The New Murrey and Blue blog

First Barons’ War

Would you like to own the Thames island where Magna Carta was signed….?

Dec 9, 2025

buildings, culture, history

First Barons’ War, King John, Magna Carta, Runnymede

Well, where Magna Carta was supposedly signed, because the actual site isn’t known. All the Magna Carta itself says is that it was Runnymede, which is an area rather than a single precise spot. However, the island that’s for sale is awash with legend and references to 1215 and Magna Carta. And I have to…
The Staple

Aug 24, 2019

anniversaries, battles, law

Battles of Sandwich, Bristol, Calais, First Barons’ War, Flanders, Henry III, Hundred Years War, Ipswich, London, Louis VIII, North Sea trade, past maps, Sandwich, Wars of the Roses, wool

In early medieval times, ‘the staple’ meant England’s staple export: wool. But it was inconvenient and inefficient for the king’s men to collect the customs duties that were payable on the exported wool from every one of the hundreds of little English ports all around the country. London, Bristol, Ipswich and Sandwich were major ports…