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michaellangford
Monthly Archives: February 2012
the concentration of power
THE VILLAGE LABOURER, 1760-1832, by J. L. and Barbara Hammond “Enclosures might have benefited all parties, but now they form part of what Blackstone denominates a ‘failed rural policy’, one which has completed the degradation and ruin of our agricultural … Continue reading
traditional craftsmanship
“Any efforts to safeguard traditional craftsmanship must focus not on preserving craft objects – no matter how beautiful, precious, rare or important they might be – but on creating conditions that will encourage artisans to continue to produce crafts of … Continue reading
penniman axe
The particular axe that I am looking at is stamped PENNIMAN&BROTHER BALTIMORE, and was probably made ca. 1830-50. When I am working with my collection of old tools, especially the timber framing chisels and broadaxes, there is a recurring sense that … Continue reading
Posted in traditional building
Tagged Benjamin Huntsman, Hounslow, PENNIMAN, Sheffield, Timber framing
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juneteenth
Juneteenth The best thing about summer in Arkansas was that you could go fishing every day, except Sunday of course. A quick turn through the barnyard and you had all the worms and crickets you’d need for a mess of … Continue reading
teahouse 2011
The teahouse was developed in late sixteenth-century Japan by Sen-no-Rikyu, a Zen Buddhist monk who was an advisor to the Shogun Hideyoshi. A small building with a low doorway, modeled on a peasant’s hut, the teahouse nevertheless commanded great respect. … Continue reading
proportion and measure
In Western cultures, our architectural instinct surfaced in the Pythagoreans and became central, revealing that the soul, which took on various material shapes, was ultimately form. Studying form was thus the true purification. Sanctuary is a primary human requirement. The … Continue reading
Posted in traditional building, Uncategorized
Tagged Religion and Spirituality, Shinto shrine, Wabi-sabi
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the enclosure movement
The open-field village was essentially a self-contained social and economic organization originally based upon production for subsistence, not for market. It was not peculiar to England–or to Europe. Whenever and wherever man first reached the stage of settled cultivation, some … Continue reading
Posted in agrarian reform
Tagged Blackstone, Domesday Book, Open field system, Statute of Merton
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history of common
Blackstone, in his Commentaries, defended the “…high antiquity of English Common Law, twice as old as canon law…” Roman law held that most customary practices had at their source deep-rooted local knowledge, combined with “natural reason”, or a kind of basic … Continue reading
significant accomplishments
“No tools will make a man a skilled workman who has not learned how to use them, and has never bestowed any attention on them…The tools which would teach men their own use would be beyond price.” Socrates Significant accomplishments … Continue reading
