Tag: London

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Mile End & the Peasants’ Revolt, June 14th 1381

The Execution of Treasurer Robert Hales and Chancellor Archbishop Sudbury on the Day the King met the Peasants at Mile End

To recap.  On June 14th the 1381 Rebels have control of London.  They are destroying any repository of legal records they can find. People are walking the streets dispensing street justice.  Foreigners who speak Flemish are being beheaded.  Enemies of the people are being dragged out of sanctuary and beheaded.  Properties of the leaders of the government are being ransacked and burnt.

The King is in the Tower with his advisors, fearful that the Rebels will breach the defences.  I would love to be a fly on the wall of that conversation. You would think it would go something like.

‘Sire.  Your safety is paramount.  We will leave the castle and draw off the rebels so you can go to a place of greater safety.’

What happened is astonishing.  The Royal plan was to send the 14-year-old King Richard out to draw off the rebels so that the hated Chancellor of England, Archbishop Sudbury and the Treasurer of England, Robert Hales could slip away unseen! Putting the young boy king in the direct line of fire!

There are two explanations. Hales and Sudbury were arrant cowards. Or the King was very confident of his safety and despite his youth made his advisors accept his command.  This was an age where young princes took adult responsibilities early.

The King left the Tower on horse back, accompanied by two half-brothers and his mother (and others). Their reception was hostile. We have eyewitness accounts of angry rebels pulling at the King’s bridle and that of one of his attendants from the City government. The King sent his mum and brothers back to the Tower as it was too dangerous. We can only assume the King sent them back sure that the peasants did not blame him for the mess the country was in.

He went to Mile End.  His clerks set up tables and began writing charters freeing the peasants from feudal duties and turning their tenure into monetary rents.

As each village received its charter, many of the villagers went home.  Back at home they sometimes attacked the people who had been manipulating the legal system, believing the King had given them permission to punish the guilty.

Whether the king believed in the justness of their claim or was just placating them to gain time, we do not know. But some historians believe that the young King was sympathetic to some of their claims, until older counsel made him change his mind.

Not all the rebels followed the King to Mile End, nor went home when their charters were sealed.  It is thought Wat Tyler and thousands of rebels stayed at the Tower.

They saw the Archbishop of Canterbury trying to escape.  They forced their way into the Tower.  Here they jumped up and down on the Queen Mother’s bed, stole armour and weapons.  Then dragged Hales, Sudbury, a Franciscan Friar (William Appleton, John of Gaunt’s physician), and John Legge, a royal sergeant to the scaffold at Tower Hill and beheaded them.  Their heads were put on poles and paraded around town.

When the King left Mile End he couldn’t go to the Tower so he went to Baynards Castle, near Blackfriars. We also know that, the King’s cousin, Henry Bolingbroke was in the Tower.  He was the son of the hated John of Gaunt.  Years later, when he was King, he acknowledged the fact that a Londoner had been instrumental in saving his life in the Tower on the 14th of June, 1381. The man was fighting charges of stealing gold from the ransacking of Gaunt’s Savoy Palace.  He was given a pardon.

That night rebels remained in London, and the king’s cause had been considerably weakened.

To be continued. See also my post peasants-revolt-june-13th-1381/

First published in 2025.

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Whitsun

Pentecost by Giotto and Workshop, probably about 1310-18, National Gallery

Today, June 8th, is Whitsun or Pentecost.  50 days after the Crucifixion. Celebrated on the 7th Sunday after Easter. The Day the Holy Ghost descends on the disciples.  According to one of my teachers, it gave the disciples the power of expression and turned them from bereft disciples to self-confident Apostles.   They could now begin to spread the Christian message.

