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St Nichoals Priory, one of Exeter's oldest buildings
If you turn away from the bustle of Fore Street in Exeter and take a stroll down a narrow path known as The Mint, you will come to St Nicholas Priory. Today it is a tranquil place, with shady gardens and ancient walls of red Heavitree stone. Had you walked that way on a summer’s day in 1536, you’d have been caught up in a commotion, with the voices of angry women …
Today Aston Rowant is a tranquil village with pretty thatched cottages, a village green and the charming parish church of St Peter and St Paul. The village lies on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire, just off the M40. However, in the sixteenth century, the main road from London to Oxford may have run along what is now Church Lane, next to the church.
History touched this quiet little village when, one morning in May 1554, Princess Elizabeth passed by.
In the spring of 1596 Sir John Gilbert presented Queen Elizabeth I with an exotic gift.
He was responding to a request from Sir Robert Cecil, Principal Secretary of State, conveyed by his brother Adrian. Queen Elizabeth apparently heard that Sir John had a 'parakito'. Parrots and parakeets were rare and desirable at this time, and the queen wanted one for herself.
The record does not tell us what species of parrot, parakeet or macaw, was involved. The photo shows a …
16th century women’s informal and workaday headgear
Most of the familiar portraits of sixteenth century women show wealthy individuals, dressed in their best, wearing elaborate headdresses in a variety of styles. Sometimes some hair shows at the front, as with the French hood below, while with other headdresses, like the English gable hood also shown, the hair is completely out of sight.
The expectation that women of …
Every old house has its fair share of ghost-stories, chilling tales that are handed down through the generations, told and re-told by the fireside on dark winter nights. Dartington Hall, with its long and rich history, is no exception.
People have lived here amongst the rolling Devon hills since ancient times. One notable family, the Champernownes, made their home here for three hundred and sixty-six years.
Sir Arthur Champernowne, Vice Admiral of the Fleet of the West, …
