Attractions

Details in Holbein Paintings

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Born in Augsburg?c. 1497, Hans Holbein the Younger learned to paint from his father, Hans Holbein the Elder. Holbein traveled to England in 1526 in search of work, with a recommendation from Erasmus. He was welcomed into the humanist circle of Thomas More, where he quickly built a high reputation. After returning to Basel for four years, he resumed his career in England in 1532. This time he worked under the patronage of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell. By 1535, he was [More]

Lambeth Palace (Guest Post)

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  Guest post by: Patricia Deegan (February 1st 2017) This is currently the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the senior bishop of the Church of England and leader of the Anglican church. The archbishop of Canterbury has lived on this site since the thirteenth century due to it’s proximity to the palace of Westminster (which itself had been started in the eleventh century) and the access to the river Thames. Though there was no bridge fr [More]

Monasteries (Guest Post)

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By Patricia Deegan This is an article about the buildings and grounds of the monasteries rather than the religious people within them or their religious practises. Although a number of the original Christian communities in Britain (the Celtic Church) had had monasteries, the monks during that period lived almost like hermits in separate cells within the monastery grounds. However there gradually came a movement within western Europe that led to a more communal way of [More]

Athelhampton House: A Brief History

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Built at the beginning of the Tudor-era, the Great Hall of Athelhampton was built by Sir William Martyn in 1485 and is located in Dorset, England. Martyn had also obtained a license in 1495 to enclose 160 acres for a deer park on the property. This original manor had a Great hall, Solar and Buttery. A Solar was located on the upper level of the manor and was the living quarters for the owner and his family, while a Buttery was a service room located near the Great Hall [More]

Sir John Spencer: Althorp House

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Sir John Spencer: Althorp House Unless you were born in the mid-90's (or later) or have been under a rock for most of your life, you know who Diana was - former wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. When she married Charles many said that she was a commoner, but she was not, she was an aristocrat. If we look back at her family tree and her family estate of Althorp we'll find it goes all the way back to the Tudor period with her ancestor Sir John Spencer - the "sheep-keeper" [More]

Early Tudor Palaces and Country Houses

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  Early Tudor Palaces and Country Houses 1485-1550 Compton Wynyates "The delightful red-brick manor house of Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire, was begun by Edmund Compton in 1481, just prior to the accession of the House of Tudor. Edmund's sturdy but good-looking country home was given some elegant editions, including porch and some towers by his son, the prominent Tudor courtier, Sir William Compton, between 1493 and 1528." -The Illustrated Encyclopedia of [More]