GOLD and lots of it!!
Went to the British Museum yesterday for some research, but got distracted by the Staffordshire Hoard. A truly amazing find of over 1500 pieces of gold and silver dating from 600-700 AD and found by a amateur metal detectorist in a field in the middle of England. Ok not Tudor but never-the-less worth mentioning. The pieces on display are simply incredible, the workmanship of the gold with garnets inlaid together with enamel designs. Getting up close and personal with such a find was a truly mouth open experience. The pieces still haven't been cleaned of dirt yet because there is so much of it and it will take at least a year to evaluate it all. In all the weight is more than eleven pounds of gold and three pounds of silver, all hidden in the ground probably,left there by somebody fleeing a battle 1300 years ago.
Worth a look if you are in London.
www.tudorhistorytours.com
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Friday 8 January 2010
St Peters Church Firle
Nestling at the foot of Firle Beacon on the south downs lies St Peters Church in Firle village very close to Firle Place the ancestral home of the Gage family.
It's a flint built 13th Century Church but evidence suggest that the present site is much older, even before 1066.
There are 3 Alabaster tombs with effigies dating from 1595 in the Knave and contain, John Gage(1556) and his wife Phillipa, he was constable of the Tower of London and responsible for planning the execution of Catherine Howard.
His son Edward (d1569)and his wife Elizabeth, he was responsible for planning the burning at the stake the protestant martyrs in Lewes during the reign of Mary Tudor. Edward had two wives, 9 sons and 5 daughters, a very busy man!.
Lastly another John (1595) grandson of the first John, he had two wives too but not such gory credentials. Also buried in the family plot is Thomas Gage, he of the American war of Independence fame or infamy because he had a bit of a failure and was replaced. Firle is one of the places we visit on our tours.
The church has a list of the parish vicars dating from 1197. There is also a John Piper window installed in 1985 in homage to William Blake's Book of Job in memory of Henry 6th Viscount gage and depicts the tree of life in heavenly Jerusalem.
Today would have been Elvis Prestley's 75th Birthday if he was still alive. I mention this because there is a gargolye of Elvis at Canterbury Cathedral. Really there is, one of the stone masons a few years ago was an Elvis fan and chisseled the likeness on a replacement stone gargolye during renovations and it's still there high on the roof.
www.tudorhistorytours.com
It's a flint built 13th Century Church but evidence suggest that the present site is much older, even before 1066.
There are 3 Alabaster tombs with effigies dating from 1595 in the Knave and contain, John Gage(1556) and his wife Phillipa, he was constable of the Tower of London and responsible for planning the execution of Catherine Howard.
His son Edward (d1569)and his wife Elizabeth, he was responsible for planning the burning at the stake the protestant martyrs in Lewes during the reign of Mary Tudor. Edward had two wives, 9 sons and 5 daughters, a very busy man!.
Lastly another John (1595) grandson of the first John, he had two wives too but not such gory credentials. Also buried in the family plot is Thomas Gage, he of the American war of Independence fame or infamy because he had a bit of a failure and was replaced. Firle is one of the places we visit on our tours.
The church has a list of the parish vicars dating from 1197. There is also a John Piper window installed in 1985 in homage to William Blake's Book of Job in memory of Henry 6th Viscount gage and depicts the tree of life in heavenly Jerusalem.
Today would have been Elvis Prestley's 75th Birthday if he was still alive. I mention this because there is a gargolye of Elvis at Canterbury Cathedral. Really there is, one of the stone masons a few years ago was an Elvis fan and chisseled the likeness on a replacement stone gargolye during renovations and it's still there high on the roof.
www.tudorhistorytours.com
Monday 4 January 2010
Tower of London
The discovery Channel over the last weekend was turned over completely to the Tower of London. A series of hour long programs looking at the Tower, it's history and it's people.
It is the most visited historic site in the country and has something for everyone.
It was fascinating to learn that the Yeoman of the Guard have a intense training period before they can be let loose on the general public. The Red uniforms they wear as seen on the home page of our web site,date back to Henry VII and they cost over £7,000 each with all that gold braid.
The challenge to the Queens Keys is the longest running military ceremony in the world. At 10pm precisely every night the shout goes out from a young sentry " Halt- who comes there?" only once in the last few hundred years has it been delayed. During the WWII Blitz a bomb landed within the Tower and blew the escort and Yeoman off their feet. The governor to the Tower wrote an appolgy to the King who replied that under the circumstances the officer should not face any punishment.
The Tower holds many historic features including the Crown Jewels that were once stolen by a Colonel Blood in 1637, a very interesting plot because he was pardoned by King Charles II. Who would want to be the person that actually gets to cleam them?
The Tower was also a very famous prison holding many historic and imfamous people right up to after the second world war. It even held the Kray twins ( for readers not from the UK the Kray Twins were notorious gangsters from London in the 1950's and 60's).
Once a year at low tide people are allowed on the river foreshore to scavenge amung what was the Tower rubbish dump for centuries. The piles of rubbish reveals some surprising finds like a gilded spur or a medieval door lock or a tile or a piece of masonary centuries old.
Lets hope that the discovery channel reapaets the series soon.
www.tudorhistorytours.com
It is the most visited historic site in the country and has something for everyone.
It was fascinating to learn that the Yeoman of the Guard have a intense training period before they can be let loose on the general public. The Red uniforms they wear as seen on the home page of our web site,date back to Henry VII and they cost over £7,000 each with all that gold braid.
The challenge to the Queens Keys is the longest running military ceremony in the world. At 10pm precisely every night the shout goes out from a young sentry " Halt- who comes there?" only once in the last few hundred years has it been delayed. During the WWII Blitz a bomb landed within the Tower and blew the escort and Yeoman off their feet. The governor to the Tower wrote an appolgy to the King who replied that under the circumstances the officer should not face any punishment.
The Tower holds many historic features including the Crown Jewels that were once stolen by a Colonel Blood in 1637, a very interesting plot because he was pardoned by King Charles II. Who would want to be the person that actually gets to cleam them?
The Tower was also a very famous prison holding many historic and imfamous people right up to after the second world war. It even held the Kray twins ( for readers not from the UK the Kray Twins were notorious gangsters from London in the 1950's and 60's).
Once a year at low tide people are allowed on the river foreshore to scavenge amung what was the Tower rubbish dump for centuries. The piles of rubbish reveals some surprising finds like a gilded spur or a medieval door lock or a tile or a piece of masonary centuries old.
Lets hope that the discovery channel reapaets the series soon.
www.tudorhistorytours.com
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