St Albans – Hertfordshire
When considering which could be my next Ricardian Place in Hertfordshire, the recent 555th anniversary of the First Battle of St Albans (22 May 1455) offered the obvious answer. During our life in England St Albans was a popular haunt for us, for shopping, eating out or just soaking up the atmosphere. I also happened to have a number of private students there – hello to Tony and Jacky, should you read this.
There have been settlements in the St Albans area for a long time. The first that we know of was by the Celtic Catuvellauni tribe, who called it ‘Verlamion’. During the Roman period it became ‘Verulanium’, the second largest town in England after Londinium, situated on Watling Street heading north.[1] Most of the remains of the Roman town are today covered by Verulanium Park, but some parts have been excavated and can be visited. For instance the Hypocaust (including an in situ mosaic); the Roman Theatre of Verulamium; and the remains of the Roman city walls and London gate.[2] Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Battles, Church, Hertfordshire, St Albans, Wars of the Roses, Yorkists
Posted by: Dorothea Preis in News
In January the team of conservators at Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, made a surprise discovery: when removing the Henry Hyde Monument from a wall in order to repair and clean it, they found hidden behind the monument the remains of some beautifully written English text. The monument marks the grave of Sir Henry Hyde, who was executed in 1650 by Parliament for supporting King Charles I and was erected soon after 1660.
There are several lines of a large textual inscription, which had subsequently been whitewashed over making it difficult to read but the good gothic lettering is clearly visible. Due to the age of the monument the writing was originally thought to be from the 16th century, when the nave was fitted out with high pews for people to sit in to listen to the ‘new’ sermons preached there. Inscriptions of the bible, the Word of God, would have been written on the inside walls of the building following the Reformation, having been translated into English in Cranmer’s bible. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Church, Medieval Life
