A hidden glory in a tiny alley in Gloucester….

Since the middle of the last century the city of Gloucester has been spoiled by dubious, half-witted planning decisions, but there are still some wonderful gems to be found. Everyone knows the cathedral, of course (thankfully it escaped planning notice, or it too might have been “improved” in finest 1960s fashion. Heaven forfend indeed. But…

Kings made of glass….?

What does one call a gathering of glass men? Splinters? Shards? It seems that in the medieval period there was a sudden upsurge of people who believed they—or part of their bodies—were made of glass. Heads, buttocks, entire bodies, whatever, and the belief was so strong and irresistible that some of them resorted to shocking…

The heraldic glass of East Anglia….

I always find heraldic glass both fascinating and beautiful, wherever it is. If you go here you’ll be able to access a paper about the heraldic glass of East Anglia, where Alston Court in Nayland has a wonderful display of Tudor glass. The shields displayed aren’t exclusively Tudor, of course, but apply to ancient families…

London: 2000 years of history (channel 5)

Who let Dan Jones out? At least, as in his last outing, he is accompanied both by a historian (Suzannah Lipscomb) and an engineer (Rob Bell), narrating and illustrating almost two millennia of the city’s past. In the first episode, we were taken through the walled city of “Londinium” being built and rebuilt after Boudicca’s…