Category: Heritage

Posted on

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. (read this article on the /the-plot-against-pepys/.

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

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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

Posted on

St Pancras May 12th

Ruins of St Pancras, Canterbury Photo: K Flude (note the reused Roman Bricks.)

Pancras means ‘all-powerful’ in Greek. St Pancras was a 14 year old who refused to give up his Christian Faith during the persecution of Christians by the Emperor Diocletian. He was beheaded on the Via Aurelia, traditionally, on 12 May 303 AD. His youth makes him the Patron Saint of children, but he is also the patron saint of jobs and health. He is ‘invoked’ against cramps, false witnesses, headaches, and perjury. His body was buried in the Catacombs, but his head is kept in a reliquary in the Church of Saint Pancras in Rome, where he was buried.

Ice Saints

He is also one of the Ice Saints.  These are saints with feast days from May 11th to May 14th.  They are: St. Mamertus, St. Pancras, and St. Servatius (and in some countries, Saint Boniface of Tarsus – Wikipedia). They represent a belief that there was often a cold snap in early May.  Although modern statistics disprove this, it is however true that a late frost can cause havoc with crops.  So  the Ice Saints help persuade farmers to delay sowing.

St Pancras in England

St Pancras, Old Church, London (Photo: Kevin Flude)

Pope Gregory is said to have given St Augustine relics from St Pancras when his mission came to Kent in 597AD. They built a church dedicated to St Pancras. The ruins still survive in the grounds of what is now St Augustine’s, Canterbury (see picture at tope of post).

This story is partly responsible for the claims that St Pancras Old Church, in Camden (pictured above) is a very old foundation. The idea being that there was a late Roman place of worship here. But there is very little solid evidence for this. It is also argued that, if it isn’t late Roman, then it dates to just after 604AD. This is when St Mellitus, sent by St Augustine, established St Pauls Cathedral. It is suggested that he also founded St Pancras Church. St Pancras’ Church was a Prebend of St Pauls Cathedral (a Prebend provides the stipend (pay) to support a Canon of a Cathedral). But this is not evidence it was established as early as the Cathedral was, and there really isn’t any other credible evidence for a 604 date.

When the Church was restored, the architects said it was mostly Tudor work with traces of Norman architecture. However, the suggested finding of a Roman tile or two, reused in the fabric, is used as evidence to keep the legend going.

If you read the Wikipedia page, you will see evidence of two strands to the contributions. One is playing down the legends of its early foundation. The other trying to keep hold of its place as among the ‘earliest sites of Christian worship’. Read the wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_Old_Church to make up your own mind.

It is a lovely Church, on an impressive site, with links to Thomas Hardy, and Sir John Soane whose tomb is the design inspiration for the iconic Red Telephone Box.

The End of Hardy’s tree

Headaches

As Patron Saint of Headaches, St Pancras Day is a good day to make worms come out of your head. Or so say the Fairfax Household Book of the 17th/18th Century as quoted in Charles Kightly’s ‘The Perpetual Almanac’:

‘To make a worm come out of the head. Take, in May, the marrow of a bull or cow, and put it warm into the ear, and the worm will come forth for sweetness of the marrow.’

Generally, willowbark was used for headaches. We know this would have worked as the bark contains salicin, which is converted by the body into salicylic acid. This is a precursor to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). But it is not as effective.

First Published in 2024, revised 2025

Posted on

St George’s Day Again? April 28th

Picture for St George’s Day. St. George, Donatello, 1416-17, Bargello Florenz-03
By Rufus46 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35346561

St George’s Day is normally on 23rd April but not this year!

When St George’s Day falls between Palm Sunday and the Second Sunday after Easter it is transferred to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter.

Got that? No, nor did I. Not many people know that. it seems. Last time it happened, Keir Starmer, Theresa May, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan all got it wrong in 2019. The first time I heard about this was 2025, when Keir Starmer appeared to have got it wrong again. A cleric fulminated about illiterate people who get it wrong!

But I think the Church should stop such silly practices. Either it is or it isn’t.

To see my post on St George’s Day please follow this link.

