Runestaff Crafts

The Runestaff Crafts workshop was set up in June 1984 to make artefacts according to traditional principles. The name was chosen because the runestaff is an artefact made by a craftsperson from a natural material, having the function of support and defence and the spiritual function of bearing the runes, symbolic of human knowledge of this and the other worlds. Artefacts made and sold included measuring rods, weathercocks, board games, ceramic items, geomantic compasses and geomantic paraphernalia. The Runestaff workshop was destroyed in a violent storm in 1996 that blew its roof off, damaging and flooding the interior, rendering unserviceable the wood-turning lathe, breaking made artefacts, materials and tools. Artefacts excavated from the ruins in 2007 are shown in the gallery. Subsequently, items have been made to order under the Runestaff Crafts name. The picture here shows a medieval-tradition string drum (tambourin a cordes) made by Nigel Pennick in January 2009 under the Runestaff aegis.