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.
Name and Title: John Beaufort and Margaret Beauchamp, 1st Duke (also 3rd Earl of Somerset) and Duchess of Somerset (also Lady St John and Lady Welles).
Born: John Beaufort b.1404; Margaret Beauchamp c. 1410
Died: John Beaufort Died: 3 May 1444, London. Margaret Beauchamp Died: before 3 June 1482.
Buried: Wimborne Minster, Dorset.
Read more and see images of the tomb here…
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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Name and Title: John Beaufort and Margaret Beauchamp, 1st Duke (also 3rd Earl of Somerset) and Duchess of Somerset (also Lady St John and Lady Welles).
Born: John Beaufort b.1404; Margaret Beauchamp c. 1410
Died: John Beaufort Died: 3 May 1444, London. Margaret Beauchamp Died: before 3 June 1482.
Buried: Wimborne Minster, Dorset.
Read more and see images of the tomb here…
Today, Hever Castle is a quintessential fortified medieval manor house, nestled in the bottom of an idyllic, gently sloping valley. The setting makes the picture-perfect English postcard; sculpted lawns with pretty lily-covered moats; all around you, immaculately tended flower and herb gardens abound. We discover how the castle looked in Anne Boleyn’s day as we travel back to the sixteenth century…
On 28 August, the Queen’s Chamber Books for Elizabeth of York records, ‘Itm the same day to the mariners that conveyed the Quenes grace over the Severn besides Chepstowe’. The temptation is to immediately conclude that a ferry conducted the King and Queen across the River Severn into England at the point where the current bridge spans the river, close to the foot of Chepstow Castle, where the royal couple had been lodged. While this might be true, further close inspection of a later entry in the Chamber Book (dated 27 September) clarifies that the Queen moved from Chepstow to ‘Walstone’ before arriving at the next stop: Berkeley Castle.
This entry is a retrospective payment made to ‘Robert Alyn for his costes prepayring logging for the Quene from Ragland to Chepstowe by the space of twoo dayes, from Chepstowe to Walstone, ij dayes, from Walstone to Berkeley, ij dayes.’…
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After travelling for around four weeks, and lodging for a week at Raglan Castle, Elizabeth of York and Henry VII began their homebound journey.
Bordering Wales and England, Chepstow Castle sits atop of the cliffs overlooking the River Wye in Monmouthshire’s Wye Valley. it was the next stop on the 1502 progress.
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Medieval Tomb:
Name and Title: Sir William ap Thomas
Born: Sometime in the 1380s.
Died: 3 May 1445, London.
Buried: St Mary’s Priory, Abergavenny, Wales.
Read more and see images of the tomb here…
Raglan Castle: Arrival and Family Ties
When Elizabeth and Henry left Troy after five days of hospitality, they had only a short seven-mile journey in a south-westerley direction to reach their next destination, Raglan Castle (or ‘Ragland’ as it was known until at least the early nineteenth century).
An 1801 account of the road from Monmouth to Raglan describes the scenery the royal couple would have encountered as they began their journey, ‘On leaving Monmouth the road leads for near two miles thro’ a pleasant enclosed valley, skirted by gentle swellings, clothed or cultivated to their summits but gaining the higher ground at Wonastow. The view unfolds itself in a beautiful and extensive manner, over a rich and fertile country…’
The royal party arrived at Raglan Castle on or around 19 August. Their stay there was the apex and, in many ways, the centrepiece of the visit with its incumbent lord, the King’s loyal and erstwhile brother-in-arms, Sir Walter Herbert, playing host…
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From palaces to beaches, castles to cathedrals and churches to Elizabethan houses, with underground tunnels thrown in for good measure, Pembrokeshire is rich with Tudor connections and makes for a fantastic long weekend break.
