Tag: Suffolk

Chatsworth (2010)

One of the things about being awarded, or inheriting, a peerage or baronetcy in the Early Modern period was the necessity to keep up appearances. Great families would compete to have better servants than their contemporaries. Whilst employing a better butler or housekeeper would be a relatively inconspicuous maintenance issue, a designer or gardener could… Continue reading Chatsworth (2010)

Restoration commences on the de la Pole tomb in Wingfield Church….and I take a little detour to Wingfield Castle….

For Ricardians the name de la Pole conjures thoughts of John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln. And maybe too of his father, John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, whose effigy lies at Wingfield Church in Suffolk with his duchess Elizabeth of York. She was a daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of… Continue reading Restoration commences on the de la Pole tomb in Wingfield Church….and I take a little detour to Wingfield Castle….

King Aethelwold, the Venerable Bede and the new excavations at Rendlesham….

  Nowadays Rendlesham (the Forest) is often regarded as the site of Britain’s Roswell, but that’s a very recent development because it’s also where “Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,400-year-old royal Hall of the first Kings of East Anglia in Suffolk, England.” The site was apparently first spotted from the air in 2015….but was first mentioned… Continue reading King Aethelwold, the Venerable Bede and the new excavations at Rendlesham….

Beautiful Collyweston….

The ten best villages in England are listed here and Collyweston in Northamptonshire makes the grade. I can only say that it does so entirely on its own merit and in spite of having once been the lair of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII.

Have two lost islands been traced off the Welsh coast….?

  The thought of lost/sunken lands has always fascinated me, beginning with the legendary land of Lyonesse, once believed to be off the coast of Cornwall, between Land’s End and the present Isles of Scilly. It features prominently in the story of Tristan and Iseult. And, like many such sunken lands, the bells of its… Continue reading Have two lost islands been traced off the Welsh coast….?

A beautiful country house in the Hoxne Hoard village….

      Anyone who watched the brilliant BBC series The Detectorists will know what to hope of a home in Hoxne, Suffolk.   The village is the location of The Hoxne Hoard, the largest collection of late-Roman gold and silver ever found in Britain, today worth almost £4 million. And now the Old Vicarage in Hoxne is for… Continue reading A beautiful country house in the Hoxne Hoard village….

MacCullogh on Cromwell

Last Monday, BBC repeated Sir Diarmaid MacCullogh‘s excellent documentary Henry VIII’s Enforcer: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell, from 2013. Please watch it soon as you can it is only available until mid-January. Actually, excellent is rather an understatement as it is better than others you may see. In telling Cromwell‘s story from “the… Continue reading MacCullogh on Cromwell

There was a crooked man who lived in a crooked house….

  We love to look at (and are proud of) our old medieval houses, and Lavenham in Suffolk is full of them! No wonder it draws in so many people, all intent upon seeing what England used to be like before the advent of modern building expansion. One of the most famous of the houses… Continue reading There was a crooked man who lived in a crooked house….

Edward II’s nieces: The Clare Sisters

… and so to the dark green volume in Kathryn Warner‘s series about Edward II, his family, his associates and his era. This one details the lives of three sisters with seven husbands between them and a lot of interesting descendants, including Richard III (and siblings), his wife and his sisters-in-law. The eldest, Eleanor de… Continue reading Edward II’s nieces: The Clare Sisters