Not Many Things Hold a Candle to These –

New to Us and Made in Scotland

If you’ve been keeping up with the series Victoria on ITV you’ll know that in Buckingham Palace the used candle business is a vital perk to the butler Penge, played beautifully by Adrian Schiller, and part of the intrigues upstairs and downstairs that keep us all fascinated. Meanwhile the lovely Jenna Coleman, AKA QueenVictoria, faffs around before falling for young Albert. There is no great tension there as we’ve all heard of the Victoria and Albert museum and know that Albert died of “drains” in Balmoral. It’s true it’s on his death certificate.

None of Your Beeswax!

Anyway back to candles. While Penge stops the German governess installing gas into the palace, we get an insight into the cost of proper beeswax candles which even back then were a luxury. Penge threatens the former German governess the Baroness with tallow which is made from beef and lamb fat which emits smell and smoke, unlike the much prized beeswax which cost the proverbial arm and a leg. The Chinese invented candles, way back when making them from whale blubber and when they got to Europe the Romans, ever frugal, made them out of tallow.  Which is one reason why all that Roman plotting takes place in the murk because those darn tallow candles, were barely worth a candle. You see there are shed loads of candle references in our language So when they found beeswax those candles were originally the preserve of the church in medieval Europe and then the nobs as they got richer and the poor still had tallow or nothing.

So it came to be that candle making was a much prized skill and the first Guilds were established in the 13th Century and people saved the fats from their cooking for travelling chandlers , candle makers to you and me, for them to knock up a few candles for the householder. All  this stayed the same until we started whaling and destroying the Cetacea family, that is the whole family of whales, to make whalebone corsets and candles. The changes of fashion and technology mostly saved the whale, but it was a close run thing. So now candles have re-emerged as a desirable affordable luxury. We don’t need them to light the way anymore, or to supplement Penge’s royal stipend or impress Mrs Jenkins with a back hander from the pickers. Now we know they are the most desirable kind of light and fragrance and  are made from that ultimate luxury beeswax, a luxury that even the Romans couldn’t afford.

Light up Your Wife

With this in mind you might care to cast a glance at the range of  Scottish Shearer candles we now sell and which will quite literally light up your life. Or if she puts them round the bath, light up your wife! There’s no need to save up the fat from the cooking as everything is made of the finest ingredients, although there was a lot to be said of a less wasteful age.

If you want affordable luxury, first class pampering and a light to make everything more beautiful and fragrant then look no further.

https://www.jamespirie.com/brands/shearer-candles/fragrance-tin.html