Object of the Week: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Heritage Henredon Furniture

Bookcase and Chest of Drawers, Frank Lloyd Wright about 1955, Cecil Higgins Collection

In fifties America, if you couldn’t live in one of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses, the next best thing was to fill your existing house with his line of home furnishings.


Frank Lloyd Wright Heritage Henredon Fine Furniture advertisement, 1950s

The range, which was designed by Wright and produced in partnership with five different companies, included fabrics, wallpapers, a palette of 36 custom mixed paint colours, rugs and 75 pieces of furniture made by Heritage Henredon.

Wright had been designing furniture for his buildings since the 1890’s, writing in 1908 that ‘the most satisfactory apartments are those in which most or all of the furniture is built in as a part of the original scheme.’ So his decision in his late eighties to produce furniture commercially was seen by some as a compromise of his ideals.

Wright designed three separate lines for Heritage Henredon, ‘Burberry’ circular in form, ‘Honeycomb’ more triangular and ‘Four Square’ which was the most conservative of the designs. ‘Four Square was the only one chosen by the company to go into production, renamed ‘Taliesin’ after Wrights Wisconsin home.

‘Furniture by Frank Lloyd Wright’ Margery R. Phillips

The Seattle Times 25 December 1955

The furniture was designed to have ‘infinite adaptability to American living’. Desks could be used as dressing tables, small tables could double up as chairs and bookcases had moveable tops so that could be used as room dividers or on top of chests of drawers. Smaller pieces could fit together to form larger ensembles; the sofas had cushions with cut off corners to which smaller tables could be fitted. Decoration was limited to the edges so that ‘is of the piece, not on it’ and there were no handles only drawer pulls which could ‘catch light and shadow for interesting and changing patterns’.

Frank Lloyd Wright Heritage Henredon Fine Furniture advertisement, 1950’s

‘Furniture for the living-dining area has never been so thoughtfully designed. Mr Wright has been working with the combination area over 50 years, so it is no wonder that the low dining table and chairs keep their place and blend so beautifully for more comfortable, relaxed living.’

Unfortunately whilst the advertising at the time stated ‘We have been asked who will like this totally new-type of furniture and our answer is that everyone will because it is the next trend’, the furniture failed to be popular with the American public. Whilst the line wasn’t unprofitable, repeat orders from stockists were insufficient to justify its production and Wright ended his contract with the company in 1956.

Victoria Partridge
Keeper of Fine and Decorative Art

P.S. I could have written a whole other blog on Wright’s beautiful ‘Taliesin Ensemble’ fabric and wallpaper designs, but unfortunately we don’t have any in the collection. To see some online have a look at The Metropolitan Museum of Art website who have this amazing fabric (below) by F. Schumacher and Company.or the Victoria & Albert Museum who have some of Wright’s wallpaper.

Design 104 in wood brown Manufactured by F. Schumacher and Company, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Baillie Scott in Bedford

When you walk around Bedford, it wouldn't immediately strike you as the home of one of the leading lights of the Arts & Crafts movement. Whilst the unkind treatment of the town by the 1960s often detracts from the more interesting architectural features of the town, you haven't unwittingly walked past the evidence: Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott's (1865-1945) 12 years living and working in Bedford unfortunately left no obvious landmarks in the heart of the town. So, for the uninitiated, who was Baillie Scott, why did he come to Bedford, and what did he do while he was here?

Who was Baillie Scott?
Baillie Scott was an important figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, which was the most significant form of architecture from 1890 to the First World War. Scott was a designer of houses and furniture who had great success in this country and in Europe. Born in Ramsgate, Kent, in 1865 he grew up in a world already familiar with William Morris's ideals of good design. Despite an initial education in agriculture in Gloucestershire, his reading of Morris, Philip Webb and Norman Shaw led him to take up architecture. After first taking a position in Bath, he moved to the Isle of Man were he spent 12 years and where he came to maturity as a designer.  He developed an idea of the intergrated interior, where the furnishings should be in harmony with the structure of the space, and details such as the mantlepiece would be designed with the decoration to sit on it in mind. Stylistically, he moved from a medieval Morris-inspired style to a cleaner and simpler approach, following in Voysey's footsteps, eschewing elaborate decoration of  surfaces and creating furniture in simple, elegant forms. He clarified his ideas in the book Houses and Gardens, 1906.



Blackwell, Cumbria, photo from the Lakelands Trust.

