Daphne D.C. Pochin Mould: geologist, historian, archaeologist and travel writer

Daphne D.C. Pochin Mould: 

geologist, historian, archaeologist and travel writer

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

In November 2010 Daphne Pochin Mould celebrated her ninetieth birthday and a remarkable life well lived. But at a time when other people would be winding down Daphne was planning her next project – a book on Cork’s first newspapers, the Hibernian Chronicle and Cork Mercantile Chronicle which ran from 1769 to 1815.[1]

Pochin Mould (photographer unknown)

Early life

Daphne Desiree Charlotte Pochin Mould was born in Salisbury in 1920 but lived in Ireland since 1951 and was living for a time in Scotland before that. As Daphne said “My background is English, but I have been so long out of contact with its thought and way of life, that going back there in recent years, I found I passed for a born Irishwoman.”[2] 

Daphne’s young life in Salisbury was free for exploration as she said that she was lucky to “escaped formal early education” but this was no drawback for someone who went on to become an author, photographer, broadcaster, geologist, traveller, pilot and Ireland’s first female flight instructor. Daphne has always had an interest in machines and matters mechanical. At 17 years old she took her driving test and passed with flying colours and as she said “I have been addicted to cars ever since.”[3] Fortunately for the wider archaeological community Daphne Pochin Mould also had an addiction to planes and became a well-known and respected aerial photographer. In later years she kept a single engine Piper Cub at Cork Airport and was still flying up until her last years. During the Second World war Daphne Pochin Mould attended Edinburgh University and qualified with a PhD in geology along with a research fellowship.[4]

Scotland

After University, Daphne Pochin Mould went on a spirit of adventure to settle in the Hebrides, where she learnt to become a crofter as well as writing on the islands (The Roads from the Isles and West over Sea). Her PhD was studying the rocks of the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides was not that far off the beaten track.[5] Her new neighbour, Sandy Grant, taught her to make hay and use a scythe to cut corn. The fast fading townie also learnt to harness a horse to a cart and do ploughing and harrowing.[6] 

But the farming landscape of the Hebrides didn’t ground her mind to the soil but opened it to the wider world. One of her earliest published books was the Scotland of the Saints which recounted in a popular but scholarly way the coming of Christianity to Scotland. Using her geology qualifications Daphne explored Scotland to say why they built the sites of early abbeys and churches in the places that they did. The book combined this exploration with geographical and historical data to produce a nice book complete with a map and over 50 photographs.[7] Daphne Pochin Mould was brought up in the Anglican Church but developed into a militant agnostic. Her intention to write the book on the Scottish church was to attack the Church but the journey of exploration actually took her into the Church. In 1950 she was received into the Catholic Church by the Benedictines of Fort Augustus.[8]

Ireland of the saints and scholars calls Daphne

In 1951 an interest in early Celtic saints brought Daphne to Ireland where she took up residence at Aherla, in mid-Cork. Many years later a book dealer recounted a story of how he went to Aherla to meet Daphne Pochin Mould about 2012 and found the door ajar of the old rectory where she lived. The dealer and his wife slowly walked in but the house showed no sign of life. Then they heard a distant tap, tap, tap, from somewhere deep inside the house. No wishing to disturb Daphne in her time of intense writing the couple quietly retraced their steps out of the house.[9] Writing was an important part of Daphne’s eventful life. As she once recounted, “I do not really remember when I did not want to write. I remember composing stories and poems before I learned to write and dictating them to members of the family who wrote them down for me.”[10] 

