{"product_id":"the-hearth-the-hidden-fire-household-protection-and-domestic-folk-practice-in-britain-9798249739447","title":"The Hearth \u0026 the Hidden Fire: Household Protection and Domestic Folk Practice in Britain","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Allan Pinfield-Wells\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Non-Classifiable\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe hearth was never just a fire. It was the centre of a defensive world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn The Hearth \u0026amp; the Hidden Fire, A. P. Wells presents a deeply researched study of household protection and domestic folk practice in Britain from the medieval period through the nineteenth century. Drawing upon parish records, assize proceedings, archaeological excavation reports, folklore collections, and material culture studies, this work argues that British folk magic was primarily domestic, preventative, and structurally embedded within the house itself. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is not a book about dramatic rituals or theatrical spellcraft. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt is a study of infrastructure. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAcross centuries, British households reinforced their boundaries through: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eConcealed witch-bottles buried beneath hearthstones \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWorn shoes hidden in chimney breasts \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eApotropaic marks carved into beams \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRowan hung above byres \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSalt added to churns \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIron placed in cradles \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePsalms folded into thresholds \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eProtection was engineered into architecture.\u003cbr\u003eIt was embedded in food, childcare, livestock care, and moral discipline.\u003cbr\u003eIt was quiet, repetitive, and practical. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough twelve substantial chapters, this book explores: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- The hearth as architectural and cosmological axis\u003cbr\u003e- Thresholds as spiritual membranes\u003cbr\u003e- Concealed objects as structural counter-magic\u003cbr\u003e- The moral architecture of early modern households\u003cbr\u003e- Food, salt, dairy, and defensive ingestion\u003cbr\u003e- Child protection and counter-fairy measures\u003cbr\u003e- Illness, livestock, and extended household boundaries\u003cbr\u003e- The collapse of hearth centrality under industrial modernity\u003cbr\u003e- Ethical reconstruction of protective systems today \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGrounded in credible historical sources and archaeological evidence, The Hearth \u0026amp; the Hidden Fire challenges modern romanticised views of \"folk magic\" and restores it to its lived domestic reality. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis volume is written for: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSerious practitioners seeking historical grounding\u003cbr\u003eScholars of material culture and early modern belief\u003cbr\u003eReaders of British social and religious history\u003cbr\u003eThose interested in architecture, folklore, and domestic ritual \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe hidden fire was not spectacle.\u003cbr\u003eIt was maintenance.\u003cbr\u003eIt was vigilance.\u003cbr\u003eIt was the quiet defence of continuity.","brand":"Independently Published","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47569014161559,"sku":"9798249739447","price":1489.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9798249739447.webp?v=1774872491","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/the-hearth-the-hidden-fire-household-protection-and-domestic-folk-practice-in-britain-9798249739447","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}