Second World War

Found: The state bed of Charles II….

Jun 20, 2023

anniversaries, art, buildings, genealogy

auctions, beds, Ceredigion, Charles II, Chester, coronations, Dukes of Grafton, Earls of Liverpool, Edward Fitzroy, Elizabeth of York, fire, George IV, Henry VII, Prime Ministers, Second World War, Speaker’s House, Speakers of the Commons, Wales

When I saw a headline about a family who bought a king’s bed, my first thought was of the marriage bed of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, which was found at auction in 2010 in Chester. But no, this is a different bed, and only dates back to Charles II. Nor is it a…
The art that made us

Nov 8, 2022

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, culture, humour, religion, Science, television reviews

Aphra Benn, Armada, Arts and Crafts, Barbara Hepworth, Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry, BBC2, Beowulf, Black Death, Bloomsbury Group, British Empire, Burns, Charles I, Colonel Blimp, Cool Britannia, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, David Threlfall, Death and the Gallant, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth I, embroidery, English Civil War, Festival of Britain, First World War, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Fire of London, Hanif Kureishi, Harry Potter, Hogarth, Industrial Revolution, Jane Austen, Jarrow march, John Foxe, John Milton, Jonathan Swift, Joshua Reynolds, Julian of Norwich, kitchen sink drama, Llancarfon, Margery Kempe, Mary Stuart, murals, Norman conquest, Oliver Cromwell, Phillip Larkin, Piers Plowman, poetry, pre-Raphaelites, Reformation, Restoration, Richard II, Roman Britain, Rubens, satire, Second World War, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir William Orpen, St. Cadoc’s church, St. Paul’s, stained glass, Stuarts, The art that made us, The Fighting Temeraire, The unknown soldier, Tracey Emin, Trainspotting, Turner, urbanisation, van Dyck, Walter Sickert, Welsh Bible, William Cobbett, William Morgan, William Shakespeare, Wilton Diptych, York Minster

This is another fascinating BBC2 series, illustrating English and British history through the evolution of our art. The eight one-hour episodes, narrated by David Threlfall (Men of the World), feature:The Roman and pre-Roman periods, Beowulf, the Norman conquest and the Bayeux Tapestry; The Black Death, Wilton Diptych, Piers Plowman, Chaucer, Julian of Norwich,…
The Great British Dig – History in Your Garden (3)

Sep 20, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, law, television reviews

air raid shelters, Anthony Babington, Battle of Marston Moor, Biggin Hill Grange, Channel Four, chapels, Coventry, Elizabeth I, English Civil War, executions, Glen Mill, Henry III, Hugh Dennis, King’s Lynn, Morda House, Odiham, Oldham, Oswestry, past maps, plots, Priories, prisoners of war, ramparts, Second World War, sieges, Sir Francis Walsingham, workhouses

This excellent Channel Four programme has returned for a third series soon after the second, perhaps because the pandemic interrupted some of the earlier filming. The first episode features Odiham Place in Hampshire, looking for the home of Sir Francis Walsingham, although it was actually built for Henry VIII and was smaller than a 1739…
Songs about Devon

Jun 8, 2022

buildings, Music Reviews, travel

“Perkin”, Brixham, Exeter, Mayflower, Plymouth, recordings, Richard III, Second World War, The Legendary Ten Seconds

Here we have another album from the Legendary Ten Seconds, featuring songs about Richard III’s visit to Exeter and “Perkin“‘s attempt to enter the city, as well as several later events. Here are the words to King Richard’s Visit and At the Gates of Exeter, which can be played here and here.
The floating town the French invented for invading England in 1385/6….

