The Tudor Roses

In the summer I went to Ightham Mote with my family on a day out, luckily for us the sun was out and it was a lovely hot day. Ightham Mote is a National Trust building that under went a major repair to get it looking the amazing building you see today!

A little about Ightham Mote - originally dating to around 1320, the building’s importance lays in the fact that successive owners effected relatively few changes to the main structure after the completion of the quadrangle with a new chapel in the 16th century. Nikolaus Pevsner called it "the most complete small medieval manor house in the country", and it remains an example that shows how such houses would have looked in the Middle Ages. Unlike most courtyard houses of its type which have had a range demolished, so that the house looks outward, Nicholas Cooper observes that Ightham wholly surrounds its courtyard and looks inward, into it, offering little information externally.

It was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1985 by an American businessman, Charles Henry Robinson, who had bought it in 1953. The house is now a Grade I listed building and parts of it are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

There are over seventy rooms in the house, all arranged around a central courtyard. The house is surrounded on all sides by a square moat, crossed by three bridges. The earliest surviving evidence is for a house of the early 14th century, with the Great Hall, to which were attached, at the high, or dais end, the Chapel, Crypt and two Solars. The courtyard was completely enclosed by increments on its restricted moated site and the battlemented tower constructed in the 15th century. Very little of the 14th century survives on the exterior behind rebuilding and re-facing of the 15th and 16th centuries.

The structures include unusual and distinctive elements such as the porter's squint, a narrow slit in the wall designed to enable a gatekeeper to examine a visitor's credentials before opening the gate. An open loccia, with a fifteenth-century gallery above, which connects the main accommodations with the gatehouse range. A large kennel was built in the late 19th century for a St. Bernard named Dido and is the only Grade I listed dog house.

In 1989 the National Trust began an ambitious restoration project which involved dismantling much of the building and recording its construction methods before rebuilding it. The project ended in 2004 after uncovering numerous examples of structural and ornamental features which had been covered up by later additions. It is estimated to have cost in excess of £10million.

The whole building was amazing and a must see but some bits standout more than others the first being the stained glass windows, of which there are loads and you can spend ages looking at them and taking them in. But the best part was the Tudor Chapel, it looks like any normal one until you look up at the barrel ceiling with its beautiful painted ceiling.

The barrel vaulted ceiling has curved oak ribs - solaces - between which are 44 oak panels decorated with symbols of the Tudor court. Although faded and suffering from the loosening of paint, the quality of decoration is evident. The panels include the Pomegranate of Aragon, the Roses of York and Lancaster, the Fleur de Lys and Beaufort portcullis. The quivers of arrows for Aragon and castles for Castile are also part of the decorations and commemorate the union of Henry VIII with Catherine of Aragon.

This blog is dedicated to Catherine of Aragon who was born on this day in 1485

Day 3 - 13/11/2012:

This morning Mute and I woke up feeling a little bit sore, and dishelved. The last two days of carrying heavy luggage had caught up with us, and we were feeling it in the legs, shoulders, and back! Despite the pain, we walked to the castle from the hotel with relative ease, and with me constantly asking Mute whether my calf muscles were more toned. She wasn't that impressed with my legs - wonder why? After a good ten minutes we reached our destination, Windsor Castle.

We were here to see one man and one woman in particular; perhaps you can guess who that might be...

Windsor Castle - One of Henry VIII's favourite residences

It was a good day to visit, because it was the birthday of Edward III, such a magnificent monarch, who created the Order of the Garter. After making our way slowly through security, and with the bottle of mead confiscated yet again (honestly, I'm beginning to think people don't like it!), we managed to catch on to the tail end of a tour being given by one of the guardsmen. Having been to Windsor Castle last year, we were quite familiar with where everything was located, but he revealed to us, secrets about Windsor we would not have known, or probably noticed. For instance if you look closely at the stonework, the slag holding it together has bits of flint within it, and historians and academics alike have all argued on why the castle was built that way. Also, the majority of the castle is built using local stone from Oxfordshire, which is able to self clean itself whenever it rains. Meaning the stone will always manage to look like the castle has recently been built.

Our tour was only of the outside of the castle unfortunately, but before the tour ended he showed us, as to where the Queens private apartments were, and the state entrance. Behind us lay something which held my interest a lot more, Queen Elizabeth I's addition to the castle. Whilst her additional building work is small, and thought to be a large set of bedrooms, the detail is exquisite. Below is a picture featuring her addition. Like her father before her, Windsor was a favourite residence of Elizabeth.



