The New Murrey and Blue blog

buildings

Sir Ralph Assheton. (The ‘Black Knight of Ashton’) Vice-Constable of England.

Jul 9, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, law, religion, sources

Ashton Hall, Battle of Bosworth, Black Knight, Clayton Hall, Coronation, Edward IV, English Civil War, Etihad Stadium, Flodden, funeral brass, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VI, Isabel Kirby, Jane Saville, Knight Marshal, knights banneret, Lieutenant of the Tower, Lord Byron, Margery Barton, Mary Byron, Middleton, Middleton Archers, Middleton Church, mothers, MPs, Ralph Holinshed, Richard III, Sheriff of Yorkshire, siege of Berwick, Sir Ralph Assheton, trams, Vice-Constable

There is some confusion about the parentage of Sir Ralph Assheton. At least, various internet sources give him alternative mothers. His father was Sir John Assheton of Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. The family’s main residence was Ashton Hall, although this building was sadly destroyed in the 1890s to make way for a coal yard. The medieval parish…
They might just as well be in THIS urn

Jul 8, 2023

archaeology, buildings, culture, humour, religion, Science

“Princes”, Ashes, DNA analysis, Lord’s, radio carbon dating, Tower of London, trophies, Westminster Abbey

Here is the urn in Westminster Abbey, purporting to contain the remains of the “Princes” as found in 1672, although we don’t know whether they were discovered a few decades earlier and reburied soon afterwards. We also don’t know how many individuals are in the urn and whether they are related, which species they are,…
Caernarfon Castle, one of Wales’s great historic sites….

Jul 7, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, law, travel

“Tudors”, Afon Seiont, Anglesey, Caernarfon Castle, castles, Charles “III”, Country Life, Edward I, Edward II, Gwynedd, investiture, Menai Strait, Princes of Wales, Roman forts, tourism, Wales, William Prince of Wales

The great fortresses built by Edward I to subdue the rebellious Welsh are all spectacular and have survived the centuries. Now they are considered beautiful examples of medieval workmanship and have become great tourist attractions, which isn’t really what old Longshanks ever intended! One of the finest of these fortresses is Caernarfon which is always…
Margaret Beaufort’s wayward stepson….

Jul 5, 2023

buildings, genealogy, religion

Academia, Bishops of Ely, clerical celibacy, Ely Cathedral, height, James Stanley, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Thomas Baron Stanley

Not everything in the Stanley garden was rosy, and one of the 1st Earl of Derby’s son was a Bishop of Ely who broke the celibacy rules and was at 6′ 7″ described as the tallest man in England. His name was James Stanley, he was well liked and I don’t really think he…
For sale for the first time in 700 years….

Jul 3, 2023

buildings, genealogy

Adlington Hall, Cheshire, hunting lodges, legh family, property sales

Well, eye-watering prices are common enough when it comes to the sale of historic houses/estates, and Adlington Hall in Cheshire is no exception. The entire estate is up for £30 million but is divided into twenty-five lots. This is the first time in 700 years that the house—which began as a Saxon hunting lodge—has been…
Do you remember?

Jun 30, 2023

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, humour

alternative names, Barron Knights, Belgium, comedy songs, eating disorders, Ghent, half-inching, Israel, Joan of Acre, John of Gaunt, metrication, Metropolitan Police, Michael Foot, Scotland Yard, theft

There was a British comedy song in the 1970s about metrication. Although I cannot trace it, even on their website, it may well have been by the Barron Knights. It suggested that a Cabinet Minister of the time be renamed Michael 30.24cm and the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police (who arrest people for 1.27cm-ing) Scotland…
Ockwells Manor and John Howard, Duke of Norfolk….

Jun 28, 2023

buildings, law

Anne Boleyn, Berkshire, british History Online, Country Life, executions, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Maidenhead Civic Society, Ockwells Manor, property sales, Sir Henry Norreys, Sir John Norreys, William Duke of Suffolk

Ockwells Manor in Berkshire is surely one of the most beautiful old houses in the United Kingdom. It encapsulates everything we sigh for longingly when it comes to rambling, romantic half-timbered medieval properties with gables and a good few chimneys. And it predates the Tudors! More than its beauty and desirability, Ockwells Manor has a…
Richard III – in Rochdale Town Hall

Jun 26, 2023

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion

churches, Edward V, Manchester, Oliver Cromwell, Richard III, Rochdale Town Hall, Three Estates, travel, virtual tours, William I, William IV

This link leads to a photo of Richard III as depicted in stained glass in Rochdale Town Hall. The boy with him is Edward V. Richard and Edward are by no means the only English/British monarchs honoured in this way. The series runs from William the Conqueror to William IV, with Oliver Cromwell thrown in…
Dear Catherine …,

Jun 25, 2023

anniversaries, art, buildings, heraldry, law, religion

“Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, annulments, Arthur “Tudor”, bigamy, British Museum, Catherine of Aragon, executions, Henry VIII, jewellery, Julius II, Leviticus 18:16, marriages, Mary I, metal detecting, non-consummation, pendants, popes, Warwickshire

… Here is a little something to thank you for being married to me for so long because you definitely weren’t married to my brother, as the Pope confirmed. Sorry, for not being validly married to me because you were really married to my brother, as I decided, despite you giving birth to my first…
SIR PAUL PINDAR c.1565-1650. AND HIS HOUSE IN BISHOPSGATE

Jun 24, 2023

anniversaries, buildings, religion, travel

ambassadors, Bishopsgate, Constantinople, Half Moon Street, Italian banking system, James VI, John Strype, Liverpool Street Station, London, Northamptonshire, Old St. Paul’s, Ottoman Empire, Sir Paul Pyndar, taverns, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wellingborough

Reposted from A Medieval Potpourri@sparkypus.com The façade of Sir Paul Pindar’s house in Bishopgate. Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Photo Victoria and Albert Museum Collection Sir Paul Pindar acquired the site in what was then known as Bishopsgate Street Without in 1597 and begun building the house, later known as Pindar’s House, shortly afterward…