CEILING BOSSES

FASCINATING OBJECTS

            When I travel I’m a pretty unusual tourist. In fact I don’t think of myself as a tourist but as a visitor to another place. I’m often off the beaten track and am always looking for something different and unusual. While others are photographing the popular tourist attractions I’m looking at manhole covers or unique trashcans, or something else that is different. I could probably do a whole article on any of the previous mentioned if I went through my scrapbooks and pulled the pictures.

            OK, so now to today’s topic. What in the world is a ceiling boss and where would I find one?   I spotted my first ceiling boss in a church foyer ceiling in Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds, England. I was intrigued, and had to ask what the handsome wooden designs I was looking at were.

            I was told, “A boss is an ornament, often of carved wood, but can be plaster, that overlays the joints of wood or plaster beams on decorative ceilings. They are quite common in Gothic architecture.”

            Of course I had seen them in the many Gothic churches I’d been in. I just thought they were part of the architecture and never gave them a second thought.

After finding the ones in the Cotswolds, I looked for them and found many more, but, except for the gothic churches, I have never seen them anywhere else. I’ve never noticed them in our old Victorian or antebellum homes, but I also admit I’ve not specifically looked for them either.

            I wanted to buy one so I started looking for them everywhere I went. They are not easy to find. I finally found one in a church gift shop, and a second one in another gift shop. They hang on my hall wall with my collection of photos and paintings of famous churches I’ve visited. The bosses often provoke questions and I have great fun explaining about them.

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

SCARY THOUGHT

            Tasmania, Australia’s island state, is picturesque with a good deal of the island inaccessible because of rich forest. On the way to Port Arthur we rode over rolling hills and farmland. We passed Barilla Bay, famous for its oysters, and stopped to visit the Tasmanian Devil Park to learn all about that unique animal.

Port Arthur was not a town at all but a prison from the time of its settlement in 1830, until its closing in 1877. It operated as a prison for 47 years.

Original punishment was whipping with a cat ‘o nine tails—nine leather straps, each knotted nine times was dipped in salt water before striking the offender. Punishment was carried out in front of all other prisoners. This punishment was abolished in 1849 in favor of solitary confinement.

Taken to a separate building the prisoner was placed in a small totally dark room (no windows) for 72 hours where guards would then play mind games. Fed only once in 24 hours, sometimes the guards would bring a meal just before midnight, then an hour or so later bring the next day’s meal. Prisoners totally lost track of time and became disoriented. In 1867 an asylum was built, and when the prison closed in 1877 the asylum housed 100 prisoners. Charles Dickens visited Port Arthur for research material before writing Oliver Twist.

   As we walked the grounds, we found the isolation room. Of course  I had to check it out. I entered the room leaving Jan outside to open the door when I yelled. When I was inside she turned off the light.  I don’t think I made it even a full minute. If you’ve ever been in a cave when the lights were turned out you know what total darkness is like and as a prisoner there would be no end.

I stepped out of the room saying, “Oh that is awful. I’d go insane real fast! I'd rather take the beating.”

            Before leaving Port Arthur we took a short boat ride out to the Isle of the Dead. All 1769 prisoners who died are buried on the low south side of the island, often in common graves, and. 180 free settlers are buried on the top northern side of the island. Headstones were not permitted until 1852, and prison stonemasons often cut head stones for the settler graves.

            Following  closure of the prison, buildings were sold or gutted by fire. In 1884 in an effort to remove the ‘convict stain’ the name was changed to Carnarvon. The name Port Arthur was resumed in 1927. The National Parks and Wildlife Service acquired the site in 1970. The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, established in 1987, now manages and maintains the site.