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Category: Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week #629

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.

Picture of the Week #627

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.

Picture of the Week #623

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.

Picture of the Week #617

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.

Picture of the Week #616

Portrait of Elizabeth I in “The Arte of English Poesie”. Photo April 2016

I needed a picture of the birthday girl Elizabeth I and it looks like I don’t have any more in my 2015 trip photos, so I pulled this from my photos of Shakespeare in Print & Performance from 2016. This exhibit was put on by the Harry Ransom Center at my university to mark 400 years since Shakespeare’s death.

The Arte of English Poesie was printed in London by Richard Field in 1589 and was dedicated to Elizabeth I. The Latin caption translates as: “For the one who is ever the same, and no other.”

Picture of the Week #614

Half groat of Henry VII at the Bosworth Battlefield visitor center. Photo May 2015.

The photo itself might not be great (sorry… displays like these can be difficult to photograph) the object is really interesting and a good example of some of the challenges in archaeology.