One of his most famous houses is Blackwell, in Cumbria, run by the excellent Lakelands Arts Trust. The house is open for visitors, and you can even see some of our collection of W.A.S. Benson lighting on display in the stunning rooms. The German architect Hermann Muthesius described Blackwell as   "…one of the most attractive creations that the new movement in house-building has produced" and credited Baillie Scott with the "new idea of the interior as an autonomous work of art...each room is an individual creation."

Why did he come to Bedford?


Bedford had one very strong asset to a designer of interiors. John P. White's Pyghtle Works was renowned for the quality of its output and was patronised by important designers and architects, such as Sir Raymond Unwin, for its wood and metalwork. Positioned by the railway, the Pyghtle was well connected to the rest of the country and J. P. White had a showroom in London on Margaret Street to sell its products. In 1901, the year he moved to Bedford, Baillie Scott produced a catalogue of furniture for White and for one with such attention to detail, being able to visit the works on a regular basis must have very beneficial. Scott was also a family man with young children, and the strong reputation of the town's schools, which had been so important in the late 19th century growth of the town, would also have been an attraction.


Surely someone in Bedford would have commissioned him to design their house?

While Bedford wasn't completely devoid of artistic, forward thinking people in need of a house, the social make-up of ex-colonial types, who had come to Bedford to school their children, was overwhelmingly traditional in its outlook. Miss Susan Margaret Collie, appointed head of Bedford High School in 1899, was one exception to the rule: on her appointment she commissioned the young Scottish Architect Andrew N. Prentice to design the Norman Shaw inspired 56 De Parys Avenue, and, in fact, Baillie Scott's first contact with Bedford may have came from another artistically minded Bedfordian patron.

 56, De Parys Avenue, by A. N. Prentice.

Design for a house in Bedford for Carl St Amory.
Published in The Building News, August 30th 1895

Carl St Amory was an extravagant figure for Bedford at that time, a musician and a writer of operettas, he regularly held concerts at the Corn Exchange. In 1895 he commissioned Scott to design a house for him. The designs were exhibited at the Royal Academy and published in The Building News (pictured right) but for it may have been that the more rural setting of Bedford's surrounding villages suited his designs better. Scott designed two houses for clients in Biddenham, a Miss Steele and a Miss Street, and Mr A. A. Tealby commissioned a house in Sharnbrook. Scott himself set up home and office in a converted cottage on the site of Fenlake Manor, after initially setting up at 4 Windsor Place, on the corner of St. Cuthbert's Street and Goldington Road. It was at Fenlake that he wrote Houses and Gardens, but tragically the house burnt down in 1911 taking with it all of his records, and after a disrupted period in St. Johns Street and Elstow he eventually moved to London in 1913. See the interactive map below.

Kristian Purcell,
Curatorial Assistant

The core of the information in this blog came from two essays by Simon Houfe, 'The Villa Architecture of Bedford III - M. H. Baillie Scott', Bedfordshire Magazine Vol. XII (Luton, 1971) p141-146, and 'Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott - Craftsman Architect' the Foreword to: M. H. Baillie Scott, Houses and Gardens (Woodbridge, 1995)

A Google Map of Baillie Scott related locations:

View Bedford Architecture: M H Baillie Scott in a larger map



The Primrose League for Empire and Liberty!

Following the Conservative Party conference last week, this object of the week looks at the history of the Primrose League. I stumbled across a group of very attractive badges in the collection during the packing project that had been presented to members of the political organisation, the Primrose League. The Primrose League was set up by Lord Randolph Churchill (father of Winston Churchill) in the memory of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) in 1883.

Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli for the Primrose League, Item 158, 

© Bodleian Library 

  On the 19^th April every year Primrose Day was celebrated in remembrance of Disraeli, because Primroses were said to be his favourite flowers. Queen Victoria sent two wreaths of Primroses on the occasion of Disraeli’s funeral. There is also an oil painting titled  Primrose Day, 1885 by Frank Bramley in the Tate Collection.

The League's motto was ‘Imperium et Libertas’, Empire & Liberty, which features on many of the badges and insignia issued, as well as their PL monogram. Co-incidentally, Bedfordian Col. Frederick Burnaby was instrumental in the early establishment of the Primrose League and sat on the first Ruling Council. The first ‘Habitation’ was set up at the Strand on Primrose Day, 1884.
The League was important at this time as an agent of progress within the Tory party. It marked a split from the more traditional supporters within the landed classes, to encompass a more popular appeal. The new League became much more inclusive of women and younger members than previously encouraged by the Party.

