East Sussex (1): Bodiam and Rye

A Norman Stronghold and a Former Royal Port

East Sussex

We spent a very pleasant few days with my sister and her partner who have recently moved to Heathfield in East Sussex, an area I have never previously visited.

The half hour drive from their home to Bodiam was through a well populated rural area, with no towns on the route but many villages, some straggling into each other. With occasional views over the Rother Valley and the High Weald, and an air of comfortable affluence, East Sussex looked as good as anywhere can on a dour March day.

The County of East Sussex
In this post we travel 15miles east from Heathfield to Bodiam, just beyond Robertsbridge, then a further 13 miles east to Rye

Bodiam

Bodiam sits beside the River Rother ten miles north of Hastings. The river rises in the (not very) High Weald and reaches Bodiam half way through its 35-mile progress to the sea at Rye. Bodiam has an elevation of only 5m so the second half of its journey – much of it forming the Sussex/Kent border - is a land of marshes and sluice gates.

The River Rother, looking downstream from Bodiam
It is running high after the wettest February on record, but is not using much of the available flood plain at this point

Bodiam Castle

Bodiam is tiny with no obvious centre, but Bodiam Castle is difficult to miss.

Bodiam Castle

Edward Dalyngrigge was born about 1346, the second son of Roger Dalyngrigge who held the manor of Bolebrook in Sussex. As a second son he had to make his own way and the Hundred Years War provided endless opportunities for the energetic and ruthless. In 1367 when he was 21 (nine years younger than the war) Edward travelled to France and joined the Free Company of Sir Robert Knolles – a band of mercenaries who killed and plundered with the tacit consent of the English authorities. By 1377 this honourable calling had given Edward sufficient standing and wealth to return to Sussex and marry Elizabeth Wardedieu, heiress to the manor of Bodiam.

Over the next ten years Dalyngrigge became one of the most influential men in the county. In 1385, with the prospect of a French invasion, he applied for and was granted the right to fortify and crenelate his manor house, but instead of doing that he built a brand new castle on the flat land by the river – then navigable as far as Bodiam and considered a possible invasion route into the country.

A commanding view of the river and surrounding land from the battlements of Bodiam Castle

The next year Dalyngrigge was appointed Captain of Brest and missed most of the building work but had returned from France by 1390 when the castle was finished. It was designed for comfortable living as well as defence, but he had little time to enjoy it as he died in 1393.

The castle has the usual defensive features; a walled rectangle with round towers at the corners and rectangular towers between, a portcullis of iron-clad oak (possibly the oldest in the country) in the gatehouse and machicolations and murder holes in the gatehouse and over the postern tower entrance at the rear. A barbican, of which little remains, stood in the bridge which originally turned at right angles, so unwelcome visitors would have to fight their way into the barbican while being showered with arrows from the castle battlements. And then there is the moat, defensive no doubt, but it is hard to believe Sir Edward gave no thought to how splendid his castle would look in its watery setting.

The entrance bridge used to turn at right angles at the Barbican, Bodiam Castle

Inside there is a Great Hall,…

Great Hall, Bodiam Castle

…a kitchen…

Kitchen, Bodiam Castle

…and a well.

Well, Bodiam Castle, Fed by springs and the moat the well remains full - even if the water looks unattractive

There were comfortable apartments for the Lord and Lady and an astonishing 33 fire-places, indicating that the builder was both immensely rich and valued his comfort. The retainers’ hall next to the kitchen could accommodate 80 servants, while the maximum strength of the garrison was 20.

Dalyngrigge was right to concentrate on comfort as the castle never saw action. When the Dalyngrigges ran out of heirs, Bodiam passed by marriage to the Lewknor family.  Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses but in 1483 quickly surrendered when a Yorkist force was sent to take the castle. Two years later the Battle of Bosworth finished the Yorkists and he quietly re-occupied his castle. Bodiam played no part in the Civil War but like all castles it was slighted in the aftermath. In the 19th century it was bought by Lord Curzon who carried out major renovations and left the castle to the National Trust when he died in 1925.

The Wines of Bodiam

For brief moments the sun had shone and in sheltered corners we had felt its warmth, but in the numerous unsheltered corners biting wind had been the morning’s main feature. We left the castle in need of a warming drink and found ourselves crossing the moat towards a south facing slope planted with vines. Bodiam Castle Vineyard is managed by Sedlescombe Vineyards, who have been making wines in Sedlescombe, 5 miles to the south, since 1979. Oastbrook Estate also makes wine in Bodiam and nearby New Hall Farm was named the region’s best winegrower by Vineyard Magazine in 2019.

