Stepping Back In Time
Posted By Judith on 16th September 2015
Last weekend we went to Louth, not unusual in itself, but special on this occasion because the town was holding a ‘Victorian Market’.
The roads through the centre were closed to traffic and the streets were lined with interesting market stalls, manned by stall holders in Victorian dress, where you could buy anything from a knitted hat to a kangaroo burger!
Some of the costumes were amazing, but the ones that appealed to me most were the ones sported by the ‘Steampunk’ visitors who seemed to be visiting en masse.
If you don’t know what ‘Steampunk’ is (and I didn’t) you can read more about it here. Their costumes, which often included top hats with goggles and pocket watches, a bit like this, were precise, interesting, quirky but above all immaculate.
There was a steam organ similar to this,
a traction engine called ‘Nell Gwyn’ (1929 Burrell Showmans Tractor (VF5265)4nhp Engine No 4073 for those of a technical disposition) who you can see here
and an old Leyland fire engine, belonging to Lincolnshire fire service. (Not my photos.)
As usual we had a look round the small antique centre at the top of town where we bought a table.
For some time now Peter has been set on a new dining table. He feels the one we have, which we both still like, is more of a working table than a dining table.
So he’s been on the look-out for a gate-leg table, and we found exactly what we wanted in Louth on Sunday.
It’s actually a ‘wake’ table, so called because of the practice in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in Ireland, of laying out the deceased at home prior to the wake.
Don’t worry, ours isn’t an original, they can change hands for several thousand pounds and our pockets aren’t deep enough for that.
We think it’s probably circa 1960, 6ft long and built of solid oak. Sadly it’s finished in what I can only describe as ‘baked bean orange’ varnish, so the paint stripper will be out again shortly.
We’re hoping to do a similar job to that which we did on the ‘altar’ a few weeks ago, but won’t make the final decision until it’s stripped. Watch this space.
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