The book Ireland of the Saints

In 1953 Daphne Pochin Mould published her first on many books about Ireland. Entitled Ireland of the Saints the work explored the Ireland before Christianity and the impact the new religion had on the country. With chapters on the principal saints like St. Patrick, St. Brigit, St. Columcille, and St. Brendan the book examine the new religion in terms of male and female prospectus and how Christianity was moulded into the Irish way through the monasteries and how then the Irish took Christianity back into Europe with their love of travel and learning. In the preface Daphne said that it was “perhaps a rash undertaking for an incomer to Ireland” to write the book but she acknowledged the use of previous researches by other scholars, listed in a bibliography. Most of the photographs used in the book where taken by other people, including the aerial photos. Daphne’s own photos took her around the country to Inismurray, Ahenny, the stone chapel of St. Macdara in Connamara and the Aran Islands.[11]

The book The Mountains of Ireland

The Ireland of the Saints included a number of photographs of Irish mountains associated with Christian saints. These photographs and Daphne’s own training in geology made a project on the mountains of Ireland a venture not to be missed. Published in 1955, The Mountains of Ireland was described as the first book to explore the Irish mountains – it possibly takes an outside to see the beauty that long residents take for granted. The book describes the geology, customs and place-names that surround the Irish mountains with a climbers guide to the best ways of visiting and ascending and how to descend again. The book was illustrated with over fifty photographs but only three by the author (Mayo, Connamara and upon the Twelve Bens of Galway). Photography was a young science for Daphne but she would soon master it and take it to new heights!

Other books

After the book, Ireland of the Saints, Daphne Pochin Mould published another two books on Irish Christianity entitled The Rock of Truth and The Celtic Saints: Our Heritage.

The book Irish Pilgrimage

In 1957 Daphne Pochin Mould publish another book on Irish Christianity called Irish Pilgrimage. This book included twelve photographs taken by Daphne on her journey from Ballyvourney to Mount Brandon and the Reask cross pillar stone to Clonmacnoise and Glencolumbkille and St. Mullins by the River Barrow.[12]  

The book The Irish Dominicans

Also in 1957 Daphne Pochin Mould found time published a second book, this time on a general history of the Irish Dominicans over seven hundred years. On Ash Wednesday 1952, at Galway, Daphne was received into the Dominican Third Order. Her book as a general history was not the detailed history of the Order which Dominic O’Daly asked for in the seventeenth century but Daphne hoped it would act as a starting point for some future scholar to conduct a detailed examination. Daphne was aided in her researches by Luke Taheney, O.P., who found many forgotten fragments of Dominican history.[13] The fourteen chapters and fourteen appendices were inter-spaced with eighty-three photographs of which forty-seven were taken by Daphne.[14] The Irish Dominicans was described by a later historian of the Dominican Order as an “eminently readable” book.[15] 

Other books

After the extensive output of published books in the 1950s Daphne Pochin Mould continued with her exploration of her new country and published nearly twenty books to share her discoveries with the wider public.[16] These books included The Aran Islands (1972), The Mountains of Ireland (1976).[17] In 1988 Daphne Pochin Mould went in exploration of a different form of travel with her book on Captain Roberts of the Sirius.

Aerial photography

Aerial photography of archaeological monuments began in Northern Ireland in 1927 and was first used in the Republic in 1934. In 1951-3 and 1963-73 Professor St. Joseph of the Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography took a series of photos from across Ireland for the National Monuments Council.[18] Daphne Pochin Mould was excited by this new view on archaeology and secured a pilot’s licence. She would go on to become Ireland’s first female flight instructor.[19] Much of her work in aerial photography was in the south of Ireland and although most of her photos were not published, some did enter the public arena. In the 1980s the Cork Archaeological Survey took on Daphne as their aerial photographer. In a photo of the Survey team in 1984 Daphne looked a bit lost in the group of younger people but a later reunion photo had her among the group standing proud.[20] Daphne’s activities helped encourage other female archaeologists like Gillian Barrett to take to the air and expand the range and density of Irish archaeology sites.

The book Discovering Cork

In 1991 Daphne Pochin Mould published a book exploring and discovering her adopted county – Cork. The book explores the county through its monuments of the centuries from megalithic structures to Christian churches, medieval castles and monasteries to modern canals, roads and industrial sites. It is full of photographs and information with an extensive bibliography.