Giotto’s painting shows the Apostles with their halos in the chamber. There are 12 of them, St Matthias having replaced the dead, Judas. The Holy Spirit is represented by the little dove in the centre of the Ceiling. The narrative is carried by the two men in the foreground leaning towards each other. We imagine them saying something like ‘What’s all this about! Galilean nonentities, lost their guru and yet, confident, speaking authoritatively to all and sundry and they can all understand them?‘

Giotto was a forerunner of the Renaissance. According to the great Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) who wrote about the advances in painting achieved by Italian artists:

‘that very obligation which the craftsmen of painting owe to nature, who serves continually
as model to those who are ever wresting the good from her best and most beautiful features and striving to counterfeit and to imitate her, should be owed, in my belief, to Giotto, painter of Florence, for the reason that, after the methods of good paintings and their outlines had lain buried for so many years under the ruins of the wars, he alone, although born among inept craftsmen, by the gift of God revived that art, which had come to a grievous pass, and brought it to such a form as could be called good.‘

The miracle was that this boy, a poor shepherd with no training in art was able to show nature its true face.

‘One day [the artist] Cimabue, going on business from Florence to Vespignano, found Giotto, while his sheep were feeding, drawing a sheep from nature upon a smooth and solid rock with a pointed stone, having never learnt from anyone but nature.’

One of the points Vasari is making is that the Byzantine Art had lost the use of perspective, something the Romans knew. Paintings had become cartoon like spaces had no solidarity, groups of people stood on shoulders. If you look at the painting above you will the room the Apostles are in has the beginnings of a realistic space, the rafters slope down to a vanishing point. The Apostles are ranged convincingly around the space. Their faces are rounded and realistic. They are separated from the outside world by a dividing wall. And two dudes at the front are convincingly on the ground, rather than hovering in mid air (though I might have cropped the photo too closely!)

It would be over one hundred years before photo realistic portraits and realistic perspective paintings were rediscovered but Giotto showed the way.

For more on Giotto see my post here:

And on Italian art and perspective my post here

First published on June 8th 2025

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Titus Oates flogged from Aldgate to Newgate  May 20th 1685

Titue Oates & Popish Plot. Set of playing cards themed on the Plot c1679 after a design by Francis Barlow

Titus Oates was a con-man. He accused leading Catholics of participating in a plot to kill King Charles II and restore a Catholic monarchy.  Among his targets were the Queen, and the King’s Brother’s wife.

Titus Oates had a complicated past. He was a Baptist who turned to the Church of England on the Restoration of King Charles II. He went to Cambridge where he was accused of being a ‘Great Dunce’ and never took his degree. His next about turn saw him in St Omer to train as a Jesuit. He accused a man, whose job he wanted, of sodomy. Then, he became a Naval Chaplain. But he was, himself, accused of buggery and dismissed from the Navy. He was received into the Catholic Church while, at the same time, he wrote a series of anti-Catholic Pamphlets. He made accusations against over 500 people. This became known as the Popish Plot.

As a result, twenty-two people were executed, some ‘Hanged, Drawn and Quartered’ because of Oates’ baseless accusations.  The Diarist, Samuel Pepys, was caught up in the anti-Catholic frenzy. Pepys was Secretary of the Navy during the Plot and was close to the Catholic, James, Duke of York. He was accused of selling secrets to the French. Awaiting trial for treason, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Eventually, he was able to clear himself and resume public life.

Old Print of Samuel Pepys

It was only with the accession of James II that the climate of opinion changed. Then Titus Oates was found guilty of perjury.  Perjury was not punishable with death, so Oates’ punishment was a long-drawn-out affair instead. He was sentenced to be imprisoned for life. And ‘whipped through the streets of London for five days a year for the remainder of his life.’

Oates was put in the pillory at Westminster Hall, where passers-by pelted him with eggs. He was again pilloried the next day in the City.  On the third day, stripped, tied to a cart, and whipped from Aldgate to Newgate. The following day he was whipped from Newgate to Tyburn. (Source Wikipedia)

However, when the Catholic King, James II was, deposed and replaced by the joint Protestant monarchs William and Mary in 1689, Titus Oates was released and given a pension.  He died in 1705.

For Pepys at the Execution of Charles I see my post here.

