In November 1894 the Thames Valley experienced some of the worst flooding it had seen in the nineteenth century. Philip Frank Eliot, then Dean of Windsor, recorded his experience of the floods in a letter to his mother, dated 18 November 1894, which is preserved in St George’s Chapel Archives [SGC M.148/1]:

‘We are in a terrible plight here on account of the floods. Looking from my study window I can see the whole country for miles like a great sea with trees growing out of it. All the lower parts of the town are under water. There are whole streets where no house can be reached except in a boat. And yesterday the clergy were going about in boats to bring bread and food to the people. Four of the Churches are flooded, and there can be no service in them today. You might have thought that we up here in the Castle would be out of reach of any trouble from a flood. But yesterday morning we were informed first that the gas works were all under water and that we could have no gas, and then that the engine which pumps up the water to supply all our houses was also drowned, and that we could have no supply of water!

‘Then our Choir School was all flooded, and the boys had to be taken out. I took possession of Lord Normanby’s house and put some 14 boys there, and we have 3 with us, and the rest were sent home to their friends. No trains can enter or leave the South Western Railway Station. Eton is all under water, and the boys have all been sent home. But I am thankful to say that the water is now beginning to subside. There has not been so bad a flood for 50 years. And I am afraid there will be a good deal of distress and sickness afterwards.’

John (Archives Assistant)

The concept of women leading men to their doom is pre-Christian. Some of the better known were Sirens who according to Greek mythology were half-bird, half-woman creatures who would captivate sailors with their beautiful song, lulling them to sleep and seducing them to alter the course of their boat towards the rocks.

We are not sure how the transition to half-fish, half-woman, took place but the representation of the mermaid as a temptress was a popular myth, one that was lovingly depicted by the misericord carvers at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Two different depictions of the mythical creature are displayed on the fronts of the upper rank of stall seats on the north side of the Choir: one mermaid holding the tools of enticement, the comb and mirror, and the other sitting on a rock with a moored boat carrying a banner of St George in the bow.

Enid (Assistant Archivist)

Mundus Subterraneus by A. Kircher

Since it was set up in 1997, the Adopt a Book scheme has raised money to preserve and conserve the wonderful collection of rare books in the Chapter Library. One volume recently conserved is Mundus Subterraneus by Athanasius Kircher, published in 1665.

Kircher was a 17th century German Jesuit scholar who published in many fields, including oriental studies, geology and medicine. This volume publishes his geological and geographical investigations into natural phenomena such as volcanoes, earthquakes and fossils. His was a hands-on approach, on one occasion being lowered into the crater of Vesuvius shortly before it erupted. His thoughts were very advanced for the day, believing that the Earth’s interior was a giant, fiery inferno that heated water which had seeped from the ocean, causing the hot springs he witnessed. Volcanoes, he believed, were started when the fire came close to the Earth’s surface.

Dedicated to Pope Alexander VII, the volume is lavishly illustrated with engravings showing all aspects of the underground world. This engraving shows Etna at the point of eruption, an event which the author witnessed first hand.

Eleanor (Assistant Archivist)