Alison Weir Northumbria 2025: Day 5

Day 5

OH MY!!!!!!!!!!WE OVERSLEPT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Nobody knew it but Lynn and I hardly had seven minutes to get on the bus from our room. We made it but you can imagine that scene! I am so glad we made it though as Whitby Abby was a highlight of the tour. But SO COLD! The wind blew and blew! It added to the aura!

It is a spectacular cliff top landmark. It is a large visitor attraction. It was founded in 657 AD by Oswy, the Saxon King of Northumbria. He appointed Lady Hilda, niece of Edwin, the abbess. In 664 the abby was the site of the Synod of Whitby at which the Northumbrian Celtic church was reconciled to Rome. In 867 the abby fell to a Viking attack and was abandoned until 1078 when it was refunded by Regenfrith, a soldier monk under the orders of his protector, William de Percy. The second monastery lasted until it was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1540. In 1890 Bram Stoker was inspired by the Abby to create the famous novel Dracula.

I visited the church and the coffee shop too and at a cherry scone on the bus. Thanks to Lynn!

This was a great stop, one of my favorites as it was so dramatic. It certainly woke me up after our run to the bus!

The coffee shop

The cold North Sea.

All the pics from the church were so dramatic

Gift shop

Abby Pictures

The wind!!!It was so cold!!!

The town of Whitby

The North York Moors-drive to Whitby

On the bus Alison talked about Richard the III in the north,

Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field marked the end of the Middle Ages in England.

Richard was created Duke of Gloucester in 1461 after the accession to the throne of his older brother Edward IV. This was during the period known as the Wars of the Roses, an era when two branches of the royal family contested the throne; Edward and Richard were Yorkists, and their side of the family faced-off against their Lancastrian cousins. In 1472, Richard married Anne Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and widow of Edward of Westminster, son of Henry VI. He governed northern England during Edward's reign, and played a role in the invasion of Scotland in 1482. When Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's eldest son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. Before arrangements were complete for Edward V's coronation, scheduled for 22 June 1483, the marriage of his parents was declared bigamous and therefore invalid. Now officially illegitimate, Edward and his siblings were barred from inheriting the throne. On 25 June, an assembly of lords and commoners endorsed a declaration to this effect, and proclaimed Richard as the rightful king. He was crowned on 6 July 1483. Edward and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, called the "Princes in the Tower", disappeared from the Tower of London around August 1483.

There were two major rebellions against Richard during his reign. In October 1483, an unsuccessful revolt was led by staunch allies of Edward IV and Richard's former ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. Then, in August 1485, Henry Tudor and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, landed in Wales with a contingent of French troops, and marched through Pembrokeshire, recruiting soldiers. Henry's forces defeated Richard's army near the Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth. Richard was slain, making him the last English king to die in battle. Henry Tudor then ascended the throne as Henry VII.

Richard's corpse was taken to the nearby town of Leicester and buried without ceremony. His original tomb monument is believed to have been removed during the English Reformation, and his remains were wrongly thought to have been thrown into the River Soar. In 2012, an archaeological excavation was commissioned by Ricardian author Philippa Langley with the assistance of the Richard III Society on the site previously occupied by Grey Friars Priory. The University of Leicester identified the human skeleton found at the site as that of Richard III as a result of radiocarbon dating, comparison with contemporary reports of his appearance, identification of trauma sustained at Bosworth and comparison of his mitochondrial DNA with that of two matrilineal descendants of his sister Anne. He was reburied in Leicester Cathedral in 2015.

Tracy Borman discussed Matilda of Flanders. This was in large part due to the role of medieval queens in the history of the North.

Matilda of Flanders (French: Mathilde; Dutch: Machteld; German: Mechtild) (c. 1031 – 2 November 1083) was Queen of England and Duchess of Normandy by marriage to William the Conqueror, and regent of Normandy during his absences from the duchy.^[1] She was the mother of nine children who survived to adulthood, including two kings, William II and Henry I.^[2] Hers was the first coronation at Westminster Abbey.

We then visited Burton Agnes Hall where we had lunch. The estate has been in the hands of the same family since Roger de Stuteville first built a manor house on the site in 1173.

A fabric picture of Burton Agnes Hall

The outside as pretty as inside

Burton Agnes Hall

The present Elizabethan house was built nearby in 1601–10 by Sir Henry Griffith, 1st Baronet, after he was appointed to the Council of the North. His daughter Frances Griffith, heiress of the estate, married Sir Matthew Boynton, Governor of Scarborough Castle and the first Boynton baronet. On her death in 1634 the estate was bequeathed to their son Francis, later the second Baronet Boynton. According to legend, the skull of Sir Henry's youngest daughter Anne is bricked up in the Great Hall. It is reputed to be a screaming skull, and to return to the house whenever it is removed.^[6]

This is a painting by Duncan Grant of the Bloomsbury Group

Everywhere we went there was a garden store to buy plants

Burton Agnes Hall is an Elizabethan manor house in the village of Burton Agnes, near Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

The present Elizabethan house was built in 1601–10 by Sir Henry Griffith, 1st Baronet, after he was appointed to the Council of the North. His daughter Frances Griffith, heiress of the estate, married Sir Matthew Boynton, Governor of Scarborough Castle and the first Boynton baronet. On her death in 1634 the estate was bequeathed to their son Francis, later the second Baronet Boynton. According to legend, the skull of Sir Henry's youngest daughter Anne is bricked up in the Great Hall. It is reputed to be a screaming skull, and to return to the house whenever it is removed.^[6]

On the way, Sarah Gristwood discussed Stately Homes on screen including:

Craigside-used in Jurassic Park

York-The Shambles-Diagon Alley in Harry Potter

Durham Cathedral- Hogwarts in Harry Potter

Whitby-Dracula, Victoria

Bamburgh-Ivanhoe, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth

Alnwick-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Downton Abbey Christmas special,

Castle Howard-Bridgerton, Death comes to Pemberley

After this tour, we then got back to our hotel to get ready for our dinner at…. Castle Howard!

It was incredible place and evening. Tracy Borman sat at my table. What a great human!

Castle Howard is an architectural masterpiece. It is the family home of the Howard family. It took over 100 years to complete. In 1982 the Castle was chosen as he setting for Brideshead Revisited. It has the same architect as Blenheim.

After dinner there was a wonderful talk by Helen Castor. It was one of the best of the trip. It was about Henry IV and Richard II.

Henry IV (c. April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (a son of King Edward III), and Blanche of Lancaster.^[3]

Henry was involved in the 1388 revolt of Lords Appellant against Richard II, his first cousin, but he was not punished. However, he was exiled from court in 1398. After Henry's father died in 1399, Richard blocked Henry's inheritance of his father's lands. That year, Henry rallied a group of supporters, overthrew and imprisoned Richard II, and usurped the throne; these actions later contributed to dynastic disputes in the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487).

Henry was the first English ruler whose mother tongue was English (rather than French) since the Norman Conquest, over 300 years earlier.^[4] As king, he faced a number of rebellions, most seriously those of Owain Glyndŵr, the last Welshman to claim the title of Prince of Wales, and the English knight Henry Percy (Hotspur), who was killed in the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Henry IV had six children from his first marriage to Mary de Bohun, while his second marriage to Joan of Navarre produced no surviving children. Henry and Mary's eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, assumed the reins of government in 1410 as the king's health worsened. Henry IV died in 1413, and his son succeeded him as Henry V.