Professor Marc Smith talking about medieval paper in Cambridge

On Friday 20th January CAG was pleased to hear from Professor Smith about his research into medieval paper in Cambridge. It was our first full in person event since March 2020 and it was great to be joined by many of our conservator colleagues.

Professor Smith began with an overview of papermaking, noting its origins in China in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. Paper reached Europe in the 11th century. Early in the 13th century paper began to be made in Europe, firstly in Spain and Italy, particularly Fabriano in Italy. Watermarks acted as trade marks for paper and allowed the origin and date of paper to be traced.

The earliest English paper mill was owned by John Tate and located near Hertford. There was also and early mill in Kent, owned by Spilman. In Cambridge there was a mill established in the 1550s in Fen Ditton. The mill was established under the auspices of the Bishop of Ely and the watermark of the paper produced shows the initials of the Bishop of Ely (Thomas Goodrich Eliensis: TGE or sometimes just TE, as below) and the paper maker (Remigius Guidon: RG). Reading bottom to top, this watermark says ‘RG 4 TE’

University Archives, reference UA VCCt/Wills 1

We also heard about the process of early paper making: rags were shredded, then pounded (using power from a watermill) to break down the fibres before being mixed with water to create a pulp which was then lifted out on frames to create individual sheets of paper. Frames were used in pairs. Illustrations from Denis Diderot’s ‘Encyclopedie’ of 1767 (below) show the process.

The frames create chain lines and laid lines on the paper and allow watermarks (designs made of wire, attached to the frame) to be added. Sizing (glue) is also added and then the paper is smoothed and folded in necessary. It may then be made into quires (24 or 25 sheets) (NB not the same as a quire in a bound volume) and then bundled into reams (500 sheets).

Paper was usually made in folio size (a bit smaller than A3), and the watermark was placed in the centre of one half. Watermarks came in a wide variety of styles and were often influenced by location, time and current fashions. Some included initials (as the Cambridge paper did) of producer or a date of production. When recording a watermark is it important to note its vertical and horizontal height and position on the page. You may also wish to count chain lines and laid lines and where the watermark occurs with respect to them, perhaps recording how many in a 10cm space for the close-together laid lines. Always include a scale in your photographs, ideally a horizontal and vertical one and use a light sheet to bring out the watermark. You may be able to use photographic software to enhance your images. The quality of the watermark may indicate how long it had been in use for, with paper frames typically in use for 2-5 years. Even ‘the same’ watermark may be slightly different on different sheets because many different frames will have been used by the same papermaker over the years.

Printed reference sources for watermarks include:

• Charles Moïse Briquet, Les Filigranes, 1907: with a focus on French paper watermarks
• Gerhard Piccard, Die Wasserzeichenkartei, 1961-1979: with a focus on European, principally German watermarks
• W. A. Churchill, Watermarks in paper in Holland, England, France, etc. in the XVII and XVIII centuries and their interconnection, 1935
• Edward Heaward, Watermarks, Mainly of the 17th and 18th Centuries, 1950
• Raymond Gaudriault, Filigranes et autres caractéristiques des papiers fabriqués en France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, available via Gallica: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3371715d.texteImage)

Much work is now being done to make these resources more accessible and Briquet’s catalogue now features at https://briquet-online.at/. The online version allows much easier searching, though a knowledge of French is still required! There is also the Memory of Paper Portal: https://www.memoryofpaper.eu/BernsteinPortal/appl_start.disp and Filigranes for all: https://filigranes.hypotheses.org/. There is also a project, partly based in Cambridge, looking at watermarks also: Digital approaches to the capture and analysis of watermarks using the manuscripts of Isaac Newton as a test case. See https://www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/digital-approaches-to-the-capture-and-analysis-of-watermarks/ for further details.

The session ended with a look at some paper from the University Library’s holdings (see document above) and a William Morris paper-making frame. It was great to be able to see some of the paper that had come from the Cambridge Mill.

Looking at Cambridge paper using light panels (best with the room lights turned down!)

Thank you to Professor Smith for talking to CAG and the University Library for hosting.

Lizzy Ennion-Smith, Pembroke College

‘Suffolk Deer Parks 1086-1602 – the range of archives’, a talk from Rosemary Hoppitt

We rounded off 2020 with a fascinating talk from Dr Rosemary Hoppitt. 19 of us listened to Rosemary detail the range of records available to those researching Deer Parks. Rosemary’s research focuses on Suffolk, where several Colleges owned, and still do own land.

The time frame of Rosemary’s study begins with the Domesday Book (1086) and ends in 1602 (the end of the Tudor period). Parks, for this period, are enclosed, exclusive areas, providing a grazing environment for deer; but also providing a component of the manorial resource base. They ranged from 9-900 acres but the average was 200-300 acres. They were usually found on the periphery of manors. Within them there would usually be grazing areas, forested areas, copiced woods, a keeper’s lodge and sometimes fishponds.

The Domesday Book records 38 parks, 6 of which were in Suffolk. It is likely to have been more, but a question about parks was not asked so consistent information was not provided in returns. The number of parks created varied over time and it is important to consider the difference between the date a park is first recorded and when it was first created.

To learn about parks there are a variety of documents that can be useful. Information was recorded when a park was established, when it was valued, when it brought in money or cost money, when hunting took place, if illegal activity or a dispute occurred, and when it was mapped.

Licences to impark can be found in the Patent Rolls; inquisitions post mortem also provide useful information. These were local inquiries into valuable properties, in order to discover what income and rights were due to the Crown and who the heir should be. These, with surveys and rolls, help paint a picture of the parks.

“Depiction of a medieval hunting park” from The Master of Game
Unknown artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Account rolls show when a park provided income, perhaps through the sale of timber, and when a park cost money, perhaps to mend fences or improve the keeper’s lodge. You may also find accounts of the deer within the park and those killed on a particular hunt. In Hengrave, the deer account lists the numbers of bucks, sorrels, sores (bucks in their 4th year), prickets (male deer in its 2nd year), does (female fallow deer), teggs (female deer in its second year), and fawns (young deer in their first year).

Maps, more common from the 16th century, also provide a picture of the parks. Abuttals can also help place parks in the landscape and wills from time to time will refer to parks. Mentions will also be found in the Close Rolls and Patent rolls, noting the appointment of keepers.

There were a good variety of questions at the end and it was a great way to end our 2020 set of Zoom meetings!

To purchase Rosemary’s book, Deer parks of Suffolk 1086-1602, ISBN 9780952139096, please visit http://www.suffolkinstitute.org.uk/books.