First Published in 2024, republished in 2025

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Beheading of Anne Boleyn May 19th 1536

Old Print showing the beheading of Anne Boleyn

The beheading of Anne Boleyn began at 8am with her speech.

‘Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it.

I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the King and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord.

And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.’

She was blindfolded. She knelt down, putting her neck on the block and repeated:

‘To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesu receive my soul.’

Recorded by Edward Hall (spelling modernized)

https://www.hevercastle.co.uk/news/19th-may-anniversary-of-anne-boleyns-execution

Here is a slightly annoyingly American youtube feature recreating what Anne Boleyn might have looked like.

To hear about Queen Elizabeth I’s nicknames for her chief advisers, read my post here.

Published in 2024, and revised in 2025.

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Sentenced to Death for Extortion by an accusation of Sodomy May 16th 1719

Mast head of the St James Evening Post (June 1719)
Mast head of the St James Evening Post (June 1719), the paper that carried the accusation of Sodomy

On 16th May 1719, the St James Evening Post (later called the Evening Post) reported on the Guilty Verdict returned against ex-Servants Stephen Margrove and John Wood. The two men were accused of extorting money by threatening to expose George Smith as a sodomist (then punishable by death).

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey Archive gives details of the case. This took place in the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields (near what is now Trafalgar Square), on 18th, January 1718. George Smith told the Court that:

‘ the Prisoners came up to him (and John Wood took him hold by the Collar of his Coat) and demanded his Money, and said if he would not give it them they would take away his Life and swear Sodomy against him; that by means of this Violence, and being under a Terror, and in great-Fear he gave them what he had in his Pocket.’

But they wanted more and forced Smith to take them to his Master’s House in Golden-Square. Here, he gave them another Guinea, to add to the 22 shillings they had already extorted.

The Accusation of Sodomy

Margrove and Wood protested that Smith: ‘came up to Wood while he was making Water, and took hold of his Yard, using some unseemly Expressions, whereupon he (Wood) called out a Sodomite‘.

At this accusation, Smith ‘fell on his Knees, and begg’d them not to expose him‘ and gave them the money. So, the accused argued it could not be ‘robbing on the High Way‘ because their victim gave them the money.

The Defence

The Court held that the threats, and violence they used made them guilty of Violent Robbery. The men called witnesses to their good employment record, but were unable to show any evidence of ‘how they spent the last 6 Months of their Lives.’ And so the Jury found them Guilty, and the judge put on the Black Cap to pronounce the death sentence.

The Verdict

On the 8th of June 1719 10 people, 7 men and 3 women were sentenced to hang, but 5 were reprieved. Wood, aged 22, and Margrove, aged 21, were however, executed. Rictor Norton in ‘Homosexuality in 18th Century England has more details, including the confessions of the two extortionists.

For the trail of Body snatchers look to the bottom of my post here:

First Published in 2024, and republished in 2025

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May the Swarm of Bees be with you! May 5th

Swarm of Bees, Hackney (Photo Kevin Flude 30th May 2018). The Swarm is at the top of the Column and on the edge of the porch roof.

In 2018, on 30th May, I was perturbed to find a swarm of Bees hanging outside my front door. Frightened of leaving my house, I rang a local beekeeper, who came to take possession of the Bees and take them to a new home. By the time he came, they had moved 20 yards to a Buddleia bush.

Swarm of Bees having moved 20 yards to a new home, being 'rescued' by a bee keeper.
Swarm of Bees, having moved 20 yards to a second perch, being ‘rescued’ by a bee keeper. You can see the swarm above his head.

A Swarm of Bees in May

‘Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry’ published 1573, suggests we should:

‘Take heed to thy Bees, that are ready to swarm, the loss thereof now, is a crown’s worth of harm.’ The loss was particularly hard in May or June as the country verse tells us:

A swarm in May
Is worth a load of hay
A swarm in June
Is worth a silver spoon
A swarm in July
Is not worth a fly.‘

According to Hillman’s ‘Tusser Redivus’ of 1710, swarming in May produces particularly good honey. He advises following the bees to retrieve them:

‘You are entitled by custom to follow them over anyone’s land and claim them … but only so long as you ‘ting-tang’ as you go, by beating some metal utensil – the sound whereof is also said to make your bees stop.’

