Blore Heath

The Murderous Stanleys of 15th-century Lancashire….

Oct 31, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, law

“Perkin”, Barham, Battle of Bosworth, Bewsey Old Hall, Blore Heath, Boydells, bridges, Deal, executions, George Lord Strange, Halloween, Henry VII, Knowsley, Lancashire Folk Tales, Lathom House, Priory of the Hermit Friars of St. Augustine, Richard I, Richard of Shrewsbury, Sir John Butler, Sir William Stanley, Thomas Stanley, Warrington, William Troutbeck

A POST ESPECIALLY FOR HALLOWE’EN…. Here is a tale of murder most foul that I think suits Hallowe’en, even if it didn’t actually happen at Hallowtide. It’s based on fact, and I first found it in Lancashire Folk Tales by Jennie Bailey and David England. Since then, in one form or another, it has also…
What was a “Great Hedge”….?

Sep 23, 2023

anniversaries, battles

Barnet, Blore Heath, great hedges, Wars of the Roses

Yet again I live and learn. I’d wondered why hedges were such an important feature of the medieval landscape, and on reading this article, concerning the Battle of Blore Heath, I’ve discovered why. “….The Lancastrian position at the beginning of the Battle of Blore Heath was behind a ‘Great Hedge’. ‘Great Hedges’ existed…
Various Goings on in the General Area of Cheshire.

Aug 14, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, heraldry

Battle of Northampton, Battle of Shrewsbury, Blore Heath, Cheshire, Chester Castle, Chirk Castle, Clwyd, Coventry, de Bohun, Dee estuary, Duke of Norfolk, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, executions, fee-farm, Henry Duke of Somerset, Hexham, Holt, Holt Castle, House of Lancaster, Jasper “Tudor”, John Neville, John Paston III, John Southworth, Lancashire, Margaret of Anjou, Mold Fair, Nantwich, Redbank, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Sir William Stanley, Skipton Castle, swan, Thomas Lord Stanley, Thomas Neville

Although Cheshire was fiercely loyal to Richard II, after the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403) that loyalty gradually transferred itself to the House of Lancaster. Cheshire was a royal earldom and palatinate, with the King (or the Prince of Wales when there was one) as its immediate lord. As in next-door Lancashire, there was no resident…
Ankarette Twynho

Apr 12, 2023

anniversaries, law, Science, sources

Ankarette Twynho, Attorneys General, Blore Heath, Edward IV, Edward V, executed women, Frome, George Duke of Clarence, Hawkstone Hall, Isabel Neville, Lord Audley, MPs, names, pardons, poison allegations, Recorders of Bristol, Roger Twynho, Warwick, Welsh, Welsh Marches, William Twynho, wool merchants

Who was Ankarette Twynho? It takes a lot of working out, as there is only limited information available and there are quite a lot of Twynhos, most of whom have some sort of official link to the court or to parliament. Ankarette herself was born a Hawkston or Hawkstone, sometime around 1412. Sadly, we do…
The Rise of the Stanley family.

Dec 5, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, law

Anne Neville, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of Shrewsbury, Blore Heath, Cheshire, Constable of England, Earl of Arundel, Eleanor Neville, extortion, France, heiresses, Henry IV, Henry of Buckingham, Ireland, Isobel Lathom, justiciar of Ireland, King of Mann, Knights of the Garter, Lancashire, Lathom House, Lord Audley, Lord Deputy of Ireland, Margaret of Anjou, Master Forester, murder, pardons, Prior of Burscough, Richard II, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Roxburgh Castle, Scotland, Sheriff of Anglesea, Sir John Stanley, Sir William Stanley, Stanleys, Tewkesbury, Thomas Lord Stanley, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, Wirral

In the late 14th Century, the Stanleys were a gentry family, their power base lying chiefly in Cheshire, notably in the Wirral. Their ancestry might fairly be described as ‘provincial’. There were certainly no kings in their quarterings. This is not to say they were unimportant, but their influence was of a local rather than…
Isabel Mylbery – a possible daughter of King Edward IV

Oct 29, 2022

battles, genealogy, heraldry, law

Audley Family History Site, Blore Heath, Cornish rebellion, Deptford Bridge, Edward IV, executions, Garter King of arms, illegitimacy, Isabel Mylbery, Isabel of Castile, Isabel of York, John Lord Audley, John Touchet, Lord High Treasurer, offices of state, pardons, Richard III

Isabel Mylbery is quite obscure. The earliest evidence we have is from about 1510. Garter King-at-Arms recorded that she was ‘educata ut fert[ur] pre Regem E[dwardum] iiij’ which means, roughly, that she was brought up by Edward IV. She also bore lions and white roses in her coat of arms. None of this is remotely…
The Touchet/Audley Family in the Fifteenth Century.

