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The King of Limbs

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Mar 11, 2011

Tagged in: WWII , woodlands , wooded , Wiltshire , vistas , virgin , unique , travel , The King’s Way , sweet fern , SSSI , Site of Special Scientific Interest , Severn , Selwood , Saxon , Savernake Forest , Savernac , Safernoc , Royal Forest , river , Protector of Somerset , private , Prince Edward , primeval forest belt , origins , Old English , Norman , New Forest , Middle Ages , Melchet , Marquis of Ailesbury , Marlborough Castle , Marlborough , leased , King Athelstan , Jane Seymour , imprisoned , hunting , hereditary , hare , Grovely , gravel , grand avenue , gibbet , Forestry Commission , forest , entourage , England , Edward Seymour , Clevendon , Chute , Chippenham , Chase , Charter , Capability Brown , Brussels , Braydon , Arthur Mee , Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , AONB , acorn

“There is no place in England quite like it. Savernake is an epitome of every phase of beauty in our countryside”

                                                                                                                      Arthur Mee 


If you travel down “The King’s Way” from Marlborough you will pass through Savernake Forest. Before WWII Savernake was ‘one of the largest areas of virgin forest land in England, having a continuous wooded area greater than the New Forest [2].



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What’s Inn a Name?

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Feb 8, 2011

Tagged in: writing , Wootton Bassett , Wiltshire , White Hart , Wheatsheaf , unique , The Rattlebone , The Green Dragon , talks , sign , Sherston , Sally Pussey’s Inn , Sally Pursey , Russia , Richard II , regal , Red Lion , Pub Names of Britain , pub names , property , popular , Peter the Great , Pembroke Arms , nursery rhyme , novel , name , Moonrakers , Moonraker , Martin Chuzzlewitt , Lion and Fiddle , Leslie Dunkling and Gordon Wright , landowners , landlady , King Canute , John Rattlebone , John of Gaunt , Inn , hostelries , Hilperton , hero , great families , Fovant , fought , excise , Edmund Ironside , earls of Warwick , Earls of Pembroke , Devizes , Crammer , commonplace , commemorates , coat of arms , chief , Charles Dickens , Catherine la Fidele , cat , building , books , Blue Dragon , black bear , badges , Alderbury

Some of the most popular talks I give are those dealing with the meaning of inn and pub names. Currently we don’t have a great variety of pub names in Wiltshire but we do still have some interesting ones. The Green Dragon at Alderbury was used by Charles Dickens in Martin Chuzzlewitt, as he was staying nearby while writing this novel. Dickens used many hostelries in his books and in this case he renamed it the Blue Dragon; perhaps the sign was somewhat faded to a pale blue and he misinterpreted it as it would have been unlikely that the name was on the building.

 The Green Dragon, Alderbury
The Green Dragon at Alderbury


The green dragon came from the earls of Pembroke and many of the early names used the badges of great families. The red lion of John of Gaunt, the black bear of the earls of Warwick and the white hart of Richard II are still common today. From the 18th century the full coat of arms was often used so that in Fovant we have the Pembroke Arms. The association with the badge or coat of arms often indicated that the family owned the property or were the chief landowners in the area.






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ARCHIVAL HERITAGE GIVEN A BOOST

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Jan 7, 2011

Tagged in: £22 , worldwide , Wiltshire and Swindon Archives , value , unique , UK , U.S. President , treasure trove , Thomas Cromwell , the Wolfson Foundation , the Pilgrim Trust , the Monument Trust , the Mercers Company Charitable Foundation , the Goldsmiths Company , the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation , the Foyle Foundation , retirement , researching , Queen Elizabeth I , public , Principal Archivist , Prince Edward , panel , on-line , National Cataloguing Grants programme , National Archives , local history , letters , Kew , Kent , Jane Seymour , J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust , Horatio Nelson , Heritage , Heritage , Henry VIII , grant , George Washington , family history , expert , Edward VI , Earls of Radnor , dissolution of the monasteries , collections , claire.skinner@wiltshire.gov.uk , Claire Skinner , catalogue , Berkshire , ARCHIVAL , April 2011-March 2012 , 16th century

Wiltshire and Swindon Archives has been successful in securing a grant of £22,700 to help open up the historic archives of the Earls of Radnor, including unique letters by George Washington, Horatio Nelson and Queen Elizabeth I.

Writing to Lord Radnor in 1797, former U.S. President Washington was looking forward to retirement: “I am now placed in the shade of my vine and fig tree; and at the age of sixty five, am recommencing my agricultural & rural pursuits; which were always more congenial to my temper and disposition than the noise & bustle of public employment; notwithstanding so small a portion of my life has been engaged in the former.”


 Letter from George Washington, 1797



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