May 30, 2022

battles, buildings, travel

A Distant Mirror, bad weather, Barbara Tuchman, Calais, Duke of Burgundy William I, floating harbours, France, Napoleon, Normandy, planned invasions, Second World War

It seems that in 1386 a second “Norman Invasion” was planned by the French. And a “stupendous” part of the preparations included a portable wooden town to house and protect the invaders when they landed. I found the following description in Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror, page 426 of my copy:- “….A huge camp enclosing…
London’s Greatest Bridges (continued)

Dec 8, 2021

art, buildings, Science, television reviews

Albion Mill, almshouses, arson, Belgium, bribery, Canaletto, cement, Channel Five, Charles II, Company for the Strand Bridge, Company of Watermen, concrete foundations, Cornish granite, craft guilds, Frost Fairs, House of Commons, iron, John Rennie, Ladies’ Bridge, Lambeth, London Bridge, lotteries, Palace of Westminster, Pathe News, Portland stone, protests, River Thames, roads, Rob Bell, Second World War, slum clearances, Southwark, steam power, Strand, Suffragettes, Sutton Hoo, Thomas Page, timber, Waterloo, Waterloo Bridge, Westminster Bridge, windmills, Wool staple

This series finally resumed on Channel Five at the beginning of October, to cover two of the newer structures over the Thames, neither of which are in the original form. As usual, Rob Bell’s enthusiasm is infectious and his programmes are highly informative. Episode Three covered Westminster Bridge. By 1700, the population of London was…
“The Buildings that fought Hitler” (Yesterday)

Nov 30, 2021

Alternative History, anniversaries, battles, buildings, humour, Science, television reviews

Battle of Britain, Bawdsey Manor, Blitz, deception, Dorset, dummy cities, Edmund Ironside, Field Marshal Ironside, Home Guard, Jasper Maskelyne, Military tactics, pill boxes, radar, Second World War, Stanley House, Stanleys, stop lines, Wars of the Roses, Wellington College, Winston Churchill, Yesterday Channel

Once you have reached beyond the bizarre title, which sounds rather like a Dr. Who episode, this is actually a very good series. Rob Bell, the engineer who is becoming quite ubiquitous, demonstrates how the UK was ready to use ther natural and built environments, together with science, to repel and then restrict a German…
The Great British Dig – History in Your Garden

Mar 13, 2021

archaeology, buildings, religion, Science, television reviews

Andy Robertshaw, burials, Caroline Wilkinson, Christian convert, Domesday Book, facial reconstruction, gun emplacement, Hadrian’s Wall, Hugh Dennis, Lenton, Maidstone, Masham, Newcastle, Nottinghamshire, Priories, pubs, Sean Bean, Second World War, South Shields, Time team, Trow Point, Vikings, William I

This excellent series began with a pilot last April, with Hugh Dennis and three archaeologists looking for a Roman settlement on the site of a former inn in Maidstone’s Florence Road. It resumed in February with the small team moving to Benwell, Newcastle, to locate a Hadrian’s Wall fort, followed by a Viking burial ground…
The wax votive offerings found at Exeter Cathedral….

Sep 18, 2020

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion

air raids, Bishop Edmund Lacy, Exeter Cathedral, Second World War, St. Peter, St. William of York, votive offerings, wax, York Minster

During the medieval period it was common for hollow beeswax votive offerings to be made in the hope of spiritual assistance in healing or at least minimizing an injury or ailment. In Exeter Cathedral, these were hung above the tomb of Bishop Edmund Lacy (c. 1370-1455), but there were other cathedrals and churches where…
To be Bl(o)unt …

Jul 23, 2020

anniversaries, culture, genealogy

American branch, army service, Barons Mountjoy, Bessie Blount, Blount baronets, Boer War, British Army, death in service, Dukes of Richmond, First World War, Henry VIII, illegitimacy, James Blunt, Lady Mary Howard, RAF, Second World War, St. Michael’s Church Framlingham, Vikings

Most people are aware that James Blunt’s real surname is Blount. This is an influential name in late mediaeval, “Tudor” and Stuart times. Bessie Blount was another mistress of Henry VIII and bore him Henry Duke of Richmond, who married Lady Mary Howard but died without issue, to be buried at Framlingham. Walter Blount, who…