Honorary Doctorate

In 1993 Daphne Pochin Mould’s work as "a scientist and a free spirit, a courageous pioneer and an outstanding woman warrior", was acknowledged with an honorary doctorate from University College Cork.

Final years and death

Daphne Pochin Mould was active up to the end writing and travelling. In 2011 she stayed for a few days at the Walter Raleigh Hotel in Youghal where she was visited up by a number of local historians. They were delighted to hear her stories and enjoy the atmosphere. Unfortunately due to other commitments this author was not able to join the fun.

Daphne Desiree Charlotte Pochin Mould died on 29^th April 2014 after a short illness.[21] Daphne Pochin mould travelled far in a long life – from Salisbury to Scotland to Aherla in Co. Cork – from geology to history and aerial photography – from Anglican to the Catholic faith – she truly went on an Irish Pilgrimage.

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[1] Unfortunately the book didn’t make it to the publishers before her death in 2014

[2] Irish Examiner, 15^th November 2010, Dan Buckley article on Daphne Pochin Mould

[3] Irish Examiner, 15^th November 2010, Dan Buckley article on Daphne Pochin Mould

[4] Irish Examiner, 15^th November 2010, Dan Buckley article on Daphne Pochin Mould

[5] Pochin Mould, D.D.C., The Irish Dominicans: The Friars Preachers in the history of Catholic Ireland (Dublin, 1957), dust jacket

[6] Irish Examiner, 15^th November 2010, Dan Buckley article on Daphne Pochin Mould

[7] Pochin Mould, D.D.C., Ireland of the Saints (London, 1953), p. 4

[8] Pochin Mould, D.D.C., The Irish Dominicans: The Friars Preachers in the history of Catholic Ireland (Dublin, 1957), dust jacket

[9] Information recounted to the author c.2012 at the Lismore antiques fair

[10] Irish Examiner, 15^th November 2010, Dan Buckley article on Daphne Pochin Mould

[11] Pochin Mould, D.D.C., Ireland of the Saints (London, 1953), p. 8

[12] Pochin Mould, D.D.C., Irish Pilgrimage (New York, 1957), p. ii

[13] Flynn, T., O.P., The Irish Dominicans 1536-1641 (Dublin, 1933), p. xx

[14] Pochin Mould, D.D.C., The Irish Dominicans: The Friars Preachers in the history of Catholic Ireland (Dublin, 1957), pp. xiii-xvi

[15] Flynn, T., O.P., The Irish Dominicans 1536-1641 (Dublin, 1933), p. xx

[16] Other books included The Celtic saints, our heritage (1956), Peter's boat: A convert's experience of Catholic living (1959) The Lord is Risen: The Liturgy of Paschal Time (1960), Angels of God: their rightful place in the modern world (1963), The Second Vatican Council (1963), Whitefriars Street Church: A Short Guide (1964), Saint Brigid (1964), Saint Finbarr of Cork (1965), A book of Irish saints and Irish saints' names (1965), Ireland; From the Air (1973) and Valentia: Portrait of an Island (1978)

[17] Pochin Mould, D.D.C., Discovering Cork (Dingle, 1991), dust jacket

[18] Lambrick, G., Air and Earth: Aerial archaeology in Ireland (Dublin, 2008), p. 13

[19] Irish Examiner, 2^nd May 2014, Dan Buckley article on Daphne Pochin Mould

[20] Power, D., ‘The Cork Archaeology Survey’, in Emer Condit (ed.), Surveying Our Heritage: The National Monuments Service: marking 50 years of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland (Dublin, 2013), pp. 22-23

[21] Irish Examiner, 2^nd May 2014, Dan Buckley article on Daphne Pochin Mould

Frankincense at Bristol port in Tudor times

Frankincense at Bristol port in Tudor times

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

Introduction

The Gospel story in the New Testament Bible as ascribed to Saint Matthew tells us that =

