Tudor Places

10/08/2025

Elsyng was originally built by Sir Thomas Lovell, favoured courtier of Henry VII and Henry VIII, who both visited it regularly. Situated to the north of London, it became a residence for Henry VIII’s children outside the city. In Issue 18, Dr Elizabeth Norton explores another of Henry VIII’s long-lost palaces.

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Images 1 & 6 © Elizabeth Norton
Image 2-5 © Alamy
Image 7 © Enfield Archaeological Society
Image 8 & 9 © Martin J. Dearne/Enfield Archaeological Society

08/08/2025

, 8 August 1553, the funeral of Edward VI, who had died the previous month on 6 July, was held at Westminster Abbey. The burial service from the English Prayer Book was used for the first time for a monarch during his funeral, and then Edward VI was laid to rest in the Abbey’s Lady Chapel.

Henry VII commissioned the Lady Chapel, with its glorious fan-vaulted ceiling, at the turn of the sixteenth century, and its centrepiece is the magnificent tomb for him and his wife, Elizabeth of York, created by the Florentine sculptor, Pietro Torrigiano.

Edward VI was laid to rest in a vault beneath the original altar, and directly to the west of Henry VII’s tomb. In stark contrast to the glorious double-tomb of his grandparents, there is no tomb or monument marking his grave. In 1966 a simple memorial stone was laid on the floor in front of the present altar.

Henry VII created a spectacular family mausoleum in the Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey, of suitable status for the dynasty he founded. However, despite their intentions, and best efforts, the subsequent image-conscious Tudor monarchs had surprisingly modest burial sites. In Issue 10, Dr Emma J. Wells considers the final resting places of the children of Henry VIII.

https://bit.ly/48uzOV0

07/08/2025

OTD, 7 August 1485, 28 year old Henry Tudor, and his uncle Jasper, arrived at Mill Bay in South West Wales, in a fleet of ships carrying several thousand men. From here they marched through Wales and into England to battle for the throne. Their destination was a battlefield in Bosworth where, ultimately, Henry’s army would defeat Richard III on 22 August 1485 and bring to an end three hundred years of Plantagenet rule.

“On 1 August 1485, the now twenty-eight-year-old Henry Tudor set sail from Brittany to reclaim the Crown for the House of Lancaster. Alongside his Uncle Jasper and a number of die-hard Lancastrian nobles intent on taking back the Crown, Henry Tudor landed at Mill Bay in Pembrokeshire a week later on 7 August. After fourteen years in exile, as Henry came ashore, he fell to his knees and cried, ‘Judica me Deus, et discerne causam me’ (Judge me, O God, and Distinguish my Cause).”

Excerpt from Issue 09, where Sarah Morris, The Tudor Travel Guide, shares a 3-day itinerary for exploring Pembrokeshire, the birthplace of the Tudor dynasty and a county inextricably linked with the first Tudor monarch: Henry VII.

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06/08/2025

🔨 As part of ongoing conservation work to protect Little Moreton Hall, visitors will see a programme of conservation joinery repairs happening until the 15 August. These are being carried out by the National Trust’s Specialist Craft Team.

🔨 The team will be undertaking a variety of dedicated woodwork repairs around the Hall, mainly focussing on the Great Hall, Little Parlour and Great Parlour. They will be carrying out sympathetic repairs to oak panelling by replacing missing sections of beading and the frames around doorways and windows to match the existing mouldings. They will be carrying out repairs to skirting boards and loose floorboards as well.

🥰 Every single visit, scone scoffed and pre-loved book bought, helps us to look after this 500-year-old, timber framed, Tudor wonder - thank you 🖤🤍

06/08/2025

06/08/2025

, 6 August 1623, Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, died in Stratford-upon-Avon. Little is known about Anne, who became Shakespeare’s wife in November 1582, when she was around twenty-six years old, and William was just eighteen. Anne remains an enigmatic character, as few references to her survive, except a handful of sporadic mentions of her name in legal documents.

Anne was born in the cottage, which we know today as ‘Anne Hathaway’s Cottage’, at Hewlands Farm in 1556. Their home was in the village of Shottery, which lay about a mile outside of Stratford in what would have then been open countryside. The family made a living as successful tenant sheep farmers, living in the timber-framed farmhouse that the Hathaways had owned since Anne’s grandfather had bought the property in 1542.

Anne lies in the neighbouring grave to that of her husband at Holy Trinity Church, the oldest building in Stratford, dating back to the Saxon period. The inscription on her tombstone reads; "Here lyeth the body of Anne wife of William Shakespeare who departed this life the 6th day of August 1623 being of the age of 67 years."

In Issue 08, Sarah Morris, The Tudor Travel Guide, takes us on a tour of six fabulous historic locations associated with England’s most famous playwright, William Shakespeare, including Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and Holy Trinity Church.

https://bit.ly/45xDzHD

📸 credits:

Portrait of Anne Hathaway (1555/56 - 6 August 1623) by Sir Nathaniel Curzon in 1708 © JschneiderWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Anne Shakespeare's tombstone in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon © Tom Reedy, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
All other images © The Tudor Travel Guide

04/08/2025

Moot Hall in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, is one of the best-preserved Tudor public buildings in England. 🧱

The Burgess of Aldeburgh built the hall in the early 16th century at a time when the town was enjoying a notable period of prosperity that lasted around 150 years.

Previously known as the Town Hall, it once housed several merchant shops.

The timber-framed building was rebuilt in the mid-19th century when it became known as the Moot Hall.

04/08/2025

And for those interested in learning more about Carew Castle during the Tudor period, Nathen Amin - Author wrote an article for us in Issue 6 - Carew Castle: Wales's Tudor Palace.

03/08/2025

, 2 August 1541, Henry VIII commenced a 4-day stay at Collyweston Palace, Northamptonshire, accompanied by his fifth wife Catherine Howard, as part of his royal progress of 1541. They would inhabit rooms that had once belonged to his grandmother, Margaret Beaufort.

The palace had previously belonged to Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII’s illegitimate son with Bessie Blount. But its most notable owner was Margaret Beaufort. Following Henry VII’s victory at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Lady Margaret Beaufort set up a splendid new principal residence at Collyweston in Northamptonshire, that was befitting of her elevated status as the king’s mother.

As the matriarch of the house of Tudor, Margaret Beaufort would play a central role in the wedding celebrations of Margaret Tudor and James IV of Scotland in 1503. Her principal residence at Collyweston was a stage on which a carefully orchestrated series of celebrations proclaiming her personal power and status, and that of the wider royal dynasty, would play out over the course of two weeks.

Margaret inhabited Collyweston until her death in 1509. Minor repairs were made to the palace during Elizabeth I’s reign, but by 1605 it was described as ‘a very large royal house of stone almost ruined, adjoining to a palace similarly almost ruined and decayed...containing in circuit 1000 paces’. By the early 1780s, both the palace and a later house built on the site by the Tryon family had been demolished.

In Issue 14, Dr Rachel Delman considers why Margaret chose the location of Collyweston and what is known of the plan, structure and decoration of this long-gone magnificent palace.

https://bit.ly/4epUelt

01/08/2025

Lady Margaret Beaufort had a network of connections with prominent figures and places in Stamford, the market town close to her palace at Collyweston and near the Lincolnshire properties she inherited from her mother, Margaret Beauchamp. In Issue 18, Dr Rachel Delman examines these relationships, including her support of the town’s two anchoresses, and their links to places within Stamford.

https://bit.ly/44JLVON