Extraordinary day spent in Rotherhithe at the Thames Discovery Centre at a Women at Work event. Really great speakers using finds to reveal the lives of working women through mud larking. So many amazing stories - of the development of ale houses by explaining the relationship between women brewing beer in the home and witch burning - through the use of cauldrons, pointed hats and broom sticks. Then there was the history of women and their role in the manufacturing of pins. The language of pins, their names are absolutely fascinating. Then there was the churches relationship to sex. By decree of Henry II the church was given control of brothels - called stews - there were eighteen licensed brothels in Bankside employing about a thousand prostitutes at any one time. As a result of the church taking control, most of London’s churches built during this period were largely financed by prostitution. https://dirtysexyhistory.com/2017/01/26/a-cesspool-in-the-palace-prostitution-and-the-church-in-medieval-southwark/ After the event I went onto the Thames beach and found a piece of a torpedo bottle – researching what it actually was and finding out about its history was fascinating - this could be a new thing! Akram Khan’s latest piece, Creature was a brutalising visceral experience. The whole evening was totally extraordinary, from the pounding music, sparse set, and mesmerising dancers. onto screens - A Man Called Otto – a study of understated care – quite beautiful. Operation Fortune – gotta love Hugh Grant – he is having a ball.
