buildings
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“….Then came the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1509 [???!] as a result of the feud between King Henry [VIII] and The Pope. In his rage he [Henry] vandalised all the external fabric and internal property but he stopped short of the bells as he was aware of their potency with the people. Instead…
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“….MPs wishing to quit can apply to be ‘Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds’ or ‘Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead’. Neither job has existed for centuries but the ‘jobs’ still exist as a workaround to the law of 1624….” Well, I’d heard of the Chiltern Hundreds, but have to…
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The theft of items of great historical importance aren’t common, thank goodness, but they do come along…and this time—on Friday, 21st May, when a burglar alarm went off at 22:30 BST—it was Arundel Castle that was raided. To read all about it, go to this site. The stolen treasures were worth more than £1 million,…
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According to The Folklore of Gloucestershire by Roy Palmer, there was a traditional dish in the south of the county known as whitepot, and it was served at Whit Sunday “revels”. The ingredients of whitepot were: “….four quarts of milk, a pound of flour, a pound of golden syrup, eight eggs, two ounces of butter,…
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Buckingham’s Cousin: the Quiet Stafford
Anne Neville, Blackheath, churches, Constance Greene, Cornish rebellion, coronation procession, Drayton House, Earls of Wiltshire, Edward Earl of Wiltshire, Edward of Buckingham, executions, Fotheringhay, Henry Greene, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Hexham, Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, John Earl of Wiltshire, Knights of the Bath, Lowick, Staffords, tomb effigiesIn the sleepy little village of Lowick in Northamptonshire stands a fine medieval church with a tall octagonal ‘lantern’ tower that bears some similarity to that at Fotheringhay. It is normally kept locked but if you are very, very lucky you can track down the key in the village. There are many fine tomb effigies…
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Caversham is just across the Thames from Reading. The present bridge carrying the main road between the two places is modern, but it is more or less on the site of a medieval stone and timber bridge, dating from between 1163 and 1231. Sources vary as to whether it had one, two or three chapels,…
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The beautiful and irreplaceable Merlina… Reblogged from sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri It has recently been reported, 13 January 2021, that one of the famous Tower of London ravens has gone missing and it is now sadly presumed she has passed away. Merlina or Merlin as she was first known arrived at the Tower in 2007 after…
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I confess that I had never before seen a drawing, painting, engraving, whatever that depicted the Old Palace of Sheen as it was before Henry VII went to work on demolishing it and turning it into Richmond Palace. Sorry, but the present Richmond is a red-brick monstrosity in my opinion. I’m not saying the…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 