Category: Picture of the Week

Stained glass window in St. Nicholas Church, Kenilworth. Photo May 2015.

Inside Harvard House, Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo May 2015.

This is a view of the same table from Picture of the Week #336 from another angle where you can also see the decorative painted plaster above the fireplace (which you’ll see up close in another POTW eventually!)

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo May 2015.

Ornate fireplace from 1637 at the Leicester Guildhall, Leicester, England. Photo May 2015.

St Michael’s Framlingham. Photo May 2015

St. Michael’s is the burial place of several members of the Howard family from Tudor times and of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, who married into the Howard family.

Windsor Castle from The Long Walk in Windsor Great Park. Photo May 2015

Hampton Court Palace. Photo May 2015.

This is a view of the south and east sides of the William & Mary section of Hampton Court. I’m glad that they weren’t able to complete their plans to tear down all of the Tudor section! But I do like the hodgepodge of building styles you see there now since it is a good way to learn the different architectural eras.

Fan vaulting at Peterborough Cathedral. Photo May 2015.

Ruins of the Abbey and Bury St Edmunds with the later Cathedral in the background. Photo May 2015.

The Feast of St Edmund was a couple of days so I thought I would use another photo from Bury. As I’ve mentioned before, the Abbey was the original burial place of Mary Tudor Brandon, Queen of France and Duchess of Suffolk, before the Dissolution when her remains were moved to the nearby St. Mary’s Church.

Tower of St James the Great Church in Castle Acre, Norfolk. Photo May 2015.

Rochester Cathedral. Photo May 2015

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Shottery, near Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo May 2015.

Remains of The Pleasance at Kenilworth Castle, built for Henry V. Photo May 2015.

Even though Kenilworth has many, many associations with Tudor history, the reason I’m featuring it today has to do with its ties to Henry V. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m doing the Shakespeare 2020 Project and we’re reading Henry V right now as it coincides with the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt (October 25, 1415). Henry V was at Kenilworth Castle when he received the infamous gift of tennis balls from the French king in Act I, Scene 2 of the play (probably based on a real incident).

Henry V had The Pleasance constructed along the mere, where it was reached by boat from the castle. It was eventually dismantled in the reign of Henry VIII and only the earthworks remain. To reach it now, you take a footpath from the castle until you reach the information plaque you see in the photo. It’s hard to appreciate the remains from ground level, so I’ve added a screen shot from Google Earth below with the location of where I took the photo from circled in blue.

Outside the walls of Framlingham Castle. Photo May 2015.

The piers in the middle are the remains of the Tudor bridge that lead from the castle to a private garden.

Embroideries from the Marian Hangings at Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk. Photo May 2015.

More pictures of some of the embroideries of Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick on display at Oxburgh.

View of the Elizabethan Gardens at Kenilworth Castle from the steps up to the Norman keep. Photo May 2015.

South front of Blickling Hall, Norfolk. Photo May 2015

Portrait of Arthur Tudor at Hampton Court Palace. Photo May 2015

I’m glad I snapped this photo of Arthur’s portrait the last time I was at Hampton Court so now I have something to use for today – his 534th birthday!

Spiral stairs in Castle Rising, Norfolk. Photo May 2015.

Every time I go up or down one of these when visiting a castle, I think of the women having to climb them in all those clothes (regardless of the era). I’m such a klutz, I’m pretty sure I would have gotten my legs tangled in fabric and ended up with a concussion more than once.