The exhibition that I mentioned in this post from August is now open. Here is the website for the Elmbridge Museum, which is hosting the exhibition.

Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Surrey Comet about the exhibition:

Oatlands Underfoot: Stones and Stories From a Forgotten Palace, was opened on September 26 by the mayor of Elmbridge, Councillor James Vickers.

It reveals the story of Oatlands Palace, which was built by Henry VIII and once stood near the centre of Weybridge.

Coun Vickers said: “Oatlands Underfoot is a wonderful insight into King Henry VIII’s passion for architectural opulence.

“Although very little remains today, the exhibition brings the walls back to life and offers visitors the unique opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the great monarch’s influence on the local history through the fascinating pieces which were excavated from the Oatlands site.”

Full article

I’ve posted about this ongoing investigation a few times in the past and I’m not too surprised that it is now looking like the traditional site for the battle is incorrect. Some of the early results were pointing in that direction. I’m looking forward to reading the final report!

From The Telegraph:

For hundreds of years history followers have visited Ambion Hill in Leicestershire, believing it to be the site of the Battle of Bosworth, which marked the end of the War of the Roses and the beginning of the reign of the Tudors.

… Richard Knox, curator of Bosworth Battlefield, said it was now likely that the proper site was on low-lying ground between the villages of Shenton, Stoke Golding and Dadlington, first proposed by the historian Peter Foss in 1990.

The key to the mystery is likely to be finding the former marshland that Henry is said to have used to his advantage to attack the vastly larger army of his enemy from the flanks.

Investigations there have found ancient names given to the area such as Fenn Hole and Fenn Meadow, and a team is currently scouring the area with metal detectors.

Mr Knox said: “We feel that Peter Foss’s argument is the most likely site.
“We have found ridges and furrows where there could have been a marsh.”
He said tests had ruled out that the battle had taken place on Ambion Hill itself, and also that the stone memorial erected to Richard III half a mile away, on the spot he supposedly fell, is situated on the wrong spot.

He added: “We won’t move it because it has become a landmark in its own right. But when we do decide on the correct spot we can put up another memorial provided it is practical and has public access.”
…
The official results of the survey will be announced early next year.

Full article

Yeah, it’s time for another catch-up post since I’ve been busy and I wasn’t feeling well for a few days, which is always a bad combination for productivity!

* Leanda deLisle has an article in the September issue The New Criterion entitled Faking Jane about the Spinola letter which purported to have an eyewitness description of Lady Jane Grey. Some of you might be able to access it through libraries, but you can also buy the individual article for $3. There has also been some discussion of the article over on the Q&A blog.

* Dame Judi Dench is looking to recreate The Rose theater in the north of England with the set from Shakespeare in Love. I think I had a news article about her saving the set back in the pre-blog days, but it apparently didn’t make it over when I switched from the old “News and Events” page to the blog.

* A rare Elizabethan hammerbeam roof in a barn at Westenhanger Castle has been restored by English Hertiage.

* And finally – a neat story from The Telegraph about How two Tudor lion statues came home to Hampton Court. Many years ago someone sent me some photos of some similar statues that they were looking for more information on and unfortunately now I can’t find the email or photos. I had to go through and clear out a lot of that stuff at one point so I might have deleted them. But it makes me wonder how many other things like this are still out there waiting to be found!

Because several articles have stacked up and I don’t want to make these in to separate posts, here’s a quick round up:

** Henry VIII talks from the Historic Royal Palaces (podcasts)

** Mary Rose 500 – a final fundraising appeal from the Mary Rose Trust and info on how you can “join the crew” by helping to raise money for the new museum

** From The Surrey Comet:
Elmbridge Museum holds exhibition on Oatlands Palace

Elmbridge Museum is holding an exhibition starting next month on the now destroyed Oatlands Palace in Weybridge.

The museum, which is based in Church Street, Weybridge, is holding the exhibition called Oatlands Underfoot: Stones and Stories from a Forgotten Palace, which will attempt to bring to life one of Henry VIII’s lesser-known palaces.

** From The Yorkshire Post:
Henry saw resort as northern stronghold, historic map reveals

SCARBOROUGH played a key part in Henry VIII’s defence against invasion, a recently unearthed map reveals.

A town plan, drawn around 1539, has been found among thousands of documents in British Library archives

** From The Daily Mail:
Saved for the nation: The oak trees that shaded Henry VIII and his bride-to-be Jane

Their towering trunks and gnarled boughs once bore silent witness to the courtship of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour.

Little wonder, then, that the oaks and beeches have been identified as some of Britain’s most historic trees, so that they can be protected for future generations.

In the biggest project of its kind, experts have painstakingly identified and mapped 4,500 of the oldest trees in the royal hunting forest of Savernake.

Great project – I love gnarly old trees!

