buildings
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Even as a child, I was fascinated by Lyme Cage. It stands on high ground, and to a casual observer has no obvious purpose. I remember being told it was used as a prison for poachers – hence the name – but this was neither its primary nor original function. A mere glance at a…
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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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Elizabeth Woodville left sanctuary with her daughters on March 1, 1484, after Richard III swore a public oath that she and her daughters would be unharmed and that he would find the girls suitable matches. But where did she go then? Her daughters were, at least part time, welcome at court, but ‘Dame Grey’ as…
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Well, obviously a lot of our pubs bear the names of kings and queens, with Queen Victoria heading the list above. I’m surprised to find Kings George III, George IV and William IV galloping up behind her, while all the rest are far more thinly spread. Why are these four monarchs, who all reigned…
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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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The Countess of Desmond remembered dancing with Richard….?
Battle of Bosworth, Bernard Andre, Countess of Desmond, dancing, Dromana House, Eltham Palace, essays, Francis Bacon, Henry VII, Inchiquin Castle, Ireland, JSTOR, Mary Agnes Hickson, nathaniel grogan, Richard III, Richard Steele, Robert Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, teeth, Thomas More, treachery, University of ExeterWhile searching for one thing, yet again I came upon another. This time it was a very interesting essay available on JSTOR. It is titled Lees and Moonshine: Remembering Richard III, 1485-1635 by Philip Schwyzer of the University of Exeter. You can find it here but need to register and give a password. However, for…
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CROSSBONES – BURIAL PLACE OF WINCHESTER GEESE AND ‘THE OUTCAST DEAD’
Arthur de Mowbray, Bermondsey, Bishop of Winchester, Borough High Street, Caroline Wilkinson, Crossbones Cemetery, facial reconstruction, Henry II, infant mortality, John Stow, Jubilee Line, London, Lord Brabazon, Museum of London, pauper burials, prostitution, Ribbon Gates, River Thames, Southwark, St. Thomas’ Hospital, Winchester GeeseREBLOGGED FROM A MEDIEVAL POTPOURRI @ sparkpus.com Shrine of many ribbons at the entrance to Crossbones Cemetery. Photo Kay Nicols. It’s harder to find a more sadder place in South London than the site of Crossbones Burial Ground, Redcross Way, which is a side street tucked away off the busy Borough High Street,…
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… it was announced that the remains discovered on the site of the Leicester Greyfriars were indeed those of Richard III. On this page you can see both mitochodrial DNA lines: the first by John Ashdown-Hill and the back-up by Leicester University, both to collateral descendants in Commonwealth nations. Here you can see how easy it…
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A number of film critics have now viewed the new Steve Coogan movie, THE LOST KING, about the finding of Richard III’s remains. Reviews have been mixed but generally quite positive; I imagine it might be one of those ‘marmite’ films, which viewers either love or loathe. A exhibition in The Wallace Collection had also…
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Have two lost islands been traced off the Welsh coast….?
Atlantis, Bermuda Triangle, Brutus, Cantre’r Gwaelod, Cardigan Bay, Conwy Bay, Cornwall, Dunwich, Edward IV, Gough Map, Henry IV, Hy-Brasil, Ireland, Iseult, islands, lost lands, Lyonesse, past maps, Ravenspur, Richard II, Scilly Isles, Seithenyn, South Devon, Suffolk, tristan, Trojans, Tyno Helig, WalesThe thought of lost/sunken lands has always fascinated me, beginning with the legendary land of Lyonesse, once believed to be off the coast of Cornwall, between Land’s End and the present Isles of Scilly. It features prominently in the story of Tristan and Iseult. And, like many such sunken lands, the bells of its…