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterwards, some men who studied the stars (referred to by later writers as the Magi), came from the east to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east and we have come to worship him.” When Herod heard about this, he was very upset and so was everyone else in Jerusalem.[1] … So Herod called the visitors from the east to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem …[2]

And so they left, and on their way they saw the same star they had seen in the east. When they saw it, how happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. They went into the house and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshipped him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, ad presented them to him. They then returned to their country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod.[3]

The Magi were the first Gentiles to worship Jesus, just as the shepherds were the first Jews. The Magi gifts of gold, frankincense and Myrrh had symbolical significance. The gold was to honour Jesus as king, the myrrh was indicate that he was human and open to suffering while the frankincense was to honour God and symbolise prayer.[4]

Frankincense was long associated with divinity and religious ceremony. Eight centuries before the birth of Jesus, the great prophet then living in Jerusalem was Isaiah, and he spoke of the birth of Jesus with reference to incense thus =

Great caravans of camels will come from Midian and Ephah. They will come from Sheba, brining gold and incense.[5]

Frankincense

Frankincense comes from inside the bark on the trunk and branches of the Boswellia tree which grows in Africa and Arabia. When the bark is removed a whitish resin emerges and this is frankincense.[6] Every Sabbath in the Temple in Jerusalem 12 loaves of unleavened bread was laid out on a special table inside the Temple with fragrant frankincense as an offering to God.[7]

Regulations on the use of frankincense in the medieval church

In the medieval period of about 500 to1500 the church dominated life and in every church the burning of incense and its distinct smell filled the air. The regulations applicable to Wells Cathedral tell us of the use of incense there. It said that the “Altar and the Choir must be incensed on all double feasts and on simple feasts when the Choir is ruled at Evensong and at Lauds during the singing of Magnificat and Benedictus”. The burning of incense was also expected on “all greater-double feasts outside Eastertide during each Nocturm of Mtins at the second, fifth and eight lessons and at Te deum”. On the “lesser-double feasts and in Eastertide the Choir is not incensed at Mattins during the Lessons but only at the Te deum and the Benedictus at Lauds”.[8]

The regulations go on to say that at Mass on the “greater-double feasts the Altar is incensed by the Priest alone at the beginning of Mass” and again by him at the Gloria and after the Offertory. Between the Gloria and the Offertory the deacon incenses the Altar before the saying of the Gospel.[9] At occasions of simple feasts only one censer was used for the incense and it was carried about the Choir by the Acolyte. The main Altar was first incensed by the officiating priest and then the Choir stalls in decreasing rank. At double feasts two censers were used and after the main Altar was incensed the other altars in the Choir were done but only at Evensong. The Bishop’s throne was then done if he Bishop was present. If no Bishop then the Choir stalls were done to finish the job.[10] The monastic and parish churches followed this course to a varied extent.

Frankincense

Parish church accounts of frankincense

A number of medieval parish churches have surviving financial accounts giving the income and expenditure of the church. Among these surviving accost are those for Ashburton in Devon which cover the years from 1479 to 1580. In 1479-80 the sum of 6d (d = pence) was spent on frankincense while the sexton, William Astryge, got 4s 8d for his wages. In 1482-83 Ashburton church paid 6d for 2lbs of frankincense. The church didn’t buy frankincense every year as it was 1485-86 before another consignment was purchased and another gap to 1492-93 with an even bigger gap to 1510-11 when 6d was spent on frankincense. The last payment for frankincense at Ashburton church was in 1557-58 when 6d was spent.[11] This was the last year of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary. With England going Protestant under Queen Elizabeth the use of frankincense ended in parish churches as it was seen as a Roman Catholic thing.