On this Day

1789 Fletcher Christian led the Mutiny on the Bounty. Captain Bligh is buried

1945 Populist, Fascist, Dictator Benito Mussolini captured by partisans and killed.

First Published on 2025 April 28th

Posted on

Vortigern April 2nd 1796

Bill for the 1796 play Vortigern and Rowena Public Domain Wikipedia

Content Move April 2nd 2026 to:

https://chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/?p=5187

Posted on

Heritage with my Grandson 2 – British Library & British Museum March 9th

Grandson on a visit to the British Library and British Museum. Photo of the Beethoven Exhibition, British Library, March 2022

A visit to the Britsh Museum & British Library? I think this might be worth reposting in the absence of anything else compelling for the day!

So this was my outing with my grandson on March 9th 2022.

For our second museum outing we went to the British Library. He didn’t like the Beethoven exhibition. It was too dark and nothing to surreptitiously climb on. He definitely does not like dark exhibitions. This is a shame because it seems to be the design idea of the moment. The Nero and the Stonehenge exhibitions were also dark spaces. The desigers working on creating atmospheric views using bright colours, spot lighting and spectacular objects on a dark background. But it doesn’t work for a sensitive 20 month year old!

Nor did the largely text based Paul McCartney’s Lyrics exhibition attract a second of his attention. ‘Paul who?’ he seemed to be saying as we stumped past to the very quiet sound of ‘Hey Jude’.

What he did like was the escalators. We went up and down, and up and down, and then onto the second set where we repeated the repeat.

British Library – note the escalator to the right

And then we went down and back up again, and no time to see the enigma machine. We ate in the upstairs Restaurant, which is a really pleasant place to spend a lunch time.

Enigma Machine, British Library

Time for him to have a sleep so we walked to the British Museum through Bloomsbury. However, there was very little sign that he wanted to nod off. But we found a couple of interesting revolutionaries of the 19th Century en-route. The first was to Robert Owen, the founder of the Cooperative Movement, famous for his model factories in New Lanarkshire.

Plaque to Robert Owen ‘father of the Cooperative Movement’, Burton Street

Then to Cartwright Gardens, named after John Cartwright, who was called ‘the Father of Reform’. He had quite an amazing life. He refused to serve in the Navy against the American Colonists in the War of Independence. Not only that, but he supported reform of Parliament, universal suffrage, annual Parliaments and secret ballots.

John Cartwright Statue Cartwright Gardens.

The milk soon did its job and my grandson was asleep. So I took him to the Member’s Room for a cup of tea.

Sleep in the Member’s Room overlooking the Great Court

When he woke we whizzed around the third Floor. But he was reluctant to leave his buggy because it was much more crowded than our last visit. Then he could run free around the almost empty galleries which he loved.

But, I was able to visit old favourites like the Portland Vase. This was smashed into hundreds of pieces, in 1848 by a drunken visitor. He threw a sculpture into the case and smashed the vase. It was restored, but 37 pieces were missing. In 1988 the vase was reunited with the missing pieces and expertly restored.

The Portland Vase – 15BC = 25AD Cameo Glass
Plate Cameo Glass 15BC – 25AD

For more exploration of Museums with toddlers see my post: https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/museums-for-toddlers/

First Published 9th March 2022.. Revised and reposted 2025

Posted on

The Jorvik Viking Festival February 2025

Screen shot from the Jorvik Viking Festival Site showing all the fun to be had if the Vikings invade your town!

The annual Jorvik Viking Festival is on from Monday 17th – Sunday 23rd February 2025 in York. The illustration above show there are Viking Trails, Feasts, Crafting, Berzerkering and encamping. And more! Visit the web site here.

The excavations under the floor of the Jorvik Centre. Photo K. Flude

York or Jorvik as the Vikings knew it as, has become the centre of all things Viking in the UK. Viking York came to the fore with the Coppergate Excavations in the 1980s. Underneath what is now a shopping mall and Primark, were the streets of Viking York in all its waterlogged glory. The waterlogging allowed the survival of organic material that rarely survives.

