HISTORY 135E

Department of History
University of California, Irvine
 Instructor:    Dr. Barbara J. Becker
 

Week 1.  Riddley Guide
 
Chapters 1-4.

Riddley lives in How Fents (Wye) and works on a crew with his father to excavate a "girt big rottin iron thing some kynd of machine it wer you cudnt tel what it wer" located in nearby Widders Dump (Withersdane).

Page 1.  "Aulder trees"

Red alder trees line a brook.  They are a favorite tree to use in making charcoal.

 

Page 2.  "chardcoal burners"

 

Charcoal burners at work ("Art du Charbonnier" by H.L. Duhamel-Dumonceau, 1717).
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Making charcoal

Setting the center pole.
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Stacking the wood.
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Topping off the wood pile.
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Covering the woodpile with leaves...
 

...dirt...
 

...and moss.
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Setting the fire in the central core of the pile.
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Tending the fire.


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Raking out the charcoal.

Page 9.  "16 man treadl crane with 2 weals 4 men inside 4 men outside each weal"

A tread wheel crane based on a design by the Roman architect Vitruvius, shown lifting stones during a construction project.  When the men (probably slaves) walk inside the large wheel in the lower left, the crane is able to lift extremely heavy loads.  This is image was carved on a tomb around 100 CE near the Porta Maggiore in Rome.
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Centuries later, a similar tread wheel is used in Bruges to lift wine barrels from a barge.  There are two large wheels on this so-called Great Crane, each capable of lifting its own load of cargo.  Four men walk inside the wheel seen on the near side of the crane.  The roofing protects the men from the elements and falling debris.
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A modern reconstruction of the Great Crane at Bruges.
 
Go to:
  • excerpts from Book I of De Architectura (c. 27 BCE - 14 CE), by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (fl. 1st century BCE);
  • maps of "Inland" (c. 5000 CE) and England (c. 2000 CE) based on Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban (b. 1925)
Weekly Readings
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Lecture Notes
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
17
19
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Riddley Guides
1
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