Today I learned about the Pyx Chamber at Westminster Abbey….

I had never heard of the Pyx Chamber at Westminster Abbey, and so I made a point of finding out about it online. I discovered it to be a fascinating corner of the abbey….as well as being probably the oldest part. It is also believed to have the most ancient door in England, which for…

Who was St Patrick…?

Oh, the power of folklore. I was brought up in Cilfynydd, near Pontypridd. A mountain/very large hill rose behind the village and high on it was a spring which everyone called Paddy’s Well. I was told it got its name because St Patrick passed that way and drank from it. No doubt there are as…

More Legendary Ten Seconds songs …

… with Jules Jones as lead vocalist: A new album highlighting the singing of Jules Jones on some of her favourite songs of the Legendary Ten Seconds.Recorded in Torbay, Kingsteignton, Teignmouth and Madron.Released on Richard the Third Records, Songs mastered by Phil Swann in Kingsteignton.Jules Jones lead and harmony singingIan Churchward guitars, keyboards, mandolin, mandola, ukulele…

The bells ring for Cardinal Wolsey

On Friday, I was in St. Lawrence’s Church, now a cafe, in the town centre when the meeting I was at was punctuated by the ringing of bells just above the front door. We assumed at the time that this was practice for the for the forthcoming coronation. However, as this article shows, it was…

Breaking the code – Charles V

The Emperor Charles V was the grandson of Maximilian I (Richard III’s friend and step-nephew-in-law), a nephew of Catherine of Aragon (and thus by marriage to Henry VIII) and father-in-law of Mary I. In February 1547, he feared death at the hands of a Italian mercenary (Pierre Strozzi) and wrote a fiendishly coded letter to…

Did Henry VII believe in vampires….?

My devotion to watching TV documentaries often turns up odd bits and pieces. This time the culprit is “Curse of the Vampire” from Mythical Beasts, series 1, episode 3, shown on Sky History 2. As you might expect, the theme was the strong medieval belief that the dead could return to torment the living as…

Time Team to return to Sutton Hoo

Now here is some exciting news. Time Team, formerly a Channel Four programme to 2014 but now digital, will be following up their 2015 visit to the Sutton Hoo mounds soon, on a digital platform. We don’t have a transmission date as yet …

The story of Dover Castle….

  When a land bridge connected us to the rest of the continent of Europe, the area that became Dover wasn’t of any particular importance but once the land bridge disappeared the white cliffs at Dover became the point on our coastline that is closest to France. July 2022 saw the port of Dover becoming…

RICHARD WHITTINGTON c.1350-1423. MERCER, MAYOR AND A MOST BENEVOLENT CITIZEN OF LONDON

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @sparkypus.com A delightful artist’s impression of ‘Richard Whittington dispensing his charities’.  Artist Henrietta Ray before 1905 oil on canvas.  Royal exchange. Even the most disinterested in history children would recognise the name Dick/Richard Whittington and also his best, and only friend,  his cat,  most of them being familiar with the rather delightful folk…

How to cast a “Richard III”

Here is a Guardian article about Arthur Hughes, who qualifies for the role in that he is male, disabled (in a subtle way) and was only thirty when chosen by the Royal Shakespeare Company, as was Richard III in June 1483 when chosen by the Three Estates. He isn’t an octogenarian, a woman or pretending…