Bodiam Castle Vineyards

East Sussex has traditionally been hop country, but now it seems easier find vineyards than hop fields, though oasthouses remain plentiful; the tops of three can be seen poking up behind the vineyard in the photo above. Whether the growth of winemaking in England’s warmest region is entirely due to fashion, or has enjoyed a boost from our changing climate (even disasters have an up-side) seemed a moot point on a day when local winter weather trumped a warming global climate.

Lunch at The White Dog Inn, Ewhurst Green

Ewhurst Green is a few minutes’ drive in the direction of Northiam (-iam is a local variation on the ubiquitous -ham, meaning homestead).

The White Dog describes itself as a traditional, country Free House. The building is rambling and of various ages, the beer is well kept and the food excellent.

Pub menus now routinely include words like ‘seasonal’ and ‘locally-produced’ but it’s often only lip service. The White Dog has a blackboard telling you exactly how local – bread from the village bakery (they are lucky to have one!) cheese from Twineham Grange and more. Peter and Erica were happy with their soups, Lynne’s pork pie was made in-house as was the pear chutney and my Rye Bay fish & mussel chowder came close to perfection. It is not a complicated dish and should not be difficult to make, requiring only the freshest of ingredients and a cook who appreciates them. It is not as easy a combination to find as it should be, but The White Dog had it.

Peter, Erica & Lynne (I'm represented by a bowl of chowder),The White Dog Inn, Ewhurst Green

A word of praise, too, for Welton’s Six Nations IPA, produced for the rugby tournament. Welton’s in Horsham has brewed artisan beers since 1995, and  pale, fresh and well-hopped (with six different varieties, no less) Six Nations, is ideal for fish chowder.

I should add that my sister produced a top-quality dinner each evening we were there, for which I was duly grateful. If I appear to be lavishing more praise on The White Dog, it is only that anybody can drop in there for lunch or dinner while Erica might be a little non-plussed by strangers arriving demanding food.

Rye

The small town and once important port of Rye is ten miles from Ewhurst Green.

The Cinque Ports

In medieval times the five cinque ports of Kent and East Sussex provided ships for the king and in return were granted certain privileges and tax exemptions. Rye was not on the original list, but when a storm moved the mouth of the Rother it replaced New Romsey which was suddenly no longer a port. The cinque ports had ceased to be important by Tudor times, their harbours – those that were not silted up – were inadequate for Tudor ships. Now, only Dover remans an important port, but much of the pageantry and ceremony survives.

Gibbet Marsh and John Breads

As in most old towns, parking can be difficult but Peter’s local knowledge took us easily to the convenient, if gruesomely name, Gibbet Marsh car park. A windmill has overlooked the marsh since 1596, but the current building, an inaccurate replica of a smock mill, was built in 1933 and is now a B&B.

Gibbet Marsh and Windmill

In the 1740s Rye’s mayor and chief magistrate, James Lamb, convicted John Breads, a local butcher, of using false weights. An unhappy Breads swore revenge in front of his drinking friends.

Learning that, Lamb would be attending a party on board a docked ship, Breads took a knife and hid in the churchyard through which Lamb would return home. The Mayor, though, was feeling unwell and asked his brother-in-law Allen Grebell to attend in his stead, lending him his coat as it was a cold night.

Well after midnight Grebell was staggering home through the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin when Breads attacked him, stabbing him several times. Breads threw his knife into the bushes and made off – perhaps forgetting his name was carved on the handle.

Grebell struggled home, but was dead before morning.

Breads was soon arrested (believing he had killed the Mayor, he had been drunkenly boasting that ‘butchers kill Lambs’) and hauled before the magistrate - James Lamb himself. Even by 18th century standards such lack of impartiality was scandalous but when the accused shouted “I did not mean to kill Grebell – it was you I meant it for and I would murder you now if I could!” Breads was toast.

He was hanged on the 8th of June 1743, at the town gallows on front of the windmill. Lamb proved that he too could bear a grudge as his sentence included Breads’ body being exhibited in a gibbet for 50 years. After 16 years only his skull was left, the rest of him had been stolen piece by piece - ground bones make a sure cure for rheumatism. The gibbet and skull are kept in the Town Hall, but are not exhibited.