Ladies Grand Council Member's Badge, this particular ribbon also contains several Special Service badges, a PL Champion badge and a badge 'For Recruiting'.

 The League was based on a friendly society style organisation, by subscription rather than eligibility to vote. The structure included a National Grand Council for which individuals could be elected. Each region also had its own Divisional Council and at grass-roots level individual ‘Habitations’ or lodges were set up locally for members to gather political support for the Conservative Party.  From 1885, a separate branch under the title of the Ladies Grand Council was set up specifically representing female members.

Primrose League Warrant for  the 'Harvey' Habitation being set up at Potton,
1st August 1894. BEDFM 1999.398

Typically each Habitation consisted of a Ruling Councillor, Honorary Secretary, Executive Council, and Wardens aside from the standard membership. The Wardens performed a number of tasks essential to the operation of the association including recruiting members, collecting subscriptions, circulating pamphlets, and assisting in the canvassing and registration efforts undertaken to assist political candidates. The general membership was divided into Dames for women and Knights for men, with other members being known as Associates. Habitations could also be served by Dame Presidents, who were at a similar level to the Ruling Councillor.



 Membership was graded one (the lowest) to five. Star medals were awarded to Knights and Dames who had made an outstanding contribution to furthering the principles of the League.

Primrose League Star Medal awarded for outstanding contribution

Also Special Service badges were awarded to members  in recognition of their efforts within the organisation. The Junior Primrose League members became known as Primrose Buds.

Primrose League Ribbon with many badges attached including Juvenile Branch Secretary, 1918 Special Service badge, Delegate badges for 1921, 1923 & 1924, and General Election Badge 1922.

The types of fundraising events attended included summer village fetes. This photograph shows one such fete at Bromham in 1912 when well-known aviator Claude Graham-White a previous Bedford School Pupil visited. Unfortunately he was running nearly an hour late and a vast crowd had gathered both within the fete boundary and outside it. The crowd went mad with excitement when Claude arrived, tore down the hessian fence you can see in the background  of this photograph and mobbed the plane. Claude was so alarmed at the lack of crowd control that he flew off, almost as soon as he had arrived. You can see Claude Graham-White on the right hand side shaking hands and facing the camera. You can also see the threat from the heads of the external crowd poking over the fence moments before it collapsed.

Aviator Claude Graham-White (far right facing camera) at Bromham Primrose League Summer Fete, 1912.
Courtesy of BLARS, Ref: Z1306-21-10

Poster for Primrose League Summer Fete at Melchbourne, 1908
Courtesy of BLARS, Ref: PK10-2-1

The Primrose League was incredibly successful in its early years, by 1891 having recruited over a million members. At this time the League was the largest and one of the most influential groups affiliated to any political party. After WW1 their activities and influence waned and towards the end of the 20th century the League’s role was superseded by the Conservative Central Office. The League finally came to an end quite recently, closing its membership in 2004.

Lydia Saul, Keeper of Social History

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to the Conservative Party Archive at the Bodleian Library.

Thanks to the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) for the pictures relating to Primrose League Fetes. 

A Glimpse of Life from the Edge Or "Let’s get something out of the freezer for dinner"

Whilst trying to unravel the evidence for early human occupation of our area during the Ice Age I have been struck by not only the wealth of artefacts we have in our collections but also the depth of pioneering research carried out by some of our notable Victorian antiquarian collectors. Some of these names include James Wyatt (1816-1878) and Worthington G Smith (1835-1917).

Both of these collectors were amongst the first to realise that these roughly hewn flint shapes appearing deep down in the river gravels were not the result of natural rolling and bashing in the riverbed but were very deliberate, specialised, manmade tools.

They also realised that because the flint tools were appearing in the same deposits as those containing the bones and tusks from ice age mammals that early man had to be contemporary with many of the larger mammals. The concept that mankind have evolved over time did not always sit very happily with the official church doctrines or even with society in general at the time.

More recently an internationally renowned expert in the field for this period, Dr.John Wymer (1928-2006), wrote of the gravel pits at Biddenham as having “the distinction of being the first prolific Palaeolithic sites to have been discovered in Britain.”

