WOODWORKSTEAMPUNKRAILROADSLIBRARY
elcome to Wittsend Chained Library at Ealdercote!
(Well, maybe not "chained", but at least there are links here). Here you will find materials
for classes and workshops we have taught, articles we have written, and links to some of the things
we've published over the years.
A lot of our educational materials revolve around our interests in the Middle Ages and the SCA, but we've got a few other historical interests, including genealogy, railroads, and model railroading. We do not make any claims of being an authority on any particular subject, but we at least provide a modicum of research and some practical experience to support our work.
If you see anything that is in error or you would like more information about please let us know about it, and we'll get it corrected.
The Legal Stuff:
These materials are ©1997-2025 by J.T.Thorpe and/or C.M.Grewcock.
Where noted, the articles and class notes found here may be used free of charge within the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. as long as their source is acknowledged. A note sent to us indicating that you have made use of the materials would also be greatly appreciated.
Likewise, permission to use the artwork is freely granted to official publications of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. and to artisans working on behalf of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. Use outside of this context is prohibited without the express written permission of the artist/author.
Art & Architecture | Brewing | Calligraphy & Illumination | Heraldry - Armory | Heraldry - SCA | Medieval History | Railroads | Textiles | Woodworking
| ART & ARCHITECTURE | |
|---|---|
| Article | Synopsis |
| Medieval Architecture: The Rose Window |
Stained glass and rose windows in particular have been a source of great beauty and inspiration throughout the centuries. What
are the origins and meaning of the Gothic Rose Window? How were they made? Learn about one of the most beautiful and inspirational
aspects of medieval architecture. See how this art form can be interpreted and used in the context of the current Middle Ages.
Permission to republish granted to SCA, Inc. |
| Capital Idea: Romanesque Architecture in France | In 2011, Eldred spent a significant length of time in France for work, and while there, he found a large number of well preserved Romanesque churches and sculptures. This was mainly presented as a survey of decorated capitals of columns. |
|
Gothic Religious Architecture in Paris - Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris - Basillica of St. Denis - Royal Chapel of St. Chapelle |
At the end of June, 2000, Eldred made a brief pilgrimage to the lands of Charlemagne: France. Business occupied most of his time there, however,
he did avail himself of the opportunity to see and pay homage to a few of the masterpieces of Gothic
architecture in and around the city of Paris. Inspired by the beauty of these structures, three brief articles were written and accompanied by photographs to share what what found. Permission to republish article granted to SCA, Inc. Please request written permission from us before using the photographs that accompany these articles. |
| CALLIGRAPHY & ILLUMINATION | |
|---|---|
| Article | Synopsis |
| Introduction to Calligraphy | This is an introductory class to provide an historical overview of calligraphy in period, and to introduce basic calligraphy techniques. This class was offered over 20 years ago when scribes were hard to find! |
| Introduction Scroll Layout and Design |
This course introduces period methods and styles of page layout for manuscripts and addresses adaptations of those styles for
the modern SCA scribe. The notes for this course have been updated. The original article was published in the 2002 Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium. |
| Illuminations for the Artistically Challenged |
Think you can't draw? Believe that you could never produce (or reproduce)
those beautiful illuminations from period? If you can write your basic
letters, then you have all the ability you need to get started.! This is a hands-on workshop for people interested in illuminations but who are intimidated by looking at the complexity of medieval illuminations. Basic floral forms and easy scroll layouts are presented for the beginning illuminator. By the end of the workshop each student should have an illumination ready for painting. Sorry, there are no notes to publish. This class was entirely an on-the chalkboard/flipchart/whiteboard demonstration. |
| A Survey of Illuminations from Durham Cathedral |
This is a survey of medieval illuminations from the scriptorium
of Durham Cathedral and Lindesfarne Monastery. The evolution of
style and illumination is discussed. Color slides and B&W
class notes. The online version of this article references manuscripts now available online via Durham University |
| Matching Hand to Illumination | In response to a movement within Atlantia towards more period practice for legal-style documents, this course was developed to show how we can still provide dry text that looks beautiful and historically accurate. Some scribal autobiographical information is in here in an attempt to show things are accessible and growth happens. You can also skip ahead to the techinical part.... |
| English Court Hands (PDF) | In response to a movement within Atlantia towards more period practice for legal-style documents, this course was developed to show how we can still provide dry text that looks beautiful and historically accurate. |
| HERALDRY: ARMORY | |
|---|---|
| Article | Synopsis |
| Basic Blazonry |
This was once Eldred's most popular course, mainly because it
Introduces SCA heraldry and blazonry to the student. Veterans
of the SCA enjoy it as well. The basics of blazonry: tinctures,
Ordinaries, charges, why dexter and sinister are where they are,
how to arrange charges, and a plethora of other heraldic
terminology and how it all is supposed to go together.