Mermaid Street, Rye

I like to avoid journalese; I did not refer to the events above as a 'brutal' murder - why point out the obvious - small towns are not lazily descibe as ‘sleepy' and nothing in this blog is ever ‘iconic’ – unless it actually is an icon (i.e. a devotional painting of Christ or another holy figure, typically executed on wood and used ceremonially in the Byzantine and other Eastern Churches) but when it comes to Rye I can find no word more appropriate (though I shudder gently) than quaint. Indeed, nothing is quainter than Mermaid Street…

Mermaid Street, Rye

…from top to bottom it is a walk through Victorian England, albeit a sanitised version (no paupers, horse dung or sailors with wooden legs). Perhaps Dickensian England is more precise, Dickens spent his childhood in Kent and the distinctive vernacular architecture of England’s south eastern corner would have been familiar to him.

Mermaid Street, Rye

We missed Lamb House, home of Henry James from 1897-1914. I find Dickens and James equally unreadable (so many words!) but that is my problem.

A corner of Rye near the church

We passed the churchyard, not yet knowing about the murder, to Rye Castle Museum.

Rye Castle, Museum

Ypres Tower, Rye Castle Museum

Although a little older than Bodiam, it is hardly a serious castle. In 1377, during the Hundred Years War, a French force arrived and burnt the town. The castle’s hopelessly outnumbered garrison stayed indoors and let them get on with it.

The single tower, known as the Ypres Tower since it was bought by John de Iprys (sic) in 1430, has spent most of its life as the town gaol and is now a museum. A replica gibbet with a skeleton illustrates the John Breads story, but perhaps the most interesting exhibit shows the changing coastline over the last two millennia. The sea once came up to the castle walls, but is now over 3km away and there is now a small marina where once there was an important port.

Looking down the River Rother towards the coast from Rye Castle

In the 19th century an exercise yard was added – now a herb garden – and a small tower for women prisoners.

Excercise yard and women's tower, Rye Castle

St Mary the Virgin, Rye

The church of St Mary the Virgin, with its squat tower and walls supported by flying buttresses, dates from the early 12th century.

St Mary the Virigin, Rye

Its ‘new’ clock was installed in 1561/2…

The New Clock, St Mary the Virgin, Rye

…though the long pendulum which can be seen swinging below the tower was added in 1760.

The pendulum of the new clock swinging below the tower, St Mary the Virgin, Rye

Paul Nash

House of Paul Nash, Rye

From the church we made our way downhill, past the house where Paul Nash lived in the 1920s and 30s. Nash was establishing a career as an artist before the First World War and was appointed an official war artist in 1917 while recovering from injuries received at Ypres. Returning to Belgium he became, like many others, increasingly disillusioned. His work there made his career, but took a long-term toll on his health.

We are Making a New World by Paul Nash
In the collection of the Imperial War Museum, © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1146)

The Landgate, Rye

We finished our amble at the Landgate. Built in 1329 it is the only one of the four town gates to have survived. With a drawbridge, a portcullis and a chamber over the tower it would have been a formidable defence - if Rye had ever been attacked from the land.

Landgate, Rye

So, we returned home with Peter and Erica and later enjoyed a fine dinner and a convivial evening.

East Sussex

Part 1:Bodiam and Rye (2020)
Part 2:Bateman's, Firle Beacon and the Long Man of Wilmington (2021)
Part 3: Battle and Hastings (2021)
Part 4: Rottingdean and The Devil's Dyke
Part 5: Lewes and Charleston (coming soon)

Lost and Forgotten - Things Big and Little that Disappeared for Centuries

It is Hard to Believe What People can Lose

I rarely lose my car keys (not that the latest iteration has a ‘key’ as such) because I always put them in the same place. Not so my glasses or my glasses' case, these two objects seemingly wander round at will and very rarely together; and Lynne occasionally uses the landline to hunt down her errant mobile. These are commonplace experiences.

Of course our glasses, phones and that pen you put down a minute ago which now seems to have dived into the Bermuda pentangle are not really lost, merely mislaid. Lost means you never see them again, like the carved and painted wooden witch that disappeared on one of our moves.

