{"id":3512,"date":"2023-02-03T09:30:43","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T09:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=3512"},"modified":"2023-02-02T15:49:39","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T15:49:39","slug":"how-to-tell-the-time-using-your-hand-and-other-useful-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2023\/02\/03\/how-to-tell-the-time-using-your-hand-and-other-useful-information\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Tell the Time Using Your Hand, and Other Useful Information"},"content":{"rendered":"

When rummaging through a box from the Fox Strangways Estate archive<\/a>, we came across a book so small it can fit in the palm of your hand. It has a worn leather cover and tiny metal clasps and looks as though it has been well-used. Naturally, we wanted to know what it was!<\/p>\n

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Closer inspection revealed it to be an almanac for the year 1681, belonging to Thomas Strangways. Almanacs are publications, produced annually, that provide useful information for a given year, such as\u00a0the dates of religious festivals,\u00a0times\u00a0of the\u00a0sun\u00a0rising\u00a0and setting and\u00a0changes\u00a0in the\u00a0moon. This information is generally arranged according to the calendar. Perhaps you even received one yourself last Christmas!<\/p>\n

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If so, we\u2019ll bet that yours doesn\u2019t include everything that Thomas Strangways\u2019 one did. Besides the normal dates and times, his almanack also includes instructions for how to use your palm as a sundial (no, we haven\u2019t tried it yet); a page entitled \u201cThe Dominion of the Moon in Mans Body, under the 12 Zodiacal Constellations\u201d, which contains a diagram that appears to show links between areas of the body and the star signs (unfortunately we don\u2019t have a resident astrologist who can explain it to us); and \u201cA Compendious Chronology\u201d, which includes Deucalion\u2019s deluge and the building of London by Brute, alongside more factually-grounded events like the arrival of William the Conqueror and the execution of Charles I.<\/p>\n