Elizabeth I's Addition - The difference in architecture and building work is clear.

After we had thanked the guide, we made our way to the state apartments - my second favourite place to visit within Windsor. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos within the apartments, but a visit is well worth it. As you enter into the apartments, there is a staircase, and on either side of the staircase sits a horse, and knight, whose armour and saddles are quite breathtaking. Moving idly through the rooms with such a vast array of history from the reigns of many of England’s monarchs, we came into one of my favourite rooms: St Georges Hall.

In the picture above you can see the shields upon the ceiling.

Upon the roof of the hall lie 1001 shields, all of which have the arms of members from the Order of the Garter on. Some shields, however are white because they either have not been filled yet, or the arms have been removed due to them bringing shame to the Order. Along the walls lie lists of all the men who were installed into the Order within every monarchs reign. I was looking for one man in particular, one whom I am a great fan of. His poetry evokes much emotion. I am of course talking about Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey. Henry was installed into the Order in 1541, but was later degraded in 1547 after his later failure in Boulougne, and once he was found to be planning the kidnap/control of Prince Edward (later Edward VI). 





Below is one of the works of Henry Howard, capturing some of his time at Windsor, when we was the companion of Henry Fitzroy, the bastard son of Henry VIII from his affair with mistress Bessie Blount.

WHEN Windsor walls sustain'd my wearied arm ;
My hand my chin, to ease my restless head ;
The pleasant plot revested green with warm ;
The blossom'd boughs, with lusty Ver¹ y-spread ;
The flower'd meads, the wedded birds so late
Mine eyes discover ; and to my mind resort
The jolly woes, the hateless, short debate,
The rakehell ² life, that 'longs to love's disport.
Wherewith, alas! the heavy charge of care
Heap'd in my breast breaks forth, against my will
In smoky sighs, that overcast the air.
My vapour'd eyes such dreary tears distil,
The tender spring which quicken where they fall ;
And I half bend to throw me down withal.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

After our tour of the state apartments, Mute and I made our way to St Georges Chapel, the resting place of Henry VIII and Queen Jane Seymour. Stepping into the chapel the magnificence overwhelms you. The different colours of light from the stained windows dance throughout. On making our way through the chapel to see Henry and Jane, we stopped a minute to appreciate the beautiful boxed window, which belonged to Katherine of Aragon, so that she could see the services. I have included a picture below:

The box on the right was built by Henry VIII for his first wife Katherine of Aragon.

You can still see Katherine’s emblem within the carvings, I speak of course of the pomegranate. To the left of this photo, and down the centre of the aisle lies a marble slab atop of a vault, of which lies Henry VIII and Queen Jane Seymour. We paid our respects to them both.

'Of all losses, time is the most irrecouperable'



We lost more time through wandering within the chapel; we are most content when visiting such establishments. Once our visit to the chapel was complete, we headed out of the doors and out of the castle onto the street. We were now on the next part of our journey; we were now travelling to... Hever Castle.

I shall include details of our time and travels at Hever on Day 4- 14/11/2012.

Lady Rachel

The infamous 'Mute' and I took our annual trip to London in order to celebrate my birthday, before Christmas hits. Over four days we covered a lot of ground very quickly, and needless to say we relished our beds at the end of each night, just as much as the places we visited. I want to share our travels with you... So if you love the Tudors hold on to your French hoods, because you've come to the right place.

Day 1 - Hampton Court 11/11/2012

"Why come ye not to court?

To which court?

To the King's court,

or to Hampton court?

Nay, to the King's court!

The King's court

Should have excellence

But Hampton Court

Hath the pre-eminence"

John Skelton

Hampton Court was one of Henry VIII's main palaces, originally built for Cardinal Thomas Wolesey, the King's favourite, who eventually fell from grace in 1529, after he failed to secure Henry a divorce from Katherine of Aragon, and thus gave Henry Hampton Court. As seen in the extract above by John Skelton, Hampton Court rivalled that of the Kings own palaces, and hunting lodges etc. Once in Henry's hands, Henry enlarged it, on a grander scale to rival other palaces within continental Europe. Both Henry's and Cardinal Wolesey's designs within/on the palace can still be seen to this day.

After a two hour coach trip to Victoria Station, and then an hour long train journey from Victoria, Mute and I were stood at the gates of Hampton Court. Our second visit to the palace, and still the magnificence it showed astounded us. After getting our tickets, and dropping off our luggage into the lockers, we headed to the Chapel Royal to attend a Choral Matin (well, we enjoyed it so much last time). Staring up at the breath-taking ceiling that Henry himself had designed, Mute and I took to our pew, right behind the choir.