Much of the above is quoted from The Perpetual Almanac of Folklore by Charles Kightly.

Queen Bee

Bees swarm when a new Queen Bee takes a proportion of the worker bees to form a new colony. They will latch unto a branch or a shrub, even a car’s wing mirror. Then sending worker bees out searching for a suitable new home, such as a hollow tree. There may be hundreds or even thousands in the new colony. This may be very alarming, as I found, as I could not go out without walking through a cloud of bees. But, at this point, they will not be aggressive as they do not have a hive to protect. Look here for more information on swarming.

Sweet, Long Distance Flyers

An average hive will produce 25 lbs of honey, and the bees will fly 1,375,000 miles to produce it. This is like flying 55 times around the world (according to the British beekeepers Association (and my maths)) https://www.bbka.org.uk/honey

Helping Bees

Bees are still having a hard time as their habitats are diminishing and threats increasing. In July, DEFRA hosts ‘Bees Needs Week’ which aims to increase public awareness of the importance of pollinators.

They suggest we can help by these 5 simple actions

  1. Grow more nectar rich flowers, shrubs and trees. Using window or balcony boxes are good options if you don’t have a garden.
  2. Let patches of garden and land grow wild.
  3. Cut grass less often.
  4. Do not disturb insect nests and hibernation spots.
  5. Think carefully about whether to use pesticides.

For more above Bees Needs Week look here:

Patron Saints of Bees include: St. Ambrose, St. Gobnait, and St. Valentine. Click here to see my post of St Valentine.

First Published 2024, revised 2025

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Murder of St Alphage April 19th 1012

St Alphage. Church Tower on right, City Wall to left. Photo K Flude

I first came across St Alphage when I was working at the Museum of London. The Museum was built on the High Walk at London Wall. The raised Courbusian Walkway looked down on a ruin of a Gothic Church Tower, almost destroyed during the Blitz. This was St Alphage, a Church dedicated to the Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury. (Alphage is also spelt Alphege or Alfege).

On the other side of the Walkway was the old graveyard of the Church. This preserved one of the very best sections of the old London Wall. Special because on one side its huge height was displayed. On the other, the only crenelated bit of the City Wall. And the only surviving part of the Wall dating to the War of the Roses.

St Alphage Roman and Medieval Wall
St Alphage Roman and Medieval Wall
The Crenelated Red Brick Section dates to 1477, during the War of the Roses
The Crennelated Red Brick Section dates to 1477, during the War of the Roses
St Alphage Wall explained in an information plaque.
St Alphage Wall explained on an information plaque.

In the 1980’s fellow Museum of London Archaeologist, Paul Herbert and I set up a Guided Walks company (Citisights of London) . Our walks started from outside the Museum of London, and so St Alphage formed a big part of our success. It led to a life giving Guided Walks and tours. So, St Alphage, thank you!

A Citisights Day Tour of the 1980s

St Alphage Elsyng Spittle St Mary ?

The Church was previously a monastic settlement called Elsyng Spittle (aka St Mary within Cripplegate). The Augustinian Canons looked after 100 blind men. It was refounded by Williain Elsing, and dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536. The Church was kept for a Parish Church. But the Puritans were not keen on dedications to St Mary. So, they renamed it after a London based Christian Martyr.

It remained a Parish Church until damaged in an air raid in World War One. (possibly on 8th September 1916 in a Zeppelin Raid – but I am speculating). The Church was partly demolished in 1923, leaving the Tower. The lower part of the Medieval Tower survived bombing in the Blitz. At 12.15 am on 25th Aug 1940, the first bombs on the City of London fell nearby in Fore Street. But the tower was hit in 1940. It was listed Grade 1 in 1950. Kept by the rebuilding of London Wall, and the Barbican area. Then substantially benefitting from a remodelling of the area in an excellent scheme of 2022.

