can throw light on the inhabitants of our earth around the time of the dinosaurs.

Crude jewellery was originally made of irregular pieces strung together then beads were polished and graduated while others were mounted in silver or gold for added enhancement and sophistication.

Amber beads. Image credit: Evelyn Simak

There are over 250 shades of Amber ranging from palest cream and lemon through gold to dark brown and in some regions of the world ruby-red, blue and black. Those items with an insect trapped within often command a higher price for novelty value and interest. In Russia, Amber is mined from a layer of 'blue soil' and large pieces command the same prices as gold, but that is a different matter from the relatively small pieces found along our coast, and is a subject to which I will return in another article.

For centuries Amber has been used for healing since it contains Succinic acid that occurs naturally in plants and animals, (the Romans called Amber sūcinum).

The chemical known as 'Spirit of Amber' was extracted by pulverising and distilling, and was primarily used for rheumatic aches and pains. Worn against against the body Amber warms, and it is believed by many that the acid can be absorbed through the skin for pain relief for a variety of ailments from teething to arthritis.

On another level, Amber is supposed to absorb negative energy, helping to alleviate stress, clear depression and stimulate the intellect. It supposedly encourages decision-making, and spontaneity, promotes self-confidence, creative self-expression and with it wisdom, balance and patience.

Wow! Really? Best I dig out my Amber earrings bought long ago in Southwold and wear them on a more regular basis. Might help stimulate my ageing brain-cells eh...?

—Granny Bonnet

The Babes of Wayland Wood

My dear, do you know,

How a long time ago,

Two poor little children,

Whose names I don't know,

Were stolen away on a fine summer's day,

And left in a wood, as I've heard people say.

And when it was night,

So sad was their plight!

The sun it went down,

And the moon gave no light!

They sobbed and they sighed, and they bitterly cried

And the poor little things, they lay down and died.

And when they were dead,

The robins so red,

Brought strawberry-leaves

And over them spread;

And all the day long,

They sung them this song:

"Poor babes in the wood! Poor babes in the wood!

Oh don't you remember the babes in the wood?" My dear, do you know,

How a long time ago,

Two poor little children,

Whose names I don't know,

Were stolen away on a fine summer's day,

And left in a wood, as I've heard people say.

And when it was night,

So sad was their plight!

The sun it went down,

And the moon gave no light!

They sobbed and they sighed, and they bitterly cried

And the poor little things, they lay down and died.

And when they were dead,

The robins so red,

Brought strawberry-leaves

And over them spread;

And all the day long,

They sung them this song:

"Poor babes in the wood! Poor babes in the wood!

Oh don't you remember the babes in the wood?"

In 1595, a London publisher by the name of Thomas Millington printed a broad-sheet in Norwich entitled The Norfolk Tragedy, and since it was obviously popular, produced in 1640 a ballad of the story which concerned the deaths of two small children in Wailing (now Wayland) Wood near Watton.

As is often the case, fact and fiction interweave but here is the truth of what I have found out so far about the matter. Wayland Wood's history goes back to the 10th Century. It used to be much larger, its trees coppiced, and is dense with a fine mix of trees, flowers and birds. It also reputedly has ghosts, supposedly of two young children under the age of three who were abandoned in the woods when the de Grey family owned nearby Griston Hall.

The tale appears to have been much embroidered over the years, as my research shows that there was actually only one child central to the plot. When his father died in 1562, seven-year-old Thomas de Grey of Merton became a ward of Queen Elizabeth since he was a minor but heir to the family's richness of house and lands. However, should he die before he married and had children, his father's brother Robert de Grey would inherit.

Four years after his father's death, young Thomas paid a visit to his stepmother Temperancé, daughter of Sir Simon Carew of Anthony in Cornwall. She had remarried to Sir Christopher Heydon of Baconsthorpe. The boy never returned alive, dying according to records on 21st March, 1665 at Baconsthorpe.

Perhaps with unseemly haste, the child's Uncle Robert seized the estate thus giving rise to the ghastly tale of abduction and murder by abandonment which has since been reworked into the story of the 'The Babes in the Wood'.

The well-known story was even turned into a popular pantomime, all of which helped to cement the sentimental story of two little children abandoned in the woods by ruffians sent to dispatch them. One of whom was heartless enough to murder his fellow but unable to kill the toddlers, thus condemning them to roam hungry, fearful and tearful until they eventually died of hunger and exhaustion.

In true sentimental 'Disney-style' and for publication purposes I suspect, their deaths were sweetened by the addition of the robin covering their tiny bodies with strawberry leaves which is in fact an ancient superstition that the cheery red-breasted birds never suffer a dead body to remain unburied. The childrens' wails we are assured, can still be heard on dark nights in Wayland Wood if you venture out at that time of night and believe strongly enough in a good tale...

Griston image showing ruffian with dagger courtesy Evlyn Simak: Watton image shows the babes under the oak tree where they were supposedly found. Courtesy Deben Dave

Viper's Bugloss

Viper's Bugloss! Viper's Bugloss! Viper's Bugloss!

There, said it! Sorry about that but there is just something so exotic and unusual about the name that I can't resist repeating it. The plant's other names such as blue devil, snake flower, and viper's herb sound so much more prosaic don't they?

You may not have seen these handsome spikes of blue wild flowers that seem to colonies very particular patches of land, as they appear to be quite localised and I did not spot any coming back from Cumbria until we were well into Norfolk and onto the sandy soil of The Brecks. Indeed another place they are prevalent is near the site of a gravel extraction area on the outskirts of Norwich.

Viper's-Bugloss Archimedean vulgaten may have got its common name 'viper', from its spotted stem, which is said to resemble a snake's markings or from the shape of its flowers, which look like the head of a snake. The English herbalist Culpeper though thought it was the seed which led to the descriptive name.

“After the flowers are fallen, the seeds growing to be ripe, are blackish, cornered and pointed somewhat like the head of a viper.”

'Bugloss' comes from the Greek meaning 'ox's tongue' and refers to the rough, tongue-shaped leaves.

Like many of our native plants, it has been used in the past medicinally, helping to provoke a sweat as well as having diuretic properties that also helps the body expel toxins. Like its cousin Comfrey it contains allantoin which makes it useful for healing injuries by promoting growth of new cells. It has been used as a poultice for healing boils and of course for treating adder bites in humans and animals.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust refer to it as the very best plant for bumblebees, honeybees, painted lady butterflies and burnet moths so in these worrying times for bees, I hope it continues to thrive.

Vipers Bugloss in a friend's garden.