The New Murrey and Blue blog

travel

The mouth of the Fleet River once looked like this….?

Oct 6, 2020

buildings, law, travel

Bridewell Palace, Copperplate Map, Hampstead Heath, Henry VIII, past maps, prisons, River Fleet, St. Bride’s Church, Thames

Well, it’s hard to imagine now, because the Fleet is underground for most of its lower length, but Henry VIII once had a palace here, where the Fleet flows into the Thames. Bridewell Palace was favoured by him early in his reign, but later became the notorious Bridewell Prison, on account of which many institutions…
A pleasant surprise

Sep 19, 2020

television reviews, travel

“Princes”, Avon-Kennet Canal, Birmingham, Bristol, Brunel, canals, centurions, Channel Five, Coventry, Crimewatch, Dan Jones, Edward II, Endeavour Morse, Grand Union Canal, Lancashire towns, Lancaster, Leeds-Liverpool Canal, Liverpool, London, Oxford, Oxford Canal, ports, rainfall, red hot poker, Richard III, Roman roads, The Wench is Dead, trade, transport, Yorkshire

In recent years, Dan Jones’ posing and fanciful Crimewatch-style re-enactments, together with Starkeyesque conclusions formed before he started, has marred quite a few series on mediaeval history. Now he seems to have changed tack completely with this series, covering canal building from the middle of the eighteenth century and – yes – I rather enjoyed…
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…
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…
Shiver me timbers, it’s Cap’n Columbus….!

Aug 2, 2020

anniversaries, travel

adventurers, Christopher Columbus, Henry Morgan, pirates, Trinidad

Ignorance of history prevails today, and nowhere more so than cable TV! I have just seen a fleeting image of Christopher Columbus, dressed in ostrich-feathered tricorn, flared and lavishly braided coat, knee breeches, white stockings and high-heeled buckled shoes. Oh, and with oodles of lace spilling from his huge decorated cuffs. He looked soooooo 1492,…
Richard III started the monarch’s messenger secret service….?

Jul 26, 2020

travel

diplomatic bags, John Norman, Richard III, Royal Messengers

So Richard was the first to set up a King’s/Queen’s Messengers service? I didn’t know that. We’re all aware of “diplomatic bags” and such like, but it’s only now that I learn it was all due to Richard. He employed a certain John Norman, in whom he clearly placed great trust. Alas, it seems the…
The Mayflower

Jul 22, 2020

anniversaries, art, religion, travel

Bartholomew Gosnold, Boston, Cape Cod, Captain Reynolds, Christopher Jones, Coggeshall, Delftshaven, Harwich, James VI/I, Leiden, Lieden Communion, Liverpool, Mayflower, Plymouth, Puritans, Rotherhithe, settlers, ships, Sir Francis Drake, Southampton, Speedwell, USA, William Bradford, William Halsall

Below is William Halsall’s 1882 portrait of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor. It is obviously imagined as the original ship was almost certainly broken up at Rotherhithe in 1624, a more extreme case than the “Streatham portrait“, which post-dates it’s purported subject’s death by about forty years. From the spelling of the title, the background…
What really happened in 1385, when the Earl of Stafford’s son and heir was killed on a Yorkshire road…?

Jul 16, 2020

anniversaries, buildings, religion, sources, travel

Beverley Minster, Bishopsthorpe, Bustardthorpe, Catton, Derwent, disputes, Dukes of Exeter, Earl of Huntingdon, Earls of Stafford, English Place Name Society, executions, Henry IV, Jehan de Wavrin, John Holland, John of Gaunt, jousting, Ouse, Pleshey Castle, Ralph Stafford, Richard II, sanctuary, Scotland, Thomas of woodstock, Yorkshire

On Sunday, 16th July 1385 (maybe 18th) there was an incident at Bustardthorpe, which is south of York on the road to Bishopthorpe, where King Richard II was staying at the (arch)bishop’s palace. A large portion of his army and nobles were encamped close by because the English were en route for Scotland, intending to…
Following the Gough Map of Medieval Britain….

Jul 12, 2020

art, television reviews, travel

Gough Map, In Search of Mediaeval Britain, maps, PBS America

Last night I watched an episode of In Search of Medieval Britain presented by Dr Alixe Bovey. The series concerns journeys that follow the famous Gough Map of medieval Britain and is very interesting and enlightening. The episode I watched concerned ‘London and the South East’, and I learned a few things I…
The mystery of the vanished manor of Ostenhanger….

Jun 5, 2020

anniversaries, battles, buildings, heraldry, travel

Anglo-Saxons, Baron Poynings, Berwic, East Stour, Eleanor of Aquitaine, executions, Fair Rosamund Clifford, Folkestone, Hengist, Henry II, Hundred Years War, Kent, le Hangre, maps, Ostenhanger, Rosamund’s Tower, Second Battle of St. Albans, Sir John Kirrel, Sir Richard Rokesley, Westenhanger Castle

There once was an Anglo-Saxon manor in the south of Kent called Berwic, which became known as Le Hangre, and was then split into two manors, Westenhanger and Ostenhanger. Westenhanger is still very much in evidence (see illustration above) but Ostenhanger as such has disappeared entirely. It’s still there really, of course, but was…