Royal Burial

This seems like only yesterday but today marks ten whole years since the (re)burial of King Richard III. 

His remains were located on the first day of an archaeological dig in September 2012, in a car park in Leicester (pronounced Lester), site of the Grey Friars Priory. After his death, Richard had been hastily buried without too much fuss within the Priory and following the dissolution of the monasteries his resting place seemingly lost.

Circumstantial evidence, radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis (of descendants of his elder sister) were used to conclude beyond reasonable doubt these were the remains of the last Plantagenet monarch of England. 

His remains confirmed the stories his body had likely been abused, with at least some of his 11 wounds being post mortem, and perhaps more importantly he had severe scoliosis. This would likely have meant the King would probably appeared to have a humped back or at least one shoulder noticeably higher than the other. Until then this was considered something an act of Elizabethan propaganda, by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. 

On 26 March 2015 King Richard III was given a more fitting burial at Leicester Cathedral.

Below are images of a contemporary painting of the King, a reconstruction based on his skull, and images of his resting place in Grey Friars Priory and (later) Leicester Cathedral.

Lottery Win

No, not me.

There has been however good news for supporters of Reading Abbey. The Heritage Lottery Fund has made an award of £1.77m (approx US$2.66m, AU$3.70m) towards stabilising the ruins, so that the site of this once grand abbey may be opened to the public again. Reading Borough Council are also backing the scheme to the tune of about £1.38m and hope the ruins of the abbey, founded by Henry I, can open in about two years time.

Read more from the BBC here.

I had the good fortune last year to be able to enter the grounds and investigate parts of the structure not currently open to the public. Armed with my camera, it was a nice way to spend a Sunday morning.

A rare view of part of the Abbey structure.





I have also been reading that an attempt is to be made to locate the remains of King Henry I, supported by the team who found King Richard in a Leicester car park. Henry I is buried somewhere in his abbey in the town I am proud to call home.

Can You Guess Where I've Been?

Abbey

Right now I am feeling very privileged to have gained rare access inside the grounds of the ruins of Reading Abbey. Because the ruins are largely unstable and Reading Borough Council currently don't have the funds to make them safe, this area is usually closed to the public. Here are a couple of images I took...

Playing Tourist

Sometimes it's good to be a tourist...

Ruin Of Corfe Castle

Today I'm publishing a couple of images from a recent visit to Corfe Castle in Dorset, which dates back to William I.

The Castle was later used as a Royalist (or Cavalier) stronghold in the 1642-1651 Civil War. Following the defeat of the Cavaliers by the Roundheads, Parliament ordered the destruction of most of the Royalist bases, including Corfe Castle.

 

Find out more about this impressive ruin here.

Trip To Jerusalem

No, not a visit to the Holy Land but a stop at one of, if not the, oldest pubs in England. Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem* is part cut into the rock foundations of Nottingham Castle and claims to date back to 1189.

Cold, wet and moody.

A warm welcome (and roaring fire) awaits...












Thankfully the food didn't date back to the the 12th century and was pretty good. Read more about The Trip, as locals refer to it, on the official site.





* When exactly did we start using words like 'Ye' and 'Olde' to imply authenticity or something quaint and ancient LOL?

Magic

I'm sharing this night time image of Shakespeare's Globe theatre, taken (from the Millennium Bridge) during a recent visit to the Big City.

Golden

Thanks to recent heavy rains in the UK, parts of the country are still extremely soggy. Including Henley-on-Thames, location of a golden Royal Mail post box. This was installed last year in recognition of its part in Team GB's London Olympic and Paralympic gold medal successes.

A not so soggy Henley street, yesterday.
















A full location chart of the UK's golden post boxes may be found just about here.

And to prove just how much rain we've had, in the picture below the actual river bank is located beyond the posts, on the other side of the petrol pumps.

Castle

What better way to spend the day than touring a castle? An actual royal home in fact, whose origins can be traced all the way back to just after the Norman conquest of 1066.

In case any readers of this blog are interested but unsure which castle I'm referring to, this one is located "just down the road" from me in the royal town of Windsor. Here are a couple of handy links, first to the Wikipedia entry for the castle and also to the official site of the Royal Family.

Do you think energy saving light bulbs were around in the 11th century?

A not so secret passageway.

Blue sky (and sunshine) in February? Whatever next!

He's got his eyes on you.

Moody.

Magna Carta

Tonight I'm sharing a few images from a recent trip to Salisbury Cathedral, home to one of only four remaining copies of the (1215) Great Charter signed by King John.

