Buried brass and Fenland bog oak
Dimensions: 10 x 18 x 4.5 cm approx
As a child, I lived down a quiet country lane with only two houses – my grandparents’ home and ours, further along. Our house, called Strawberry House, was surrounded by land and orchards and was a truly magical place to grow up.
Next to our house stood a gate with an unusual addition: an interesting, weathered fragment propped up with wire. We knew it to be the remains of a whale’s jawbone, which had once arched over the road, tall enough for a horse and cart loaded with hay to pass beneath.
No one knows for certain how it arrived there, but I suspect it was brought by a ship docking in Wisbech, once a thriving port. Similar whale jawbones can be found across the country, often repurposed as gateposts, silent remnants of a bygone era.
