What I dug up in the garden

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Liz on May 3, 2011 at 13:56

I have a horseshoe that we found in the garden too, it's hanging on the fence. 

Do you think people picked them up when horses were the norm and kept them for good luck? or were little foraging children responsible? (my kids pick up all manner of bright shiny rubbish from the street).

Permalink Reply by Liz on May 3, 2011 at 14:24

and the 1949 Encyclopedia of Superstition would appear to suggest my guess might be true : It is lucky to find a horseshoe in the road 

Think I've got mine hung up the wrong way though. Whoops

Permalink Reply by Hugh on May 3, 2011 at 14:31

Wonderful. Without any particular knowledge of the subject, if asked I'd say the pipe is 18th century which would put it as contemporary with the building of Harringay House (right by where Dick lives). I'm also wondering if the shape of the horse shoe is pretty old too.

Permalink Reply by Liz on May 3, 2011 at 14:37

Oh wait, there stables at the house on Dick's side, weren't there? I know nothing about horse shoes, old or new. Do ponies have them?

Permalink Reply by Hugh on May 3, 2011 at 14:44

This discussion suggests that Dick might be more likely to find a pineapple than a pony. And here I mapped the house on to the new map. (And those who know where Dick lives can see what's what, but I don't want to pinpoint his house on the map).

Permalink Reply by matt on May 3, 2011 at 14:56

The pipe is probably 1840-60. I have quite a few from The Thames River shoreline, the stretch betw the South Bank and Oxo Tower.

Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on May 3, 2011 at 15:36

According to Hugh's mapping job, my garden was not covered by any part of Harringay House or its outbuildings.  It seems to have been simply a part of the parkland close to the house but inside the loop of the New River in its original course.  Some kind of footpath or bridle way ran across it.

The horse shoe is only 3 inches wide which is off the bottom of the chart at http://www.hoof-it.com/horse-shoes-size-chart.pdf Presumably, it was from a very small pony, only suitable for a child.  It has six nail holes and the remains of the nails are still in the holes which suggests that it fell off and was lost while the pony was out in the park.

 

Permalink Reply by Liz on May 3, 2011 at 16:00

Just a little kid out on their pony. A very different Harringay :)

Permalink Reply by Marian Leatherby on May 6, 2011 at 17:53

I believe donkeys sometimes had shoes, I found a very small shoe on Hampstead Heath once and was told it would have been a donkey's.

Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on May 6, 2011 at 19:19

Thanks.  I wondered about this but it seems that donkeys are rarely shod.  However, the first owner and occupant of my house was himself a builder and the original layout of the building seems to have included a side/rear annex that could have housed his equipment and, perhaps, a stall for a pony or donkey.  If he used the donkey to pull a cart on cobbled streets, perhaps it would have needed shoes.  Here are a couple images:

http://www.dragondriving.co.uk/printadvert.php

http://history.powys.org.uk/school1/llanidloes/donkey.shtml

Permalink Reply by Kotoko OS on August 31, 2011 at 18:38

I have found clay pipes too in our garden along with a small statue and tesserae for mosaics.

 

http://www.harringayonline.com/photo/albums/things-we-found-in-our-...

 

Permalink Reply by finsburypark on September 13, 2011 at 16:55

4/5 years ago a dig one part of my garden and found small glass perfume bottles, looked old stuff, some bones (maybe a dog was buried there??) and other oddities. I remember even a copper coin but I don't remember where I put it later!