The Chapel Royal - It is thought that Jane Seymour’s heart is buried within the chapel.

In the picture above, you are able to see where we were sat. If you looked up, you were able to see the Royal pew, where monarchs sit and listen to the services. For an hour and a half we were lost in the music, and in the humble service giving thanks to the soldiers who had fallen and fought for us. As a Te Deum was sung, I was thrown back into the past, thinking of Henry who had sat so very close, listening to the same Te Deum, as we were now. It truly was astounding.

Once the service was over we moved onto the kitchens. As we went through the many different rooms, and corridors, it was interesting to see how a Tudor kitchen ran. As the kitchens were serving many courtiers etc. they were of course large, for me it is always interesting to see the spit in action, the taste of roasted meat from the spit is apparently magnificent. Did you know that a pie in Tudor times, worked in the same way as our modern day take-away equivalent? They would rip the top off of the pie, and eat the insides, discarding the rest of the pastry, or eating it as was there fancy. They also allowed meat to cool for an hour, so that the rich herbs and spices flavouring the meat could be infused. You could imagine trying to keep meals from turning cold, before being presented in the Great Hall was a mammoth task in the Tudor days. I particularly loved the kitchen administrator’s office, with rolls, upon rolls of parchment. These rolls would have included the castings of the kitchens, and orders would have been made there. Also, the pewter and silver were on an adjacent room to the kitchen administrator’s office, so that they could always be closely watched, as they were such costly items.





After our kitchen tour, we suddenly became quite hungry (can't think why?), so we stopped off into the privy cafe to enjoy a hearty beef stew, with crusty bread and butter. It was delicious, a tad over priced, but you expect it to be at historical establishments. Once warm and full, we headed off to Hampton Court maze. In all honesty we had thought we were going to be in there hours, instead it was ten minutes if that, and we didn't get lost once! We were quite happy with our feat however, and the photo below shows it.

'Looks like we made it...'

After the maze, we headed back into the palace to enter one of my favourite parts of the palace, Henry VIII's apartments, housing the Great Hall. These rooms really helped show the splendour that Henry constantly had around him, giving you a better insight into how his majesty lived, alongside his wives, nobles, courtiers, diplomats etc. Upon entering the Great Hall, you are in awe of the tapestries which line the walls, these are Henry VIII's own personal tapestries depicting the stories of Abraham, and are the second costly item the monarchy own under the Crown Jewels housed at the Tower of London. But did you know, these aren't all the tapestries? There is another from the series within Westminster, it is hidden away from public view. You can still see the woven gold within the tapestries, and though the colours have faded somewhat, you can just imagine how they would have been 500 years ago.

The hammer beam roof is also an architectural dream, surrounded by the wonderful stain glass, throwing various colours into the hall. Time Team have done there own reconstruction of how the hall might have originally looked back in Henry's day (Time Team - Henry VIII's Lost Palaces). It would have been alive with colour.

The Great Hall

In this hall there is something very special. When Henry had his second wife Anne Boleyn executed on 19th May 1536, he had all her emblems removed from the palace, but he had missed one! A lovers knot intertwining an A and a H. I have included it in a picture below.

The last remaining lovers knot of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII

After speaking to one of the stewards within Hampton Court, he spoke to us of his studies into the palace, and how the Great Hall had changed over the years. He stated that the lover’s knot that remains might be a Victorian invention to bring visitors to Hampton Court. I hope this is not true, for it would be wonderful if this was truly Tudor. We also saw a stone carving of Anne Boleyn’s falcon, the detailing was phenomenal. It's the little thing's that help make the past come alive.

Moving on from the Great Hall, we went down into the Haunted Gallery, where Katherine Howard so say escaped house arrest, and ran down the hall screaming for Henry's name, and banging on the door of the Royal pew. The portraits that hang the wall are very fine, but one particularly caught my interest. It shows just how much power the reformation was having in England.

The Four Evangelists Stoning The Pope: A Protestant Allegory, By Girolamo De Traviso The Younger, c.1542.

Before we knew it the day was drawing to a close, we just had time to nip into the shop, and buy a bottle of mead (mmm... if you haven't tried it, you haven't lived!). Bottle of mead in hand, we walked out of Hampton Court, and out of the gates on to the street, and my heart sank. I can not wait for our next visit. We stayed at the Kings Arms Hotel over looking the Hampton Court Maze, in the Anne Boleyn suite for the night. I noticed they had all of the queens, except Anne of Cleves?? The pub had a picture of all Henry's Queens on the bar, which was quite nice. As the night drew to a close, we put our heads down, and went to sleep ready for our journey, the next day.