From The Times Online:

St Paul’s and St Peter’s are famed for their spectacular domes, and Florence Cathedral is regarded as a wonder of Renaissance architecture.

At Westminster Abbey, though, where kings and queens are crowned, poets are buried and martyrs commemorated, only a “stubby little tower” marks its centuries of glory.

Now the Dean and Chapter of the abbey are hoping to build a £10 million “crowning feature”. The new corona is likely to be the most dramatic addition to the London skyline since the Swiss Re building, known as the Gherkin, opened in 2004.

The corona is part of a £23 million development plan that will involve a huge fundraising campaign if it wins approval from several regulatory bodies. The public will be consulted on the design of the corona, which will replace the lantern, a small, plain concrete, pyramid roof above the crossing that stands in front of the high altar where every monarch has been crowned for the past thousand years.

Full article

Before seeing this article, I don’t think I had ever really thought about the lack of a large spire or tower above the crossing at Westminster, like you see at pretty much every other great cathedral in England. I’m curious to see the plans for the new addition.

Here’s a quick screen shot of Westminster Abbey from Google Maps, with an arrow pointing to the area they are talking about making the addition.

Update: Here’s a link to the press release from the Abbey, which includes some more information and a link to the exhibition page.

From The Gazette:

A TUDOR house where Henry VIII once stayed has opened to the public for the summer season.

Acton Court, in Iron Acton, is open for 60 days until August 23 for guided tours and a programme of special events.

Lisa Kopper, resident artist and manager of the house, said: “We are open every day except Monday and when special events are planned so people can just turn up for tours or call us to make sure.”

The house offers rare examples of 16th century royal décor as the west wing was added in 1535 to welcome the king and his second wife Anne Boleyn.

It was lavishly decorated to show that the owners of Acton Court, the Poyntz family, were loyal to the king. Henry’s own en suite garderobe is still on public display.

Full article and link to Acton Court’s official site

BBC News video:

Additional articles:

The Guardian: Kenilworth Castle garden reopens

The Independent: Recreated, the Tudor garden where an ambitious earl wooed the Virgin Queen

From the BBC:

Images from Scotland’s national collections are available online for the first time.

The photographs, many of which are previously unpublished, can now be downloaded for licensed use.

The images on www.scotlandsimages.com are from the National Archives of Scotland and other collections.

Culture Minister Linda Fabiani said: “I’m delighted that our unique National Collections which capture so much of our nation’s story, are now available.”

She added: “The new website features images ranging from people, places and objects, to maps, plans, drawings and iconic documents offering a remarkable illustration of the life, history and culture of Scotland and the wider world.”

Full article

Scotland’s Images website

From Worcester News:

Worcester Cathedral is to be given £106,000 to carry out essential work that will bring a 20-year restoration programme to a close.

Staff at the cathedral said they were delighted to have got the money from the cathedral grants scheme run by English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation.

The money will be put towards repairing masonry in the cloisters, one of the failing buttresses and a wall in the southern part of the nave.
…

Both King John and Prince Arthur, the ill-fated heir of Henry VII who died at the age of 15, are buried at Worcester Cathedral.

The only existing copy of William Shakespeare’s marriage licence to Anne Hathaway is on display there.

Full article

Official website of Worcester Cathedral

From The BBC:

Researchers are working to uncover the mysteries of 33 wood carved medallions which would have decorated the Royal Palace at Stirling Castle.

Historic Scotland is trying to find out why the works, known as the Stirling Heads and carved between 1530 and 1544, were created and whom they depict.

The carvings are thought to feature monarchs such as James V and England’s Henry VIII.

The research is part of £12m plans to refurbish Stirling’s Royal Palace.
Historians are in the process of restoring the palace to how it would have looked in the 1540s and creating a new gallery where a replica set of heads will go on display.
…
The palace was begun by James V in about 1538 as a home for his new French bride Mary de Guise.

Full article

You can have this one for about £2.65 million (about $4 million US).

From EDP24:

The property is a Grade I listed late 16th-century manor house set in a spectacular secluded position on a garden island of just over half an acre surrounded by a moat filled with water and located at the end of a three-quarters of a mile drive. Built of red sand-faced bricks under a tiled roof over three storeys, the hall has stone mullioned windows. The principal reception room, formerly known as the Great Chamber, has marvellous views down the drive and over the gardens on both sides with a magnificent fireplace. The dining hall has a large Tudor-style fireplace and polished flagstone floor and there is a kitchen/breakfast room with exposed timbers.

On the estate are three renovated cottages, barns and stabling, garaging, paddocks and woodland.

Original article

Listing at Strutt & Parker

Update:
Here’s an article from the Daily Mail about the house and the current owners who did important restoration work on it, including the moat.