The Staffordshire Hoard

Visted in Birmingham May 2017 and twice subsequently
Visited Stoke-on-Trent February 2020

Lost and Forgotten is the next notch up in the hierarchy of the vanished. Sometime in the 7th century someone buried a hoard of precious objects in a field near Lichfield. Perhaps the burier came back but could not find them, perhaps they perished in the emergency that prompted the burial, we shall never know. They lay lost and forgotten for well over a thousand years, until July 2009 when Terry Herbert came along with his metal detector. Metal detectorist and landowner shared £3.3m and the Birmingham and Potteries Museums now share the hoard. It is worth seeing if you are in the area, but no rush, it won’t get lost again - not in the foreseeable future, anyway.

Gold sword hilt with cloisssoné garnet inlay, still with Staffordshire soil attached
Photo, Daniel Buxton, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, part of the Portableantiquites project

The hoard may well have been loot, most of it is high status weaponry and armour, that had been broken up before burial.

Gold cheek piece from a helmet
Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent

Reconstruction of the helmet
Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent

During conservation many of the pieces were digitally fitted back together in an elaborate 3D golden jigsaw, enabling the construction of replicas of several of the artefacts as they would have been in their prime.

Fishbourne Roman Palace, West Sussex

Visited September 2008

Houses cannot be mislayed, but they can be lost and forgotten. Fishbourne Roman Palace was built around 75 CE only 32 years after the conquest of Britain started and 12 years before its completion. It was not just a Roman villa, it really was a palace, the size of Nero’s Golden House in Rome and the largest known Roman residence north of the Alps.

Fishbourne Roman Palace - Model from the Fishbourne Museum
Photo by Immanuel Giel who has helpfully placed it in the Public Domain

It may have been built for King Tiberius Claudius Togidubnus of the local Atrebates tribe who were among the first to spot the benefits of sucking up to the Romans – and of adopting Roman names. Grand as his palace may have been his successors made it grander, replacing the black and white mosaics with coloured tiles. The palace burnt down in 275 and was abandoned and eventually forgotten.

Underfloor heating - one of the benefits of being nice to the Romans, Fishbourne Roman Palace

It was rediscovered in 1960 when Aubrey Barrett was digging a ditch for a new water main. Unearthing a massive foundation wall, he reported his find to local archaeologists, and after eight years of painstaking excavations Fishbourne opened to the public.

The walls and ceilings may have gone, the garden might be a modern planting….

The 'Roman Garden', Fishbourne

…but the original mosaics look almost as fresh now as they did nearly 2000 years ago.

Boy riding a dolphin, one of several mosaics, in fine condition and in situ, Fishbourne Roman Palace

Houei Tomo (or Houaytomo), Laos

Visted November 2015

Wat Phou has never been lost; originally a Hindu Khmer temple complex of unknown antiquity, it converted to Buddhism, along with the rest of the Khmer Empire in the late 12th century, became a centre for Theravada Buddhism, and remains so today. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it lies in the remote corner of Southern Laos that is on the west side of the Mekong.

Houei Tomo is a few kilometres north of Si Phan Dong, a short walk from a side road off Route 13. It is a day’s travel from Wat Phou by foot and ferry and its temple, known as Oup (or Oum) Mong (or Muang or Muong) is thought to have been a 10th century pilgrims’ rest house. It fell into disuse with the demise of the Khmer Empire in the 14th century and was reclaimed by the jungle.

The only standing builing in Houei Tomo

Rediscovered in the early 20th century by a French explorer, it is has yet to be thoroughly investigated, but above ground there is not much to see; one recognisable building and a few walls and foundations….

Walls and foundations, Houei Tomo

…and a lot of moss-covered stones.

Moss covered stones which once must have had a purpose, Houei Tomo

We had the place to ourselves; quiet, tranquil and just a little mysterious.

Stepwell, Patan, Gujarat, India

Visited March 2019

Stepwells can be found in various parts of India, but the finest and most elaborate are in Gujarat, and the finest in Gujarat is the Ran Ki Vav (The Queen’s Stepwell) in the town of Patan.

Ran Ki Vav, Patan

The concept is simple, instead of dropping a bucket on a chain into a well, a much larger excavation is made and Jack and Jill go down the steps to fetch their pail of water.

Descending the Ran Ki Vav, Patan

The largest stepwells (Ran Ki Vav is 27m deep and 64m long) are elaborate, the descent passing through a series of richly decorated storeys, each supported by elaborately carved stone pillars. This is not just a well, it is a place for celebrations and religious observances; Ran Ki Vav has been described as a ‘inverted temple’.

