1) The term "woodhenge" actually refers to any number of ceremonial circles in the British Isles where the markers used were logs rather than stones. The largest of which shares the same plain as Stonehenge and was connected to it by a processional walkway. The one I'm talking about was discovered on the coast in the County of Norfolk after a series of winter storms cleared a great deal of sand away. This woodhenge (also known as "seahenge") was a singular structure in that the focal point in the center of its circle was a large tree thrust top-down into sand with its roots on display. Also, instead of being surrounded by a loosely-spaced circle of logs, it was encircled by cut timbers tightly wedged together. This fence had only one small opening and that was screened by a log placed just outside, making it impossible for anyone outside the structure to see what was happening inside. No one knows, of course, what kind of ceremonies were conducted there, but they were evidently quite secret.

The scandal developed when the British authorities decided to dismantle the site and move it to a place where it could be studied in safety. Its position on the Norfolk coast only allowed it to be examined at low tide and there was a great deal of concern the elements, now that it was exposed, would destroy it. This decision was viewed with great dismay by various British New Age groups, who held protests at the site in an attempt to keep the 'henge from being removed, but these protests were not successful.

Tony Robinson's Time Team crew later reconstructed the 'henge using stone age methods. He said that the circle with its upside-down denuded tree was one of eeriest sights he'd ever seen.


2) During another rough winter on the Scottish coast a village of round houses was discovered. This was evidently a fishing village occupied by several family groups during a time when the climate was more temperate and sea-levels were lower. In the three largest round houses were large stone structures across from the entrance. These were not hearths. Nor were they alters or a work tables. Instead they appear to have been a display cabinets made with a flat top and the insides divided-up into forward-facing niches. Judging from the artifacts found in the remains of these cabinets, they were used to display family finery, the best bowls, the best baskets, jewelry and carvings. Just like china cupboards and silver cabinets are used today all over the world.


3) From its beginning, the smelting of metal was viewed as quasi-mystical. It took a fantastic amount of work to do; it needed an expert to get anything useful out of it; and once an object was produced, only the very wealthy could afford to own it. Therefore any metal object was viewed with reverence during the Bronze Age. Especially swords, as these were symbols of status and power as well as wealth.

Bronze Age swords were cast, not forged. A stone mold was made and the molten metal poured into it. When we're talking about a long item like a sword, the chances of flaws in the casting were fairly good and the ability to produce such weapons, one after another, was greatly respected. Also revered was the moment when the new weapon was removed from its mold. Drawn from its stone, literally.

By the time of Arthur, swords were no longer cast. They were forged from prepared iron ingots. But some whisper of the old reverence must have survived in men's minds, recalling the moment when the mold was opened and the sword revealed.

(This rings particularly true if one remembers what the dying Arthur did with Excaliber. He threw it in the water, returning it to the Lady of the Lake, which was also a Bronze Age custom.)


4) As I said in the question, the eating of fish was considered a pious gesture by the Catholic Church. Fish was considered less "worldly" than other meats. Lamb, beef, chicken --if you could get them-- were thought of as prideful and indulgent luxuries, so the truly holy man did not eat them. Therefore the Church restricted the eating of "flesh" on certain days and some practitioners gave up on the idea altogether.

However, this was not the only reason to eat fish. It was the cheapest, most easily replenished protein-source out there. It could be kept fresh in fish-tanks built on the grounds of manors and abbeys and salted and dried for shipment anywhere. So the eating of fish on holy days was not just pious; it was economic.


5) The inclusion of wine in the British diet was not the result of health concerns. In fact, beer/ale is as safe to drink as wine because the water used to make it is boiled in the process. What brought wine to British tables --of the wealthy, at least-- was war. It began shortly after the Norman Conquest.

Before William the Conqueror set foot on British shores, the island that would be called England was evolving along Germanic lines, which meant the beverages of choice were beer and ale. (With a bit of mead thrown in for good measure.) Once William came storming in, everything changed. The government. The laws of inheritance. The relationship of the peasant to his lord. Everything. Another thing William's cohorts brought with them was the French taste for wine, so wine became part of the British menu.

6) I'm surprised no one thought to mention the Field of Cloth of Gold, an assembly of very lavish tents constructed for a conference between King Henry and the King of France early in Henry's reign. These tents had palace-style furnishings and glass windows and featured fountains out in their courtyard that dispensed both red and white wine. However, extravagant though it was, the Field was intended as a temporary structure and was taken-down after the conference was over, so it doesn't count.

The palace I'm talking about is Nonesuch, an extravagant little jewel box of a royal residence that cost a scandalous 24,000 pounds and took nine years to build. (24K pounds probably sounds like chicken-feed these days, but at the time this was a whopping amount.) What Nonesuch had going against it was its size. It wasn't much larger than a hunting lodge and could not accommodate the massive crowd that was Henry's court. It was also his last palace, started late in Henry's life, when he was too ill to go hunting anyway. As far as I know, he only went there once, to showoff the lavish decorations in the finished portions to a select group of friends. He died before it was finished and although it kicked about for some time afterwards, passing in and out of royal hands, its small size made it something of a white elephant. It was eventually demolished and its fine decoration sold off. In fact, it vanished so completely, it was thought to be an old wives' tale until excavation on the grounds revealed its buried foundations. Nonesuch can now only be experienced in cyberspace, where a 3D model of it now exists.