archaeology
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This one is in his ducal city of Gloucester and covers the remains of the local Whitefriars, dating from about 1270, not long after the Carmelites arrived in England, but demolished nearly three centuries. It was discovered during the building of the King’s Quarter. There were four other priories in Gloucester and we wrote about…
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The following extract is from site this site, which concerns various attractions in York. I have picked out the paragraphs that apply paricularly to Richard III. “….The Yorkshire Museum, meanwhile, is scheduled to re-open in late July – by which time it will have been closed for 16 months, thanks to the Covid pandemic. “….It…
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I have watched a documentary about these skeletons with stones in their mouths. Sorry, I can’t find a link to it online, but it was fascinating. While looking around Google for more about this, I came upon another site which explains more. And another, not otherwise worth the link, which contained the following tantalising passage:…
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… we showed you, through the use of snooker balls, how it is significantly more probable that the Y-chromosome break occurred in the long Gaunt-Beaufort male line than the Langley-York line to Richard III.Although snooker was a nineteenth century invention, some earlier monarchs might well have enjoyed it: Harold II, whose informal wife (in more…
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The term ‘nasty, brutish and short’ is a phrase often used, half jokingly, for the lives of our pre-modern ancestors. It wasn’t always, but in many cases, life in the Middle Ages could be harsh–especially in regards to illness and injury. A recent assessment of skeletons discovered in Cambridge at three separate sites shows…
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Why are we so fascinated by the thought of lands and cities lost beneath the sea? Such tales are both compelling and a little frightening, but have always been around. No doubt they always will be. I’ve always been particularly intrigued by stories of the land of Lyonesse, but this article is about Dunwich, which…
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More Mythology of Richard III
“Beauforts”, “Tudors”, Battle of Bosworth, David Starkey, denialists, Edmund of Langley, Edward of Warwick, hair colour, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Isabel of Castile, Joan Hill, John Ashdown-Hill, John Holland, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lord Strange, More, Rhys ap Thomas, sweating sickness, The Mythology of Richard III, Thomas Stanley, Turi King, Y-chromosomeThe Mythology of Richard III was one of the late John Ashdown-Hill’s fine and well-researched books, which tried to dispel some of the ingrained tall tales about the much-maligned King. Unfortunately, ‘MORE Mythology’ seems to come up all too infrequently, and I am not necessarily talking about Thomas More, although his name often arises still…
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Southwark Cathedral, although only just across the Thames from St Paul’s and Westminster, has never received the same close attention of its rivals. At least, so it seems to me. Then, at the turn of the millenium, excavations began that led archaeologists back through time. A long time, because the cathedral’s beginnings stretch back over…
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A revised version of the Legendary Ten Seconds‘ first album, inspired by Richard III’s rediscovery in Leicester, is now available. Apart from the music, with Ian Churchyard and Ian Zarquon inter alia, the narration now features Sandra Heath Wilson (writer) and Elaine Churchward in a dialogue between Cicely Duchess of York and Margaret Duchess of…