 

Artistic view of the cathedral exterior.

Cloisters.

Ceramic Medieval floor tiles. I've made tiles similar to this, dontchaknow.

Choir stalls and an impressive organ.

Bombing Of Reading

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the German bombing of my home town. More than 40 people were killed and near 200 injured as a result of the attack.

(L to R) Reading Town Hall, Blandy & Blandy Solicitors and St Lawrence Church.










More images may be found here on the BBC News site and further information may be found at the Reading Forum site.



9 Feb Stoke 2 - 1 Reading

Orange

Yesterday (Tuesday) we took a ride out to Richmond Upon Thames to visit Hampton Court Palace, most commonly associated with Henry VIII  and his six wives but it was also home to King William III of Orange and his wife Queen Mary II. In addition Oliver and Elizabeth Cromwell, took up residence there after the revolution, during the period when England was not subject to rule by a monarch.

Here's a selection of images from the day:

Children Of The Stones

Took a trip yesterday out to the neighbouring county of Wiltshire to visit the ancient village of Avebury, famous for the standing stone circle with protective ring ditch and embankment that surrounds it. Unlike nearby Stonehenge, visitors are free to walk around these stones and touch them.

A 1970's TV series was filmed here, dontchaknow.

Defences worthy of the Time Team, perhaps?

Children and Adults of the Stones.











Later we travelled to Uffington, in Oxfordshire, to climb the short hill walk (don't you just love British understatement?) to the famous historic white horse. It was a bit chilly, I can tell you.

Horses head.











I've just seen the news from Leicester University that the human remains uncovered in a city car park in September last year have been identified as those of King Richard III (1452-1485). I understand his remains will be reburied in the nearby cathedral in the next few months. I believe this means the only British monarch who's resting place is uncertain is Henry I (1068-1135), said to be buried somewhere at Reading Abbey.

Stubby

You know it's not often you can find Aussie-style "stubby" bottles on sale here in the UK. Must have been imported for all those ex-pat antipodeans, in time for their national day.

  

















Cheers!

Wonderland

Here's a couple of images taken in the grounds of Reading University, during the snow fall. More snow is said to be on the way...

It's About Time

Thought I'd share this image of my back garden, taken this morning. Although only a small smattering, snow has at last returned to the area. More is forecast for later this week. Doesn't it look lovely?

Finally got round to seeing the 2012 Doctor Who Christmas Special "The Snowmen" last night. Does that sound really lax of me? Can't wait for the series to return this Spring and of course the 50th anniversary this coming November.

BST

Last night our clocks went forward an hour, into British Summer Time, bringing with it lighter evenings and the first outing of my short trousers and flip-flops (or thongs as the Aussies would say).

So I spent a good few hours today doing a few chores about the garden, having a bit of a tidy up before planting my first crop of seed potatoes, which should be ready towards early July. I had quite a bit of success last year and a whole lot of fun, finger's crossed for this year. In addition I've sown 5 varieties of Chilli Pepper, which are now in pots on my kitchen window sill waiting to germinate.

Judging by the weather we've had this past week, it looks like we may have a cracking summer in the UK. The flip side of that of course is that due to the lack of rain through winter, we have already been told hose pipe bans will be in place from early April. Oh joy.

Speaking of water, I got home from work on Tuesday to the sound of running water. Seems something nasty has happened to my toilet, which means that until the plumber comes on Wednesday I have to make do with using a bucket to flush. I'm just pleased this happened now, if it was going to happen at all, rather than when GFDU was here. I can just imagine the conversation: " Welcome to England. By they way we're so backward here, we have to use this to flush with." LOL.

Followers to this blog might also like to know I have uploaded images of three more pots to Webshots. You'll need to navigate your way to about page 15 for the latest stuff.

And finally the Royals continue their push for promotion.

24 March Reading 3 - 1 Blackpool

Here's how the top part of the Championship looks at present:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Southampton	39	23	9	7	72	35	37	78
2	Reading	39	22	7	10	56	34	22	73
3	West Ham	38	19	12	7	59	38	21	69
4	Brighton	39	17	11	11	48	40	8	62
5	Middlesbrough	38	16	13	9	45	42	3	61
6	Birmingham	38	16	12	10	60	41	19	60
7	Blackpool	39	16	12	11	66	56	10	60
8	Cardiff	39	15	15	9	57	50	7	60
9	Hull	38	16	10	12	38	32	6	58
10	Leeds	39	16	9	14	59	57	2	57