The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
Two Pairs of Mussel Shells [ARK00062]
Attached People: Collector (major) - Bargrave, John (1610-1680)Location(s): Current location at - Canterbury Cathedral Library and Archives (Library and/or Archive) -> Canterbury Cathedral (Institution)
Annotation:[Canterbury Catalog: Mussel shells picked up by Bargrave when visiting "Rochel" [sic.], near the seaside near "Dige"."Angel Wings" Cyrotopleura costata; "I met with fellows who with beetles and axes and wedges were by the sea-side. I asked them what they were doing and what they meant to cleave those stones. Their answer was, that they worked for a living, and that they were searching for dieules, that is, for a sort of muscel [sic.] shell-fish in those stones. I asked them whether that they were good to eat. With that they ate them raw, as one doth an oyster, and I found them good meat, and afterwards sent them to our lodgings; and I saw them several times in the market to be sold, being very good well-relished fish." The catalogue item number for this has been changed since Bargrave's work, a collection of fossils and shells are now CANCA-B/53.] (approx mid 17th cent)