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The mystery of the "six-petalled roundel"


watermarks

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Hello all.

 

I have been interested for a while in the presence in many canal boat painting schemes of what canal historian Tony Lewery calls the "six-petal roundel," a symbol that looks something like a six-petalled flower. These, as I'm sure many people here will know, appear in a number of possible positions on the boat, including on wooden rudders. These motifs have received relatively little attention among historians (as far as I've found so far - but I am interested in and welcoming of reading recommendations!) and seem to be seen, for obvious reasons, as secondary to the more romantic and eye-catching "roses and castles" paintings.

 

Meanwhile, there has been a growing body of research in recent years examining the use of the same symbol as an "apotropaic" mark - i.e. a mark to "turn away" bad spirits - scratched / carved into the surface of the thresholds of various buildings in the British Isles and beyond, particularly churches, agricultural buildings, and sometimes houses. In this context they are known variously as "daisy wheels" or "hexafoils." More info here: http://www.medieval-graffiti.co.uk/page13.html. Seeing these marks for myself around the doorways, windows and chimney pieces of Brook Hall in Wiltshire, a building originally made for domestic purposes in the 16th century, but later converted to agricultural use, was a spark to my interest here.

 

Could there be a link between these marks around building thresholds and early canal boat painting, or is it coincidence?

 

I suspect there will be no historical "smoking gun" in this case, but I am interested to hear what people know of this symbol. Does it have any other names or associations among canal boat dwellers (I am very much a land dweller!)? Are there any theories or stories about its origins?

 

I would also be fascinated to see photos/examples from people's own boats, if you are happy to share.

 

Pictures are from Sonia Rolt's wonderful book A Canal People (1997), showing boats on the Oxford Canal in the 1940s.

20181026_105746(1).jpg

20181026_105833(1).jpg

Edited by watermarks
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The hexafoil is a really simple thing to create, relying only on compasses.  Once set to a suitable radius for the outside diameter all  the curves defining the motif can be struck without complex setting out, or any adjustment of the compasses.

 

With something that simple to create it is inevitable that it would be passed between crafts and craftsmen, probably spreading world wide. I have certainly seen them as decoration in the Persian Gulf and in Eastern Europe.  I  boats, there seems also to be some cross linkage with the Oculus tradition, evidenced above by Matty.

 

As to who, or where,  first developed it, I would not be surprised to find it of Eastern Mediterranean, or even Indian origin possibly in the Arab world.  There was strong Arab and Indian mathematical expertise (including inventing zero), and much interest in mathematical curiosities.  Even though the hexafpol requires no maths to create, it does have mathematical principles.

 

N

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4 hours ago, watermarks said:

I suspect there will be no historical "smoking gun" in this case, but I am interested to hear what people know of this symbol. Does it have any other names or associations among canal boat dwellers (I am very much a land dweller!)? Are there any theories or stories about its origins?

Hi,

Tony came up with a name to describe them in his book. We worked freight boats at the end of carrying days 60s-80s, and though I painted them on our craft I never heard any boatman refer to them. I guess they would have some word or term - not as a '6-petal roundel' though, which does not sound like boatman's language at all.

Tam

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You could try reading my book 'Brightwork', which, besides covering the paintwork on L&LC boats in general, looks at the possible religious origins of the boat paintwork. Co-author, Sam Yates, was trained at Whitebirk boatyard in the 1940s and had ideas about the origins of scrolls, and I added an overview of similar decoration found across Europe. I took the attached photo of a wooden house in northern Russia. The other photo is of stylised roses on a cupboard in the Black Forest museum at Gutach.

Russian roof painting.jpg

Black Forest museum, Gutach.jpg

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16 hours ago, BEngo said:

The hexafoil

Thanks for that word - logical, but previously unknown to me.

12 hours ago, Ray T said:

Our boat, intrestingly the disc has eight petals.

 

 

 

An octofoil, then.

 

 

 

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And what do you call the decorative feature on the bow of Helvetia, immediately in front of the crescent.They were often featured on Barlows and Blue Line boats. I believe the working boatmen had a rather "earthy" name for them, but I have never heard anyone assign an official name to them.274510902_LastTrip026b.JPG.47fdd4e7cd63415adb1ba28a500e2e92.JPG

 

 

Edited by David Schweizer
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1 minute ago, David Schweizer said:

And what do you call the decorative feature on the bow of Helvetia, immediately behind the crescent.They wrere often featured on Barlows and Blue Line boats. I believe the working boatmen had a rather "earthy" name for them, but I have never heard anyone assign an official name to them.399400166_LastTrip007(2).jpg.aec2a4a841557e544f414b65f91f9e14.jpg

Picture not showing for me David.

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59 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Construction of the octofoil does not however, naturally leap from use of a compass, like the hexafoil.

 

 

No, but the etymology (Latin "folio", French "feuille", both meaning "leaf", is consistent.

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43 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Foil, also meaning 'tin hat' nowadays.

 

 

As in "Bacofoil".

 

 

 

 Tinfoil is so called because it's thin like a leaf (though whether it's actually made of tin is less certain).

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There is a similar tradition for five pointed stars (pentafoils?) as good luck symbols on the bow of boats in some regions. They are still made by Davey & Co. https://davey.co.uk/pdf/fullcat/full_cat-023.pdf and I am aware of them being relatively commonly fitted to opduwers (canal push tugs) in the Netherlands:

 

_z58-opdrukker_d-ouwe_leeuwarden_april-2

 

Alec

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