I have to admit that I was kind of amused at how they had to put in that the house was originally owned by someone related to Anne Boleyn. I guess they know what grabs the eyeballs these days! Well, and it is what caused the article to show up on my Google alerts…

From the BBC:

Prince Charles may have only recently bought his first home in Wales, but its royal connections go back centuries, an historian has discovered.

The original owner of Llwynywermod in Carmarthenshire was related to the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn.

Mark Baker, of Prestatyn, Denbighshire, unravelled the history of what was once one of Wales’ finest homes.
…
“I have uncovered that [the house] goes back to about the 13th or 14th Centuries when it was owned by relatives of Anne Boleyn, Henry V111’s second wife.

“And the Griffies-Williams family in the early 18th century were quite close to the royals and received a baronetcy.
…
Mr Baker said the house’s renaissance only began about 10 years ago when the previous owner John and Patricia Hegarty bought the farm and land for £352,000.

They began a restoration project before selling the estate to the Duchy of Cornwall in 2006.

Mr Baker said that now only the medieval kitchen and about 60% of the walls of the original mansion of the estate remained, but he hoped it could be restored under royal ownership.

“It really is one of the lost houses of Wales,” he said.

Full article

Since I just posted a story yesterday about a property for rent, I was going to pass by this one for sale, until I read the following sentence:

It is run as a hotel for part of the year, with visitors able to enjoy a 17th century medieval experience and six-course banquet along with typical medieval housekeeping staff.

So, what is a 17th century medieval experience? Is that anything like the 21st century renaissance experience I had last weekend? And I’m kind of scared of what a ‘medieval housekeeping staff’ would be like. (Apologies to my friends and any readers who hate hearing the word ‘medieval’ used as a colloquial term for all things bad.)

All snark aside, it is an amazing-looking house. I’m a sucker for black-and-white timbering.

Original article

Property listing (with more photos)

Yet another one of those neat properties … although this one is only for rent, not for sale.

From The Times Online property pages:

Renting a country house is in. Potential buyers biding their time for further price falls are in need of a stopgap home, and are renting from those who are holding off from selling. Stables House, in Kent, is to let – for £2,500 a month – and comes with a bonus for heritage fans. The owner of neighbouring Hever Castle is offering tenants an annual pass to its castle and grounds. The moated fortress dates from the 13th century and was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.

Full article at the Times Online

Page at the estate agency’s website (including a few interior shots – I like the brick patterns on the fireplace!)

These should probably each get a post of their own, but I’m being lazy…

First, from The Independent:

The way we used to eat: The Tudor kitchen

They didn’t have tomatoes, potatoes – or chocolate. So what did the Tudors cook? Tim Walker steps back in time to find out

Jorge Kelman, a stout fellow in 16th century garb – which includes a codpiece – breaks off from straining his aromatic apple purée to make sure I note this down correctly: “The Tudors did not disguise raw meat with spices,” he insists. “I can’t tell you how many people get that wrong.” His colleague Mark Hawtree, whose face is framed by a beard like a bawdy Shakespearean actor’s, can’t help but join in. “What would be the point?” he says. Nutmeg, he has just explained, was sourced by the Tudors from an island 600 miles north of Australia: at least one very long sea voyage from London. “Spices were expensive. Meat was cheap. It wouldn’t make any sense!”
…
Hampton Court is gearing up to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession next year, so today we’re revisiting the 1530s, following the instructions of A Noble Book of Cookery, one of just two surviving cook books published under Henry’s rule. “The books are ambiguous,” Meltonville explains. “They have no measurements; they just say take this and that, put them together and cook it. They aren’t like modern cookery books – they’re a cook’s aide-memoire.”

Full article

Next up, from This is London, Elizabethan silver items going up for auction:

Carpetright founder Lord Harris of Peckham is set to add to his fortune when the items are auctioned at Christie’s next month,

Items under the hammer include a rare Elizabethan ostrich-egg cup and cover, known as The Whitfield Cup, which is expected to fetch up to £800,000. The carved 26in-high object was made in 1590 by Elizabeth I’s jeweller, John Spilman of London, at a time when ostrich eggs were prized.

Full article

And finally, a story on the Elizabethan inspiration for James Bond, from The Telegraph:

A diary has come to light detailing the exploits of John Bond, an Elizabethan secret agent whose family motto is “Non Sufficit Orbis” – The World Is Not Enough.

The Bond family are based in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, where Fleming went to prep school.
It was here, at the Durnford School, that he first started hearing Boy’s Own stories that inspired his most famous creation.

Experts believe he would have picked up the legendary tales of John Bond whose family are extremely well known in the area.

The journal, which has remained in the family but has previously been unseen in public, was written by Denis Bond, John Bond’s son.

Full article

As most of you probably know by now, I’m a big fan of the project to recreate the Elizabethan gardens at Kenilworth Castle, based on archaeology and the accounts from Elizabeth’s famous visit in 1575.

