Scandal in Salisbury

Recently I had a rare opportunity to visit Church House in Salisbury. Used for administration of the diocese today, it is an attractive medieval/post-medieval building retaining many original features, and has an interesting but sometimes rather murky past. Originally it was built in the 15th century by a merchant called William Lightfoot, and was known…

The OTHER MARGARET BEAUFORT

  When anyone hears the name ‘Margaret Beaufort’, they always think instantly of the mother of Henry Tudor. However, there was another Margaret Beaufort, who also had a famous son called Henry, whose mother also bore the surname Beauchamp, who married one of the Staffords, and who was widowed young and remarried—although there her life…

Richard II went berserk in Salisbury….?

  Richard III’s predecessor, Richard II, shares with him the injustice of being maligned through history. In Richard II’s case all we hear that he was a hysterical madman who was rightly removed from his throne (and this world) by his cousin Henry, Duke of Lancaster, who became Henry IV. All sorts of scenarios are…

A creepy tale about the Duke of Buckingham’s severed head….

According to this site  when Henry, Duke of Buckingham was executed for treason in 1483 in Salisbury, his head was taken to King Richard III, then lodging at the King’s House in the Cathedral Close. Buckingham had turned upon his cousin Richard, who rightly called him “the most untrue creature living”. Shakespeare would have us…

THE TAILOR’S GUILD OF SALISBURY

In Salisbury Museum, a dimly-lit display exhibits the Tailor’s Guild charter of incorporation granted by Edward IV in 1461. The beautiful illumination of Edward’s Latinised name leaps out in all the vivid colours it was originally painted with in the 15thc. In this charter, confirmed the following year by Bishop Beauchamp, the King grants various…

BUCKINGHAM’S CHOPPING BLOCK?

Recently it has come to my attention that Salisbury Museum holds a carved wooden box which, according to local legend, was fashioned out of the original headman’s block on which  Henry Stafford was executed on November 2, 1483. The carving of the box into its present shape took place in Victorian times. Why anyone would…

NEW EXCAVATIONS AT CLARENDON PALACE

Clarendon Palace is a little known historical site. Most  people in Salisbury know it’s there; less can tell you how to reach it. There is no car park; you won’t find tourist coaches. Pull in on the narrow leafy green lane then you must walk, like a Hobbit leaving the Shire, past farms and across…

On the trail of the golden dragon of Wessex….

The Golden Dragon of Burford in Oxfordshire isn’t a takeaway! It’s the pagan banner of the Anglo-Saxon King of Mercia, Aethelbert, who was defeated at the Battle of Burford in AD 752 by Cuthbert, King of the West Saxons. Aethelbert’s golden–dragon banner was taken, and for centuries the outcome of this battle was celebrated in…

And the Clocks Go Back!

Well, British Summer time is now officially over and the hardy henge-workers are currently  moving the megaliths at Avebury and Stonehenge into  their winter-hours position! Time to celebrate the exciting festival shortly to take place–no, not Christmas (yet)–but the quasi-pagan Halloween, All Hallows/AllSaints/All Souls…and the execution of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham in Salisbury Market…

Dear Henry: Buckingham’s letter to Henry Tudor. . .

Here is a passage from https://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/the-road-to-bosworth-battle-of-bosworth-field/ I quote: “…Buckingham [wrote] a letter to Henry on 24 September 1483 which stated he would support the rebellion against Richard, even though he and Henry’s interests may not be perfectly compatible.  What is certain is that Buckingham suspected his own life was forfeit with Richard III; he and…