Intellectual Friend is back in our good books after doing us an undisclosed favour, and we now feel perky enough to tell you about a most exciting book we've read recently. It's a historical whodunnit set in 16th-century England, called Dissolution, (London, Pan Books 2007) by C. J. Sansom (aren't you dying to know what the C. J. stands for?).
We've got a treat for you: the main character, the hunchbacked Master Shardlake, is pondering monasterial plumbing:
I passed a row of dovecotes, beyond which a large pond surrounded by reeds could be seen. It was a stewpond, dug out for the keeping and breeding of fish. The little stream flowed into it before running through a small culvert under the rear wall a little way off. There was a heavy wooden gate nearby. Monasteries, I recalled, were always built by a stream to carry away waste. The early monks were clever plumbers; there was probably some arrangement to divert the waste to prevent it befouling the fish pond. (161)
There are all kinds of goings-on in the monasterial privies as well, but we'll leave it to you to find out what!
We've got a treat for you: the main character, the hunchbacked Master Shardlake, is pondering monasterial plumbing:
I passed a row of dovecotes, beyond which a large pond surrounded by reeds could be seen. It was a stewpond, dug out for the keeping and breeding of fish. The little stream flowed into it before running through a small culvert under the rear wall a little way off. There was a heavy wooden gate nearby. Monasteries, I recalled, were always built by a stream to carry away waste. The early monks were clever plumbers; there was probably some arrangement to divert the waste to prevent it befouling the fish pond. (161)
There are all kinds of goings-on in the monasterial privies as well, but we'll leave it to you to find out what!
No comments:
Post a Comment