buildings
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Yes, indeed, there is a lot to enjoy at Sudeley this summer. From Richard’s modelled head and information about Lady Eleanor Talbot, to Marie Antoinette’s bed hangings, Charles I’s enormous four-poster bed, and the Octagon Tower, down the stairs of which George III took a tumble. Plus, of course, there are the castle’s ruins and…
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£5.5 million? What’s that between friends? I know…far too much. But I can dream. This wonderful old priory in Kent would suit me down to the ground and the link above includes a number of photographs that show you exactly why I like Horton Priory so much. It may not have been beyond the capacious pockets of…
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The royal palace of Kennington is all but forgotten now, but for those interested in the mediaeval period it is perhaps most noteworthy for its association with Edward III, the Black Prince and Richard II. The buildings they knew vanished in 1531, at the hands of that arch-demolisher, Henry VIII, and illustrations of the…
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Memorial brasses aren’t always kind to the deceased, but this one is downright cruel. I know the man was a Stanley, but even so…well, he looks like the back end of a bus. A bow-legged bus at that. (I know buses don’t have legs, but I’m sure you know what I mean!)
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Added to the list of monarchs and notables found or potentially to be found beneath car parks, tennis courts, and other such mundane places must be the Queen of Henry III, Eleanor of Provence. Buried in Amesbury Priory after her body was kept in ‘storage’ by the nuns for two months while her son, Edward…
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Marlborough is a quaint little town in Wiltshire. It has a rather famous College (once attended by Kate Middleton) but no buildings dating much before Tudor times other than two heavily restored churches. However, it used to have a castle, and a rather important one too. The first castle was built by William the Conqueror…
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It was a great idea for the Easter Holiday, to let visitors to the Richard III Centre in Leicester help to create a portrait of Richard. Somehow it doesn’t seem possible that it eventually contained nearly 97,000 bricks, or that it might be destroyed. It deserves to be kept at the centre!
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As this Smithsonian article reveals, there is now an additional museum in Westminster Abbey – in the hitherto closed attic, admired by Betjeman. This triforium, now known as the “Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries” is built on the new Weston Tower, designed by Ptolemy Dean. Exhibits include Henry VII’s funeral effigy, an African Grey parrot owned…
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Here are some of the panels just inside the door of the Colchester Playhouse, now a theatre-themed public house. They illustrate John Ball, after whom a minor town centre road is also named, becoming a priest, a prisoner at Maidstone and then participating in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt (from 30 May), fighting at Blackheath (on 12…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 