History Matters

I'm writing this whilst taking a cup of tea in the British Museum. It's a wonderful building full of  items of great historical interest from around the world. Though it was built up during the period of the British Empire - when some people had some very stupid ideas about the superiority of certain races - it is an excellent antidote to such idiotic ideas. Think the West is superior to the Islamic world? - visit the wonders in Room 34; worried that the future has been ceded to the Chinese? (Thanks President Trump), then see how great China has been over the centuries. Discover the many heritages that have been  combined to make the United Kingdom .

It is particularly important that we don't forget the lessons of history. At the moment we would do well to recall the consequences of aggressive nationalism - and how quickly some turn to scapegoating others. We need to face up to the worst of our history - as well as be encouraged by the best.

Today is 30th January - a significant day in British history. Back in 1215 (The Magna Carta - Runnymede) - the principle was established that no one - NOT even the King - was above the Law. Charles I forgot that. He hoped for a passive Parliament - and when he didn't get that - he tried to live without calling Parliament - and when that failed - he tried to intimidate parliamentarians (his attempt to arrest five MPs in the chamber have led to a ban on any monarch entering the chamber of the House of Commons) - eventually he went to Nottingham and declared war on his own country.

On this day in 1649, after a trial in Westminster Hall (which he refused to recognise - since he believed himself to be above the law) - he was executed outside the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall.

So remember this day, that important principle, which lies at the heart of British (and American) History and current law.

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.

The Vikings Attack

In St Stephen's Hall at Westminster - which was the House of Commons chamber from the mid 16th Century until the Great Fire of 1834 - there are a number of interesting paintings.

Sadly, while this was the House of Commons for centuries (the current site is barely 150 years old - at the time of great events such as the refusal of the Speaker to divulge the name of the MPs that Charles I had come to arrest, it was either on a reclaimed garden - or actually in the Thames!) - it is now treated by many visitors merely as a corridor or a waiting room. The pictures are worth a close look.

I hadn't noticed - despite regular visits - then years working at Westminster - the detail in the picture of Vikings raiding - until a friend told me the story of some 20th century 'graffiti'





On the shield of one to the Vikings a Nazi swastika had been added. Hitler and his aggressive Nazi party were seen as a modern equivalent to the destructive Vikings. (Historical research has progressed since that date - and the Vikings are rightly no longer seen as evil as many thought in the early part of the last century.

Milton Keynes 50 today!

Happy Birthday to a great city. Created 50 years ago today by ministerial order, the city has transformed this area of North Buckinghamshire. It now has a population of over a quarter of a million citizens. We moved here in 2009 - and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. We live close to Furzton Lake - a carefully planned artificial balancing lake - which is now home to a variety of birds. I love being able to walk from my home to Milton Keynes Central station through two miles of parkland. (Despite its image as a concrete city, it has millions of trees and a redway grid offering a healthy alternative to its road & roundabouts grid)

It also has a fascinating history. One of the advantages of a planned development in the 1960s onwards - is that archaeologists went in before building began. Roman villas (& a fine mosaic now on permanent display in the shopping centre); bronze and Iron Age settlements & a number of treasure hoards have been found. I live half a kilometre from Watling Street, a hundred metres from an Iron Age settlement and a few doors down from where a gold Roman brooch was discovered. Bletchley Park is a 25 minute walk away - and Alan Turing stayed in a then-pub in the estate neighbouring ours.

In this blog I will be writing about that history - there are already a number of such posts (do take a look) - but I'm working my way through the many archaeological reports that have been published - and other histories that have been published.

And if you haven't visited MK - it's worth a visit.  Explore The redways (The red coloured paths wide enough for cyclists and pedestrians to peacefully co-exist - that go through the countryside in the city). Visit Bletchley Park, or our Roman villa in Bancroft. Walk through Stony Stratford past the building in which Richard III took his nephew into "protective custody", or Newport Pagnell - a key to the English Civil War of the 1640s (or Shenley Toot - or the ruins of Wolverton Castle - both built during the civil war after King Stephen seized the throne)

Inaugural Addresses

Really "GREAT..." speeches






and from Lincoln...

St Oswald's Priory - Gloucester

Gloucester has many interesting buildings - but the one I was most excited about visiting was the remains of St Oswald's Priory.

