Smithfield
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London created champagne before the French….!
abbeys, Anglo-Saxons, Bermondsey, Bishops of Ely, champagne, Christopher Hatton, Christopher Merrett, churches, Duchy of Cornwall, Elizabeth I, Farringdon Road, France, Gloucestershire, Hatton Garden, Henry VI, Holborn Viaduct, Kennington, Kent, London, methode champenoise, Piccadilly, Rocque’s Map, Romans, Saffron Hill, Samuel Pepys, secondary fermentation, Smithfield, Southwark, St. Andrew Holborn, St. Augustine’s Abbey, The Oval, Vindolanda, Vineyard Walk, vineyards, Wales, WestminsterYes indeed, it seems that Londoners invented champagne. It’s a claim that won’t go down well across La Manche, and I found it at this site, which is also where I found the illustration from Rocque’s Map below. “…If you could time travel back to medieval London you would [find it] awash with vineyards at…
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If there is a Westminster, it follows there has to be an Eastminster. Right? Well, one moment it seems the answer is yes, the next it’s a definite no-no. I happened to go to this article which is very explanatory about Eastminster. Concerning Westminster, the site points out that “The Abbey’s own website suggests it was…
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Bevis Bulmer certainly didn’t have a good start in life. He was about one when his parents were executed for high treason on the same day in May 1537, having been caught up in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Sir John, from a prominent Yorkshire family, was hanged and beheaded whilst Margaret, his mother who may…
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Oh where, Oh where, has Chaucer’s “Foul Oak” gone….?
A2, Anne of Bohemia, Baginton Oak, Canterbury, Christ Church Greyfriars, Dover, Eltham Palace, executions, Foul Oak Hatcham, Geoffrey Chaucer, highway robbery, Nicholas Brembre, Old Kent Road, Palace of Westminster, Richard II, Smithfield, St. george’s Chapel, St. Paul’s, Tower of London, Warwickshire, Watling Street, Windsor CastleAccording to Project Gutenberg, on 6th September 1390 Geoffrey Chaucer was mugged at a place called the Foul Oak, but not the Baginton Oak. Rather was it on what we now call the Old Kent Road but was originally the Roman Watling Street, leading out of London, on the way to Canterbury and…
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Epiphany – medieval and now….
Anne of Bohemia, birthdays, Canterbury Cathedral, Chapel of Our Lady of the Pew, Christmas, Christmas decorations, Epiphany, Epiphany Rising, feast days, Gregorian Calendar, Henry IV, Julian Calendar, Magi, Peasants’ Revolt, Pontefract Castle, rebellion, Richard II, Shakespeare, Sir William Walworth, Smithfield, St. Edmund, St. Edward the Confessor, St. George, St. John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Twelfth Night, wassailing, Wat Tyler, Westminster Abbey, Wilton Diptych, yule logsAccording to the Oxford Dictionary, the following two definitions refer to the use of the word epiphany:- The manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12). Definition (1) A moment of sudden and great revelation/realisation. Definition (2) Epiphany has been a recognised feast of the Western Church since the 5th…
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Given her huge notoriety at the time, it’s odd that Edward III’s mistress, Alice Perrers, has (as far as I can ascertain) only garnered one biography. This is Lady of the Sun by F George Kay, 1966 (and seemingly never reprinted). There are no surviving contemporary likenesses of Alice, nor even a description of her.…
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There was once a royal house, sometimes referred to as a palace, in the street named The Riole in London’s Vintry Ward, and Richard III granted it to his good friend and ally, John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk. The great house was called the Tower Royal, and, like so much of medieval London, it…
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Quite an unfortunate family
“Popish Plot”, anniversaries, beheadings, Edward of Buckingham, England, executions, France, French Revolution, General Arthur Dillon, Henry of Buckingham, Lady Margaret Bulmer, Pilgrimage of Grace, Place de la Concorde, Salisbury, Smithfield, Staffords, Thomas Stafford, Tower Green, William Howard Viscount StaffordHenry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, cannot be called unlucky. The story of his revolt against Richard III, ending in Salisbury at the start of November 1483 is so well known that even Shakespeare has the right end of this particular stick. However, his family suffered fates that they didn’t always deserve so obviously: 1)…
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