The lecture includes random armory courtesy of Uncle Eldred's Fuzzy Felt Heraldry (inspired by Baroness Anne LeCoeur), which very effectively illustrates basic heraldic principles--e.g., why we don't allow blue on green. |
| Animal Blazonry |
This is what I consider an "advanced blazonry" class as there is an
entire menagerie of beasts to blazon, and each type of animal has
several different positions and minor adjustments that it can be
heraldically portrayed in. Just what is the difference between rampant
and salient anyway? By no means a comprehensive course, but it will
get you through 95% of the possible blazons for the heraldic zoo.
The original version of this course was divided into a series of 9 short articles for the Canton of Falconcree's newsletter, The Falcon's Eye and published in sequence from November 1997 through July 1998. A compilation of the articles was published in the 2001 Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium. The current article has been updated extensively to improve the graphics as well as update the information to correlate with the new version of the SCA's SENA (Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory). |
| Reading and Interpreting Heraldry for Scribes |
This course is a blend of the Basic Blazonry and Animal Blazonry classes with additional notes on specialized
terminology, "proper", and field treatments that aren't covered in the previous two classes.
I will need to rewrite it based on the updated Animal Blazonry article and because the original document is lost |
| Heraldry for Non-Heraldic Cultures (PDF) |
Originally this was an impromtu course based on Baroness Eliska's course from UA #41. No notes, it was more of a
forum discussing how one would design arms for a persona from a "non-heraldic" culture.
The current version of this course now incorporates information about Japanese mon, Islamic heraldry, and "heraldry" from pre-heraldic cultures. |
| Heraldry for Children | This course is intended for people performing demonstrations for children at schools or at events. Children are welcome to attend and participate. A demonstration of a demonstration is interesting to watch! |
| Armorial Display/Banner Making (PDF}) | This course is intended to be a companion to the banner making workshops hosted by Falconcree. It gives a brief overview of the different types of armorial display that are available to people wanting a more period look to their displays of arms. |
| Canting Arms (PDF) | Heralds don't pun, they cant. This course is all about how to cant your armory so that it makes a visual pun or allusion to your persona's name or occupation. The random examples from the class make for an extremely entertaining hour. |
| (Em)Blazonry Quizzes |
At the request of Falconcree's herald, I provided artwork for
a series of quizzes designed to both introduce terms of blazonry
and identify the armory that belonged to individuals of the canton's
populace
At the request of the Triton Principal Herald, I created a quiz consisting of 11 pieces of SCA armory with their blazons. Contestants were encouraged to identify who each piece of armory belongs to, and the first (non-senior Herald) to respond with a complete set of correct answers won a prize. |
| HERALDRY: SCA | |
|---|---|
| Article | Synopsis |
| Introduction to Heraldry (PDF) | This class has been reinvented mutliple times, and the most recent version of it is based on my time as Triton Principal Herald of Atlantia. It focuses primarily on it means to be a herald in the Society for Creative Anachronism--specifically in the Kingdom of Atlantia. |
| The Submissions Process (PDF) | A lot of people do not understand the heraldic submissions process and why it takes so long. This class addresses what happens when your name or armory is submitted for registration with the College of Arms. |
| Survivng Court |
Nope, not a history or even instruction on how to survive court intrigue. This course is mainly intended for heralds,
instructing them on how to prepare for Court, what to do in Court, and how to recover from faux pas, gaffes, tongue
twisting names, and reading beautifully (but difficult to decipher) calligraphed scrolls.
