Colchester
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Summary of a talk by Laura Cardy Shortly after joining the Richard III Society, I was invited to contribute to The Missing Princes Project, initiated by Philippa Langley. My task focused on an intriguing question: might St John’s Abbey in Colchester have played a role in the fate of Richard of York, the younger of…
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No, I’m not picking a fight with Colchester’s claim to Humpty Dumpty, for they did indeed have a huge Royalist cannon called Humpty Dumpty which was destroyed by the Parliamentarians, see http://www.englishcivilwar.org/2012/04/tracing-siege-of-colchester.html and https://lordgreys.weebly.com/articles-and-features/humpty-dumpty-exploded). However, I definitely find fault with any silly notion about Richard’s horse at Bosworth being called Wall (https://murreyandblue.org/2022/01/02/humpty-dumpty-and-his-wall-were-richard-iii-and-his-horse/ and https://murreyandblue.org/2021/08/22/hey-diddle-dumpty/). That’s…
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I am sure you have all seen the famous triptych of Charles I – one front view and two profiles – and felt that he could have benefitted from two extra heads in real life, or admired the Wilton Diptych of Richard II and significant religious figures. Now there is another triptych on the scene,…
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The “awkward mediaeval cities” (3) : St. Alban’s
battlefields, blue plaque, Boudicca, Colchester, destruction, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Eleanor Crosses, Elizabeth I, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Humphrey of Gloucester, Jean II, John Ball, London, Luton, martyrs, museums, Northampton, Oxford, Poitiers, Roman Britain, Roman theatre, Second Battle of St. Albans, Skipton Building Society, St. Alban, St. Albans, St. Albans Cathedral, Thameslink, Verulam Park, Verulamium Roman Museum, Victoria Street, Wars of the Roses, Watford JunctionUnlike Northampton and Oxford, St. Alban’s (City) is on the Thameslink network and also has a branch line to Watford Junction. Accommodation can be expensive but the less historic Luton is surprisingly convenient as a base, being about fourteen minutes away on the same line and costing about five pounds for a day return. Turning right…
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This Union: The Ghost Kingdoms of England
Aethelbald of Mercia, Aethelflaed, Alfred, Alfred Jewel, Alfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxons, Athelney, Athelstan, Cerne Abbas Giant, coins, Colchester, conversion, Ealdfrith, East Anglia, Edward the Elder, Gareth Williams, Guthrum, Ian Hislop, Ipswich, Janina Ramirez, Jarrow, Lindisfarne, Marc Morris, Mercia, monasteries, Northumbria, Offa, Offa’s Dyke, Oswald, Penda, Philip Wise, Picts, Radio 4, Raedwald, Roman Empire, Rule Britannia, Scotland, St. Athelwald, St. Dunstan, St. Eadwald, stained glass, stone, Sutton Hoo, Thomas Arne, Venerable Bede, Viking raids, Wales, Wearmouth, Wessex, Winchester, WuffingsThis is an excellent series on BBC4 about the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that eventually evolved to fill the vacuum left by departure of the Roman legions. In the first episode, Ian Hislop visits East Anglia, particularly Colchester, Ipswich and Sutton Hoo, viewing some coins with Philip Wise and hearing about the Wuffingas, apparently descended from a…
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Like other towns near the east coast, Colchester was partially settled by Hugenot refugees from the Low Countries in the sixteenth century. The Dutch Quarter is defined as being to the immediate north of the middle of High Street, as West Stockwell Street turns off at the Town Hall. This Victorian structure has six historic…
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Another piece …
“confessions”, “Lambert Simnel”, “Perkin”, “Tudor” rebellions, Austin Friars, Battle of Bosworth, Brecon rebellion, Colchester, Deptford Bridge, Elizabeth Roberts, executions, Francis Viscount Lovell, Garden Tower, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Lincoln, mtDNA evidence, Richard of Shrewsbury, sanctuary, Stafford brothers, Stoke Field, The Cornish Rebellion, torture, Tyburn, Westminster Abbey… on two of the major rebellions – Simnel and “Perkin” – against Henry VII. This article is from Voyager of History and we may soon be in a better position to know whether Richard of Shrewsbury could have been at Tyburn in 1499. During the same reign, there was also the Stafford-Lovell rebellion starting…
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Doggeing “Tudor” footsteps?
“Lambert Simnel”, “Lovell our Dogge”, Battle of Bosworth, books, Colchester, doggerel, executions, Francis Viscount Lovell, Henry VII, James III, John Earl of Lincoln, Michele Schindler, Minster Lovell, Richard III, safe conduct, Sauchieburn, Scotland, Sir Humphrey Stafford, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, skeletons, Stoke Field, William Catesby, William ColyngbourneMichele Schindler’s seminal biography of Francis Viscount Lovell, one of the trio named in Colyngbourne‘s doggerel, is published today. Hopefully, it will go towards solving the great mystery of his fate. Could he really have suffocated in a Minster Lovell chamber, after the estate was given to Jasper “Tudor”? Could he have ended his days…
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In 2014, a broken Victorian corkscrew made from pieces of old London Bridge was bought for £40,000 at an auction in Essex, over 100 times its asking price. See this article/, from which the following is taken:- “The corkscrew, the components of which are thought to be up to 800 years old, was bought by…
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A constitutionally important “Tudor” servant
Admiral Thomas Seymour, Anne Askew, Battle of Preston, Catherine of Aragon, Civil War, Colchester, Court of Augmentations, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Earls of Warwick, Edmund Bonner, Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset, Essex, executions, Felsted, Henry VIII, Hugh Trevor-Roper, John Fisher, John Hurt, Kimbolton Castle, Leez Priory, Marian persecution, Mary I, Parliament, Paul Scofield, Robert Bolt, siege of Colchester, Sir Richard Rich, Speakers of the Commons, St. Neots, Stephen Gardiner, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More, Thomas Wolsey, torture, Tower of London, WalesWe tend to have rather a negative view of Sir Richard Rich, or Baron Rich of Leez as he became in February 1547, nowadays. In this, we are somewhat influenced by Robert Bolt’s portrayal of him, as a “betrayer” of More, together with the history of Trevor-Roper. One Bolt line, memorably delivered by Paul Scofield…
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