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The Isle of Wight (British History)
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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Mick Harper wrote:
So Dan was correct in his assumption that the Isle of Wight was artifically created by cutting round the Solent, thus creating a mystical lozenge shape ie Wessex was "divided" at this point. Though of course he only got this idea because of my even more brilliant insight that the Straits of Dover were dug out to create the mystic shape of Britain. It should be noted that Ireland too is mystically shaped, with its four quarters being the unimaginably ancient Munster, Ulster, Leinster and Connacht. So the St George's Channel (not to mention the Giant's Causeway) are all artificial. Jesus, where's it ever going to end? Ladbroke Grove is precisely aligned north and south which means I am obliged to sleep every night precisely aligned east and west. But does anyone know whether I should have my head at the eastern or the western end?


According to Christopher Tilley Maiden castle is a representation of Chesil Beach. The "beach in the sky"

I know I have broken every rule in the AE book, for mentioning an idea which wasnt original.

Just thought it was very interesting.......in light of above
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Hatty
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In: Berkshire
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Chris Tilley is on my list of academics to be subverted. Do you have any more info on this rather extraordinary idea of his, Wiley, it could be a good hook since Chesil Beach is so central to the book.
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Mick Harper
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We demand interesting ideas, Wiley, not original ones. However speaking of original ideas I suppose I had better tell you the origin of 'Wight' since the idea is now more than five minutes old.

It comes from 'eyot' (pronounced eight) which means an island in a river.* The Isle of Wight is an island in the Solent, as it were. What the origin of eyot is even I don't know.

* eg Eel Pie Island in the Thames where the Rolling Stones were first discovered.
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Mick Harper
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But now we come to the vexed question of the artificiality of eyots and thus presumptively the artificiality of the Isle of Wight. Orthodox erosion theory would suggest that islands in rivers are not normally to be expected. The slow moving water together with the forces of deposition might (and do) form islands in wide estuaries but the existence of islands upstream in relatively narrow, relatively fast moving and frequently flooded upstream sections appears to be an abomination of nature.

But human beings, especially hydraulically-inclined Megalithic human beings, are always looking for ways to speed up and slow down rivers for a variety of industrial and transport purposes. Constructing eyots is the best way of doing this.
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Mick Harper
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What the origin of eyot is even I don't know.

Not anybody else it would seem. Here's a classic of the genre containing three obvious errors in a coupla lines.

"small island," from M.E. eyt, from O.E. iggað "small island," dim. of eg, ig, ieg "island" (see island). Ending influenced by French dim. suffix -ot.
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Hatty
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Eyot is etymologically linked to eye, isle, islet and Ys. A pair of eyots or Is-Is make a figure of eight, as do the two snakes on Hermes' caduceus.

Hermopolis/Khum, which was the centre of a Thoth-cult, means 'eight-town'. The town of Hermopolis, anciently Khum, is located on the borders of Upper and Lower Egypt, appropriately for the God of borders and crossing-places. The castle of Hermopolis was a toll-point which suggests that eyot is synonymous with 'gate'.

In Egyptian myth Thoth assisted Isis to raise her son Horus and Horus is famous for his 'all-seeing eye', the Eye of Thoth, i.e. eyot. Thoth is the Egyptian Hermes and Hermes is St. Michael (Coptic Christians placed the entire River Nile under the saint's patronage).
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Mick Harper
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There is an oft-quoted passage by the great polymath Pliny the Elder (Natural History Book XVI, verse 104) dating to the late 70's AD which names the island Mictis as the centre of the British tin trade, stating that it lay off the south coast of Britain some six days sail from Gaul. This name has often been mistakenly associated with the Isle of Wight, but is now known to refer to Saint Michael's Mount off the Cornish coast opposite Marazion, known in ancient times as Ictis.

So now we come to the artificiality of St Michael's Mount. If you look at this you will see it prolly is even though every geologist laughs hysterically at the very idea.



Without a bucket-and-spade, the evidence is strictly statistical:
a) Phoenicians always traded from ports that had offshore islets joined to the mainland by a causeway
b) St Michael's Mount is a port that has an offshore islet joined to the mainland by a causeway
c) ports that have offshore islets suitable to be attached to the mainland by a causeway are rather unusual
d) what are the chances that the point of Britain closest to Phoenicia should have an offshore islet suitable for attachment to the mainland by a causeway?
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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A page from Wileys notebooks.

