british History Online
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While reading Francis Pryor’s book Britain in the Middle Ages: An Archaeological History, I came upon an example of medieval graffiti that is to be found in the Church of St Mary, Ashwell, Herts. Inside the wall of the west tower is a Latin verse which captures the horror, fear and guilt felt by survivors…
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In spite of Henry VIII’s best efforts in the Dissolution of the mid-16th century, there are still a huge number of habitable abbeys dotted around our countryside, and one is Beeleigh Abbey in Essex, until 2022 the home of the late Christopher Foyle, of Foyle’s Bookshop fame. The abbey is a very beautiful place, a…
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I do enjoy Country Life magazine, mainly for the beautiful old houses that come up for sale and are shown in detail. The actual history of the properties isn’t always mentioned, and so I try to find out more, in the hope of learning of some connection to “our” period. This time the 6-bedroom property…
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An item on another group, concerning the Southwark palace of the Bishops of Winchester, set me looking for more information. I knew where the palace was, of course, and who the “Winchester geese” were! You can read about them here. Almost all the links about the palace that turn up in an online search are…
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The murdered Lancastrian countess and the disappearing Yorkist ghost rider….
Blanche of Lancaster, british History Online, drowning, Edward II, Edward IV, executions, ghosts, Gloucestershire, Henry III, Henry of Grosmont, illegitimacy, Kempsford Castle, Lords Ordainers, Margaret of Anjou, Maud Chaworth, Owlpen Manor, Pontefract, possible canonisation, Prestbury, River Thames, Tewkesbury, Thomas Earl of LancasterGloucestershire doesn’t lack ghostly stories, not least about the Wars of the Roses with, for example, Margaret of Anjou prowling the rooms of Owlpen Manor and the phantom messenger, on his way through Prestbury to Edward IV at Tewkesbury in May 1471 when he was killed by an arrow. He still gallops through the village…
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My meanderings in the name of research sometimes turn up things that rather bemuse me. This time I was in hot pursuit of Sir Thomas Molyneux of Cuerdale, who was murdered rather nastily by Thomas Mortimer Thomas Mortimer at the Battle of Radcot Bridge on 19 December 1387. Molyneux had once been John of…
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Ockwells Manor in Berkshire is surely one of the most beautiful old houses in the United Kingdom. It encapsulates everything we sigh for longingly when it comes to rambling, romantic half-timbered medieval properties with gables and a good few chimneys. And it predates the Tudors! More than its beauty and desirability, Ockwells Manor has a…
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If ever an entry in the Close Rolls of Henry IV was evidence of warfare being at a crossroads between the old and the new, it’s surely this one. Poised between two ages, it concerns arms left by the late Richard II in the great hall of Dublin Castle. Richard had been in Ireland immediately…
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