My father was a Dorset man—Bridport born and bred—and was always proud of his county. And rightly so. It is indeed breathtakingly beautiful and unspoiled. I remember as a child the excitement of changing trains at Maiden Newton, to take the branch line to Bridport. Leaving the rush and noise of the main tracks and… Continue reading A chance to own part of Hardy’s Wessex….
Tag: Thomas Hardy
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 …
An Irish take on the British peerage system
Here is an article from Niall O’Dowd of “Irish Central” to mark the accession of Charles III. It makes a number of good points, although some others are debateable:1) Wessex may have ceased to be as a Kingdom when Athelstan took over the others (Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia) but it had Earls in the… Continue reading An Irish take on the British peerage system
Anne of Cleves’ House
Here it is, the house in Haverhill that the “sister” of Henry VIII lived in for a few years, as part of their non-consummation annulment settlement, only six months after the “marriage” in Greenwich to follow a betrothal at Rochester. She outlived Henry, Holbein who painted her, Cromwell who arranged the wedding, Cranmer who presided… Continue reading Anne of Cleves’ House
A universal truth: Richard III was a very respectable man….
Here is an amusing read in the Horrible Histories vein…well, its title tells that much. Richard III gets a mention. It seems Jane Austen questioned “…’whether Richard III really did kill his nephews, writing: he was a York [and] I am inclined to suppose him a very respectable man’…” But yes, it’s a send-up. Heaven… Continue reading A universal truth: Richard III was a very respectable man….
A house that has been loved back to life, twice. . . .
There are so many wonderful old buildings nestling away in the British countryside. We are so lucky to still have them. Beautiful 15th-century Great Chalfield Manor in Wiltshire was “loved back to life by an Edwardian engineer, Robert Fuller, and his scholarly architect, Sir Harold Brakspear”. Now it has been rescued again. “. . .… Continue reading A house that has been loved back to life, twice. . . .
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