The Making of the Vortigern Legend
- Margate Caves
- Nov 12, 2016
- 1 min read
On 31 August 1854, when Northumberland House is sold at auction, we find the first brief written reference to the Caves in a Notification of Sale Notice. It states: “Under a portion of the garden is a curious cavern, part of which is fitted up as a wine cellar; it also contains an ice-well, and well of excellent spring water, &c. &c.”
The Caves are subsequently let to Mr John Norwood, a local postman and bill-poster, who also keeps a grocery and hardware store in Cecil Square. Norwood is something of a character and a natural salesman. (His nickname is ‘Don’t Forget’ because of his oft-used catchphrase admonishing the public ‘Don’t Forget to go to Norwoods in Cecil Square’.)
He opens the Caves as a show place, and employs his best marketing style to give them the fanciful name of ‘The Vortigern Cave’ and claims they date to 454AD – all for threepence admission! An account of the opening on 2 April makes the first reference to the Caves’ wall paintings, describing the elephant, the crocodile, the lion and two works which haven’t survived of a tiger and some Chinese prisoners in chains.
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I was bummed when I initially missed the https://planet-clicker.co event,
Interesting post about the Vortigern Cave! It reminds me of how we can highlight key points in stories. For example, using a bold text generator can make important details stand out in social media posts.
This article offers a fascinating glimpse into the origins of the Vortigern legend, particularly how enterprising individuals like Mr. John Norwood shaped its early narrative. It's amusing to think about his "Don't Forget" catchphrase and the imaginative way he commercialized these caves. The description of the wall paintings, even those lost to time, really sparks the historical imagination. It makes one wonder how these visuals were originally interpreted and perhaps even reconstructed in people's minds. For anyone curious about recreating or envisioning historical scenes from textual descriptions, tools like Image to Prompt could be incredibly useful for bringing such details to life!
This is a fascinating peek into the origins of the Vortigern legend! It's remarkable how Mr. Norwood, with his "Don't Forget" catchphrase and marketing savvy, essentially conjured a historical attraction out of a simple cavern. The detail about the wall paintings, especially the ones that haven't survived, really sparks the imagination – it makes you wonder what other secrets these caves held. It just goes to show how a good story and a bit of entrepreneurial spirit can shape local history. For anyone looking to combine images of historical documents or maps, I highly recommend checking out Merge JPG for its ease of use.