Frankincense in the port of Bristol

The church records of medieval Europe give us snap shots of incense use and the mention of frankincense in this but what of any records of frankincense before it reaches the church. The English exchequer custom accounts are the most comprehensive and long running records of foreign trade to exist for any country in the pre-modern period. These records first started in 1275 with the levying of a tax on the export of wool and hides. By the mid-fourteenth century this custom tax was extended to all forms of merchandise entering and leaving the country. These custom taxes created a vast archive of material on medieval trade, but until the recent use of the electronic computer, the archive was difficult to collate and analyse.[12]

In 2009 the records of Bristol port between 1503 and 1601 were published[13] and among the over one thousand pages of data in the published book are references to frankincense entering and leaving Bristol. This accessible data is a welcome addition to the story of frankincense but as always in these cases there are as many unanswered questions that may never be answered.

On 22^nd March 1526 the navicula Kateryn of Bristol entered Bristol port under the command of Captain John Bernard. The navicula was a type of sailing vessel of undetermined size but which was big enough for ocean travel. She carried cargo for eight merchants with wine as the principal cargo at about 39 tons. Nicholas Walter and Thomas Shipman had one hundred weight of frankincense and two hundred weight of rosin on the vessel. The value of the frankincense was 3s 4d while the rosin was worth 4s.[14] It is possible that Nicholas Walter and Thomas Shipman were from Bristol but the evidence is not yet supported by solid foundations. There was a Thomas Shipman, merchant, at Bristol in the years 1548 to 1551 but this is twenty five years afterwards and so it is unlikely that they were the same person.[15]

On 13^th November 1541 the Bride of Waterford left the port of Bristol with a varied cargo of commodities for fifteen different merchants. One of these merchants was John Harold who carried thirty-nine different consignments of cargo varying from hats, girdles, cinnamon, to knives from Paris, playing cards and glasses. John Harold also carried 6lbs of frankincense worth 10d. On 17^th October 1541 John Harold had brought to Bristol skins of sheep, lambs and foxes aboard the Anthony of Waterford.[16] It is possible that John Harold was a Waterford merchant or from the area of south Tipperary and south Kilkenny as Waterford was the port for these inland areas. Yet it cannot be ruled out that he was the John Harold, merchant of Bristol, who took on an apprentice in 1533.[17]

The three wise men from the East

On 20^th November 1542 the Mygell of Waterford left Bristol, under Captain Robert FitzJohn, carrying a very varied cargo for eleven different merchants. One of these merchants was George Walter and among his twenty different items of cargo was 6lbs of frankincense worth 2s 6d. George Walter had previous brought skins into Bristol on 22^nd October 1542 on the Bride of Waterford.[18]

On 17^th November 1545 the Katheryn of Pasajes de San Juan in Basque country of northern Spain arrived into Bristol port with a cargo of 53 tons of wine, 10 tons of iron, 4 hundred weight of frankincense (worth 13s 4d) and 2 hundred weight of turpentine (26s 8d). John Note de Villa Vaosa (master of the vessel) and unnamed associates brought in the two latter commodities.[19] The Katheryn left Bristol on 9^th December 1545 with a cargo that included cloth, hides and lead.[20]

On 4^th May 1546 the Katheryn of Pasajes de San Juan again arrived at Bristol under Captain John Note de Villa Vaosa with John de Skyes also the only merchant on board and owner of the full cargo. This cargo consisted of iron, wine, woad, raisins and 1½ hundred weight of frankincense worth 6s 8d.[21] The Katheryn left Bristol on 16^th May 1546 with a cargo of cloth, lead, hides and skins for two foreign merchants and five English merchants.[22]

By the time the Katheryn left Bristol the demand for frankincense was changing as the religion of England was changing. The burning of incense was seen as a Roman Catholic thing. The later references to frankincense in the Bristol port accounts relate to frankincense exported from Bristol to Ireland. Ireland remained a Catholic country and even the English settlers in Ireland kept the old faith.

