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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 over 450 years.
Sir Arthur Champernowne, Vice Admiral of the Fleet of the West, and an …
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 …
The St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre by Francois Dubois (c 1572-84) image sourced via Wikimedia Commons
Sir Francis Walsingham, the English Ambassador to the French Court, sent a letter to Sir Thomas Smith, the Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth I, on 2 September 1572. In his letter, Walsingham used the typical diplomatic language, but there was one passage where he couldn't hide his anger.
Walsingham doubted the King’s promise that his troops would punish those who killed the three Englishmen. He …
St Faith's Church Bacton, Herefordshire
The charming little church of St. Faith’s, Bacton, stands high above a valley carved out by a meandering river. The Dore flows from the foothills of the Black Mountains to merge with the River Monnow, which then joins the majestic River Wye.
The name Dore may derive from a Welsh word, ‘dwr’ which means water. But the Normans interpreted it as the French word ‘d’or’ meaning golden, and it became known as “The Golden Valley.” …
In our throw away age of fast fashion, it’s hard for us to comprehend just how expensive clothing was in Elizabethan England. In her book Tudor Fashion, Eleri Lynn tells us that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532-1588) spent more for one suit of clothes that William Shakespeare paid for a house in Stratford-on-Avon less than ten years later.
Image via Wikimedia Commons Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Anglo-Netherlandish School, Unknown Artist NPG
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