Anne and Henry likely stayed in the present-day Church House during their 1535 progress stop in Salisbury, in the oldest part, the western range, which faces onto the River Avon. This splendid Tudor house still stands today, with many of its medieval features intact.
In this episode, I head to the city of Leicester as we travel back to August 1485 and the Battle of Bosworth. Joined by our guide, Steve Bruce, we visit some of the main sites associated with Richard III’s time in the city.
A once luxurious palace, It is likely that Henry and Anne stayed at Wolvesey during their 1535 progress. The intended plan was to stay at Winchester for four or five days but the royal couple were so delighted with the sport on offer, they extended their stay to at least two weeks.
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.
In this guide, we travel to Norfolk, a county steeped in significant Tudor history. At its centre is the city of Norwich, once England’s second-largest and wealthiest city after London. Its eminence was built on its thriving cloth trade, and it was here that the Boleyns established themselves and began to amass their fortune. Let’s find out more!
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.
In this episode, I head to The National Portrait Gallery to the ‘Six Wives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens’ exhibition. It includes over 140 works and is the first major exhibition to focus on the women who married the infamous Tudor king.
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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The Mary Rose Museum is an incredible time capsule, a window onto everyday Tudor life as much as it is England’s Tudor naval history. For when the ship sank, its contents were covered in layers of silt, progressively encasing the wreck. This acted to keep around 40 % of the hull and thousands of artefacts in a fabulous state of preservation. Thus, we are left with a snapshot of the sixteenth century, giving us unique access to the ordinary and extraordinary objects of Tudor life in a way that you will not see elsewhere.