On 9^th May 1576 the Peter of Youghal (30 tons burden) left Bristol with a varied selection of commodities from three merchants of Limerick and one merchant of Cork. The Peter first sailed to Cork and then onto Limerick. One of these Limerick merchants, Richard Mahownde, had thirty different items of cargo including 4lbs of frankincense worth 8d.[23] Richard Mahownde only appears this one time in the published Bristol ports accounts and so we cannot determine if he was a regular trader in frankincense. The Peter of Youghal appears three times in the Bristol accounts and it is always traveling to and from Cork. It is possible that the frankincense carried by Richard Mahownde was destined for the Cork market.[24]

On 31^st July 1576 the Katherin of Waterford (16 tons burden) left Bristol under Captain John Gall for Waterford. A person called John Gall was admitted a freeman of Waterford in 1570 and it could be the same person as the ship captain.[25] The vessel carried a varied cargo but all for one merchant, Thomas Stretch of Limerick. Among the cargo was 6lbs of frankincense worth 12d. It is not known if Thomas Stretch intended to sell all his goods at Waterford or take some onto other ports including his home town of Limerick.[26] Thomas Stretch does not appear elsewhere in the published accounts of the port of Bristol and so it is difficult to determine his usual trading habits. 

Conclusion

The published port accounts for Bristol cover the years 1503 to 1601 but not even year in between is printed, just sample years across the century. A detailed examination of the frankincense trade in and out of Bristol would therefore mean examining all the records in their manuscripts state. The results of that examination would tell you much the same as this article, i.e., that frankincense was imported from Spain with Spain receiving the trade by camel train across North Africa or ship across the Mediterranean with Arabia as the principal source. Once in Bristol before 1546 the number of customers requiring frankincense was numerous across England from cathedrals and monastic churches to the thousands of parish churches. There was also a good export trade of frankincense across the Irish Sea to Ireland. After 1546 when England turned Protestant the majority customers for frankincense was in the Irish market.

   

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[1] Matthew 2: 1-3

[2] Mathew 2: 7-8

[3] Matthew 2: 9-12

[4] Kaari Ward (ed.), Jesus and his times (Reader’s Digest, New York, 1989), p. 29

[5] Isaiah 60: 6

[6] Paul Z. Bedoukian,’Frankincense’, in The World Book Encyclopaedia (Chicago, 1980), vol. 7, p. 411

[7] Kaari Ward (ed.), Jesus and his times (Reader’s Digest, New York, 1989), p. 132

[8] Dom Aelred Watkin (ed.), Dean Cosyn and Wells Cathedral Miscellanea (Somerset Record Society, Vol. 56, 1941), p. 35

[9] Dom Aelred Watkin (ed.), Dean Cosyn and Wells Cathedral Miscellanea, p. 35

[10] Dom Aelred Watkin (ed.), Dean Cosyn and Wells Cathedral Miscellanea, p. 36

[11] Alison Hanham (ed.), Churchwarden’s accounts of Ashburton, 1479-1580 (Devon and Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 15, 1970), pp. 1, 4, 8, 19, 42, 139

[12] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601 (Bristol Record Society, vol. 61, 2009), p. xi

[13] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601 (Bristol Record Society, vol. 61, 2009)

[14] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, pp. 1, 239

[15] Elizabeth Ralph & Nora M. Hardwick (eds.), Calendar of the Bristol Apprentice Book, 1532-1565 (Bristol Record Society, vol. 33, 1980), part II (1542-1552), nos. 871, 1093, 1666

[16] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, pp. 287, 295

[17] D. Hollis (ed.), Calendar of the Bristol Apprentice Book, 1532-1565 (Bristol Record Society, vol. 14, 1949), part 1 (1532-1542), Ms. p. 18

[18] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, pp. 391, 398

[19] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 467

[20] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 474

[21] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 509

[22] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 510

[23] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 688

[24] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, pp. 685, 688, 716

[25] Niall J. Byrne (ed.), The Great Parchment Book of Waterford: Liber Antiquissimus Civitatis Waterfordiae (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 2007), p. 155

[26] Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 694