Sep 26, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion

Alionore Holland, Arundels, Barnet, Battle of Bosworth, Battles of Sandwich, Bishop Edmund Audley, Bishop of Hereford, Blore Heath, Buckingham rebellion, Calais, Cheshire, Constance of York, Despensers, Dukes of Somerset, Edmund Holland, Edward I, Edward III, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, executions, Fitzalans, Francis Viscount Lovell, Heighley Castle, Henry III, Henry VII, Isabel Mylbery, James Lord Audley, Joan Bourchier, Joan of Kent, John Lord Audley, Lord High Treasurer, Ludlow Castle, Margaret Darrell, Margaret of Anjou, Margaret Roos, Mortimer’s Cross, Parliament’s power to determine legitimacy, Red Castle, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, Sir Humphrey Audley, surnames, Tewkesbury, Towton, Welsh Marches, Wydevilles

James Touchet, Lord Audley, was born about 1398. He was not in the first rank of magnates but nevertheless had significant estates, notably Heighley Castle, near Madeley in Staffordshire, and the Red Castle (Hawkstone) in Shropshire, as well as two small Marcher lordships in Wales. His first marriage was to Margaret Roos, daughter of Lord Roos…
Sir Humphrey Audley

Feb 3, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy

Blore Heath, Dunster Church, Edward IV, Eleanor de Holland, Elizabeth Courtenay, executions, James Lord Audley, John Duke of Somerset, John Lord Audley, John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, John Paston III, Lord High Constable, Mortimer’s Cross, Muriel Brews, Powderham Castle, Richard of Warwick, Sir Humphrey Audley, Sir Philip Courtenay, Somerset, Swaffham, Tewkesbury, Thomas Mallet, Wars of the Roses

Sir Humphrey was one of the very numerous children of James Tuchet, Lord Audley, by his second wife Alianore Holland (daughter of Constance of York by Edmund Holland, Earl of Kent.) Their family is so large that it confuses creators of family trees and it is hard to be absolutely certain just how many siblings…
The Traitor’s Arms?

Feb 2, 2021

anniversaries, battles, buildings, heraldry, law, religion, sources

“Defiance”, “Loveday”, Act of Accord, Agnes Sorel, allegory, Angevin bloodline, Arma Reversata, Ashperton, Ashperton monument, attainder, Blore Heath, Book of Hours, Calais, carvings, Catherine de Roet, Catherine de Valois, Charles VII, chivalry, Chrimes, Christmas, College of Heralds, Cornish rebellion, coronations, Courtauld Institute of Art, Coventry, crowns, Dunstable Chronicle, Earls of Salisbury, Edmund Crouchback, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward Hall, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, Edward the Black Prince, Elizabeth I, executions, First Battle of St. Albans, fleuur-de-lys, Fox-Davies, France, French College of Arms, Garter stalls, Gascony, Geoffrey Fisher, Great Seal, Hanseatic fleet, Helen Maurer, helmets, Henry Holland Duke of Exeter, Henry IV, Henry VI, Hereford Cathedral, Herefordshire, Hicks, high treason, Historia Anglorum, Hollands, Hon y soit qui mal y pense, House of York, Hugh Despencer, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Humphrey of Gloucester, Ian Mortimer, insanity, inverted arms, Ireland, Jack Cade, Jacques de Saint-George, James II, James VI/I, Jeanne d’Arc, Joan “Beaufort”, John of Bedford, John of Gaunt, Lancastrians, lions, livery collars, Lord of Misrule, Lord Protector of the Realm, Mary de Bohun, Matthew Parris, mortimer claim, Mortimer’s Cross, Nigel Saul, Nikolaus Pevsner, Normans, Northampton, Old St. Paul’s, Order of the Crescent, Order of the Garter, Owain Tudor, Parliament of Devils, Plantagenets, plaster mouldings, propaganda, Ralph Earl of Westmorland, Ralph Griffiths, renaissance, Rene d’Anjou, Restoration, reversed arms, Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Richard Duke of York, Richard of Salisbury, Rose Troup, Sandwich, Seine, Shakespeare, shields. royal arms, Sir Andrew Trollope, Sir Ralph Grey, squirrel, Staffords, stonemasons, swan badge, Switzerland, symbolism, the Beauforts., tombstones, tournaments, Treaty of Troyes, Tres Rich Heures, Warwick the Kingmaker, Westminster Abbey, Wigmore, William Duke of Suffolk, William Grandison, William Neville Lord Fauconberg, Windsor Castle, Woolhope Club

In 1840 workmen carrying out repairs to St Bartholomew’s Church, Ashperton, Herefordshire were collecting stones from the ruins of a nearby manor house when they discovered a heavy stone plaque, carved with an elaborate coat of arms, among the rubble. The stone was taken to the church for safekeeping and has hung on the wall…
Were the Wars of The Roses an Inevitability?

Sep 23, 2020

anniversaries, battles, Book Reviews, genealogy

Battle of Shrewsbury, Black Death, Blore Heath, Chris Given-Wilson, Duchy of Aquitaine, Earl of Warwick, Edmund Mortimer, Elizabeth I, France, Henry II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, John of Gaunt, Lancastrian propaganda, legal fees, Lordship of Brecon, Mary de Bohun, Pastons, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Richard of Warwick, Thomas of woodstock, Wars of the Roses, Wylie

In my spare time I have been reading Henry IV by Chris Given-Wilson. It’s a massive book, full of information, probably the most complete work on Henry since Wylie’s four-volume effort in the 19th Century. Frankly, I’m finding it hard going. Not because it’s a bad book (it isn’t) or because Given-Wilson is a bad…