Neither quite one thing nor the other?

We have probably all come across one or both cathedrals in Liverpool, where the Anglican building was built by a Catholic and probably vice versa (Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and Sir Frederick Gibberd). Here, however, is a single ecumenical building at Arundel Castle. On the one hand, the nave and chancel are the Anglican church… Continue reading Neither quite one thing nor the other?

Molyneux? No, here come the Stanleys. Again….!

I have recently been looking into the turbulent life of Sir Thomas Molyneux of Cuerdale, whose hall by the River Ribble has featured in one of my articles. He was not a quiet soul, and had a terrible end at the Battle of Radcot Bridge in 1387 when surrendering to a Mortimer. The latter pulled… Continue reading Molyneux? No, here come the Stanleys. Again….!

Behind Stanley lines (2004)

In that year, I visited the Roman city of Chester for the first weekend in March. It has a fantastic cathedral and the best British walls except those at York , together with modern shops arranged in “The Rows”, a very old red light district and a subsequently built Deva Stadium for football. It is… Continue reading Behind Stanley lines (2004)

Wanted …

Digging for Britain is back, just twenty hours into the New Year, for series 10 (excluding a few specials). Alice Roberts is still the host, with Cat Jarman and Stuart Prior. The first episode included a Roman road in Bishop’s Stortford, an Iron Age matriarchy excavated in Dorset and a Lady of the Mercians (but… Continue reading Wanted …

More historic walks on Channel Five

If it isn’t Rob Bell walking Britain’s Lost Battlefields or Railways, Dan Jones walking Britain’s Roman Roads, Suzannah Lipscomb walking “Tudor” England or Onyeka Nubia walking Victorian Britain, it is Arthur Williams (the former marine and pilot) walking Wartime Britain. This is a fascinating series in its own right, showing how areas of the country… Continue reading More historic walks on Channel Five

The Great British Dig – History in Your Garden (2)

Hugh Dennis and his small team of archaeologists are back on Channel Four and this time they have gone back a full two thousand years and beyond. The series starts in Falkirk with a fort and a piece of the Antonine Wall, apparently buried under several gardens and a bowls club. After some digging, the… Continue reading The Great British Dig – History in Your Garden (2)

The curse of a medieval well near Liverpool…

  While looking for examples of medieval curses, e.g. the terrible doom-laden threats screamed from someone burning at the stake, I came upon this site. Considering how close to the surface the well is, I find it astonishing that all those years of ploughing haven’t wrought more damage, but then I’m told that in the… Continue reading The curse of a medieval well near Liverpool…

A pleasant surprise

In recent years, Dan Jones’ posing and fanciful Crimewatch-style re-enactments, together with Starkeyesque conclusions formed before he started, has marred quite a few series on mediaeval history. Now he seems to have changed tack completely with this series, covering canal building from the middle of the eighteenth century and – yes – I rather enjoyed… Continue reading A pleasant surprise

The Mayflower

Below is William Halsall’s 1882 portrait of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor. It is obviously imagined as the original ship was almost certainly broken up at Rotherhithe in 1624, a more extreme case than  the “Streatham portrait“, which post-dates it’s purported subject’s death by about forty years. From the spelling of the title, the background… Continue reading The Mayflower