Wight.

Possibly white pale skin,blond? Surname White feature heavily across this island and central south. Never in North. Few Wights in Scotland.

Probably from river bend see (AS wiht) or enclosed by river good grazing. Related to words such as weight ... important weighty.

Important Isle.....
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TelMiles


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Wight is a mythical creature if I'm not mistaken. A wraith type thing. Maybe that's why it's called the Isle of Wight. Maybe people were scared of the island, saying "don't go over there, it's full of wights". Just a thought.


I would also ask the question how reliable it is to dismantle words to create meanings or new ones. This is not an attack, I'm just very unsure of it.
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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TelMiles wrote:
Wight is a mythical creature if I'm not mistaken. A wraith type thing. Maybe that's why it's called the Isle of Wight. Maybe people were scared of the island, saying "don't go over there, it's full of wights". Just a thought.


They are not allwight there is a blackgang!
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Wile E. Coyote


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TelMiles wrote:
how reliable it is to dismantle words to create meanings or new ones. This is not an attack, I'm just very unsure of it.


Exactly.
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Wile E. Coyote


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Hatty wrote:
Chris Tilley is on my list of academics to be subverted. Do you have any more info on this rather extraordinary idea of his, Wiley, it could be a good hook since Chesil Beach is so central to the book.

Coyote has been asked by Hats to summarise Christopher Tilley's ideas about Chesil Beach.....

Wiley can't come close to doing this justice in a few lines ... but here goes.

If (like Hats) you have been there hopefully you might get the gist of what I am talking about.

If not sadly you are going to struggle.

Christopher Tilley appears to me to argue that two of the outstanding natural features of the Dorset Jurassic coastline, namely the Isle of Portland, which is situated atop towering limestone cliffs... and Chesil Beach (a storm beach) are the "inspiration" for the Neolithic monuments we know as Maiden Castle , you could say Tilley views the hillfort as a type of raised chalk "island".

According to Tilley the Neolithic enclosure on Maiden Castle hill resembles the Isle of Portland in its shape, just as the steep sides of the hill resemble the Portland cliffs.

Hopefully you can mentally picture this Hats. Tilley rather sensibly uses about 50 pages including diagrams and photos.

He further argues that the unusual bank barrow on top of Maiden Castle hill so closely resembles Chesil Beach that the barrow can be said to be both a metaphor and representation of the beach.

It is a "beach in the sky"

Apologies to Tilley if I aint understood ..... Wiley.
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Hatty
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TelMiles wrote:
I would also ask the question how reliable it is to dismantle words to create meanings or new ones. This is not an attack, I'm just very unsure of it.

Looking at eyot the connection with Hebrew seemed (to me) too obvious to ignore. In Hebrew אי ('ey') means island, the -ot suffix is feminine plural e.g. hadash means new, hadashot = news.
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Hatty
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According to Tilley the Neolithic enclosure on Maiden Castle hill resembles the Isle of Portland in its shape, just as the steep sides of the hill resemble the Portland cliffs.

He further argues that the unusual bank barrow on top of Maiden Castle hill so closely resembles Chesil Beach that the barrow can be said to be both a metaphor and representation of the beach.

It is a "beach in the sky"

Thanks for your very clear explanation, Wiley. The relationship between Maiden Castle and Portland is well known to archaeos, flakes of Portland stone (still considered the best in the country) that they've dated to the Neolithic have been found there, so his theory is perilously close to the usual 'ritual purposes'.

Anyway we've just sent a book to Tilley, who by the sound of it won't be at all in agreement that Chesil Beach is an artificial landing area. I'll let you know his comments, if printable.
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Wile E. Coyote


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Hatty wrote:

Thanks for your very clear explanation, Wiley. The relationship between Maiden Castle and Portland is well known .... just sent a book to Tilley, who by the sound of it won't be at all in agreement that Chesil Beach is an artificial landing area.



Chesil= Submitted

Maiden= Not submitted.

Just saying.
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