Short History Podcast

-

 A very brief bonus post! Always alert to Civil War related podcasts ...


...the latest mini series on Noiser's Short History podcast covers the English Civil Wars. Part 1 of 2 has just been released and is a very good explanation of the causes of the Civil Wars. An excellent way to fill 50 minutes of commuting time.

Available via all good podcast apps, and BBC Sounds.

Recommended!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Photography Part Three: Manuscripts

-
Image
 …or, strange things I've found on fleabay. Jings & crivens! A bonus post with limited reach, I'd imagine. But for those of us in the know... genius. Whenever I'm really fed up, or ill (I'm talking poorly-blanket™ level of illness) I scour a certain online auction site for obscure photographic items. Just a challenge. One such occasion, afforded by a broken rib and prescription strength pain killers, saw me embarking upon the challenge. Armed with a late 1970s/early 1980s Pentax catalogue a hunt began for the obscure and rare. First target a 'copipod'.  What on earth is a 'copipod' I hear you ask. It's sort of a desktop tripod that was designed for photography of documents. Completely pointless in the age of flatbed scanners and photocopiers. But in the 1970s this was cutting edge, and immediately brings to mind cold war spies taking pictures of classified documents. Not sure why anyone would want an archive image of the current Rockingham Castle...
Read more

Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth's Firelocks

-
Image
A little reorganisation of the storage boxes vacated some space for my Army of the Solemn League and Covenant. Here's the second of two new units. A return to painting after a very Scottish-centric focus for most of last year, sees a Covenanter commanded shot unit come to life: Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth's Firelocks. Philforth' s  served in the Bishops' Wars and on the Preston campaign in the Second Civil War. Sir Alexander Fraser was born in 1604, the grandson of  Alexander Fraser of Philorth, founder of Fraserborough. Sir Alexander inherited his grandfather's estates in 1624, to the exclusion of his father. He was known as the 'younger of Philorth' until his father died in 1636/7. It is doubtful whether Sir Alexander was an enthusiastic Presbyterian, or whether  he had any strong objection to Episcopal government of the Church, but he seems, like many others, to sign the Solemn League and Covenant when it was  brought to Aberdeen by Montrose in 1638....
Read more

Partisan Bias

-
Image
Regular readers may have noticed a little bit of partisan bias creeping into posts. There is some historical basis for this bias. Meet my great (× lots) uncle. Humphrey Chetham, High Sheriff of Lancashire and reluctant Parliament's General Treasurer of Lancashire. As he approached his death he feared the state (in other words Charles II) would take his wealth, so set up a bluecoats school (now a posh music school), a library and a hospital. I have since discovered that I am also related to Captain Thomas Chetham of Colonel Richard Holland's Regiment of Foot , and later lieutenant captain (a rank that was effectively the captain commanding the colonel's company) of    General Venables' Regiment of the New Model Army. Probably explains why I develop a twitch when tour guides at stately homes start spouting about beastly Parliamentarians. If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog.  Thanks ....
Read more

(Yet More) Baggage Train

-
Image
I know I said that my baggage train was complete, but in the words of Sean Connery's Bond reimagining "never say never". I was searching for a yellow and a red for some new dragoon regiment coat colours. Not being totally convinced I decided to paint some test figures. In my big box of spares I have lots of dragoon horseholders, so they seemed ideal candidates. Cutting a long story short they came out as I wanted them to, but what to do with them? Strangely, I hadn't actually thought about putting them to one side and using them in the new units. Vapnartak was on the horizon, and Museum Miniatures would be there.  Each baggage train consisted of eight carts: nine carts would be unbalanced, ten would be better.  Another quick rummage through the spares found two more horseholders, four marching musketeers, and two dogs. New additions to the King's baggage ...and Parliament's baggage I'm sure you can imagine the rest - two new engineer...
Read more

Pikes and Plunder

-
Image
On the 5th of May 1646 King Charles I surrendered himself to the Covenanters besieging Newark. May Bank Holiday weekend (falling on the 5th and 6th of May) National Civil War Centre and the English Civil War Society put on their annual Pikes and Plunder weekend. Living history camps at the Sconce and Newark Castle, re-enactors drilling in the market place, the National Civil War Centre open for business, the town's Civil War Trail, and all topped off with a skirmish and battle at the Queen's Sconce. What's not to like for the ECW anorak? Living history at the castle Authentic C17th Health and Safety signage    The rest is a shameless photo gallery...   This year there was something quite special to see - the ECWS's artillery train firing from atop the Sconce. Arty effects time... If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog. ...
Read more

