Anglo-Saxons
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Tucked away in the Marshwood Vale in Dorset stands St. Candida’s church, in the village of Whitchurch Canonicorum, population around 700. The church is named after the obscure saint Wite, whose name is ‘Candida’ in Latin. Whitchurch simply means Wite’s church, and the ‘canonicorum’ part of the village name refers to the canons of Salisbury …
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London created champagne before the French….!
abbeys, Anglo-Saxons, Bermondsey, Bishops of Ely, champagne, Christopher Hatton, Christopher Merrett, churches, Duchy of Cornwall, Elizabeth I, Farringdon Road, France, Gloucestershire, Hatton Garden, Henry VI, Holborn Viaduct, Kennington, Kent, London, methode champenoise, Piccadilly, Rocque’s Map, Romans, Saffron Hill, Samuel Pepys, secondary fermentation, Smithfield, Southwark, St. Andrew Holborn, St. Augustine’s Abbey, The Oval, Vindolanda, Vineyard Walk, vineyards, Wales, WestminsterYes indeed, it seems that Londoners invented champagne. It’s a claim that won’t go down well across La Manche, and I found it at this site, which is also where I found the illustration from Rocque’s Map below. “…If you could time travel back to medieval London you would [find it] awash with vineyards at…
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Exciting finds are still being unearthed, this time another Anglo-Saxon burial ground that is proviing to be a trove of treasure and information. “….The site, in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, contained 138 graves, with 141 regular burials and five cremation burials, which makes it one of the largest Anglo-Saxon burial grounds ever uncovered in Britain….” “….Items…
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I haven’t read Sir Simon Jenkins’ book The Celts: A Sceptical History, and to be honest I don’t think I’m likely to. Like Jenkins, I too am half-Welsh and half-English, but I don’t fancy being descended from “sociable sailors”. What’s the old saying about sailors having a girl in every port? I should imagine…
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Athelstan–Our Greatest Monarch?
“The last Kingdom”, Alfred, Anglo-Saxons, Athelstan, Bernard Cornwell, books, Brunaburh, Cheshire, Constantine II, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Eadgyth, Edward the Elder, Elizabeth I, Germany, House of Wessex, illegitimacy rumours, legal reforms, Malmesbury Abbey, novels, piety, royal burials, Scotland, St. Aldhelm, St. Cuthbert, Tom Holland, Venerable Bede, Vikings, YorkA recent poll searching for Britain’s ‘Greatest Monarch’, came up with the surprise winner of… drum roll, King Athelstan. Not that the Anglo-Saxon king wasn’t so great, but the winner is a little surprising since most people seem to have believed the ‘crown’ would go to Elizabeth I. (Yawn!) I hope the voters actually remembered…
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In the aftermath of certain historical novels I have read recently, I should like to give the following information, in the hope it will be helpful to authors, editors (if they still exist) and indeed readers. SLAVERY – Although slavery was quite common in England in Anglo-Saxon times, it was became less usual after the…
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Returning to Sutton Hoo
“The Dig”, Anglo-Saxons, Basil Brown, Beowulf, British Museum, Bromeswell Bucket, burial mounds, cafe, Carey Mulligan, cornish pasty, Deben, Edith Pretty, exhibition hall, Greek, National Trust, Orford Castle, Raedwald, Ralph Fiennes, Richard III Society, Scandinavia, Seamus Heaney, ship burial, Suffolk, Sutton Hoo, viewing platform, Woodbridge, WuffingsThe Mid Anglia branch of the Richard III society met at Woodbridge railway station and drove to the National Trust’s Sutton Hoo. Sutton Hoo, made famous this year by the release of Netflix’s “The Dig”, starring Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan, is the site of the Royal burial ground of East Anglia’s 6th, 7th and…
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