Here’s an article from Building Design online about the architecture firm doing the gardens and the project in general, including some neat pictures (small version of one of them above).

In 1575, Elizabeth I’s summer progress arrived at Kenilworth Castle where she spent 19 days as the guest of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. She was greeted by a display of opulence unrivalled at the time, including pageants, music, dancing, fireworks, hunting and feasting. Dudley, still hoping to persuade the queen to marry him, had added a suite of luxurious apartments to the medieval castle and created a pleasure garden, a sensual paradise with a 5.5m-high marble fountain at its centre, abundant scented flowers and fruits, shady arbours and a bejewelled aviary. But Dudley’s first wife had died in suspicious circumstances and he was unpopular at court, so despite his considerable efforts, the queen refused him.

No drawing of the garden survives and following the civil war, part of the castle’s keep was pulled down, covering the garden and destroying the original layout.

A Tudor garden was laid out in the 1970s, but archaeological excavations showed it to be an inaccurate representation of the original. After five years of work by historians, archaeologists, designers and gardeners, in May 2009 a £2 million recreation of the garden will be complete. Richard Griffiths Architects has co-ordinated the design, continuing its work at the castle, which has included restoration of the 16th century stables and a new green oak-framed admissions building.

Read the full article here

Here’s a neat article from The Telegraph that caught my eye last week:

The grim and impressive ruined battlements of Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire seem an unlikely setting for a garden of fragrance. But if English Heritage’s latest restoration project goes to plan, visitors moving from the dank environs of the Norman Keep into the light will be greeted by a waft of spicy clove scent, just as Elizabeth I was when she visited in July 1575.
…
John Watkins, head of gardens and landscapes at English Heritage, is patiently unpicking the genetic profile of a prized carnation that will occupy pedestalled clay pots at the top and bottom of the stairs. His study of engravings of contemporary gardens by Dutchman Hans Vredeman de Vries revealed that urns bearing plant rarities appear in strategic spots – and in some he could discern a trelliswork of willow holding carnations at nose height.

“The carnation was very much a fashionable plant at the time, introduced in 1540,” says Watkins. “It came over from the Turkish court and was probably Dianthus caryophyllus, the true carnation found in mountains around the Mediterranean. The true carnation has a very distinct, spicy nutmeg-clove fragrance. The pinks we know today are much sweeter.”

Full article

After being part of a cow shed for a while…

From the BBC:

Tudor wooden panelling, missing from a castle for more than 300 years, is to be returned to its home after once being part of a farmer’s cow shed.

It was among items taken from Monmouthshire’s Raglan Castle during the Civil War in the 17th Century.

But the large panel, once owned by a courtier of Henry VIII, was found after it was sold by a collector, who bought it from a farm for £5 in the 1950s.

The panel is now to go on show at the castle’s new visitor centre.

Full article (with a picture – be sure to click for the full view to see the rest of the carving)

And another article from Wales Online

English Heritage, in association with the History Channel, has launched EHTV. There is a variety of subjects and time periods covered and you can also subscribe to it as a video podcast.

The following email and videos are courtesy of Dave Postles (originally posted to H-ALBION and then forwarded to my Tudor list and sent to me directly by kb)

Bradgate House and Lady Jane Grey

The house is paradigmatic of a late-medieval courtyard house, constructed c.1490-1505 by Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, grandfather of Lady Jane Grey who was born in this house. Brick, but with stone quoins, from local Triassic clay with diaper work in vitrified brick. It was left to decay from 1739, the parkland and house bought in 1928 by Charles Bennion and entrusted to the City of Leicester.

The parkland is partly located in a small gorge. The pre-Cambrian rock which is the bedrock is the oldest in Britain. It was overlaid by Triassic clay. The R. Lin eroded the clay, encountering below the pre-Cambrian rock, cut a smaller channel, creating the small gorge – what geomorphologists call superimposed drainage. Despite its smallness, the Lin here represents all the elements of the cycle of erosion in this superimposed drainage system.

The vill of Bradgate was removed outside the park to the new site of Newtown Linford, a linear or street village along the edge of the park. Several cruck or raised cruck cottages are dispersed in this ‘new’ village.

The southern extension of the park was deer park, with the park pale still discernible on the boundary with the adjacent parish of Anstey.

The video clips are designed to illustrate all these features.

1 The small gorge at the Linford entry to the park

2 The deer park on the south bank of the Lin

4 The deer park again

5 The end of the gorge, opening out of the park and house in the distance

6 One of the many exposed outcrops of pre-Cambrian rock

7 The house

8 The house

9 The deer park

[Copyleft - i.e. copyright-free]

Be sure to check out his other videos!

[July 1 - corrected quoted email to read "Thomas Grey ... grandfather of Lady Jane Grey"]