Carvings in the Ran Ki Vav, Patan

Ancient texts suggest Ran Ki Vav was built between 1063 and 1083 on the orders of Queen Udyamati, widow of the Chaulukya King Bhima I. But small kingdoms and their dynasties came and went in medieval India. The Gujarat Chaulukyas ran out of time in 1244, a new dynasty means a new capital and Patan and its stepwell declined in importance. Regular flooding of the nearby Saraswati River deposited more and more silt, eventually filling the stepwell, so despite its size it was lost and forgotten by the end of the middle ages.

Carvings of female figures, Ran Ki Vav, Patan

The well was rediscovered in 1940 and was the subject of a major excavation and restoration by the Indian Archaeological Survey in the 1980s.

Ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil at Dur-Untash, Khuzestan Province, Iran

Visited July 2000

Heading for Ahvaz and the tip of the Persian Gulf, we lunched in Shush – a chicken sausage fried on a griddle and chucked in a bun - before taking a thirty-kilometre detour to Chogha Zanbil. We followed a straight road that apparently arrowed deep into the desert, but as we topped the rise before the village, we saw green, wooded land to the east along the banks of the Dez River.

Shush, Khuzestan, Iran

The mighty ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil now standing alone in the desert, was once the centrepiece of the Elamite religious city of Dur Untash. Migrating from the mountains of the north the Elamites adapted well to life on the plains, but their gods were less happy. Deities must be made to feel at home or they stop sending the rain and making the crops grow, so around 1300 BCE (± 50 years) King Untash-Napirisha constructed them an artificial mountain. The ziggurat was originally some 53m high but was lowered from five storeys to three when Dur-Untash was sacked by the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal in 640 BCE.

The Ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil, Khuzestan, Iran

It is hard to believe this huge edifice could disappear beneath the sand, but it was lost and forgotten for 2,000 years. It was rediscovered in 1935 during an Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later BP, now BP-Amoco) aerial survey searching for oil bearing rock formations. My father worked for Anglo-Iranian from 1945 to 51, which accounts for me being born in Abadan beside the Persian Gulf in 1950, so I feel personally responsible for this one.

Lynne and I at the Ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil, Khuezestan, Iran

I might also add, this was the hottest place we have ever been, and having survived a summer in Khartoum, and visited Death Valley in July (with no air-con in car or tent) I know whereof I speak. Even N, our driver/guide, a native of Tehran where an average July day reaches 34° said: “If I knew your telephone number before you came and you say you want to come here, I would have called you and asked you why. This is not hot, this is fire.” The Iranian dress code made the situation worse for Lynne, for all must heed the wise words of the late Ayatollah Khomenei. On the other hand, arriving in the hottest month of the year at the hottest time of day guarantees 1) that the ticket seller will question your sanity and 2) you will have the place to yourself.

Lynne and the wise words of the Ayatollah, Tomb of Daniel, Shush

The City of Sumharam, Oman

Visited November 2018

Sand is good at swallowing things, a giant ziggurat is easy, so why not a whole city.

Sumharam from the edge of the inland plateau

Southern Oman produces most of the world’s frankincense, the sap of the Boswellia tree that oozes through cuts in the bark and dries in the sun. In antiquity, it was much sought-after and extremely expensive, the sort of gift you would give to kings, princes or a son of God.

Lynne and a frankincense tree, the edge of the plateau north of Salalah

In the 1st century BCE the Kingdom of Hadhramaut, which ruled what is now eastern Yemen and south western Oman, identified a large natural harbour to the east of their territory….

Sumharam harbour - though there is now a sand bar across the mouth

…and beside it built the port of Sumharam to control the international frankincense trade.

The defensive zig-zag entrance to Sumharam

The city thrived for several centuries but nothing lasts for ever, Sumharam eventually declined, was deserted and buried by the sands. It was rediscovered in the 1890s by British explorer and archaeologist James Theodore Bent. American excavations in the 1950s and those of the Italian Mission to Oman more recently have established the ground plan of the settlement and found evidence for contacts with the Ḥaḑramite homeland to the west, India and the Mediterranean.