The flint tools retrieved from these sites tend to be fairly large, roughly shaped hand axes and flakes. Today when we handle these items they seem smoothed and worn and this is precisely what has happened to them. These once razor sharp tools have been removed from their place of discard or last use and have been swept along by ancient rivers which became flooded and turbulent with the melt waters from ice sheets and glaciers melting and refreezing over a long period of time.

The sort of time period experts are talking about for the Palaeolithic period is 1,000,000 BC to 10,000 BC. Looking at this almost incomprehensible span of time we are doing well to find any evidence for large mammals let alone humans and even when we have found them, we have to be able to recognise them!

A selection of flakes and hand axes from Biddenham, Beds.

So what were our ancestors doing with these flint tools? Evidence for their use comes from two main sources, the objects themselves and a more recently evolved method of study, Experimental Archaeology.

Some finds of bones of Ice Age mammals have been found cracked and broken in a specific way and this has led archaeologists to believe that humans were using the heavy and sharp hand axes to deliberately open up the bones to remove the nutritious bone marrow from within. Other bones show cut marks and scrapes indicating that the sharp flint tools were used to cut flesh and sinews from the bone.

We are really fortunate to have in our collections from Kempston a bone which shows this very direct activity, which we still to this day have in common with our ancestors. At first sight the small rather tatty bone looks nothing special but closer inspection shows a series of parallel cut marks, evidence of the sharp edge from a flint blade cutting into the bone as the user was stripping the flesh from the bone

A bone from Kempston with visible cut marks.

The popular image of early man and their diet often starts with the premise that people hunted in bands killing large wild animals and supplementing their diet with berries and leaves. Whilst some of this may be the case it is more likely that early hunters were more scavengers of already dead or nearly dead game. The need to keep close to the animals that roamed around the landscape would lead them by necessity to have a nomadic life style. During the warmer periods throughout this vast expanse of time they could dine on elephant, deer, oxen, rhinoceros, hyena and maybe even hippopotamus. During the colder periods the choice of menu would change to mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, bison and arctic hare.

Once you start to think more deeply and consider the evidence we have today of what conditions and life was probably like back in the Palaeolithic period it is just amazing that mankind has survived at all and that the whole of human history is a real testimony our resilience and adaptability as a species.


Liz Pieksma, Keeper of Archaeology

Cecil Higgins and the Philosophers Stone

Many years ago in a land called Prussia there lived a young man who, it was said, had discovered the legendary Philosophers Stone and with it could turn metal into gold. Word spread amongst the land of this extraordinary power until it reached the ear of the King who summoned the young man to his court. The night before the meeting, as the King dreamed of untold riches, the young man trembled with fear as he hadn’t really any powers at all. He had tricked his friends by slight of hand and though he had asked them to keep his alleged power a secret they had been so excited that they had not been able to keep it to themselves. He could not face the King with his lies, so he fled under cover of darkness to the neighbouring land of Saxony where he hid.

When the young man did not arrive at the Prussian King’s court he sent out soldiers to find him, and offered a huge reward of for his capture. Tales of the young man's powers had already spread beyond the borders of Prussia and it wasn’t long till Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, had heard of the young man hiding in his lands. Augustus wanted the young man's power for himself, so locked him away in a castle in the city of Dresden until he could make him piles of gold. If the young man told the truth he would surely face his death, so instead he continued his lie. For three long years he toiled in his castle prison trying to turn metal into gold, and every time the King asked if he had finished he would lie and say ‘not long now’.

Finally, the King had had enough and demanded that his prisoner set a definite date when the gold would be made. The young man promised that in sixteen weeks he would be able to produce gold and in the eight days following those weeks he would produce two tonnes of gold for the King. Sixteen weeks and eight days came and went and the King, realising that no gold could be made, planned to execute the young man for his lies. However, his wise advisors intervened and told the King that he would look a fool for all the money and time he had spent waiting, and instead suggested the young man be set another task.

As you read this you may be thinking what has this story to do with Cecil Higgins? Well, the young man's name was Johann Friedrich Böttger, and the second task that the King set him was not to produce gold but something far more delicate…. porcelain. There is some debate as to whether it was Böttger who can be fully credited with making porcelain, or the court official and scientist in charge of the project Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhausen. In 1707, a year after Böttger was spared death, the two men succeeded in producing a red stoneware with similar properties to porcelain.