Day 2 - 12/11/2012

Today, mute and I hopped on the train back into Victoria Station, in order that we could carry out today’s proceedings. Once in Victoria, we weaved past the numerous crowds of people, who were sluggishly dragging themselves to work, but we were not sluggish, we were excited. After a quick trip on the underground, and a quick walk we were in Westminster. As we stood and stared at the houses of Parliament wondering how many biscuits the prime minister had eaten that morning, we were in awe of the architecture. Gothic Tudor. The houses of Parliament were rebuilt after a fire had burnt down everything, except the hall, which they had managed to save. Truly a masterpiece!

Suddenly, we had a spur of the moment idea (which detoured massively from our Tudor agenda), we wanted to take a ride on the London Eye, and see the City in all its glory. Running off to the ticket office, we paid the extortionate price of £18.50 each, and 10 minutes later, and a confiscated bottle of mead, we were in the pods. Having a trip on the London Eye was something on my bucket list, so I was happy despite the mead situation. Below you can see a picture of Buckingham Palace from our pod, this is the first time I have ever seen the palace with my naked eye!

Good Morning Your Majesty!

As more, and more of London came in to view, I was beginning to picture together what London might have looked like before the Great Fire had struck in 1666. If only the original London Bridge was still there, imagine all the history it has seen, not to mention the decapitated heads of notorious traitors. Featured below is a print that I got from the British Library on a previous trip, of the City of London, before the Great Fire of London struck.

The City Of London, before the Great Fire of London, within the print you can see London bridge.

After half an hour (which felt like five minutes) our trip had come to an end. After much talk on the various buildings we had seen, mute and I made our way to Westminster Abbey, we had originally intended to visit Westminster Abbey (like we had last year) to see Henry VII's Lady Chapel. However, we ended up taking a walk around the Abbey's Remembrance Poppy Field for all the fallen soldiers, who had fought for our country. Whenever, we hear of the numerous deaths from the World Wars it's hard to imagine the scale, but the field, really put the numbers into perspective, and of course that was only a small portion. The picture below will show you what I mean:

'Lest we forget...'

After walking round, and giving thanks to those who gave there lives, we made our way out of Westminster Abbey to the Cenotaph just down the road, which the Queen and many other military heroes had laid wreaths of poppies down on, the day previously. I had always seen the Cenotaph on the television, but to see it in person was something else all together.



The Cenotaph - An empty tomb used to commemorate the soldiers/heroes who fought for the country.



After a moments silence out of respect for the fallen, mute and I made our way to our next Tudor destination, the National Portrait Gallery. This was my second visit to the National Portrait Gallery, and much to our disappointment the exhibit that we were there to see, was closed. The Tudor exhibit. I have, included below a picture of one of the most famous portraits that hangs in the gallery, that of Anne Boleyn. Although the portrait has been identified as a later portrait, and therefore can not show her true likeness, the picture I feel helps show some of the mystery of the infamous Anne, and how she managed to attract a King like Henry VIII.



Anne Boleyn - This was the portrait I really wanted to see.

We didn't stay long at the National Portrait Gallery (We aren't fans of Modern Art), although we did wander around the Stuart exhibition. In which we marvelled at the different styles and paint strokes of the various artists. The next destination was The British Library in Euston Road, and after a quick lunch from a nearby cafe, we made our way there with much haste. The library was to be our last destination of the day, and I was eager to show Mute the many illuminations, and manuscripts on display.

Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures within the British Library exhibit, so therefore we were unable to obtain pictures. Admittedly, if we were I would be photographing everything. Nevertheless, I will tell you of some of the treasures that the library houses, and why I find them so fascinating. Within the exhibit, they have Lady Jane Greys book of hours, which is inscribed with her own fair hand. To see the book of a Lady, who only ruled for nine days, and had such an affect within Tudor monarchy is something in which I will never forget. The detailing of the book is magnificent and helped show Jane's status in society, and helps show her studious and pious nature. There is also a letter from Elizabeth I to her brother Edward VI, in which she is pleading to see her brother, but to no avail. It is wonderful to see the elegant style in which Elizabeth writes, just one of her many talents.

