British Museum

Returning to Sutton Hoo

May 8, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, genealogy, religion, travel

“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, Wuffings

The 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…
THE MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES OF GREAT BRITAIN : CHARLES A STOTHARD

Jan 16, 2022

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, religion

Arundel Castle, Aveline de Foix, Bere Ferrers, Blanche of the Tower, Branchepeth Church, British Museum, Canterbury Cathedral, Charles Alfred Stothard, Devon, Edmund Crouchback, Edward II, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, effigies, Elizabeth of Suffolk, Harfleur, Hatfield Broadoak, Henry IV, Ingham Church, Joan “Beaufort”, Joan of Navarre, John Duke of Suffolk, John of Eltham, Lord Ligonier, Magna Carta, Michael Earl of Suffolk, Miles Stapleton, Monumental Effigies, Pontefract Castle, Ralph 2nd Earl of Westmorland, Ralph Earl of Westmorland, Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Richard II, Robert Baron hungerford, Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford, Salisbury Cathedral, Sir john Wingfield, Staindrop Church, Westminster Abbey, William Fitzalan, William of Windsor, Wingfield Church

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com Effigies of Ralph Neville 2nd Earl of Westmorland d.1491 and one of his wives. Branchepeth Church, Durham. These effigies, which were wooden, are now lost to us having since been destroyed by a disastrous fire in 1998. Made in very dark oak it was difficult to get good photos of…
A PRINT BY ROBERT WALTON

Nov 5, 2021

art, buildings, The play’s the thing

17th century, British Museum, Globe and Compasses, Old St. Paul’s, prints, Richard III, Robert Walton

Recently I came across this print by Robert Walton, who was a 17thc printer and publisher. It was a part of a series of Kings. Although the rather bad poem beneath the picture toes the usual line, no doubt influenced by a certain Mr William Shakespeare’s then fairly new play, the drawing itself, although not…
A blue plaque for the Angel & Royal….?

Oct 19, 2021

anniversaries, buildings, law

blue plaque, British Museum, coaching inns, death warrants, Grantham, Grantham Civic Society, Henry of Buckingham, hotels, listed buildings, Royal Progress, The Angel

The following is an extract from this article. :- “….The Angel and Royal Inn has been in Grantham for more than 800 years and still retains its medieval character….A blue plaque would celebrate the hotel’s history and mark its many significant royal connections….” And we Ricardians know the royal connection that matters; in October…
Richard II at his workbench…!

Feb 14, 2021

anniversaries, art, humour

British Museum, metalwork, Pontefract Castle, quadrant, Richard II

Oh dear, I’m afraid this tickled me. Apologies for the relevant page at the British Museum no longer being available. Suffice it, this article is about a medieval horary quadrant: “ . . . Intriguing Objects Made by Richard II – an hororary [sic] quadrant enables the user to tell the time from the height…
The Vinland Map, fact or fiction….?

Jan 14, 2021

art, travel

America, British Museum, Newfoundland Island, past maps, Vinland map, Yale University

“….The Vinland Map carries with it the air of mystery and, some would say, the stench of deception. In the vaults of Yale University, and insured for $25 Million, it is either a colossal fraud or an artefact of unparalleled value. The map appeared on the scene in 1957 when a couple of shady characters…
Tour the world’s twelve greatest museums from the comfort of your armchair….

Jul 24, 2020

art, buildings

British Museum, Edward III, Guggenheim Museum, J. Paul Getty Museum, MASP, Musee d’Orsay, museums, National Gallery of Art, National Museum of Anthropology, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Pergamon Museum, Uffizi Gallery, van Gogh Museum, Waterford Museum

Well, these days some of us might be stuck at home rather a lot, and even if we aren’t we may not find a museum of other attraction actually open. So the advent of “virtual yours” is a great help. There we are, in our comfortable armchair, sauntering around the like of the British…
St Stephen’s Westminster – Chapel to Kings and Queens..

Jan 24, 2020

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion

1834 fire, Anne Mowbray, Anne Neville, British Museum, Edward VI, Eleanor Crosses, Ernest William Tristram, House of Commons, Michael of Canterbury, Oliver Cromwell, Phillippa of Hainault, Reformation, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Richard of Warwick, Richard Smirke, Rous Roll, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Roy Strong, St. Mary Undercroft, St. Stephen’s Westminster

UPDATED POST ON sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri https://sparkypus.com/2020/05/14/st-stephens-westminster-chapel-to-kings-and-queens/ Reconstruction of a Medieval Painting from St Stephen’s Chapel. Possibly Queen Philippa with her daughter. Ernest William Tristram c.1927. Worked from original drawings made by the antiquarian Richard Smirke 1800-1811 before the fire of 1834. Society of Antiquities. Parliamentary Art Collection St Stephen’s was the medieval…
Did we children ever find buried treasure….?

Apr 10, 2019

archaeology, buildings

British Museum, childhood, Cuerdale Hoard, Germany, Hoards, Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, Ribble

Hoards of buried treasure are found fairly regularly, or so it seems, and when I recently saw a photograph of the Cuerdale hoard of Viking silver, dug from the bank of the River Ribble near Preston, Lancashire, it struck me that many of the items are so small and seemingly insignificant that if they had…
NEW EXCAVATIONS AT CLARENDON PALACE

Mar 14, 2019

archaeology, buildings

“Catherine of Claringdon”, Becket, British Museum, catalepsy, Charles I, Clarendon Palace, Edward IV, Eleanor of Provence, Elizabeth I, excavations, George Monck, Henry II, Henry VI, madness, Plantagenets, Roman roads, royal mistresses, Salisbury, St. Catherine

Clarendon Palace is a little known historical site. Most people in Salisbury know it’s there; less can tell you how to reach it. There is no car park; you won’t find tourist coaches. Pull in on the narrow leafy green lane then you must walk, like a Hobbit leaving the Shire, past farms and across…