A Field in England (2013)

-
Image
If you like your 'war' films full of bish-bash-bosh then this isn't a film for you. This is a film by Ben Wheatley (who is perhaps slightly more famous for doing J.G. Ballard's "High Rise" starring Tom Hiddleston). Shot in monochrome, the film follows a small, disparate group of individuals who have fallen off the edge of a battle. But not deserters! They are going for a pint. En route to the pub they stop and eat a mushroom stew, some of which have, shall we say magical properties. They then set off to pull a rope, have a major group dynamic change, hunt for some treasure, and... ...but that would be telling. Very sweary, some nudity. An interesting film, I mean 'interesting' in a good way. So if you like your films more arthouse than Hollywood then you might enjoy this film. If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog.  Thanks .
Read more

London, Part Two: Tower of London

-
Image
The Tower of London is a visitor site of world significance; one time royal palace, treasury, prison, royal mint, barracks, arsenal, it is now a place for small people to run riot whilst their parents are engrossed with updating their status on social media. Detail from a Royalist cannon. From a Civil War perspective, the Royal Armouries collection in the White Tower is the big ticket item. The stand out artefact is Charles I's gilded suit of armour. Charles's 'head' from the Line of Kings There are a number of sets of pikeman's armour on display. The small cannons in the second picture were fully functioning toys(!) belonging to Charles II when he was a boy. There are a number of suits of cuirassier armour on display too. Higher up in the White Tower are a pair of Royalist gun barrels, and a secret (an item I haven't seen on display anywhere else). There is also a civil war cuirass used to test the impact of ca...
Read more

London, Part One: National Galleries

-
Image
A few days in town tramping the tourist trail made me wonder what does our capital have to show us about the Civil Wars? I shall start by looking at the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the immediate vicinity. First let's look at the National Gallery : this is a wonderful resource for researching clothing colours, you can see my thoughts and research  here . The National Gallery has a large collection of Van Dyck's portraits. The National gallery has undergone several reorganisations since I first wrote this entry. Van Dyck's portraits are located in Room 21,  Currently there are a number of Van Dyck's portraits of the extended royal family on display, including: Prince Rupert The Stuart Brothers The iconic equestrian portrait of Charles I is located separately alongside a portrait of his wife, and a number of paintings from his art collection. (Room 30?) Henrietta Maria The National Portrait Gallery has a whole gallery devoted to th...
Read more

A Miscellany of Miniatures

-
Image
I was having a bit of a sort out/procrastinating about doing a gajillion headswaps of  clubmen*, when I discovered some really useful figures in my 'spares box'. In the interests of 'balance' it must also be pointed out that there were some pretty useless figures in the spares box too (vampire with modern pistol, lots of deaded/wounded Scots highlanders etc). Well, it would be a criminal waste not to use the useful figures wouldn't it? The Scots Covenanters, now have a baggage train (of sorts). A witches' coven, complete with bubbling cauldron. The impressive bit being the fact I hadn't lost all three (separate) legs for the cauldron. Please note my witches look like witches, so have green skin and black clothes. Plus also in the pipeline are some more artillery pieces for the Parliamentarian and Royalist armies. Yet more baggage for those two armies too (well I did have rather a lot of spare horseholders), and another unit of commanded shot ...
Read more

Hopton Heath, 19th March 1643

-
Image
After visiting Adwalton Moor and Rowton Heath battlefield sites, I've started to get the bit between my teeth for visiting and documenting local Civil War battlefields. The latest instalment saw me visit Hopton Heath in Staffordshire, where Sir John Gell (Parliament's Derbyshire commander) possibly took a marginal victory*. This is the same John Gell whose infantry standard is proudly exhibited at the  National Army Museum and whose buff coat is on display at the  Royal Armouries in Leeds Sir John Gell Gell's buff coat, Leeds Early 1643, the war was at a hiatus, the Royalists were under siege at Lichfield, and Parliament wanted to take control of the Midlands (and thereby disrupt the King's supply route north from Oxford). Gell took Lichfield in early March, the Earl of Northampton was tasked to retake Lichfield, but had to respond to Gell's march on Stafford. They met on the heathland outside the village of Hopton. Gell had been joined by a fo...
Read more