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Category: Architecture News

Sunday Short Takes

Sorry for the lack of round-ups lately, but here are a few links from the past couple of weeks:

* The Wonder of Birds: Norwich Castle showcases Holbein portrait – A “mysterious” painting has returned to Norfolk for the first time in more than 20 years as part of an exhibition spanning more than 4,000 years.

* Want to buy Hampton Court? No, not that one, the other one – The 15th century castle could be yours if you have

Sunday Short Takes

Quick round-up again this week since I have been out showing the sun (safely!) to visitors to the Texas State History Museum all day. 🙂

* What Does History Mean to You? – Guest post on On the Tudor Trail from a teacher who needs help from Tudor History enthusiasts and historians. I’m not really in much of a position to help, but I can at least spread the word!

* Wolf Hall TV cast to include Damian Lewis and Mark Rylance – More casting updates on the TV adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall.

* No mod cons: Fitted kitchen? Chuck it. Bathroom suite? Swap it for a lead-lined tub. Meet the man whose DIY makeover took his home back 500 years – I don’t know that I would want to live in a home like this, but I would certainly love to stay a few days and nights to try it out!

And finally…

* Sir David Attenborough helps Bradgate Park campaign – (Warning – autoplay video at the link) The Leicester Rotary Club has launched a campaign to construct a visitor center for the park, which includes the ruins of Bradgate House, childhood home of Lady Jane Grey. You can find out more at the the Facebook page for the campaign.

Sunday Short Takes

Clearing out a miscellaneous back-log of things that I haven’t gotten around to posting over the past few weekends:

* William Shakespeare at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – The ODNB is making the Bard’s bio free to read all month in honor of the 450th anniversary of his birth on the 23rd.

* Richard III revamp at Bosworth Battlefield while Cathedral tomb plans get approval

* Hans Holbein

Sunday Short Takes

Quick run-down this week as I get back to enjoying my last few hours of spring break:

* Seminal portrait of Queen Elizabeth I on display at the Museum of Reading – Painting commissioned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, as part of a pair of portraits depicts the Queen wearing a white satin jewel-encrusted doublet

* Is this the bed which launched the Tudors? – Dumped in a hotel car park this four poster could be where Henry VIII was conceived and is worth

Sunday Short Takes

* The Missing Tudors: black people in 16th-century England – They were baptised and buried in parishes across the country, and even attended queens at court. So why, asks Onyeka, do we continue to airbrush black Africans out of Tudor England?

* Work starts on ‘exceptional’ Beauchamp Chapel in Warwick – Work is set to start on the restoration of a 15th Century chapel, described by English Heritage as being “of exceptional interest”.

* Cardinal backs campaign to buy

Sunday Short Takes

Just a few stories this week –

* Toys and games that killed in Tudor England – More interesting stuff from Steven Gunn and Tomasz Gromelski’s research into coroner’s reports.

* Great works: Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VI) by Hans Holbein the Younger, circa 1538

* The Lost Palace of Henry The VIII – An interesting look at Otford Palace

And finally…

* The series Tudor Monastery Farm that I mentioned back in August is now airing on BBC Two. You can watch it online if you have access to iPlayer.

Sunday Short Takes

Lots of stories this week since I got totally sidetracked on something last weekend and never got around to writing a post!

* Bodleian Libraries’ archives reveal ‘lost’ Rycote mansion – The “lost” history of a Tudor mansion that hosted six English kings and queens, including Henry VIII, has been restored in a new online archive.

You can see the online archive here: Rediscovering Rycote. There are some great resources at the site, including a nice palaeography tutorial. Yes, my quest to get better at reading Tudor handwriting still continues…

* And more from the Elizabeth I and Her People exhibition at the NPG:

Elizabeth I and Her People – Slideshow from BBC History Extra. And the first part of this week’s History Extra podcast includes a discussion of the exhibition with Dr. Tarnya Cooper.

The National Portrait Gallery’s You Tube channel has several videos related to the exhibition. I’ve embedded one below, but be sure to check out the others at the channel.

* A castle fit for a king: Historic home once owned by Henry VIII and used for trysts with his mistresses goes up for sale for

Sunday Short Takes

Sorry there wasn’t a round-up last week – there weren’t a bunch of articles and I was short on time anyway. So here is a nice assortment of Tudory links for your viewing pleasure!

* Astley Castle restoration project wins Stirling prize – I’ve posted about the efforts to save Astley Castle (which has Tudor history ties) in the past here and here, so it was nice to see it get this recognition.

* Photos: Astley Castle wins Britain’s biggest architecture award – another article about the prize, with a nice photo gallery.

* Lacey Baldwin Smith, a ‘Big Name Historian’, Dies as 90 – Thanks to Nasim for posting this on Twitter a couple of days ago. I was surprised that I hadn’t already heard about it!