Among the old stones, Sumharam

One of the larger buildings became known early on as The Queen of Sheba’s palace - every archaeological site in and around Yemen has been associated with her at some time or another. The Queen of Sheba is a problematic figure, but if she did exist, she would have met the equally problematic King Solomon several centuries before Sumharam was founded.

Two of the world’s major tourist attractions also come into the ‘lost and found’ category. Well known as they may be a I cannot omit them entirely.

Angkor, Cambodia

Visited February 2014

Angkor Wat is well known, but it is only the centrepiece of Angkor, a vast medieval site and possibly the biggest city in the world in its day. Angkor is immensely important to Cambodians, who see their history as having three periods pre-Angkorian, Angkorian and post-Angkorian.

Angkor Wat on the Cambodian Flag

In 802 CE a local king called Jayavarman II conquered the whole of what is now Cambodia. He moved his court to Angkor, built the first temple and set about creating the Khmer Empire. Suryavarman II (1113 - 1150), the builder of Angkor Wat, kicked off the golden period which ended in 1219 with the death of Jayavarman VII. He had been a prolific builder but after his reign no further stone temples were built; perhaps the switch from Hinduism to Buddhism discouraged temple building or maybe local resources were exhausted.

Angkor Wat

Angkor was sacked by the Thais in 1431 and a down-sized Khmer Empire moved its capital south. They re-inhabited Angkor from 1570 to 1594, but then left it to the jungle and forgot about it. Jungles hide things differently from sand, but equally effectively; Angkor was re-discovered by French missionary Charles-Emille Bouillevaux in 1858.

Ta Prohm was built in 1186 by Jayavarman VII. Once a Buddhist monastery, it is a vast rambling complex and makes the point about jungle encroachment quite spectacularly.

Ta Prohm, Angkor

It is known as the ‘Jungle Temple’ and featured in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider…

To Prohm, Angkor

…though the lizard men and tyrannosaurus rexs (tyrannosauri reges?) that apparently populate the jungle in the game Lara Croft: Relic Run were notable for their absence.

Ta Prohm, Angkor

and finally,

The Terra Cotta Warriors, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China

Visited July 2004

Ying Zheng became King of Qin, one of seven warring Chinese States in 247 BCE aged 13. Before he was 40, he had united the seven states and declared himself Qin Shi Huang (First Emperor of Qin). He founded the city of Chang’an (now Xi’an), built the first Great Wall of China and ruled his vast empire until his death in 210.

He started building his mausoleum when he came to the throne of Qin – a strange occupation for a 13-year-old – and was buried under a mound at the foot of Mount Li. According to historian Sima Qian the tomb included replicas of palaces and scenic towers, rare utensils and wonderful objects, 100 rivers made with mercury, representations of the heavenly bodies and crossbows rigged to shoot anyone who tried to break in. Sima Qian’s probably fanciful account was written over a century after the event – and mentioned no terracotta warriors.

I am standing in front of a marker which claims it is the tomb of Qin Shi Huang
In the background is the mound under which he us allegedy buried. That is why I look confused

For centuries, occasional reports mentioned pieces of terracotta figures and fragments of roofing tiles being discovered locally. In March 1974 farmers digging a well near the Emperor's tomb hauled up substantial quantities of terracotta heads. They reported their finds to the authorities and subsequent excavations revealed the Terracotta Army we know today.

Newly pieced together terracotts warriors
Apologies for the poor quality photos. Digital cameras are excellent in low light, but I did not have one in 2004 (few did), flash was strictly forbidden so long hand held exposures were the only option.

The three main pits are believed to contain over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. Non-military figures - officials, acrobats and strongmen – have been found in separate pits.

The main pit of the terracotta warriors.

The Shaanxi Regional Museum in Xi’an has many examples of grave goods from the period. Men of power and influence regularly took small armies, their houses and servants, even farmyards with strutting cockerels and snuffling pigs, to their graves with them, but they are dolls’ house size. Only Qin Shi Huang had an army of full-sized soldiers, horses and chariots; only Qin Shi Huang had as many soldiers as a real army. What an ego!

Horses and reconstructed terracotta warriors

Having established a ‘ten thousand generation dynasty’, Qin Shi Huang might have been disappointed that his son Qin Er Shi (lit: Second Generation Qin) lasted three years. He was overthrown by Liu Bang who founded the Han dynasty which would survive 400 years.

... but for a final thought: a further category exists; Lost, Forgotten and Never Found. I would struggle to produce a post on them.