Now the venue for weddings, Westenhanger Castle in Kent was once visited—and owned—by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The latter was an honour, the former was not. In my opinion anyway. The Great Storm of 1987 did untold damage across the country. Don’t we all remember it? It certainly made no exception of Westenhanger, especially…

Sir William Carey was another of the Lancastrian knights executed after the Battle of Tewkesbury. Carey was the son of Philip Carey and Christian Orchard. He was born on 12 August 1437. His father died soon afterwards. From an early age, William was in the service of Queen Margaret of Anjou. He was knighted by…

Well, I own up to never having heard of the Cathedral Ceilings Campaign (see Cathedral Ceilings Campaign – Milestone Reached – The Association of English Cathedrals) but it was a pleasure to learn of some of the things that our cathedrals reveal if we only bend our necks to look UP. It seems that the…

Box/cupboard/alcove beds have been mentioned in other articles on this blog, the subject of early sleeping arrangements always being fascinating. I first saw some of these enclosed, built-in beds when I was a child in 1953 and was lucky enough to be taken to the Folk Museum at Cloppenburg in Lower Saxony in the then…

Do we need another picture of Henry VIII? Better ask his wives…well, the ones who kept their heads and therefore could still speak when they breathed their last. Looking at it, I can safely say it’s as horrible as all the others we know about and I wouldn’t have cared if it had remained in…

Here at this link (Runaway Wives in Medieval London | History Workshop) is a very interesting article about what drove medieval wives to flee from their husbands. But the link comes with a warning: “This post discusses violence against women.” How very modern. Sadly, the medieval world considered us to be, quite literally, the property…

Sir John Stanley KG 1350-1414, although himself a younger son, was effectively the founder of the main Stanley family as we know and love them as he married the wealthy heiress Isabel Lathom. (Isabel’s mother was descended, among others, from William Marshal.) Sir John was actually convicted of murder in 1376 but pardoned in 1378.…

Assessments of monarchs are always absorbing, but when the monarch is Henry VII, it’s of particular interest to a Yorkist like me. While browsing today I came upon this short paper Thinking History Activity, the heading of which is Henry VII: From diligent bureaucrat to paranoid blunderer? In it I read the following: “….One more…

A few months ago the River Severn was in flood again. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink, so to speak. Now, in the summer 2024, after a period of cool but mostly dry weather, it’s gone to the other extreme and at Gloucester is so low that some of the foundations of…

DNA is a wondrous thing, and these days we can’t imagine being without it. For example it has transformed the work of the police almost beyond recognition. It also solved the question of whether or not the remains found in Leicester Greyfriars were those of Richard III. Which they were. Now it has disproved the…