buildings

Guy Ritchie’s inheritance blooper on Netflix….

Mar 7, 2024

buildings, genealogy, law, religion

bigamy, Castile, child mortality, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, entail male, family trusts, guy ritchie, Henry IV, illegitimate children, Isabel of Castile, John of Gaunt, land, Lionel of Antwerp, Mortimers, Moynihan barony, Netflix, primogeniture, Richard II, Sir Brian Stanley-Wainwright, Stephen Lark, The Gentlemen, titles

There’s a new “blockbuster” coming up on Netflix. It’s called The Gentlemen, and is described as follows: “….Army captain Eddie Horniman is working for the UN abroad when he learns his aristocratic dad has died….everyone expects Eddie’s older brother Freddy to become next Duke of Halstead and inherit the estate…but his father has disinherited Freddy…
A circumstantial but viable clue to the eventual death of Edward II….

Mar 6, 2024

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, Science, sources

Abdication, adam murimuth, Auramala Project, Battle of Sluys, Berkeley Castle, berkeley pill, Canada, Corfe Castle, david tandy, Edmund Earl of Kent, Edward II, Edward III, Edward IV, Edward V, elizabeth comyn, escape, evidence, executions, Fieschi Letter, fundy bay, Glenn Moran, Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucestershire, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Ian Mortimer, Isabelle de France, Joan of Kent, John Ashdown-Hill, John of Gaunt, Kathryn Warner, Lady Eleanor Talbot, mtDNA evidence, richard barber, Richard II, Richard of Shrewsbury, Richard Talbot, Roger Mortimer, Salisbury Cathedral, secret marriage, Severn Estuary, Thomas Lord Berkeley

In a way the mystery of Edward II is not unlike that of the Princes in the Tower (see here). In both cases supposed royal murders have turned out to be untrue and the victims have escaped to the Continent. Also in both cases the murder aspect has been unchallenged until relatively recently, with all the old…
A spare £9.5 million will get you a beautiful historic castle in Cumbria….

Mar 3, 2024

battles, buildings, sources, Uncategorized

appleby castle, british History Online, castles, First Battle of St. Albans, hotels, Lake District, property sales, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Richard III, thomas baron clifford

Britain fair bulges with castles, especially along borders or simply impose control in troublesome areas. Some of these fortresses are stark, dramatic ruins that still carry the threatening air that was intended when they were built. Others are more beautiful….and still occupied by those fortunate enough to have, say, £9.5 million stashed away for a…
Roman Wales

Mar 1, 2024

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, culture, religion

Anne Neville, British tribes, caerlent, Caerleon, Cardiff Castle, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Christianity, Colchester Castle, conversion, Demetae, Despensers, Gower Peninsula, Kent, Llanelli, Magnus Maximus, Monmouthshire, Normans, Ordovices, Richard III, River Usk, Robert Curthose, Roman Britain, rugby, Silures, Swansea, Time team, Tower of London, tribes, Wales

The first thing to note about Roman rule in Wales is that it started in 48 AD, a few years later than in England, which is a consequence of the Claudian invasion having started in Kent. It is likely to have finished a little earlier too, in about 383, as the general Maximus Magnus sought…
The Red Castle

Feb 28, 2024

buildings, genealogy

audleys, Hawkstone Hall, Heighley Castle, Holy Grail, king arthur, Red Castle, stone

The Red Castle mentioned in The Adventures of Alianore Audley, is a real place, albeit not very much is left of it. It is in Hawkstone Park and was formerly one of the main residences of the Touchet/Audley family. The spelling of ‘Touchet’ varies enormously. Some members of the family used ‘Touchet’ while others used…
The rise and fall of Sir Thomas Molyneux’s Cuerdale Hall in Lancashire….

Feb 27, 2024

anniversaries, battles, buildings, sources

british History Online, Colonel Ralph Assheton, Cuerdale Hoard, John of Gaunt, Lancashire, Radcot Bridge, Ralph Holinshed, Richard II, Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland, Sir thomas molyneux, thomas mortimer

My meanderings in the name of research sometimes turn up things that rather bemuse me. This time I was in hot pursuit of Sir Thomas Molyneux of Cuerdale, who was murdered rather nastily by Thomas Mortimer Thomas Mortimer at the Battle of Radcot Bridge on 19 December 1387. Molyneux had once been John of…
What ancient Celtic wonders did the Romans encounter beyond the estuary of the Severn….?

Feb 26, 2024

buildings, religion

Arthur, Celtic myths, Christianity, Cotswolds, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, J.R.R. Tolkein, King Lear, Lludd Llaw Ereint, Lydney, Lydney Park, Mary Stewart, Merlin, Nennius, Nodens, novels, Nuada, R.E.M. Wheeler, Roman Britain, Severn bore, Severn Estuary, Shakespeare, temples, Wales

Before I go any further, let me say that the above image is more or less the first view I had back in the 1970s of the Romano-British temple of Nodens, at Lydney Park near the town of Lydney in Gloucestershire. The temple is on a hillfort site on a bluff where the River Severn…
Visit the Gloucester History Festival….!

Feb 21, 2024

buildings, Events

festivals, Gloucester, gloucester history festival, Philippa Langley, Richard III

Well, it seems that my home city of Gloucester is about to become the centre of the world. In a manner of speaking, of course, because the “Gloucester History Festival goes from the mythical Middle Ages to the modern Middle East”—see here here. I wish we could rustle up our once-Duke of Gloucester, Richard III,…
Our archaeological warriors strike again….!

Feb 20, 2024

archaeology, art, buildings

archaeology south-east, lundenwic, motivation, National Gallery, Saxon London, tunnels

“….Engineers digging a tunnel underneath the National Gallery have discovered objects from Saxon times, showing that the urban centre of Saxon London extended further west than previously thought….” Well, I think the gist of the above sentence (from this link) applies to just about everything from the past. We think we know what happened, why…
SIR ROBERT BRACKENBURY – ‘gentle Brakenbery….*

Feb 19, 2024

archaeology, art, battles, buildings, humour, Science

“Princes”, “The History of King Richard III”, Battle of Bosworth, Buckingham rebellion, Calais, Constable of the Tower, Durham, Essex, Graham Turner, ightham mote, John Greene, John of Gloucester, Kent, Philippa Langley, Polydore Vergil, Ricardian Bulletin, richard haute, royal hunting estates, selaby, Sir Robert Brackenbury, Stony Stratford, Thomas More, tunbridge castle, W.E. Hampton, Walter Hungerford

My latest sparkypus.com post… The last charge of King Richard III. It is possible that it was during this charge that Sir Robert Brackenbury fell, alongside his king. Painting by artist Graham Turner **********SIR THOMAS MORE , A MAN FOR ALL REASONS: SAINT OR SINNER? ‘Of all Richard III’s Northern Lieutenants few were…