A Bee Bole is a cavity or alcove in a wall for placing Skeps to protect them from the elements, the oldest surviving Bee Boles date from the 12th century.
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| Skep in a Bole |
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| A wall purpose built to house Beehives. |
I´ve also added a couple of pieces to the first Beehives..."ekes" (also called "imps" or "Nadirs" )
An eke, 3-4 rings of woven straw made the same way as a Skep and was used by placing it under the Skep to give just a bit of extra room as the honey comb grew. As the saying goes, to “eke something out "...to make it last longer or to go further. The word "Eke" is still used for the Frames that Slot into modern beehives.
A nadir is a larger (taller) Extension of 5 plus rings
Hackles, Pointy shaped straw tents. These are placed on top of the hives to Keep rain off and Keep the hive warm in colder periods.
Hackle comes from the Old English hacele, meaning a cloak or mantle. Later it was used to describe to birds’ plumage, particularly roosters, leading to the expression, raising the hackles.
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| I´ll make a small table like structure or a tree stump to place it on later. |
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| The only contemporary medieval pic I could find of Skeps covered with hackles |
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| The complete Bee related bits and pieces. |
Crazy ideas from the past about bees, including, Bees are the smallest of birds, and that bees are born from oxen HERE