St Ælfheah of Canterbury and Greenwich

StAlfege Greewich - Doyle own work Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0
StAlfege Greewich – Doyle own work Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

St Ælfheah was captured during a Viking attack on Canterbury. The Viking hoard relocated to Greenwich where they tried to negotiate a fat ransom for him. He was one of the richest men in the Kingdom. This is what the Anglo Saxon Chronicle says:

.. the raiding-army became much stirred up against the bishop, because he did not want to offer them any money, and forbade that anything might be granted in return for him. Also they were very drunk, because there was wine brought from the south. Then they seized the bishop, led him to their “hustings” on the Saturday in the octave of Easter, and then pelted him there with bones and the heads of cattle; and one of them struck him on the head with the butt of an axe, so that with the blow he sank down and his holy blood fell on the earth, and sent forth his holy soul to God’s kingdom.

St Alfege Greenwich, which is now a lovely Hawksmoor Church is said to be on the site of St Ælfheah‘s death.

St Alphage’s body was taken to St Pauls Cathedral where it was venerated. His remains were removed in suspicious circumstances by soldiers of King Cnut who translated the Saint’s bones to Greenwich. It is suggested King Cnut was punishing London for their opposition to him.

The Minotaur by Michael Ayrton

Also, part of the experience of visiting St Alphage from the High Walk was the statue of the Minotaur. I first came across this phallic Bull in the Postman’s Park and am very fond of it. Then it disappeared and reappeared on the High Walk. Now it is on the ground level near in the garden of St Alphage.

I understand that Michael Ayrton wanted to make a point about the destruction of London. He felt that the developers were more destructive than the Luftwaffe. They were like a Bull in a China Shop! So he created this statue of a very vigorous Bull representing the Minotaur. It is a very unusual work of art in that it sports a fully erect penis. Art History is full of naked women, but the male organ is largely left to pornography. For more about Ayrton follow this link.

The Minotaur in its present position
The Minotaur on the High Walk

First Written on April 19th 2025

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Beginning of the Financial Year April 6th

Google Screenshot welcoming the Beginning of the Financial Year

At last, I can relax! Today, is the beginning of the Financial Year. I have been trying to get money into my pension. I wanted to take advantage of tax concessions before the end of the financial year. How hard was that! But now done and I won’t bore you with the tedious details. And of course, it was probably the wrong time to do it, given the Trumpian Meltdown on stock exchanges. Thanks, Mr Trump.

Here is President Ronald Reagan talking about the inevitable disaster of high tariffs. Surprisingly, erudite? It makes me wonder whether Mr Trump is actually a Conservative?

Why is April 6th the Beginning of the Financial Year?

If you remember, in the medieval period, the official New Year was on March 25th. This was the Day of the Annunciation, the Day Mary conceived Jesus. (for much more on this see my post march-25th-feast-of-the-annunciation/). But in 1752, we followed belatedly, the Pope’s reorganisation of the Julian Calendar. We had to put our days back in sync with the Sun. This had gone 11 days out of kilter since Julius Caesar’s Reorganisation (see my post here!). As we lost 11 days, we had to put them back. So the beginning of the Financial Year in 1753 was changed to April 5th. A further adjustment in 1800 was necessary as this would have been a leap year. So the new Financial Year moved to April 6th. And it has remained so ever since. For more on the Gregorian Calendar look here.

Churchill & Roosevelt

Today, I did my Jane Austen Walk. I took people to Bond Street past the statue of Churchill sitting on a park bench chatting with Roosevelt. Seemed like it was from a different world?

Allies by Lawence Holofcener. 2nd May 1995 to commemorate 50 years of Peace. Photo by K Flude
Details of the Statue

On my Chaucer Walk this afternoon, one of the attendees told me he has been signed up to my Almanac for several years. He said he was very happy to see posts reposted from previous years. Thank you and good to know.

