Rush Lights | A forgotten lighting method
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
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Excellent video demonstrating this little known and generally poorly understood method of bye gone lighting. This would have been the most common form of lighting in most country folks homes for many hundreds of years but it is now largely forgotten. Thanks for this excellent and historically accurate info and practical demonstration.😊
Thank you! :) I think it's a pity that it's fallen by the wayside, these days people have petroleum candles with artificial colours and scents that cause a lot of harm to our bodies and disrupting our endocrine systems, I'll be sticking to beeswax and rush lights :)
Ha, thanks for that info. I just flail-mowed 5 acres out of 32 with plenty of Rushes. You are welcome to collect the Rushes from the 27 acres that is still outstanding...
But really liked this. May buy the book for historical curiosity.
This is a great video, thank you for reading the instructions and also demonstrating. I had never even heard of rush lights before.
Hey. how cool is that. Gorgeous. I am impressed - so simple. In Austria we say Binsenpflanze and Binsenlichthalter.
I can barely remember that I have seen some of those strange clips somewhere - now I know what it is. Absolutely fantastic.
Very sympatic video. Like it. Greets from the Alps.
That's incredible! Thanks for showing us the intricacies of how to control the light intensity!
That was really interesting. Thank you 😊
I've seen a few of these vids and this is the simplest and most effective rush light making vid I've seen - thanks!!
I recently bought the same book. What a coincidence!
Fascinating! Thank you for the history lesson and demonstration! 👍
Massive flame off it. Where did you get the candle holder? Yes Definitely enjoyed this video!! Thanks
Never heard of that before. Great share. Can you show us what a Rush looks like outdoors in the ground?
Sure, but google bulrush maybe.
@@Cate7451 Just seen another video on rush lights. A rush is not a bulrush. It has tiny white flowers not a brown sausage in sight 😂😂
Great job and well researched
wow, learned something again... we never know when that might come handy.. we should not forget the "old ways" especially in these challenging times.. I looked up the rush light holders.. very antique
Did they use only one rush at a time, I somehow always imagined rush lights being in bunches?
Mrs Gaskell, Georgian/Victorian writer who mainly wrote about genteel poor characters, (based on her own social observations) that had to keep up appearances in the village (heaven forfend that they should ever be excluded from polite society), has a scene where a character states to others of her class that they have Two candles every night upon the mantlepiece. However the truth was that they were not ever both lit at the same time, except when they had visitors, and that they, Very carefully, when alone, used first one then the other candle on alternate nights, causing them to be burnt down to the same height, so that no visitor may ever acuse them of being too poor to use both candles at once.
Thanks for great video Kyle, great to see the old ways kept alive and working. The book looks interesting and we are certainly not short of rushes in the west of Ireland. Hope all good with you.
We all might be lighting out houses this way soon the way the energy prices are going
lol back to the middle ages
Hi, Kyle. Thanks for sharing the making of the rush lights😊
Fascinating. Great reminder of what life was like in the past. thanks
Dark times.
Janey mac that’s class!! Fair sized spark off that. I’m a candle maker myself but beeswax is expensive enough without hives of my own or knowing any keepers (though it burns a lot longer so that’s a plus). I’ll definitely give this a shot next time I come across rushes. Does your gaf fume up with the stink of rashers?
You might like throwin your eye over the Schools’ Collection, there’s a load of entries about this style of candle and the same holder you have - so cool to see you demo! I read that someone would sit beside the candle in the middle of the room during céilís or what have ya, and replace the rush every ten minutes or so when it was worn, to “help the candle”. I think there was some tradition too about saying the rosary on a certain night of the month, and burning a certain amount of rushes. Interesting stuff worth a gander!
You would need a good handful of rushes if you were saying the rosary ! But I’m sure they did.
Thank you, Kyle
fab mate we may need these soon lol. defo gonna try for emergencies off to find my rusty pliers and fire up the welder.
That's so cool. Love this type of content.
Shades of lessons from The Garden Cottage Diaries, when someone did an 18thc living experiment for a year! If it fits... 😎🙌🏼
Love this 😊
Awesome video. Would love to see more along that line.
This is very interesting Kyle never heard of this before love this.
I love it Kyle, especially in Ireland where rushes grow in boggy areas.
Question. Where did you get the candle/rush holder? I’ve never see one before. Are they readily available where you are?
Hi, there are Blacksmiths still working and you can find them by searching for Artist Blacksmith in your country. It's becoming more popular now and you may be able to find a place to learn it. Very useful skill!
rush doesnt grow where i live but theres some much thicker plants here with a similar texture
i wonder how well this would work on those
would probably be more like a torch than a candle
Truly facinating
Love it!
Interesting im
Learning something new every day.
That was very interesting , thankyou for sharing 🙃
Love it kyle, 👏👏👏👍😉🇮🇪🍀
One thing I'm wondering is, how long would one of these rush lights last? Candles last for hours on end, I can't imagine a rush light would last nearly as long, especially with it having such a large and bright flame compared to the candle, and having way less fuel. Would people keep dipping the rush pith in the oil to get a thicker coating, much like how candles are made by repeatedly dipping a wick in wax? Or, would people put the rush pith in a bowl filled with oil and use it much like an oil lamp? Or, were rush lights only used when light was needed for a short period of time?
Each rush will last varying amounts of time depending on the length and thickness of the rush and the amount and quality of fat used. Typically you can get a rush to last 10 minutes angled correctly, you can make a large amount of them in a day and they'll last a long time, and you'd just have to keep an eye on your light and replace it with a fresh one. Sometimes I like to use mine as a little night light when I'm going to bed, knowing that it'll go out in 10 minutes and I won't have to walk across the room to blow it out
Thank you so much for sharing this!
For how long would it burn?
Definitely will try this out!
Depends on a few things, every rush will be different, so what length is it? What thickness is it? The quality of the fats used? The angle you set the rush? Many things can determine the length of time, but I'll say 1cm/min is a nice guesstimate
see ua-cam.com/video/IxBsbzUKnAs-/v-deo.html a vid of a medieval historian who films the rush light process and takes you out amongst rushes
@@thebridgemanscottage Thanks, that makes sense of course.
Now I know what Bernard Cornwell is describing when his books talk about rush lights. Uhtred of Bebbanburg explains the stench of rush lights if they are made from rancid fat.
Was wondering where you got the rush light holder from ?
Nice
Very cool!!!
interesting. practical demo
That was very interesting. So is your rush holder an antique then? I'm guessing this method was used in bygone days though it might see a resurgence with the unpredictable state of the world now.
I think if you can find a Blacksmith they can make you one. I've recently seen one a friend made during a Blacksmithing workshop, It's a beautiful object and seeing it used for a rush light is perfect
@@leenabalance agree. They appear to be made from modified blacksmith tongs. Maybe ones that didn't past muster
Ah, I have a field full of them, must cancel the esb :-)
Would that be how tallow candles were made using deer or other animal fat???
Tallow candles are made from rendered animal fat and the wicks are either twisted cotton or dried rushes
I wonder if any pithy grass would work.
Where did you find the rush light holder? That might be hard to find, easier to have made here in the US 🤔
One rush wouldn't last very long tho would it
Go You !!!
What is the Laten name of this wheed🌿
Juncaceae :)
Did Mozart use these?
Fab
I made some of these and keep them in a sealed container for emergency
Did Mozart use these?