There is also, the Coronation book of Anne Boleyn, which shows the detailed planning and events of what took place on the very day of Anne's Coronation. The picture below shows Anne at the head of the table, dining, following her crowning. Henry was overlooking Anne, out of sight of the many Nobles and Courtiers, so as not to draw distraction from Anne on her big day. How thoughtful, eh?

If you get the chance to visit the exhibit at the British Library, please do, it is amazing to think what other wonders of Tudor significance might be hiding within the sacred walls. After, what felt like ten minutes, but what was in fact an entire afternoon, Mute and I left the library, quite mesmerised, and travelled by train to Windsor ready for the next day. And we slept so soundly due to the large amount of travelling we had done that day - result!

The Tudor Roses would like to say thank you to all the venues and event organisers that have allowed the Roses to be part of their events and visit their historical buildings and locations. We all feel privileged to be part of bringing alive Tudor history for your visitors and guests to enjoy. Thank you!

As the nights draw in and the season changes to Autumn, the weather changes and everyone starts wrapping up warm the Roses feel a sadness descend with the a realisation that the Tudor re-enactment season has closed its doors against the cold and wet. It is now time to take stock of the year, events done, locations visited; to see where we can improve and what else we can bring to you, the public, for next years season.

It is not all grey skies and gloom though as we gladden our hearts to know that next year is literally just around the corner and will be here sooner that we all think. The Roses already have events and venues lined up for next season and are working hard to add even more than this year. New skills will be aquired ready for next year during this off season period.

The Tudor Roses also have one last event left this year - so keep checking back as more details will be revealed very soon! See, not all bad news!

Looking back over last year we can feel proud of oursevles in what we have acheived and we hope you all agree. We have visited, and taken part in events at , the following places...

Sudeley Castle, Hever Castle, Hedingham Castle, Ingatestone Hall, Cowdray Ruins, Layer Marney Tower, Leeds Castle, Dudley Castle, Barrington Court (National Trust Property), Rochester Castle, Nonsuch Park & Mansion and The Vyne (National Trust Property).

We have also been involved in a Tudor Wedding, a Tudor Tour, Jousting, Falconry Display, a live Paranormal Investigation and a Book Launch this year.

So, here's to another great year for The Tudor Roses next season, with bigger and better things to come from us.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE EVENT ORGANISERS, VENUE OWNERS AND TO YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR US THIS YEAR!

Hello everyone. First of all we must give you all a very big sorry for not updating the blog! We have just been so busy doing events and then back to the mundane personal life stuff and it just takes over, Lady Emma’s laptop being down has helped either, but we back. So we have been to many event this year, we’ve been to Hedingham, Sudeley, Leeds and Hever Castles. We also visited The Vyne (National Trust property), Layer Marney Tower, Ingatestone Hall and the Cowdray Ruins. We also helped Restore Rochester Castle Charity with their events and the Nonsuch Awareness Day with Good King Hal. One highlight was taking part in Spookfest 2012 by Compass Paranormal at Dudley Castle. So lots of events done this year and if you want to see the photos from these please visit our Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/TheTudorRoses ) where they are all available to see – the website needs updating.. We will though be adding them to the website soon so stay tuned for them.

We have had amazing time at the places we have been to and would like to say thank you to all them for having us!

There have also been some changes to the Roses - We have now been joined by Lady Francesca and Lady Rachel, also with two new small additions, those being Lady Emma’s sons Jonny and Matthew, as young Lords! We have also been lucky to have some of our friends come and join us as guest Roses so we would love to say thank you to them. Then we would like to say congratulations to Jason and Louise whose wedding we took part in, in full Tudor garb.

We have also been lucky to have been joined by no other than King Henry VIII himself (aka Mike or Good King Hal - do go and check him out) to many events with his madgeness even asking us ladies to join him at Nonsuch. Thank you your grace for a lovely year and here’s to the next!

As you may have heard Sir Eric Ives, OBE, passed away on 25^th September this year. We send our love and condolences to his family and friends. Darren and Emma were very lucky and privileged to meet Professor Ives in May at the Blicking Hall Boleyn Festival where he gave a brilliant talk on Anne Boleyn. Taking into account Emma’s report on meeting him the year before and his talk he did then we can safely say that Eric Ives’ talks were just amazing as are the books he leaves as his legacy. Professor Ives was inspirational to anyone that were lucky enough to meet him or read his books and will be sadly missed not only by his family but his many, many fans

So I am going to end it here for now but I will get another blog up with more details of what we did at some of the events.

Lots of love to you all from all of The Tudor Roses x

(Lady Emma)