In this guide, we travel to the Cotswolds, an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB). In the Tudor period, the Cotswolds were renowned for supplying the best quality wool in Europe. Today, picture-perfect villages and lush, rolling hillsides surround some incredible Tudor places. Let’s go time travelling!
After a couple of day’s lodging at Cotes Place, Henry and Elizabeth moved to their next destination: Fairford, in Gloucestershire, a once eminent Cotswold wool town.
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On Saturday 31 July, 1535 Henry and Anne were met by the Mayor of Gloucester, John Falconer; aldermen; sheriffs, Thomas Payne and Richard Edwardes, and about 100 or so burgesses of the ‘town of Gloucester’. They stayed in Gloucestershire for six days, leaving Gloucester itself on Sunday 7 August.
On Monday 26 July 1535, the royal party left Sudeley Castle and made the seven-mile journey north-west to Tewkesbury. In keeping with protocol for all royal arrivals, the mayor and other dignitaries would have received the king, queen and their retinue just outside the town, with the two parties merging to travel in procession to the cathedral or abbey church.
On Wednesday 21 July 1535, Anne and Henry made the fourteen-mile journey from Langley to Winchcombe in Gloucestershire. There they lodged at Sudeley Castle with their immediate retinue, while the rest of the court stayed at nearby Winchcombe Abbey.
Just as with Beverston, the mention of Cotes as a location on the 1502 progress is fleeting.
Coates is a parish about three miles west of Cirencester in Gloucestershire. During the medieval and Tudor periods, Cirencester was a thriving wool town. Henry had visited Cirencester before, on at least one occasion. The choice of Cotes Place as a lodging for the royal party may have meant that the King could rekindle acquaintances with the wool merchants of the nearby town.
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After staying at Reading Abbey, the second stop of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s 1535 progress was Ewelme Manor. While staying there Henry VIII asked for the property to be returned to the crown. Ewelme once more became a royal residence and was used by the king as a lesser house, a place where he retreated for greater privacy with a select group of friends while on hunting trips.
If it were not for a single entry in the Queen’s Chamber Books, dated 27 September 1502, when payment was made to Robert Alyn for preparing lodgings for the Queen (see the quote above), we would be none the wiser about the royal visit to Beverston Castle. This would undoubtedly be our loss, as this lovely location has virtually disappeared from our awareness as a place of significance for those following the Tudor trail.
The main reason for this paucity of information is probably that the visit was fleeting. After five days resting at Berkeley Castle, the royal entourage was on the move and pressing on to reach the next notable destination on the geists: Fairford, where they were to be guests of the wealthy wool merchant Sir Edmund Tame. In a subsequent post, we will hear more about the Tame family and this fascinating location.
However, even this transitory stay gives us ample excuse to bring Beverston back into the spotlight and discover its unassuming charms.
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In July 1535, Henry VIII set out from Windsor Castle in Berkshire on what would become one of the longest and most politically significant progresses of the king’s reign.
The next significant stop on the 1502 progress after Woolaston was Berkeley Castle, where the royal couple stayed for five days from 29 August to 4 September.
Berkeley Castle still stands largely untouched since it was set in stone during the eleventh, twelfth and fourteenth centuries.
Berkeley Castle is highly distinctive in appearance. Built on a typical Norman motte and bailey design during the early and mid-medieval period, it has been constructed from local pink, grey, and yellow Severn sandstone, with its roofs mainly made of Cotswold stone, slate, or lead.
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