buildings

How did those Canterbury pilgrims hear at the back…?

Sep 14, 2020

art, buildings, religion

Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, pilgrimage, pubs

There is something that has always puzzled me about Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: if there were up to thirty pilgrims (which is what’s reckoned) how on earth could one of them (at a time)tell a tale that the other twenty-nine could hear? In the text Chaucer has his pilgrims point out places they’re passing, so it…
Barley Hall, the Alderman’s House

Sep 12, 2020

archaeology, buildings

Alderman’s House, Barley Hall, Maurice Barley, Priory Nostell House, William Carter, William Snawsell, York, York Archaelogical Trust

There is a Building in York where you can go back in time to 1483. It is situated in the City centre, no 2, Coffee Yard. You may access it from there, or from a small alley in Stonegate. This Building is now known as Barley Hall. The story of this mansion is fascinating, and…
London’s first playhouse rediscovered….?

Sep 8, 2020

archaeology, buildings, culture, heraldry, The play’s the thing

Howards, John Brayne, London, Red Lion playhouse, Richard Burbage, The Globe, theatres, University College London, Whitechapel

Well, it just goes to show that although the past may now be buried far underground, now and then it still comes to light to thrill us all. Now it seems they’ve discovered the site of the Red Lion, “the earliest known attempt to build a playhouse in the Tudor era, a precursor to the…
Oh where, Oh where, has Chaucer’s “Foul Oak” gone….?

Sep 6, 2020

anniversaries, buildings, travel

A2, Anne of Bohemia, Baginton Oak, Canterbury, Christ Church Greyfriars, Dover, Eltham Palace, executions, Foul Oak Hatcham, Geoffrey Chaucer, highway robbery, Nicholas Brembre, Old Kent Road, Palace of Westminster, Richard II, Smithfield, St. george’s Chapel, St. Paul’s, Tower of London, Warwickshire, Watling Street, Windsor Castle

According to Project Gutenberg, on 6th September 1390 Geoffrey Chaucer was mugged at a place called the Foul Oak, but not the Baginton Oak. Rather was it on what we now call the Old Kent Road but was originally the Roman Watling Street, leading out of London, on the way to Canterbury and…
A rogue detectorist strikes at Fotheringhay….!

Sep 3, 2020

archaeology, buildings

executions, Fotheringhay, Mary Stuart, metal detecting, nighthawks, Richard III

“….A man with a metal detector was spoken to just hours before two holes were dug at the East Northamptonshire site where Mary, Queen of Scots was tried and executed. “….An investigation has been launched after the criminal incident within the grounds of Fotheringhay Castle – which is protected as a scheduled monument – overnight…
The Medieval Free Company (by the Legendary Ten Seconds)

Aug 31, 2020

anniversaries, buildings, Music Reviews

archery, Buckland Abbey, Devon, Medieval Free Company, re-enactors, The Acoustic Alphabet, The Legendary Ten Seconds, Wars of the Roses

THE MEDIEVAL FREE COMPANY AT BUCKLAND ABBEY AUGUST 2015 On a Bank Holiday Monday, 31st August 2015, I visited Buckland Abbey near Plymouth where a Wars of the Roses re-enactment group who call themselves The Medieval Free Company had set up their encampment. Buckland Abbey is a National Trust property which was founded by Cistercian…
The Royal Progress of Richard III

Aug 29, 2020

anniversaries, battles, buildings, law, religion, sources, travel

“Arrivall of Edward IV”, “Princes”, Annales, Anne Neville, Anne Sutton, Black Death, Brecon, Bristol, Buckingham rebellion, Cambridge, Canterbury Cathedral, Catherine de Medici, Charles IX, Chief Justice, Compton Reeves, Cora Schofield, Coventry, Crowland Chronicle, Earl of Kildare, Edmund of Rutland, Edward II, Edward III, Edward IV, Edward of Middleham, Edward the Black Prince, Eucharist, execution, Fotheringhay, Francis Viscount Lovell, Gainsborough, George Duke of Clarence, George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury, Gloucester, Gloucester Cathedral, Grantham, Great Chronicle, Great Seal, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VI, Henry VII, investiture, Isabel Neville, Jamestown, John Fortescue, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, John Kendall, John Morton, John of Gloucester, John Russell, Katherine Hastings, Latin, Leicester, Lincoln, Lionel Woodville, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Louis XI, Ludlow, Margaret d’Anjou, Micklegate Bar, Middleham Castle, Minster Lovell, mystery plays, Nottingham, Oxford, Pamela Tudor-Craig, Peter Hammond, Pilgrims’ Way, Pontefract, Reading, reburials, Rhoda Edwards, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl Rivers, Richard III, Richard of Salisbury, River Ouse, River Severn, River Witham, Rosemary Horrox, Royal Progress, Sandwich, Sir Baldwin Fulford, Sir John Woodville, St. George, Tadcaster, Tewkesbury, Tewkesbury Abbey, Thomas of woodstock, Thomas Rotherham, Thornbury, Titulus Regius, Wakefield, Wales, Warwick, William I, William Lord Hastings, William Waynflete, Windsor Castle, Woodstock, Worcester, York

Following his coronation, Richard III – like all medieval monarchs – went on his “royal progress” through the realm. Along with an entourage in excess of 200 household men, ecclesiastics, supporters, and administrative officials, he visited towns and cities as far west as the River Severn, as far north as the River Ouse, and as…
York’s “Viking” tourism is recovering, but not yet for Richard….

Aug 24, 2020

archaeology, buildings, Events

Jorvik, monk Bar, Richard III Experience, York, York Archaelogical Trust

York Archaeological Trust says “….’Limiting admission numbers has probably had the most significant impact on our performance, but we have extended our opening hours at JORVIK Viking Centre throughout the school holidays, opening an hour earlier at 9am and closing at 8pm seven days a week’….” The Viking Centre is able to accommodate the required…
Thomas More and the Removal Men

Aug 23, 2020

archaeology, battles, buildings, sources

“Princes”, Barnard Castle, Battle of Bosworth, Dighton, Edward of Middleham, energetic priest, fantasy, Garden Tower, John Greene, John Stow, Miles Forest, Minster Lovell, Polydore Vergil, rescue plot, Richard III, Sir James Tyrrell, Sir Robert Brackenbury, Thomas Basin, Thomas More, Tyrrell “confession”, Warwick, Will Slaughter

Thomas More’s detailed and heart-wrenching account of the murders of Edward IV’s sons is well known, and is usually either accepted or dismissed in toto so it would probably be useful to pause at this point to remind ourselves exactly what it was that Thomas More claimed had happened to the boys and why opinions…
Richard’s first resting place – recreated

Aug 22, 2020

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, religion

Battle of Bosworth, CAD, Constanza of Castile, de Montfort University, Hawthorn Building, Hospital of the Annunciation, Lady Mary Hervey, Leicester Greyfriars, Mary de Bohun, Newarke Church, paint analysis, Richard III

Five years ago, we wrote about the lost Newarke Church in the Hospital of the Annunciation, where Richard lay for two days between his death and burial in the Greyfriars. As we said, the site is now occupied by the Hawthorn Building of de Montfort University, although these two original arches have been integrated. Here…