Shropshire
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Whenever I see a reference to Shakespeare’s Dark Lady, I can’t help thinking of George Harrison’s Dark Sweet Lady. (Go here Bing Videos if you wish to hear it.) There’s no connection at all, of course, except for the title! What caused me to make the above comment? Why this article The mystery of…
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“…..’Richmond! When last I was at Exeter,The mayor in courtesy show’d me the castle,And call’d it Rougemont: at which name I started,Because a bard of Ireland told me onceI should not live long after I saw Richmond.’…” from Richard III by Shakespeare (Act 4, Scene 2, Lines 103-7) So wrote Shakespeare of Richard III’s arrival at…
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The Lordship of Powys (Part 2)
abeyance, Adam of Usk, Alice Fitzalan, Alionore Holland, Anne Mortimer, Caerleon, Earls of Arundel, Edmund Earl of March, Edward Charlton, Edward I, Edward II, Glyn Dwr rebellion, Hawise Gadarn, Isabelle de Valois, John Charlton, Lady Despencer, Lords of Powys, Marcher Lords, Owain de la Pole, Philippa de Coucy, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Richard II, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Shropshire, Sir John Berkeley, sir john grey of seton, Sir John Oldcastle, Thomas Lord Berkeley, Usk, widowsOwain de la Pole‘s daughter, Hawise (1290-1349), eventually inherited the Lordship, her brother having died. She was known as Hawise Gadarn, which means in English ‘the Hardy’. Hawise married John Charlton (or Cherleton) a knight from a relatively minor Shropshire family who had acquired the favour of Edward I. In 1313 Edward II sent John…
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We all know Stokesay Castle. It’s simply outstanding, both dramatically and aesthetically. The half-timbered upper storey perched on top of the north tower is particularly beautiful. I remember once, many moons ago, my husband and I drove past on a road that looked down at the castle. It was alluring….but not open at that…
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Recently the rains washed off some soil in a muddy Shropshire field, and yet another metal detectorist had a lucky find–a hawking ring from the Elizabethan period. The most intriguing thing to me was the very bold lettering spelling the name JOHN TALBOT AT GRAFTON across the band of the tiny ring. As it was…
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Elizabeth Hopton, Countess of Worcester, died 1498.
“Perkin”, “Princes”, Battle of Bosworth, Constable of England, Elizabeth Hopton, executions, France, Henry III, Henry VII, John Tiptoft Earl of Worcester, Mowbrays, Oscar Wilde, Ranulf Earl of Chester, Readeption, Richard of Warwick, Shropshire, Sir Brian Stanley-Wainwright, Sir Roger Corbet, Sir William Stanley, Spain, William Brews, witchcraftElizabeth Hopton happens to be the present author’s 14th Great Grandmother, which prompted an interest in her. I think it is fair to say she is little-known. Of course, she did not (to our knowledge) involve herself in national politics, become the King’s mistress, murder the Princes in the Tower or get in trouble for…
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Talbot Country
“Lambert Simnel”, Alton Towers, Battle of Bosworth, Bess of Hardwick, bigamy, Bridgnorth, Castillon, destruction of records, Duchess of Norfolk, Earls of Shrewsbury, Edward Grey Lord Lisle, Edward IV, Edward V, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Wydeville, evidence, executions, Fotheringhay, France, funicular railways, George Duke of Clarence, George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury, Henry VI, Henry VII, heraldic symbols, Hex, house arrest, House of York, Hundred Years War, illegitimacy, Jeanne d’Arc, John Earl of Shrewsbury, John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, Lady Elizabeth Talbot, London, Lord Protector of the Realm, Margaret d’Anjou, Mary Stuart, memorials, Pontefract, pre-contract, pubs, Ralph Shaa, Richard III, Robert Stillington, secret marriage, Shropshire, Simon Stallworth, Sir Gilbert Talbot, Staffordshire, Talbot hound, Talbot Monument, Talbots, The Shrewsbury Book, Titulus Regius, Tutbury castle, Wingfield ManorThere is a pub in Bridgnorth, near where I live. Well, let’s be honest, there’s about a hundred. If you have ever been to Bridgnorth, aside from the Severn Valley Railway, the funicular railway from Low Town to High Town and the remains of the slighted castle, which lean at a greater angle than the…
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When I recently discovered this e-theses site, I found a thesis with the self-explanatory title of Public Display and the Construction of Monarchy in Yorkist England, 1461-85, by Carolyn Anne Donohue. See this one in particular – and very informative it is too. Then one of the notes caught my eye. It’s Note 470, on…
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A pastoral tale
bacon, climate, Dominic Sandbrook, East Anglia, Edward I, Florence, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Orwell, Hanseatic League, Italy, Jerusalem, Lavenham, Mediaeval Warm Period, Medici, music, Peter and the Wolf, Peter Corbet, Prokofiev, sheep, Shropshire, T.S. Eliot, timber-framed houses, William Blake, wolves, wool, WoolsackThis article investigates why, as the Mediaeval Warm Period drew to a close, Britain (and particularly England) developed differently to many nations of Southern Europe. Sandbrook mentions two major cultural factors: the tradition of salting bacon because ham could not be dry-cured and the evolution of the wool trade through the systematic elimination of the…
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There are numerous castles in the Welsh Marches. I was going to say countless, but I’m sure someone will have counted to the very last motte. Among the lesser known is Shrawardine (pronounced Shray-den), in Shropshire, not far from Shrewsbury. What remains of it overlooks the River Severn, and as there was another fortification of some sort on…
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