buildings

The Middleham Jewel and Richard III….

Sep 5, 2021

anniversaries, art, buildings

Anne Neville, Cecily Duchess of York, Countess of Warwick, heraldry, lozenges, mediaeval women, Middleham Castle, Middleham Jewel, National Portrait Gallery, ownership, portraits, provenance, reliquary, Richard III, Yorkshire Museum

Among the treasures going on display at the Yorkshire Museum is the Middleham Jewel (see above). Of course, the National Portrait Gallery painting of Richard III (see below) is also going on display, because Yorkshire has a great attachment to the king who, as Duke of Gloucester, lived there for many years. The Middleham…
The history of castles….

Sep 4, 2021

battles, buildings

Beaumaris Castle, Belvoir Castle, castles, Charles VIII, defences, Durham Castle, Edward I, English Civil War, Episcopal palaces, gunpowder, Italian Wars, keeps, Knights Hospitaller, Krak des Chevaliers, motte and bailey, Normans, ruins, slighting, stone, Syria, tourism, Wales, Warkworth Castle, William I, Windsor Castle

We all love early castles. Well, we can love those from later ages, but they don’t have quite the same cachet as those wonderful old fortresses that always make us gasp when we see them. But how did they evolve? And why did they become obsolete except as tourist attractions and scenic splendours? This article…
Leicester has a new attraction about Richard III at Bosworth….

Sep 2, 2021

art, battles, buildings

Battle of Bosworth, King Richards Road, Leicester, murals, Richard III

“….A new mural has been created on King Richards Road in Leicester to highlight the city’s links to King Richard III….” Oh yes, it has indeed, and very striking it is too, as you can see from the above illustration. You can read all about it at the Mercury website and again at the City Council site…
London’s Greatest Bridges (with Rob Bell)

Sep 1, 2021

buildings, Science, television reviews

America, architectural history, bascules, Blitz, bridges, Channel Five, Charles Barry, church of St. Magnus, Claudius, concrete, engineering, Gothic facade, Haberdashers, Henry II, Horace Jones, houses, Isambard Brunel, John Barry, London, London Bridge, Marc Brunel, Parliament, Port of London, River Thames, Rob Bell, Roman Britain, Rotherhithe Tunnel, shops, steel, stone, Tilbury, Tower Bridge, towers, wood

The series began at London Bridge itself. From an engineering perspective, Bell explained that the wooden Claudian bridge was the first across the Thames , built on no fewer than twenty-nine artificial islands, making it very difficult to negotiate. It was replaced with a very similar stone unit by Henry II. The Haberdashers were very…
Gloucester’s contribution to the Battle of Tewkesbury….

Aug 31, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, Events

Alney Island, Andrew Armstrong, charter, drowning, Edward of Lancaster, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Gloucester, Henry VI, Henry VII, Lancastrians, Lord Protector of the Realm, Malmsey, Margaret of Anjou, processions, Richard Duke of York, Richard’s Wood, River Severn, Tewkesbury

This year is the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Tewkesbury, and—justifiably—Gloucester wants a piece of the celebratory action. After all, Gloucester did contribute a lot to the outcome, by ensuring Margaret and her forces were obliged to take a stand in a place they wouldn’t have chosen. The queen wanted to pass through the…
Guess what? Henry VII invented the London Watch….!

Aug 29, 2021

buildings, law

“Tudor” propaganda, Beefeaters, Henry V, Henry VII, Human Shredder, London, London Watch, policing, renaissance, Richard III, Titulus Regius

“….Watchmen were organized groups of men, usually authorized by a state, government, city, or society, to deter criminal activity and provide law enforcement as well as traditionally perform the services of public safety, fire watch, crime prevention, crime detection, recovery of stolen goods. The streets in London were dark and had a shortage of artificial…
Richard III and the Ancient Egyptian cheese….!

Aug 25, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, religion, Science

Ancient Egypt, Anglo-Saxons, anthropology, Armenia, Azerbaijan, bamboo strips, barley, Battle of Bosworth, BBC, beer, Blombos cave, board games, Canada, cave art, cheese, China, Ciampate del Diavolo, Clotilda, Cote d’Ivoire, Erebus, gold, human hair, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, King Herod, Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars, mammoths, Mary Stuart, multiplication tables, Northwest Passage, nutcrackers, Pembrokeshire, Philippa Langley, quarry, Richard III, Roman villa, royal portraits, royal tombs, Russia, sculptures, shoes, Sir John Franklin, Sir John Maitland, skulls, slave ship, South Africa, Staffordshire Hoard, Stonehenge, storytelling, tomb of Ptahmes, USA, Wiltshire, X-rays

In this intriguing list of twenty , the discovery of Richard III’s remains comes in at number two! He was pipped at the post by an extremely old cheese from Egypt. Eh? Old cheese? Sorry, but can that possibly be more important than Richard? It doesn’t even have King Tut’s fingerprints or teethmarks! 😦 Oh…
Hey Diddle Dumpty….!

Aug 22, 2021

anniversaries, battles, buildings, culture

Archbishop Cranmer, Battle of Bosworth, Bishop Ridley, cannon, Charles I, Edward I, Hugh Latimer, nursery rhymes, one-eyed Jack, Richard III, siege of Colchester

Here is a quote from this article: “….Some say Humpty Dumpty is a sly allusion to King Richard III, whose brutal 26-month reign ended with his death in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. In this speculative version, King Richard III’s horse was supposedly called “Wall,” off of [sic] which he fell during battle.…
Digging up our monarchs; no, not Richard III this time….!

Aug 17, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, religion, Science

Anne Boleyn, Anne of Bohemia, Banqueting House, burial, Catherine de Valois, Charles I, childbirth, death, Edward I, Edward IV, Edward V, Edward VI, executions, Exhumation, George IV, Greenwich Palace, Henry II, James VII/II, John, King’s Langley, Leicester, Newark Castle, Old St. Paul’s, Pontefract Castle, Richard II, Richard III, Samuel Pepys, Society of Antiquaries, St. Edward the Confessor, St. Peter ad Vincula, St. Thomas Becket, Tower of London, Victoria, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Worcester Cathedral

I’m told that even now, if you purchase a plot of ground in which to put your loved ones to rest, the chances are they’ll only lie in peace for eighty years, at which time they are removed and new occupants move in. Well, for centuries our dead haven’t always been left to enjoy their…
The denouement at Penmaenhead in 1399….

Aug 16, 2021

anniversaries, buildings, sources

Clwyd, Colwyn Bay, Duchy of Lancaster, duel, duplicity, Earl of Northumberland, exile, Flint Castle, Henry IV, Ireland, Isabella de Valois, Milford Haven, Monty Python, Paul Murray Kendall, Penmaenhead, Pontefract Castle, property, Richard II, St. Albans Chronicle, Terry Jones, The Chronicle of Jean Creton, The Yorkist Age, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, usurpation, Wars of the Roses

When we think of Colwyn Bay today, we don’t think of vital historic events in August 1399, when a King of England, Richard II, was captured. This fact led to his deposition, imprisonment and suspiciously convenient death…culminating in the rise of the House of Lancaster in the form of his usurping first cousin, Henry…