archaeology
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Pontefract Castle was, in its day, the Windsor of the North. Large and seemingly impregnable , it had two massive tapering towers that rose up to over a hundred feet high, a landmark visible from miles away. It was the scene of many historical events–in 1322 Edward II executed his cousin, Thomas of Lancaster here,…
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In the teeth of the evidence
age, Anne Mortimer, battle injuries, Battle of Bosworth, Cecily Neville, combination of evidence, denialists, Dominic Selwood, Dukes of Beaufort, era, height, House of York, Leicester cathedral, Leicester Greyfriars, Looking for Richard Project, Michael Hicks, Michael Ibsen, mtDNA evidence, Plantagenets, Richard III, scoliosis, Wendy DuldigHere, a little-known television journalist-historian named Dominic Selwood disputes the identity of Richard III’s remains, despite the mtDNA match with collateral descendants in Canada and Australia, their height, age of death, era of death, scoliosis, battle injuries, region of origin and the location of his original burial at the choir of the Greyfriars. In fact…
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My devotion to watching TV documentaries often turns up odd bits and pieces. This time the culprit is “Curse of the Vampire” from Mythical Beasts, series 1, episode 3, shown on Sky History 2. As you might expect, the theme was the strong medieval belief that the dead could return to torment the living as…
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Now here is some exciting news. Time Team, formerly a Channel Four programme to 2014 but now digital, will be following up their 2015 visit to the Sutton Hoo mounds soon, on a digital platform. We don’t have a transmission date as yet …
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In 2011/2012 a hoard of medieval artefacts was discovered down a well at the remains of castle of Caherduggan, near Doneraile, Co Cork. It included a complete peytrel/peytral/poitrel for a horse, which names derive from pectoral. Peytrels were worn around the horse’s chest, and although I’d never heard the name before, I recognised what it…
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With a guide price of £4 million there will be an auction of this large edifice (the Grey Friars Building) that stands right next to where the remains of Richard III were found. The auction is to be on Wednesday, February 15. It’s Grade II listed, but not only because of its proximity to where…
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This post in the Times details the final resting place of every English and then British monarch since 1066, although Harold II (probably Waltham Abbey) is omitted. Note from the interactive map that there are four (plus the Empress Matilda) burials in France and one in Germany. There are none in Scotland, Wales, Ireland or…
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Exciting finds are still being unearthed, this time another Anglo-Saxon burial ground that is proviing to be a trove of treasure and information. “….The site, in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, contained 138 graves, with 141 regular burials and five cremation burials, which makes it one of the largest Anglo-Saxon burial grounds ever uncovered in Britain….” “….Items…
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In the above illustration I do believe the illustrator has endeavoured to create the real Abbot Wheathampstead (also Whethamstede), baldness and all, if the lack of hair around the ears is anything to do by. My interest in St Albans has hitherto been concerned with the 14th century, specifically the time of Abbot Thomas…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 