The New Murrey and Blue blog

buildings

Quaint Castle Combe….but what about all the visitors in summer….?

Dec 22, 2022

buildings

Castle Combe, Cotswolds, property sales, The Bridge House, Wiltshire

Well, we’re all familiar with the above idyllic view of Castle Combe, which is surely one of the most picturesque villages in the whole of England. Just imagine the effect all our new housing developments will have on future generations. Will people be as enchanted then as we are now by this matchless example…
Newport and the lucky/unlucky Staffords….

Dec 20, 2022

battles, buildings, genealogy, law

Battle of Shrewsbury, Buckingham rebellion, Earls of Stafford, executions, Gwent, Henry of Buckingham, Hugh Earl of Stafford, John Holland, murder, Newport Castle, pilgrimage, Ralph Stafford, Richard II, Richard III, Scottish campaign 1385, Staffords, William Howard Viscount Stafford

It seems to me, looking at the list in this article about Newport Castle, that a few members of the Stafford family came to sticky ends, some deserved, some apparently not. They may have been unlucky, but the family was wealthy and titled, so perhaps not that hard done by. In 1377 Hugh, Earl of…
Rebellion in the Middle Ages

Dec 19, 2022

anniversaries, battles, Book Reviews, buildings, law, religion

Archbishop of Canterbury, Arthur of Brittany, Azincourt, Bannockburn, Barons’ War, Battle of Evesham, Battle of Hastings, Battle of Lewes, Battle of Shrewsbury, Black Death, Blackheath, Boroughbridge, Canterbury Cathedral, Crusades, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward I, Edward II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, executions, First Battle of St. Albans, France, Geoffrey of Brittany, Henry Cardinal Beaufort, Henry II, Henry III, Henry IV, Henry the Young King, Henry V, Henry VI, Hereward the Wake, House of Lancaster, Hugh Despencer, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Humphrey of Gloucester, insanity, Isabelle de France, Isle of Ely, Jack Cade, John, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Protector of the Realm, Lords Ordainers, Magna Carta, Matilda, Matt Lewis, murder, Parliament, Peasants’ Revolt, Peterborough Abbey, Piers Gaveston, rebellions, Richard Duke of York, Richard I, Richard II, Robert of Gloucester, Roger Mortimer, Royal Marriage Secrets, Scarborough Castle, secret marriage, Southampton plot, St. Thomas Becket, Stephen, The Anarchy, Thomas of Lancaster, Tower of London, usurpation, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, William Duke of Suffolk, William I, William Marshall

This is the latest of Matthew Lewis’ books and covers a longer period than any of the others, from Hereward the Wake’s emergence after Hastings to the beginning of the Wars of the Roses, almost as long a period as this book. Lewis is already an expert on “The Anarchy” (chapter 2) and the Roses…
The Empress and the Tower: A Daring Escape from Oxford Castle in 1142

Dec 18, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings

escapes, Matilda, river Isis, Siege of Oxford, snow, Stephen, The Anarchy

Originally posted on Giaconda's Blog: Empress Matilda The Oxford Castle and Prison complex drips with history. Tracing it’s roots back to Anglo-Saxon England and the world of Viking raids and fortified burghs when towns like Oxford faced waves of violence and destruction; the castle has endured sieges, held political prisoners and undergone numerous adaptations as…
The Great Tent of Bruges….

Dec 15, 2022

battles, buildings, Uncategorized

Abbeville, Charles V, Count of Flanders, diplomacy, Field of the Cloth of Gold, France, Froissart, Great Tent of Bruges, John of Gaunt, john the fearless, Jonathan Sumption, peace treaties, Thomas of woodstock

In April 1382, at peace negotiations between England and France, the participants were entertained by the Count of Flanders, who erected “the great tent of Bruges” in which to wine and dine the gathering. This was between Calais and Boulogne. I’m curious about this great tent. Just how big was it? We’re accustomed to seeing…
The Wandering Butler: John, 6th Earl of Ormond