First Published 6th April 2025

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St Totteringham’s Day April 3rd

I newspaper heading about St Totteringham’s Day

April 3rd was St Totteringham’s Day.  It came upon me unexpectedly because last year it was the 28th April.  Quite a sad day for some of us.

St Totteringham, the mythical Saint, born in North London in 1911. He has a variable feast day, but normally, it is in March or April. Sometimes, there is no feast day for the Saint.  But, very sadly, this is a very rare event.

My own hope is that a miracle will take place next year and St Totteringham is denied his customary outing.  But it looks unlikely. The best I can hope for is that it is postponed to as late in April as possible.

Scholars find that the best predictor of the Saint’s Day is not the Moon but the results of Premier league results in North London. Arch North London rival football teams, Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) and Arsenal (the Gunners) compete bitterly for bragging rights. So, what is St Totteringham’s Day? It is the day that Arsenal are so far ahead of Spurs in the Premier League Table that Spurs cannot possibly overtake them.   Spurs played Chelsea on April 3rd, beating my team 1:0.  So sad people (Arsenal supporters!) began the celebrations of the North London’s Saint. Mathematically, even if Arsenal lose all their remaining matches and Spurs win all theirs, Spurs cannot beat Arsenal

https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mikepitt/totteringham.html tells me the myth began in 1911, since when there have been 54 St Totteringhams Days.  The earliest being the 9th of March. 33 have been in April.

Being ‘Spursy’

Another neologism from North London is to be ‘Spursy’.   Espn.co.uk defines it as: (and it breaks my heart to tell you this).

‘The more modern meaning is to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or to fall short with the prize in sight. This is because, over time, the club’s lack of silverware has come to influence the meaning of “Spursy.” That original 2014 entry reads: “To consistently and inevitably fail to live up to expectations.’ The last time Spurs won the League Championship was in 1961.

The Year Spurs Won the League Champtionship.

To read about Football on Shrove Tuesday see my post shrove-tuesday-pancake-day-mardi-gras-end-of-the-carnival/

Next year, it will be different.

First Published 2024, revised 2025

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Francis Drake Knighted at Deptford April 4th

Sketch from an old print. Francis Drake being knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.  In fact, the Queen delegated the dubbing to a French Diplomat

The Queen’s half share in the profits of the Golden Hind’s circumnavigation of the world, amounted to more than her normal annual income. So it is no wonder she knighted the Captain, Sir Francis Drake, in the dock in what is now South East London at Deptford. The Spanish were furious that a Pirate should be so honoured. The Queen may have given a French man the honour of dubbing Sir Francis. She did this, perhaps to encourage the French to support the English against the Spanish.

The annual Royal Income for King Charles III is £86.3 million.  This is paid in the Sovereign’s Grant.  It gives you an idea of Drake’s booty. But I imagine she had a greater share of the nation’s wealth than Charles, as she was the Government not just a honorific cutter of ribbons.

Francis Drake. Hero or Bloodthirsty Pirate?

Francis Drake was one of the British heroes I read about as a child. I had a thick book with stories about people like Hereward the Wake, Drake, Charles II, Bonny Prince Charlie, David Livingstone etc. Many of them horrifically Imperialist and racist!

Drake was remembered for being the first English person to sail around the world. And his exploits in ‘singeing the beard of the King of Spain’ on his piratical raids on the Spanish Main.

In the books I read, the Spanish were the bad guys and we were on the side of the Angels. Drake was one of the swash-buckling heroes who turned Britain from a not very important country on the edge of Europe, to one of the World’s Great Powers.

Portrait of Francis Drake with Drake Jewel given to him by Queen Elizabeth I

On the other hand, he was also a pioneer in the Slave Trade, was involved in atrocities in Ireland and in the Spanish Territories. He summarily executed one of his crew in dubious circumstances. Perhaps more significantly, his contemporaries did not entirely trust him.

Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada

As the Spanish Armada sailed along the southern coast of England, the English Navy sniped at the heels of the Spanish. Drake was tasked with leading the night time pursuit of the Armada up the Channel. The idea was to stop them landing and to drive them away and into the North Sea. Drake in the Revenge was leading the pursuit, and the other ships were told to follow. He was to keep a single lantern alight in the stern of his ship. But the Lantern went out, and the British pursuit was disrupted.

The next morning, Drake comes back having captured the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora del Rosario, flagship of Admiral Pedro de Valdés.  The ship contained the gold to pay the Spanish Armada, which Drake seized. Was this a fortuitous accident which rebounded to Drake’s considerable financial advantage or something more deliberate?

In the end, the lantern incident did not stop the British forcing the Spanish to flee around the North of Scotland.  On this perilous voyage only about 60 of their ships returned to Spain out of about 130. Britain was saved.

Nuestra Señora del Rosario and Agatha Christie

I used to lead an Agatha Christie program which included a visit to the Agatha Christie Poison Garden at Torre Abbey.   And it was here that the captured Spanish ship’s crew were imprisoned after Francis Drake captured it.

The Abbey is now a lovely museum with the Poison Garden amidst the ruins of the Premonstratensian Abbey. Its tithe barn was used to hold the prisoners of war from the Ship. There were 397 of them. .

The Spanish Bar, Torre Abbey. Photo 2012 Kevin Flude
The Spanish Bar, Torre Abbey. Photo 2012 Kevin Flude

Sir John Gilbert, who was Sheriff of Devon at the time, used 160 Spanish Prisoners of War to develop his estate above the River Dart. The Estate is in a magnificent position, overlooking the drowned valley of the Dart. It is now enjoyed by those millions of visitors to what became the summer home of Agatha Christie (Greenway).

View of the River Dart from Greenway
View of Greenway from the River Dart

The Golden Hind & Deptford

Queen Elizabeth I decided that the Golden Hind should be permanently docked in Deptford.  So the ship was placed in a ‘dry’ dock filled with soil.  The ship decayed slowly with time, and by about 1660 nothing much was left. 

I remember as a young archaeologist that some of our team took time out to work with Peter Marsden. He is one of the great experts in Naval archaeology, and he led a search to find Drake’s ship.  There was a huge fanfare in the London newspapers. But, rather embarrassingly, given the build up, they failed to find anything of significance.

Another attempt was made in 2012. This also failed to discover any significant traces of an Elizabethan Galleon.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada 1588 showing July22nd Start Point Devon with English ships pursuing the Spanish
From an old history book

Golden Hind souvenirs

The Keeper of the Naval Stores at Deptford made chairs from the ruins of Drake’s ship, and one of them is on display at the Divinity Hall, Oxford.

Chair made from timbers of the Golden Hind in the Dinity Hall, Oxford, photo K Flude
Chair made from the ruins of the Golden Hind, photo K Flude

Sir Francis Drake and Middle Temple Hall

In London, Sir Francis Drake was a regular visitor at Middle Temple Hall, off of Fleet St. A table (called the cupboard) is reputedly made from the hatch cover of the Golden Hind.  This is where the newly qualified barristers stand to have their registration entered into the Inn’s books. Sadly, it did not survive the bombing of 1941.

Middle Temple Hall. Photo K Flude 2021

The lantern which hung in the entrance to Hall allegedly came from the ship’s poop deck (so not the one he failed to keep lit!). Other famous mariners are also associated with the Middle Temple including Sir Martin Frobisher and Sir Walter Raleigh. Shakespeare’s company performed Twelfth Night in the Middle Temple Hall

https://www.middletemple.org.uk/about-us/history/elizabethan-and-jacobean-times

Also on this day

The Romans celebrated the Great Mother, the Cybele in the festival of the Megalesia. To celebrate bringing of meteorite of Cybele to her temple in Rome in 204BC. Celebrated by the Games of the Great Mother

First published 2024, revised 2025