On the strength of this discovery Augustus the Strong set up a factory in Meissen. Early shapes were made by moulding or casting from Chinese originals with either no decoration or simple reliefs of sprays of plum blossom.

Teapot made from red porcelain moulded with plum blossom, about 1710 - 1713, Meissen

The teapot above, bought by Cecil Higgins in 1934 from one of his favourite dealers Hyam & Co, is an example of these early wares. It is dated about 1710 and is very similar in design to Chinese originals, such as this one in the V&A collection. These red wares described by the factory as 'red porcelain' or where only produced until 1713 by which time Böttger's second invention, white porcelain, became the standard porcelain produced.

In 1715 Böttger was finally granted his freedom, but the years of imprisonment had taken its toll on his health and he died four years later at the age of 37. Despite the fact he had never managed to make gold from metal, his porcelain was the finest in Europe. The factory he ran went from strength to strength producing the most inventive and beautiful works in Europe for many years to come. As for Augustus the Strong, although he never got his magical gold, he made plenty of real money from Böttger’s invention and his name will forever be remembered as the owner of the first European porcelain factory.

Victoria Partridge
Keeper of Fine and Decorative Art

Object of the Week: Women’s Voluntary Service Uniform

“If it should be done the WVS will do it”. Established in 1938 by Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading, the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) for Civil Defence was there to assist the Air Raid Precaution Service during the Second World War. Often this meant setting up rest centres that could provide shelter, food and comfort to those who had been affected by the Blitz. In particular they also aided the evacuation of children from London to safer, often more rural, areas, such as Bedfordshire. They supported their fellow land army recruits, for example by making pies to help keep up their strength during harvest time. Often they provided refreshments for troops stationed locally. ‘British’ restaurants and Rest Centres were set up across the country to care for the displaced that the WVS managed.

Visit to Bedford's British Restaurant, 1942, the kitchen. Left to right: unidentified WVS member, Lady Reading, Miss Rogers wearing official uniform jacket and skirt, Hon. Pearl Lawson-Johnson, unidentified WVS member wearing official white overalls.  © The Bedfordshire Times/ Times and Citizen

 In the Museum collection we have an example of one Bedfordshire woman’s WVS uniform, sadly we have not been able to trace as yet the original owner. The uniform of the WVS had to be designed in a hurry between April 1938 and the start of the war. The uniform was designed by London couturier Digby Morton and included a suit, blouse and overcoat. Lady Reading also managed to talk the head of Harrods into making and supplying them.

The Hon. Pearl Lawson-Johnson escorting Lady Reading to the British restaurant in Mill Street.
Both are dressed in official WVS coats and felt hats bearing the WVS badge.

© The Bedfordshire Times/ Times and Citizen

The coat and hat were for sale from 20 different outlets around the country at first. These were available to any WVS badge-holder, although it was stated that no one was obliged to wear the garments.

By October a tweed jacket and skirt, as well as red blouses and WVS overalls extended the range. In December the embroidered badges, scarves and white overalls were launched at 229 shops, which were listed as authorised retailers for the merchandise.

WVS Civil Defence embroidered badge with Bedfordshire name tab.

Name tabs for counties and county boroughs were issued, alongside instructions on how uniform should be worn; “It should be complete and should not be mixed with ordinary clothes; brown low heeled shoes and no jewellery are advised”.

There had been many enquiries for a suit in a lighter material for summer use, but wartime difficulties in the supply, dying and distribution of woollen and cotton materials, meant that it wasn’t possible. The solution to this was the launch of the official dress in green, manufactured to start with only by Lillywhites of London. By early 1942 all uniforms were administered centrally by the Ministry of Supply due to rationing. Material was provided for those who desired to make their own. The dress in our collection is a Utility dress manufactured by Brilkie.

WVS official dress, manufactured by Brilkie, BEDFM 1997.8.1

In the collection we have a group of photographs published by the Bedfordshire Times of a visit by the founder of the WVS, Lady Reading to Bedford in February 1942. She visited the British Restaurant, 36 Mill Street, at the old fire station.

Lady Reading speaking to Sergeant Pedder. Behind the Sergeant is Miss Rogers.

© The Bedfordshire Times/ Times and Citizen

The WVS continued as an organisation after the war and changed its name to the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service in 1966, now known as WRVS, which continues to provide charitable assistance to those in difficulty.

Lady Reading enjoying a hot bowl of soup at Bedford's British Restaurant.

