In a message dated 5/3/2004 2:18:25 AM Pacific Daylight Time, mjcl@btinternet.com writes: > "Item three Chests A groaning Chare & chushen 00 : 13 : 00" > > Any ideas on what a groaning chair was? Two or three days before the expected date of the birth, the midwife ( dayah) brings to the house of the woman to be confined the groaning chair or 'birth throne' (kursi al-wiladah), upon which the birth is to take place, for Muslim women are delivered sitting. The chair, which belongs to the midwife, is covered with a shawl or embroidery Henry VII and his court "...as well as a sumptuous cradle of estate padded with crimson cloth of gold embroidered with the royal arms, linen for the Queen's bed, swaddling bands in which to wrap the baby, beds for the nurse and two rockers, and a "groaning chair" for the delivery. This was similar to a modern birthing chair, with a cut-away seat, but it was upholstered in cloth of gold " Will Johnson

Glitz, Trevor, Will - Thanks very much Regards Martyn