* Richard III: Leicester Cathedral reveals burial plans – This was one of the stories that I had in the queue last week and of course the story has stayed in the headlines with the criticism of the design and the continuing battle over where Richard III should be buried.

* ‘Battle of Bosworth relic’ sells at Derbyshire auction – A fragment of a flag believed to have been carried into the Battle of Bosworth has been sold at auction.

* The South West in the Tudor age – Nice photo gallery from History Extra

Sunday Short Takes

A couple of stories related to the Mary Queen of Scots exhibition that opened last Friday:

* Mary, Queen of Scots modelled in 3D – The face of Mary, Queen of Scots has been recreated in 3D by a team of experts from the University of Dundee.

* In pictures: Mary, Queen of Scots

And it’s been a while, but this week we have three entries in the “What would I buy if I won the lottery?” series:

* Elizabethan Manor House Near Cambridge

* Is this the most perfect house in Britain? Colourful history revealed of timber-framed country pile worth

Sunday Short Takes

As occasionally happens, a story that isn’t really “new” all of a sudden becomes “news”. In this case, the portrait above, which was called Katherine Parr for years, has been re-identified as Catherine of Aragon. I knew of the new identification a few years back (which is why there is a note about it in my Katherine Parr gallery… and I still haven’t re-done the galleries so it is still there waiting to be moved!) And it appears that the reason that it is all over the news now is that the National Portrait Gallery in London has put it on display with a portrait of a younger Henry VIII. Be sure to check out their article about the conservation of the portrait. (My copy, above, is pre-conservation.) Here’s just a sampling of the links that came through my news alerts:

* National Portrait Gallery reunites Henry VIII with Catherine of Aragon

* Catherine of Aragon reunited with King Henry VIII… but only as an oil painting

* Tudor portrait re-identified after experts notice Henry VIII’s wife was wearing the wrong clothes

The University of Leicester has announced the date and time for the Richard III excavation press conference and the associated documentary from Channel 4! Unfortunately the press conference will be at 4 a.m. in my time zone so I probably won’t be watching live.

* Date set for Search for Richard III press conference

* Richard III: The King in the Car Park

And a few other stories:

* Views fit for a queen for first time in centuries – Kenilworth Castle will proudly show off views not seen in centuries thanks to plans by plans by English Heritage to transform the remains with innovative viewing platforms. (I hope they have it finished by mid-May, when I hope to be there!)

* Elizabeth’s faithful tutor – Simon Adams and David Scott Gehring explain how the Virgin Queen’s little-known teacher may have influenced the religious policies of her reign

* RSC wins rights to stage Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell novels

Sunday Short Takes

Yes, they’re back! Sorry for the silence last weekend in particular – I got really ill about a week and a half ago and I basically slept all of last Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully I got better before the holidays!

* The BBC’s Your Paintings (which I first mentioned back in 2011 when it was getting started) has now compiled the nation’s collection of 210,000 paintings!

* The UK National Archives podcasts have a new one out on Bess of Hardwick

And finally, there were several articles out on the recreation of the Blue Boar Inn in Leicester where Richard III stayed the night before the Battle of Bosworth. I *really* want a 3D printer!

* King Richard III’s medieval inn recreated by archaeologists

* Model of Richard III’s Blue Boar Inn made in Leicester

* And a short video from the University of Leicester:

Sunday Short Takes

The Telegraph has posted its obituary for Eric Ives:

* Professor Eric Ives – Professor Eric Ives, who has died aged 81, was the author of the definitive biography of Anne Boleyn and a much-loved figure at the University of Birmingham, where he served as head of the Modern History faculty and pro-vice-chancellor.

And in other news:

* Morning glory: England

Sunday Short Takes

In a follow-up to last Sunday’s news about the dig to find Greyfriars Church in Leicester and the possible resting place of Richard III, archaeologists have already found strong evidence that they’re digging in the right place.

To keep up with all of the news, check the official site from the University of Leicester’s Greyfriars Project site news section.

Additional news on the most recent finds from the dig – just a few selected from many:

* Richard III dig in Leicester car park ‘is definitely on the right track’

* Breakthrough in the search for King Richard III as archaeologists find ‘tantalising clues’ to the location of his body (and it really could be under a council car park in Leicester)

And another couple of 16th century properties have come on the market (I keep posting these in hopes that someone who reads this blog will buy one and invite me to visit!):

* Live like Henry VIII in your own Tudor mansion complete with pool and 300 acres (but at

Sunday Short Takes

Lots of interesting links this week!

* Hilary Mantel discusses Thomas Cromwell’s past, presence and future – The Wolf Hall author tells the Edinburgh book festival of her plans for the conclusion of her Tudor trilogy

* Sudeley Castle: the curious life and death of Katherine Parr – Sudeley Castle commemorates 500 years since the birth of Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s wives.

* Lambert Simnel, a counterfeit king – Once upon a time a good-looking Oxford youth, the son of a carpenter, was taken away from his home city and crowned King of England by an archbishop