Abstract
As June Swann has indicated, the deliberate concealment of garments within the structure of buildings is a long-standing practice; it is seldom well-documented and often characterised as superstitious, i.e. beyond everyday rational beliefs. This paper considers the challenges and outcomes of preserving such garments by introducing the Deliberately Concealed Garments Project (DCGP)1 and also the insights that conservation may provide for understanding the material culture of practices considered superstitious.2 The material form of these garments, and the significance attributed to them, change with their concealment, discovery, preservation, dispersal, loss or destruction. As the reasons for concealment are seldom recorded,3 the practice is open to a wide range of enquiry and speculation, e.g. in studies of archaeology,4 the history of dress,5 architectural history6 and time capsules.7 Garment finds are not restricted to the UK; caches have been uncovered in mainland Europe, North America and Australia.
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Notes
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© 2015 Dinah Eastop
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Eastop, D. (2015). Garments Concealed within Buildings: Following the Evidence. In: Hutton, R. (eds) Physical Evidence for Ritual Acts, Sorcery and Witchcraft in Christian Britain. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137444820_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137444820_8
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