It was founded by Ethelfleda, the daughter of Alfred the Great. She married Ethelred, the King of Mercia - and when he died - she ruled as 'the Lady of the Mercians'. The BBC recently ran a series "King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons" presented by Michael Wood. It is currently unavailable on the BBC iPlayer - but the website remains at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038118n. The videos of this three part series (including "The Lady of the Mercians") can be purchased and downloaded via a link on that site.

The remains can be visited - they are in a park adjacent to Priory Road; St Mary's Street and Archdeacon Street.

Below is a photograph I took of the interpretation board.

Internal Garden in a Roman Villa

Inside the excellent Corinium Museum in Colchester, there is a garden built in the style that would have been seen in a typical Roman Villa. In researching for this blog, I often read reports written by archaeologists. Usually there are excellent plans of buildings, and occasionally an artists impression of what a building would have looked like. But this reconstruction really brought to life what a garden in a Roman Villa would have looked like.

Cirencester

The amphitheatre at Cirencester stood outside the Roman town.  The town itself, which was known as 'Corinium' was the tribal capital of the Dobunni (who were based in what is now Gloucestershire, North Wiltshire and southern Warwickshire - in the Cotswolds). When I visited recently, I walked the "Roman Town Trail" ( Copies of a very useful leaflet are available at the Corinium Museum), as well as visiting that museum - which I thoroughly recommend. I also walked part of the Wherat Trail (downloadable from here)




There is a booklet available called "The Cirencester Experience", which I also found useful on the day, and afterwards


The town was the junction of the Roman roads we now refer to as the Fosse Way; the Ermin Way and Akeman Street. Some of the town wall can still be seen to the north west of the London Road (where Verulamium Gate stood). As my previous post indicated the impressive site of the amphitheatre can be visited to the south east of the town (not far from where the Bath Gate stood - it's name reflects the fact that the Fosse Way took this route. On New Years Day we drove (as far as was possible) along the Fosse Way from its junction with the A40 (at this point the Fosse Way is followed by the A429) - left it to bypass Cirencester -  and rejoined it as the A433, stopping at The Thames Head Inn. Our ultimate destination was Bath, but the Fosse Way leaves the A433 close to the Cotswold Airport. We only rejoined the Fosse Way as we drove along the London Road West from Bath to our hotel in Batheaston.)



Cirencester is a lovely town - and a delight for anyone interested in the history of Roman Britain.

Cirencester - The Amphitheatre

One of the largest Roman amphitheatres in Britain can be visited in Cirencester. The town itself was known as "Corinium", and at one point only the city of Londinium was larger. The amphitheatre is thought to date from the early second century, and, after being rebuilt in stone later that century,  to have been capable of holding between eight and nine thousand people.




It's well worth a visit if you find yourself in the area. There are a number of publications available from Cirencester's "Corinium Museum". The English Heritage website - http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/cirencester-amphitheatre/  has practical information as well as more on the history. You can also download a PDF from the Royal Geographical Society, by clicking here.

Head of the Thames

During last year's visit to Gloucester, I drove into Cirencester - then took a short drive along the Fosse Way (now thee A433) to this pub. The name hints at its significance.




A short walk from this pub, and there is a stone marker which says "The Conservation of the River Thames 1857-1974. This stone was placed here to mark the Source of the River Thames. I don't have a photograph, as the path was muddy and my time was short. Next time perhaps...

Had I reached the stone, it would have been unlikely that I would have seen water bubbling up. Most of the time the immediate area is dry - only after heavy and prolonged rainfall does the Thames reappear. First sight of a tiny stream comes a little further down the Thames Path - which begins here - I've walked London parts of that walk - but have yet to explore the early part of that great river's journey.

There are some excellent guides to the Thames Path - I have the National Trail Guide and the Thames Path AZ Adventure.




Online you can visit Keith Pauling's informative website at
http://www.thamespathway.com

The Source of the Thames is adjacent to an iron age hill fort. There's some useful background to this hill fort at http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=30767

Stow in the Wold

Stow in the Wold is a delightful small town in the Cotswolds - we visited on our way back from a weekend in Gloucester. It's a junction town - where seven major roads meet - including the Roman road, the Fosse Way (which runs from Exeter to Lincoln).

We visited the Porch House, said to be the oldest pub in England. An inn has stood on this site since 975, and timber in some of the beams were radio-carbon dates to within 50 years of 1000 AD.




The Porch House 

If you are thinking of visiting this lovely town, it is worth visiting the Cotswolds.info website. It's in our plans for a longer visit in 2017.