Thread by @OxburghHallNT

The first week of sifting debris from under the floors has already yielded some fascinating finds! We will be posting a debris diary here every #FindsFriday to keep you up to date on what we unearth. So what did we find between 26th and 28th July? @NatTrustArch

The bags we sorted this week were all from the ‘Wallpaper Attic’. Last year we found a lot of evidence which pointed to this room being used as a place for sewing, mending and the storage of documents over a long period. The tiny items discovered add further to this narrative.

Many more pins were retrieved, a still-threaded needle, buttons, lumps of sealing wax, fragments of textile and a piece of paper through which had been pricked a design that would have been ‘pounced’ with chalk onto fabric for embroidery.

A piece of newspaper advert which states that “On this day is published the Twelfth Epistle of the First Book of Horace by George Ogle Esq.” can be dated to 1737 and appears to have been cut into a triangle for use as a patchwork template (the pin holes are still visible)

From the same year is an article printed in a 1737 edition of the Gentleman’s Magazine, which was a monthly digest of news and comment which was first published in 1731. One side of our fragment is from a piece called “An unseasonable retirement from business”.

which had originally been printed in the London Journal. The other side is from an article, which is called “On Affectation, particularly in men” and is an amusing read! Perhaps a member of the household – maybe even the 3rd Baronet himself – subscribed to the magazine.

Builders who worked on Oxburgh in its earliest years dropped lots of lovely hand-made rose-headed nails, which we retrieved in abundance.

There was a great deal of lead shot, perhaps shotgun cartridges were being stored or filled in this space. We wondered if they might relate to the sewing activity as lead weights were used to add weight to dress hems, but the shape difference means that this seems unlikely.

Although tiny, all of these items build up a lovely picture of the social history of the house, and we are looking forward to seeing what next week’s volunteers find. You can see this all in action at Oxburgh Hall Sun-Weds, 10am-2pm, until August 15.

Thank you to curator Anna Forrest for these fascinating insights into the finds.
Thank you also to @DCMSArts @HeritageFundUK @wolfsonfdn for supporting our #RaisetheRoof project.