Dec 14, 2022

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

“Perkin”, Act of Resumption, Anne Boleyn, Anne Welles, Archbishop Talbot, attainders, bastardy, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of Northampton, Burgundy, Butlers, Butlers of Desmond, Captain of Calais, Charles the Bold, Chief Butler of Ireland, Cockermouth Castle, consanguinity, County Kilkenny, Earls of Desmond, Earls of Ormond, Edmund MacRichard Butler, Edward of Lancaster, Edward V, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Elizabeth of York, Ellice Barry, entail mail, First Battle of St. Albans, Guisnes, Henry of Buckingham, Ireland, Jerusalem, Joan Beauchamp, Joan Chaworth, justiciar of Ireland, Kilkenny Castle, Killone Abbey, languages, law studies, Lincoln’s Inn, Lord Grey of Codnor, Louis XI, Ludford Bridge, Margaret of Burgundy, marriages, Munster. Avice Stafford, naval fleet, nuns, ODNB, Peerage of Ireland, Piers Butler, Piltown, Portugal, Pronothary of Bourbon, Raghnailt, Readeption, Richard III, Rome, royal pensions, Sandwich, Scotland, Sir Edmund Mortimer, Sixtus IV, Statute of Kilkenny, Stephen Ellis, Tadhg King of Thomond, Thomas Earl of Desmond, Tipperary, Wars of the Roses, Waterford, Wydevilles

FAMILY BACKGROUND The Lancastrian leader who faced – or failed to face – Thomas, Earl of Desmond, at the Battle of Piltown in 1462 was the fourth of the five children born to James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond (otherwise known as the White Earl), and his countess Joan Beauchamp, daughter of William Beauchamp, Lord…
A TV visit to Middleham Castle….

Dec 12, 2022

buildings, television reviews

“Princes”, Go Visit Castles, Henry VII, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Middleham Castle, Richard III, Yorkshire

The TV series Go Visit Castles has now dealt with Richard III’s castle at Middleham, see here. The resultant video is interesting and shows the castle in detail, including an intriguing reconstruction of the castle kitchens (see above). The tone isn’t for the highly knowledgeable, more to introduce “beginners” to the workings of a castle,…
Digging for Treasure

Dec 8, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, religion, Science, television reviews

Abdication, aeroplanes, Anglo-Saxons, Anne Neville, Boudicca, castles, Channel Five, coins, Dan Walker, Digging for Treasure, Fincham, King’s Lynn, Lancaster bombers, Loch leven, London Bridge, Mary Queen of Scots, metal detecting, Michaela Strachan, mudlarking, Norfolk, Northallerton, Portable Antiquities Scheme, Raksha Dave, Scotland, scuba-detecting, Sheriff Hutton, Southwark Cathedral, Wars of the Roses

There are several interesting archaeology series on television and Channel Five has now joined in with an ensemble programme, headed by two familiar personalities (Dan Walker and Michaela Strachan) and a similarly ubiquitous chief archaeologist (Raksha Dave), but with more of an emphasis on metal detecting for the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, including Roman…
Murder at Pencoed Castle….

Dec 7, 2022

battles, buildings, law, Science

“Tudors”, Battle of Bosworth, Llanmartin, Monmouthshire, murder, Norman castles, Pencoed Castle, ruins, Sir Thomas Morgan

Last night I watched a documentary about the 2016 murder of call girl Georgina Symonds by her lover, millionaire Peter Morgan. The story of the murder is intriguing enough, but I found myself being more concerned about the scene of the crime, the picturesque ruins of Pencoed Castle in Monmouthshire. It’s situated at Llanmartin, near…
The Crown Jewels in magnificent close-up….

Dec 6, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, television reviews

BBC1, Black Prince’s Ruby, Clive Myrie, Colonel Thomas Blood, crown jewels, Crystal Palace, curses, Elizabeth II, Imperial State Crown, Koh-i-Noor diamond, spinel, The Crown Jewels

Last night I watched a truly decorative and stylish BBC documentary called The Crown Jewels. At the outset we were told that the makers had unprecedented access to both the jewels and the very latest technology, the latter permitting such close-ups of the dazzling gems that their true beauty really was revealed. There were…