Page 58 - 2010 - AOUT
P. 58
ay, The Shambles is mostly home to gift and confectionery shops, but by looking a little closer at the
architecture and surroundings you can easily imagine the street as it was in Medieval times. The butchers would
quite often slaughter the animals in the street, looking down at the pavement, between the cobbles and
flagstones, you can see the gulley which was intentionally built so that the waste could run and be swilled
downhill. Many hanging rails on the timber frame shop fronts are still in situ, from which there would have been
an array of hanging meats. Rabbit, hare, pheasant, goose, beef, pork and lamb would all have been available,
along with less costly cuts and meats such as pigs trotters and ears, oxtails, sausages, black pudding and a wide
variety of offal. Nothing was allowed to go to waste by a skilled Medieval butcher!
So how would we go about creating our very own miniature shambles? A Medieval style doll house... meat and
poultry hanging from a rail above the window... possibly furnished inside with authentic period style accessories
and furniture... a Tudor butcher doll and his wife... and not forgetting some animals ready for slaughter???
architecture and surroundings you can easily imagine the street as it was in Medieval times. The butchers would
quite often slaughter the animals in the street, looking down at the pavement, between the cobbles and
flagstones, you can see the gulley which was intentionally built so that the waste could run and be swilled
downhill. Many hanging rails on the timber frame shop fronts are still in situ, from which there would have been
an array of hanging meats. Rabbit, hare, pheasant, goose, beef, pork and lamb would all have been available,
along with less costly cuts and meats such as pigs trotters and ears, oxtails, sausages, black pudding and a wide
variety of offal. Nothing was allowed to go to waste by a skilled Medieval butcher!
So how would we go about creating our very own miniature shambles? A Medieval style doll house... meat and
poultry hanging from a rail above the window... possibly furnished inside with authentic period style accessories
and furniture... a Tudor butcher doll and his wife... and not forgetting some animals ready for slaughter???
