English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer, John Aubrey wrote, "How these curiosities would be quite forgot, did not such idle fellowes as I put them down." #JohnAubrey
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Let's read the Bible together in the next year. Today, our passages are Numbers 16:41–18:32; Mark 16:1-20; Psalm 55:1-23; and Proverbs 11:7. #BibleinaYear #BibleReadings #TheMessage #Numbers #Mark #Psalms #Proverbs #JohnAubrey
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"How these curiosities would be quite forgot, did not such idle fellows as I am put them down!"
400th Anniversary ✒️ #JohnAubrey, English historian (Brief Lives) and philosopher, was #BOTD 12 March 1626. #History #Philosophy
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Roast an eel. Catch the dripping. Put it in the patient's ear. Deafness cured — a woman who couldn't hear a drum beat 'heard perfectly.' But the pain was, according to #JohnAubrey, 'as if one's head would tear in pieces'. So, not nice. More 17thC medicine from Aubrey's Natural History out in June! 🐟
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Today is #Candlemas so here is a little Wiltshire folklore from #JohnAubrey. ‘In south Wiltshire the constant observation is that if droppes doe hang upon the hedges on Candlemas day, it will be a good pease-yeare. It is generally agreed on to be matter of fact.’
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Are dragons real? 🐉 Or more precisely that type of dragon called a wyvern? In his c17 Natural History #JohnAubrey looked into the subject and it’s the topic of my next blog in the run up to the publication of this work (in full for the 1st time) in June 😁
www.louiserylandepton.co.uk/blog/john-au...
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Riding home at twilight to Broad Chalke, Wilts #JohnAubrey saw a point of light expand into a glowing sphere ‘as boies blow bubbles with soape’. His horse shied. In a few seconds it vanished. He noted, in his natural history ‘it may be this, that which they call a blast or blight in the countrey.’
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To cure jaundice #JohnAubrey advised taking a tench, slitting it in half & applying it to the soles of the patient's feet or stomach for 12 hours, and then using a fresh one. This was to be repeated 5 times. He admitted a fish strapped to your feet or stomach would 'stink', but it was a good cure.
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At the @gladlib.bsky.social library this week working on #JohnAubrey from who I learned today that churches are ‘despicable all over Hampshire’ and a goose was once inserted into a tunnel under Bradenstoke Priory. It emerged several miles away by a well on the Malmesbury Rd minus its feathers.🪿
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Next in my #Halloween 🎃 countdown is very odd - what happened when a cloud entered a church during divine service in 1652 and wreaked havoc 4/6
This story began like others in the unpublished writings of #JohnAubrey.
I will be publishing a book in 2026.
www.louiserylandepton.co.uk/blog/death-b...
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Next in my #Halloween countdown (I missed doing one yesterday) is a story of magic from 17th century #Gloucestershire. 3/6
Many of these stories are gleaned from the manuscripts of #JohnAubrey. I happen to have a book coming out about him in 2026 😁
www.louiserylandepton.co.uk/blog/the-con...
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For no reason other than my obsession with the topic, I have decided to count down to #Halloween 🧙🎃👻 with a suitable daily blog. Stuff I’ve been excited about over the year, sometimes related to #JohnAubrey & his pals. My book on Aubrey is out 2026. 😁 1/6
www.louiserylandepton.co.uk/blog/involun...
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C.1671 parson Symonds of Garsdon, Wilts was riding home late when a ghostly spectre leapt up behind him on his horse 🐎 👻 🫣 #ghoststories #17thCentury #JohnAubrey
www.louiserylandepton.co.uk/blog/ghost-r...
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Been at the @gladlib.bsky.social this week to get work done on my #JohnAubrey book. This place is so conducive to writing. I feel a million miles from my normal life and all its distractions.
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I have images to collate for a 📕
But I’m desperate to write a blog about two ‘conjurors’ 🤹🪄🧙♂️who lived under a hill in 17th century Gloucestershire. Another anecdote buried in a #JohnAubrey manuscript that makes me want to go down a rabbit hole for the rest of the day. 😭
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Think you know #JohnAubrey?? Just wait to see what Kate Bennett, @chippenhammuseum.bsky.social & I have in store next year.
🐉👻🔭⚗️🪴⛲️🖼️🙋♀️🪺🌳📚🧮
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"How these curiosities would be quite forgot, did not such idle fellows as I am put them down!"
✒️ #JohnAubrey, English historian (Brief Lives) and philosopher, was #BOTD 12 March 1626. #History #Philosophy
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This contains two of my favourite areas of research #JohnAubrey & #Witchcraft
www.louiserylandepton.co.uk/blog/john-au...
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It is my last week working on #JohnAubrey in Ox. 😔
This is Merton College. According to Aubrey, when he was a scholar, he sang under its gate & a certain note would return a ‘loud humme’.
I don’t know c17 musical notation to understand precisely what saying, but I am sure it was very clever.
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The joy of randomness when searching #archives & #libraries
Looks like a visiting fellowship @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social is proving fruitful.
#johnaubrey #wiltshire
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In 1672 a merchant was asked to look into the existence of Wyverns (2-legged dragons) in Africa. He was given a picture sketched from a heraldic device. He reported back to #JohnAubrey who recorded the findings in his natural history, a work never published in full.
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From my 1st week in Ox I learnt that 1. #JohnAubrey used flyleaves of books to make notes. 2. 👇 in 1676 was late sending Aubrey a soil sample as he had been poisoned by a ‘barberous & revenful’ woman who wanted him dead. Given his history trying to prosecute local ‘witches’ I can’t help wondering…
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Today is National Bird Day.
According to #JohnAubrey in 1685 'The Niall [or Woodpecker]..To this day the Country-People doe divine of Raine by their cry: clank, clank, clank: which noise of theirs is a signe of Raine. Their tongue is a strange thing; which they can draw-out of great length..
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Ever wondered 🤔 what a fake sleep preacher & a false leper may have in common? 😔 Then #JohnAubrey is here to help 🥳 All is revealed in my latest blog. 😁www.wiltshirehistory.org/news/the-fake-sleep-prea...
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Transcribing #JohnAubrey-
‘In the parabolical vaulture at Wokey hole & in the Caverns at Chedar Rocks &c doe hang down from the Vauture petrifications like Icecles’.
Loving Aubrey’s turn of phrase! 😁
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I have loved researching #Folklore since I came across the tale of a C19 urine burner in Bremhill, Wilts and the local tradition of passing babies through a cleaved Ash tree at Beltane. But this #FolkloreThursday I focus on #witchcraft & #JohnAubrey.
www.wiltshirehistory.org/news/john-au...
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A reminder that there is only one week left to apply for @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social Visiting Fellowships. I have a David Walker Fellowship for 24/25 & so excited to be at the Bodleian soon for my project #JohnAubrey & the Pursuit of the Natural World. 😁
www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowsh...
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Another book about my pre-incarnation
*adds to wishlist*
www.newstatesman.com/culture/2015/03/feather-...
#JohnAubrey @ScurrRuth
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