© The Bedfordshire Times/ Times and Citizen

If you or someone you know have memories (such as enjoying a bowl of soup) at the British Restaurant or as a member of the WVS/ WRVS in Bedfordshire and their contribution during the Second World War, then please do share them with us on the blog comments, email chag@bedford.gov.uk, post on Facebook , post your pictures to our Flickr group, or Tweet.

Lydia, Keeper of Social History

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Bedford's Times and Citizen for permission to reproduce the images of Lady Reading’s visit to Bedford in 1942.

Thanks to information provided by WRVS and their factsheet WVS uniform, written by Matthew McMurray, WRVS archivist, http://www.wrvs.org.uk/Uploads/Documents/About%20us/wvs_wartime_uniform.pdf  See link for copyright restrictions.



Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…..

This morning, as like every other, the last thing I did was to check my appearance in the mirror before I left the house to brave the world, and that is when it all started. When and how did mirrors begin? They must have been invented by someone, somewhere surely?

A quick look at various websites came up with a wealth of information about mirrors from around the world, through the past, modern day scientific types and even some scary futuristic uses of mirrors!

It turns out that simple mirrors made from pieces of polished stone such as obsidian and volcanic glass have been unearthed in Central and South America dated to 2000 BC. More sophisticated mirrors, manufactured from sheets of polished copper, have been found from at a number places around the world including Mesopotamia from 4000 BC, in ancient Egypt from 3000 BC and from China around 2000 BC.

The oldest mirrors in our collections found in Bedfordshire, dated 400 BC to AD 100, and are mere babies compared to those from the ancient world!



Two near complete mirrors showing the decorated handle and highly stylistic
Celtic Art design engraved on the back of the mirror plate.
Left: Old Warden Mirror. Right: Bromham mirror.



At least 4 bronze mirrors have been found in Bedfordshire; 2 from Old Warden, 1 from Bromham and 1 from the south of the county at Pegsdon.  This is quite a lot considering only 58 mirrors from this period, the Late Iron Age, are known of in the whole of Britain.



Making a bronze mirror would have called upon specialised skills. The first step would be to extract and smelt copper and tin from the natural ore, these metals would then be merged to produce bronze. The handle would then be formed from bees wax and covered in clay to form a mould. This would then be heated to allow the melted wax to be poured off and to be replaced with molten bronze. Once this was cooled the bronze handle would be broken out of the clay mould.

Detail of engraved pattern on the Old Warden mirror.

The plate would either be made from cast bronze or a sheet of bronze which would then be painstakingly hammered and formed to the required shape, size and thickness. The backside of the mirror would then be decorated with engraved interlaced swirling, patterns and the front ground and polished to produce the reflective surface. Finally the handle would be riveted to the mirror plate.

A typical mirror of this type is about 350 to 400 mm long and the round or kidney shaped plate is about 200-300 mm in diameter and is 1 to 2 mm thick. Serious archaeological, academic research into this restricted group of functional yet highly decorated objects has concluded that they represent so much more than merely a way of checking personal appearance.



The polished side of the mirror, now tarnished.

 The very rarity of these objects combined with the sublime skill and craftsmanship need to produce them would ensure that only the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in a community would be able to own them.



As many of these mirrors were found during the Victorian period the exact location of where they were excavated is not known. Those with known provenance seem to be associated either with ritual deposition in watery contexts such as lakes and rivers or in burials as grave goods to accompany an individual into the next life. The association of mirrors with either a group ritual at a waterside shrine or as a treasured procession for an individual reinforces their high almost magical status.   

Mirror ownership as a symbol of power seems to be even more powerful when you actually consider the properties a mirror has. Its reflective qualities allowed the user to see not only their own face but if positioned correctly the user could clearly see behind. This “third eye” effect could be of great practical benefit to the user as well as making them appear to be all knowing.

Yet more magical power stemming from the mirror surface is unleashed when the owner turns the reflective surface around to face the sunlight or moonlight. Now the mirror surface acts as a miniature version of either the sun or the moon and the captured rays could then be made to dazzle on lookers. The appearance that the mirror and its owner were able to command rays of light and use them to induce blindness would have been a powerful weapon to control and instil fear into a community.

As an archaeologist I have long realised that late Iron Age mirrors are extremely rare and Bedfordshire is rather fortunate to several complete examples I had not really appreciated the symbolism and power associated with them, until today.

Liz, Keeper of Archaeology