Places, people or events associated with the Tudor monarchs of England, or that period generally in Britain.
Chirk is a striking place, a wonderfully preserved late 13th century fortress on the Welsh/English border and home to the Myddelton family from 1595 for the next 400 years. Kids from 8 to 80 will enjoy the armoury displays and hands-on stuff in the dungeons, with the atmosphere being enhanced by a couple of time-travellers […]
Before England existed, the lonely Isle of Ely lay in the territory of the Gyrwas. Around the year 652AD, Tondbert, a prince of the South Gyrwas, married the Princess Etheldreda, a descendent of the mighty Wuffingas who had united the North-folk with the South-folk. Tondbert died and Etheldreda, whose father was Anna (or Onna), King
It is hard to associate the Northamptonshire village of Ashby St Ledgers with one of the most notorious terrorist plots of all time. In fact, despite nestling between Dunstable’s tired industrial estates and the fearsome Daventry International Rail Terminal to the north, you may actually struggle to associate Ashby St Ledgers with the 21st century
Terror plot planned in peaceful village Read More »
East Midlands
There’s a ruined castle in the valley bottom, beyond the grand, Victorian, house. A round, machiolated, tower peeks through multi-coloured shrubs and trees. It draws the eye through the garden, overwhelming the desire to linger amongst the flowers. Closer in, down the hill, and the heady scent from rhododendrons and azaleas is almost overpowering. The
A visit to Scotney Castle Read More »
South East
Builders in the past were very selfish people. They put their buildings up without considering for one moment that, one day, their structures might inconveniently stand in the way of a new road, town centre development or shopping centre. Fast forward to an intriguing museum on the South Downs in West Sussex, near the village
Weald and Downland Read More »
South East
Head west out of London Bridge Station. If you’re very careful, you will discover London’s third Anglican cathedral, Southwark; it’s easily missed. Hemmed in between the colourful and vibrant Borough Market and the occasionally vulgar Montagu Close, and often hidden by dark Victorian railway arches over which trains ceaselessly rattle and clunk in and out
London’s forgotten cathedral Read More »
London
The Tower of London has been sitting on the north bank of the Thames, watching the tides of a great city ebb and flow, for around a thousand years. The city has grown up around it and it is part of it; it is impossible to imagine London without the Tower. Think of all that
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London
I’m always a little wary of claims to be “the oldest” this or that. There are probably at least a dozen pubs that are the oldest in Britain and, clearly, only one of them is. But the good folk at St Andrews, Greensted, Essex, claim theirs is the oldest wooden church in the world, as
Greensted Log Church Read More »
East of England
The Battle of Bosworth is one of those events that changed the course of history. Fought on the 22 August 1485, Bosworth was the last significant armed encounter of the so-called Wars of the Roses, the medieval dynastic struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster and their allies, which had rumbled on for three
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East Midlands
The roots of modern Britain Somehow, Elizabethan England has a very different atmosphere to any previous period in British history. Queen Elizabeth I succeeded to the throne on the death of her elder Catholic half-sister ‘Bloody’ Mary in 1558. She was twenty-five. Her 45 year rule is popularly seen as heralding a new age for
The fate of a nation decided on a king’s whim – or his desire for a male heir No challenge blighted Henry VIII’s accession to the English throne. The country was at peace and it seemed to be a golden age. In contrast to the ailing, bloated, tyrant he was to become, the youthful king
Losing our religion – how Henry VIII changed the world and his wife Read More »
History
New dynasty, fresh start? There was by no means unanimous agreement that the new Tudor King, Henry VII, had the best claim to the throne of England in 1485. In fact, depending on your point of view, his claim could be considered quite flimsy. Henry was the son of a formidable mother, Margaret Beaufort, and
The victor of Bosworth Read More »
History