I visited the 14th century church of St. Mary in the village of Ashwell in Hertfordshire looking for two bits of historically important medieval graffiti.
Where can you see 15th century graffiti and murals?
If you want to see 15th century graffiti and murals, then you need to visit the Church of St. Vincent in north Hertfordshire.
Spooky Sightings in the West End!
For actors, seeing a ghost in the theatre is a sign of good fortune. To the rest of us, it’s just terrifying!
The Life and Death of Athena the Owl!
Nurse Florence Nightingale was asked to help during the Crimean War (1854-1856) in which she organised care for wounded British soldiers at a hospital in Scutari (modern-day Üsküdar in Istanbul).
Bedlam and War!
The Bethlem Royal Hospital (otherwise known as Bedlam) dates back to 1247 and was established as the 'Priory of the New Order of our Lady of Bethlehem' on a site just outside the city walls, where Liverpool Street Station is today.
Guy Fawkes’ Lantern
On the night of 4–5th November 1605, a man was arrested in the basement of the House of Lords and gave his name as John Johnson.
The Day a Bus Jumped Tower Bridge!
Tower Bridge, London's most famous bridge is 125 years old this year, it is 143ft tall, incorporates 31 million bricks and is stepped on by 40,000 people everyday!
Saint or Sinner?
In medieval times, most people couldn’t read or write, so things were communicated in pictures or in speech.
The village of Fordwich and the building of Canterbury Cathedral
The name Fordwich comes from the Old English ‘ford’ meaning a ‘a place to cross a river’ with ‘wic’ as a ‘dwelling, building or group of buildings for specific purposes or industrial settlement’; therefore, a ‘trading centre at the ford’
Queen Mary and the four Mary’s!
Mary, was 6 days old when her father (King James V of Scotland) died and she acceded to the throne of Scotland.
A family business of tea
John Horniman (1803 – 1893) established ‘Horniman's Tea Company’, a tea trading and blending business using mechanical packaging. He then passed the business onto his son, Frederick John Horniman (1835 – 1906) in 1869 when he retired.
The Palace of Placentia
On the banks of the River Thames at Greenwich from 1443 to 1660 sat a spectacular palace. It was the Palace of Placentia.
A return ticket to Devil’s Dyke Adventure Park please!
The Devil's Dyke V-shaped dry valley is the result of solifluction and river erosion more than 14,000 years ago. In the late 19th century though, it was turned into an adventure park.
How London looked in 1572
In 1572, cartographers Georg Braun from Germany and Frans Hogenberg from Belgium produced an early birds-eye detailed map of London.
Shakespeare’s Money!
In 1610, if you asked someone in London who William Shakespeare was, they would say ‘a poet’. If you asked someone in Stratford-upon-Avon the same thing, they would say ‘a property owner’.
Rotherhithe & the HMS Temeraire
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Rotherhithe was a place on the Thames were ships were broken up.
The 1951 Festival of Britain
In 1951, just six years after WW2, Britain’s towns and cities still showed the scars of war that remained a constant reminder of the turmoil of the previous years.
Young Charles Dickens
When Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) was 12 years old, his family relocated from Kent to Camden Town in London.
The names of the Seven Sisters
The Seven Sisters cliffs are made of chalk that formed where the South Downs meets the sea and are the remnants of dry valleys in the chalk South Downs.
The most expensive street in the UK
The most expensive street in the UK is Kensington Palace Gardens, with an average property value in 2018 of £35,696.711
The diver who saved a cathedral!
In the early 1900’s, huge cracks started to appear at the west end of Winchester Cathedral, with huge chunks of stone falling to the ground, the cathedral seemed in danger of complete collapse.
Paint me ‘Warts and All’
The saying ‘Warts and all’ comes from the time in 1653 when Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was painted ‘as he was/the whole thing; not concealing the less attractive parts’.
Who was Jim Jarvis and why was he important?
Jim Jarvis was a real boy who lived in the east end of London in the 19th century.
The Lambeth Workhouse, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Ann Nichols
The building that houses the Cinema Museum today is the former admin block of the Lambeth Workhouse. The Lambeth Workhouse was built between 1871-73 and closed in 1920. It could house up to 800 people, although probably held a lot more. It consisted of an admin block, gatehouse and 3 blocks, with one housing men,... Continue Reading →
Where in London are there 20,000 bodies buried under a roundabout?
This is a good quiz question and the answer is under the Museum of London! Underneath the museum of London (which is built on a roundabout) in the bunker-like bowels is a collection of a completely different kind that is not open to the public.
The Suffragette in a cupboard
Emily Davison, the suffragette who was killed in 1913 aged 40 after throwing herself in front of King George V’s horse at the Epsom derby,
A Phoenix Rising from the Ashes
In the early hours of 30th December 1940, Herbert Mason, a photographer for the Daily Mail newspaper went up on to the roof of his offices on Tudor Street (just off Fleet Street) and took a photo looking east at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Why ‘Day and Night’ was so hated?
This iconic Art Deco 55 Broadway building was constructed in the 1930s to act as a headquarters for London Underground, and was designed by Charles Holden.
Did Anne Boleyn have six fingers on one hand?
Is there any truth to the oft-repeated rumour that Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn, had an extra finger on her right hand? Or a Tudor lie used by Henry as another reason to behead her so he could marry Jane Seymour?
John Betjeman and the Black Friar Pub
The Black Friar pub was built in 1875 on the south western end of the site of a former medieval Dominican friary which was there from 1276 to the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1539.
Edward II, a red-hot poker or a 14th century myth?
Edward II died at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire on 21st September 1327 and is buried at Gloucester Cathedral.
Cardinal Wolsey & the Bell Cage at East Bergholt
In the village of East Bergholt the building of a bell tower for the church of St Mary the Virgin was started in 1525 with assistance promised by Cardinal Wolsey.
From Coffee to Insurance!
Lloyd's Coffee House, on Tower Street was a significant meeting place in London in the 17th and 18th centuries.
London’s Oldest Structure!
In the spring of 2010, archaeologists found six timber piles on the foreshore at Nine Elms which would have been part of a bridge to an island in the River Thames.
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