The Great Fire of London, the Tudors are online this Autumn...

...Anne Boleyn at the abbeys - what could she expect to see in the Abbot's Halls?

Sep 03, 2023

Hello my fellow history lover,

You’ve been hearing from me more than usual this week as a result of ‘The Dissolution of the Monasteries’ series going live, with an episode each day from Monday to Friday, plus my usually weekly tea time live on Wednesday (more about that shortly).

Have you had chance to listen or watch the series yet? If so, what did you think? Here’s what a few viewers on Youtube have said:

This has been such a fascinating series! I’ve learned so much of what surrounded the dissolution in the daily life of those affected. Thank you!
@Susan17578

Watch the Series on Youtube

Absolutely fascinating insight……it’s true, the summary we are always given is it’s Henry VIII and Cromwell’s decision….but no other detail into the social and cultural impacts on the community.
@anddavies5835

The Great Fire of London 1666

At the end of a long dry summer, and only a year after plague had raged through the populace, a great fire ravaged the City of London. In the early hours of the 2nd September a stray ember fell onto a pile of faggots next to an oven at Thomas Farriner’s bakery on Pudding Lane, in the middle of the city. By day break the family had had to escape through an upstairs window, leaving behind their petrified maid who would not dare to traverse the street at such a height, and raise the alarm. Church bells tolled in warning and panic ensued as the fire took hold. Dry timbers and enthusiastic winds proved a wicked combination as firedrops flew in the wind onto roofs.

The famous diarist Samuel Pepys was less than perturbed when he was awoken by a maid at 3am, assuming that, like other fires which occurred in the City, firebreaks would be created and the fire contained. Lord Mayor, Thomas Bloodworth, however, had failed to order the firebreaks, fearing a backlash from the landlords on whom he was relying for reelection to his post. By 7am Pepys was awake again but this time he gave the situation far more gravitas. The church bells which rang to warn of the danger fell silent as the fire reached them and they had to be abandoned. The noise however was no less deafening as fire crackled, people and animals attempted to escape and the wind continued to blow.

The fire wouldn’t come under control until the 6th September, after it had consumed three-quarters of the City and over 13,000 buildings, including 87 parish churches and St Paul’s Cathedral. Tens of thousands of people were left homeless and many of those had also lost their businesses.

You can watch me talk about the Great Fire of 1666 in more detail on this week’s Tea Time History Chat Live.

Watch on Youtube

This Wednesday, in the anniversary week of Elizabeth I’s birth and Robert Dudley’s death, I will be chatting about their relationship. Join me live on Instagram and Youtube or catch up afterwards on either of those channels, or the Podcast. Click Here to get a reminder of Youtube.

You can also watch my interview with Hazel Forsyth, author of ‘Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker. Surviving the Great Fire of London’, where we discussed the realities of the Great Fire of 1666, beyond the story usually told.

What type of place would Anne Boleyn have stayed in when she visited the Abbeys on her summer progress route of 1535?

Last year and this, I ran a tour based on Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s 1535 summer progress. A book by Natalie Grueniger and Sarah Morris details the places the couple visited during the long progress of 1535 when the couple stayed at a variety of places including their own properties such as Thornbury Castle and Sudeley Castle, homes of courtiers such as Acton Court and Abbeys, like Tewkesbury Abbey. It was not unusual for Abbeys to host the King, however they did not, necessarily, lend themselves easily to being turned into a royal court and it is not always clear how the king and queen would have been accommodated. Where historians are fairly certain they identify the Abbott’s lodgings as being the likely place that they were at least entertained, if not housed completely.

Many of these ‘lodgings’ were spacious, grand and, when the dissolution came, prime for easy conversion to private residences which were given to Henry’s supporters. Many which survive do so because they continue to be used up to the present day and so it is difficult to get access and see what type of place Anne and Henry would have been staying in.

This week, however, I visited a monastery (not one Henry and Anne visited) at which the Abbot’s Hall and lodgings still, though in ruin, display enough of their grandeur for us to be able to imagine how it would have looked.

Haughmond Abbey. Shropshire

Abbott's Hall and Private Rooms at Haughmond Abbey

The detailed masonry, still visible, is an absolute delight as you come across it, especially in the bay window. Now imagine the arch shaped window above the bay window, full of beautiful stained glass and the room begins to come alive.

The abbey site is run and maintained by English Heritage and is free to visit!

For more photos please visit my Patreon site and join for only £5/month with lots of history lover benefits including 10% off online history event tickets for The Tudors Online History Festival! Click here for more information.

The Tudors Online History Festival - Nov 2023

Ticket Price: £20 (£18 for members of my British History Patreon)

Your ticket includes:

All Historian Talks
Access to talks until 31st January 2024
Speaker Q & A Panel, live on Sunday 19th November
Entry into the Free Prize Draw
Live Closing Event - Fun Quiz
10% discount on annual subscriptions to Tudor Place Magazine

Click Here for Discounted Tickets

Wishing you a great week,

Philippa

PS: I’d love to hear from you about what part of British History you most enjoy and if there are any eras, people or places which you are curious about but perhaps don’t know much about? Leave me a comment below.