Science
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The phenomenal Philippa Langley, finder of lost monarchs, is at it again! If you go here you’ll read that she has now discovered Henry I, and guess what? He too is under a car park. In his case it isn’t Greyfriars but the much grander Reading Abbey….albeit in a part that is now the car…
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I’ve always thought that moats were entirely for defence, but it seems no, there are other reasons as well, as you’ll read if you go here: 9 Myths About Medieval Moats and the Truth Behind Them | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net) Moats were also for showing off. The deeper and wider the moat, the more influential the…
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When it comes to yew trees (European variety – taxus baccata, picture from the Woodland Trust) the British Isles are very well endowed, not only with thousands of fine specimens, but hundreds of fine ancient specimens. Who hasn’t noticed the yew trees that grow by our parish churches? It’s said they’re a remnant of pagan…
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Well, once again the archaeologists of Leicester University are busy with their gleaming trowels. This time they’re scratching and scraping the ground beneath the Highcross Shopping Centre in search of Leicester’s Roman and medieval past. See here. I wish them well, truly, but can’t help noticing that complete omission of any mention of the finding…
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… for encrypted documents to be found in the French archives, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. This time, the computerised decoding process revealed the missives to the French Ambassador to contain nouns and verbs in the feminine form, mentions of captivity and of Sir Francis Walsingham, leading the experts to deduce the sender to be…
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Here is the urn in Westminster Abbey, purporting to contain the remains of the “Princes” as found in 1672, although we don’t know whether they were discovered a few decades earlier and reburied soon afterwards. We also don’t know how many individuals are in the urn and whether they are related, which species they are,…
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The Royals: A History of Scandals
adultery trials, Albert Victor Duke of Clarence, Amy Robsart, animal bones, annulments, Brighton Pavillion, Caroline of Brunswick, Catherine of Aragon, Charles V, Cleveland Street, coronations, corruption, Count Konigsmarck, disappearance, divorce, DNA evidence, Edward VII, Elizabeth I, Ernest Augustus Duke of Cumberland, extravagance, Frederick Duke of York, George I, George III, George IV, Germany, Group Captain Townsend, Hanoverians, Henry VIII, human remains, imprisonment, John Ashdown-Hill, Leine Castle, male brothels, Maria Smythe, More 4, Princess Margaret, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, Royal Marriage Secrets, Royal Marriages Act, royal mistresses, royal murder mysteries, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, Suzannah Lipscomb, Sweden, The Royals: A History of Scandals, valets, Victoria, William CecilThis is a four-part series on More4, presented by Suzannah Lipscomb and with a focus on the Hanoverian era. It started with financial scandals, such as George IV’s extravagance and his brother‘s mistress who sold army commissions. The second episode was about sexual scandals and rumours, such as Edward VII’s mistresses and the male brothel…
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Wanted …
Albert Dock, Alice Roberts, ampitheatres, anchorites, Anglo-Dutch Wars, Anglo-Saxon burials, animal bones, Antony Bek, Auckland Castle, Bishop’s Stortford, Blitz, Cat Jarman, chapels, Cheshire, Civil War, cobalt mines, Coleshill Manor, copper, Cornwall, debased coinage, demolition, digging for Britain, docks, Dorchester, Dorset, Edinburgh, Elizabeth I, English Channel, fire, fireplaces, flint tools, forts, Harlaxton Hall, Haverfordwest, henges, Henry VIII, hill forts, Holyrood Park, HS2, Hull, Iron Age, Isabelle German, Islay, jewellery, Lincolnshire, Liverpool, Loftus, Londonderry, matriarchy, Mercia, midlands, Mint, Neolithic Era, Old Coppernose, osteoparosis, Oxford, Peterborough, piermasters, prince bishops, Priories, recolouring, rheumatoid arthritis, Robert Greville Lord Brooke, Roche, Roman baths, Romans, roundhouses, Rutland, Rutland mosaic, salting, Scarborough, shields, sieges, silver plating, South Blockhouse, spiral staircases, Stane Street, Streethouse, Stuart Prior, syphilis, The Anarchy, Thomas Hardy, Tower of London, Vespasian, Victorians, volcanoes, Wessex Archaeology, Western Isles, Wiltshire, York, YorkshireDigging for Britain is back, just twenty hours into the New Year, for series 10 (excluding a few specials). Alice Roberts is still the host, with Cat Jarman and Stuart Prior. The first episode included a Roman road in Bishop’s Stortford, an Iron Age matriarchy excavated in Dorset and a Lady of the Mercians (but…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 