Excavation of Jorvik visible under the floor of the Museum. Photo By Chemical Engineer – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58524883

At the time, the excavations were a sensation. York Archaeological Trust made a bold decision to turn part of the site into a ‘Dark Ride Experience’. The remnants of the excavation were preserved under glass, and nearby a replica of the townscape was created. Tourists sat in ‘cars’ with an audio guide and given a guided tour. It was very successful. The extensive profits were used for other York Archaeological Trust projects such as the reconstruction of medieval Barley Hall. Other historic towns followed suit and soon there were Dark Rides in Canterbury, London, Oxford and others. All, as far as I know have died a death except for the Jorvik Centre which continues to enthral visitors to York.

Tableau from the Jorvik Centre with Fishermen working. Photo By Chemical Engineer – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58524883

The next best thing about Vikings are their colourfull names. Jorvik history vibrates with the deeds of ‘Ivan the Boneless’, Sihtric ‘the Squinty-eyed’and Erik Bloodaxe. For more on nicknames read my post!

First Published in February 2025

Posted on

News of Virtual Tours

Sorry to send an additional post but coming up are a couple of fascinating Virtual Tours which I would like to remind you of!

Tonight is an exploration of early 19th Century London. It is based on the 1809 Picture of London Guide book. An original copy was given to me by someone grateful to have attended one of my lectures at the Old Operating Theatre Museum. It is a tour of what Jane Austen could have visited on her walks around London. There are Austen associations, but mainly we are looking at London in 1809.

Jane Austen’s ‘A Picture of London in 1809’ Virtual Walk Mon 7.30 27th Jan25 To book

Yesterday, I was asked to give a Cromwell’s London walk as a 75th Birthday present. I haven’t done one for at least 25 years. But I really enjoyed the research. So added a guided walk and a virtual tour to my programme. This is the first time I have done this VT and it is a cracking story.


The Civil War, Restoration and the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour 7:30pm Thurs 30th Jan25To book

Finally, April is the month we go on pilgrimages, as Chaucer said (in Old English). So, in addition to my Chaucer Walks, I have added a Virtual tour so we can go all the way to Canterbury.


Chaucer’s London To Canterbury Virtual Pilgrimage 7.30pm Friday 18th April 25 To book

I may add one or two more before the Sun comes back

To see all my walks see this page.

Posted on

Burn’s Night January 25th

Edinburgh Writer’s Museum ‘Burn’s Monument from Campbell’s Close Canongate’ by John Bell. The Burn’s Monument is is on the hill in the background.

Burn’s Night is an increasingly important date on the calendar of Scotland’s Cultural Heritage. Wikipedia says it began:

‘at Burn’s Cottage in Ayrshire by Burns’s friends, on 21 July 1801‘

This was 5 years after his death. It is now celebrated around the world, making clear the importance of Robert Burns.

Burns himself would have been astonished at the spread of Burn’s Night. He was modest about his attainments, saying, in his introduction to the Commonplace Book:

‘As he was but little indebted to scholastic education, and bred at a plough-tail, his performance must be strongly tinctured with his unpolished rustic way of life. ‘

To celebrate Burn’s Night here is one of his most famous works. Also have a look at my post on his great narrative poem, Tam O’Shanter and the Cutty Shark.

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang ‘s my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o’ need,
While thro’ your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see Rustic-labour dight,
An’ cut ye up wi’ ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

(for the other five verses have a wee lookie here)

The Writer’s Museum

Often bypassed by the tourists on a visit to the wonderful City of Edinburgh is the Writer’s Museum. It is in one of those remarkable Tower houses which seem unique to the High Street in Edinburgh. Inside, it gives a great introduction to the great writers of Scotland.

‘Is it not strange’ wrote philosopher David Hume in 1757 ‘that a time when we have lost our Princes, our Parliament, Independent Government …..that we shou’d really be the people most distinguish’d for literature in Europe?’ (source: Museum display panel)

Edinburgh Writer’s Museum Burns, Scott, Stevenson.
A Visual for Burn’s Night ‘Window in the Writer’s Museum, Edinburgh’ Photo by K Flude
Writer’s Museum photo K. Flude

First published Jan 2023, republished Jan 2024, 2025