This course comes with a single page handout (Uncle Eldred's Court Checklist) that covers the majority of items a herald will need to know and do in order to run a successful Court. If you are not a herald, or do not plan to participate in the "behind the scenes" work of running a Court, I suggest you read no further. This course will dispel much of the "magic" we associate with Court and how it all goes together in the SCA. |
| Heraldry and the SCA | A brief introduction to what heraldry is and is used for in the Society for Creative Anachronism. In spite of how long ago it was written, it still seems to be relevant. |
| The Atlantian Order of Precedence | An overview of the Order of Precedence within Atlantia and the Barony of Nottinghill Coill. Notes were compiled from existing on-line sources by Lady Ealdthryth of Humberstone. |
| HERALDRY: NAMES | |
|---|---|
| Article | Synopsis |
| Beginning Names | If you are interested in picking your first SCAdian name or you just want a new name, this class will help find the period name that makes you happy. There will be ample time for questions. |
| MEDIEVAL HISTORY | |
|---|---|
| Article | Synopsis |
|
The Troubled Reign of King Stephen (class) The Reign of King Stephen (resources--at Tripod site) |
Stephen is one of the little-regarded monarchs of English history. Not a great deal is known about his early life, as
he was never expected to gain the throne of England. Learn about the English Anarchy of 1135-1154, and find out about the backdrop
for the Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael novels.
The course notes for this class were divided into a series of three articles published in the Nottinghill Coill at the beginning of 1999. |
| Role of the Medieval Herald | An historical overview of heralds in medieval Europe. Who were they and how did they come to be. From humble origins to emissaries, diplomats, and record keepers. |
| TEXTILES | |
|---|---|
| Article | Synopsis |
| Framework Knitting | Christine's interest in genealogy uncovered the mysterious letters FWK that indicated some of her ancestors' occupations. "FWK" was the English census takers' abbreviation for "Framework Knitter". |
| Introduction to Kumihimo | Once upon a time, Mistress Ealdthryth learned how to do kumohimo--a Japanese technique for braiding cord. She taught a class using someone else's notes, and got into it enough to develop her own presentation for Animazement. |
| WOODWORKING | |
|---|---|
| Article | Synopsis |
| Board Games | No formal class notes. This was a hands-on workshop devoted to creating game boards for period games--specifically for chess, draughts, fox & geese, tafl/fidchell, and merrels. |
| Cheap Campaign Furniture Workshop | Plywood tables and chests were built by attendees based on notes acquired at University Atlantia. |
| Curule Chairs Workshop | Failed attempt to design and build a set of curule chairs....Alas, not every class or workshop is successfull. |
| BREWING | |
|---|---|
| Article | Synopsis |
| Introduction to Cordials | A course like this comes along when a judge has a bad experience evaluating the merits of cordials, meads, wines, and/or beers. Strictly speaking, cordials as we know them today are medieval in origin, but were not used as recreational drinks. Learn about what makes a cordial a cordial, the methods of making them, and how to know whether what you are producing is historically accurate. Class attendance is limited to adults over the age of 21 years. |
| A Story About Mead | A brief story about brewing a medieval drink using some modern techniques |
| RAILROADS | |||||||
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| Article | Synopsis | ||||||
| Early Victorian Railway Travel | Steam engines are a passion as well as passenger railway service. A steampunk convention provided the opportunity to present material that would give some real world information to people to help them understand a bit of the history that underlies their aesthetic. This presentation was published in the Proceedings of the 2010 Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza | ||||||
Newsletters from the Central Railway Model & Historical Association
J.T. was the editor from 2013-2015, and contributed photos and articles in each edition. |
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Ealdercote and the images contained therein are © 1997-2025 J.T.Thorpe and C.M.Grewcock
Last updated August 2025 |