Some photos from Historic Buildings and Places’ annual lecture at the Alan Baxter Gallery in Farringdon, where I was delighted to be awarded the Stephen Croad Essay Prize for my paper on Balthazar Gerbier and Hamstead Marshall. Receiving the Stephen Croad Essay Prize from Giles Quarme FRIBA. After receiving my certificate, I gave a short talk on why the topic is of interest to me and my key findings. The essay will be published in Historic Buildings and Places’ journal next year. Speaking about my essay on Balthazar Gerbier and Hamstead Marshall. Gerbier is perhaps best ..read more

The Five Eldest Children of Charles I  (1637) by Van Dyck (Princess Elizabeth Stuart second-right). I knew that a couple of Charles I's children (Henry and Elizabeth) had shared a heart-breaking few minutes with their father prior to his execution, but as both died young, their stories have rather been lost. In this guest article, writer Mary McVicker reflects on the short life of Princess Elizabeth Stuart (1635-50), revealing a dramatic existence governed by the tides of war ... In 1650, a princess was buried in an unmarked grave. Her name was Elizabeth Stuart, and she had d ..read more

My article and interactive map on the Siege of Colchester (1648) still get a lot of traffic - it appears there's still great interest in the siege, so it's great to see that the city's holding a weekend-long event over August Bank Holiday - see video preview above ..read more

George Vertue’s 1738 plan of London's English Civil War fortifications. David Flintham (FRGS) is an expert on London's English Civil War fortifications (readers may remember the guest blog article David wrote for me on siege types). David got in touch recently with news of a major archaeological project that he's been involved in, investigating the fortifications (also known as the 'lines of communication'), the findings of which were published in the Winter 2021 issue of London Archaeologist. A paper introducing the project and summarising its initial findings will shortly be availa ..read more

Can anyone please help? Ely Cathedral Guides' Research Group has got in touch about some pockmarks on the external west wall of the cathedral's Lady Chapel, possibly caused by ECW musket fire ... A member of the group writes: 'The marks (see pics) don’t look like natural deterioration, but rather the consequence of projectiles and impact. They’re positioned within the arcading so it looks like they could be the result of target practice. Also the holes, at eye level, are of a standard size and shape suggesting they could come from musket fire. There is nothing in the literature on the Ca ..read more

A watercolour of Prince Rupert's Palace in Beech Street, Barbican, from the garden (1796). © The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) I knew that after fleeing into exile in 1644 Prince Rupert had a naval career before returning to England after the Restoration, but was surprised to find that one of his private houses survived into the 19th century. Or did it? This was meant to be a post about the building's location and architecture, until I started digging a little deeper ...  Biographies record that Rupert lived in Westminster and Windsor Castle after he retur ..read more

  The Economist reviewed Scenes and Traces of the English Civil War by art historian Stephen Bann this week. The first paragraphs mention Hubert Le Sueur's equestrian statue of Charles I in Trafalgar Square, of which my article from 2011 remains the most visited on this site. Bann's book is billed as '... the first attempt to portray the visual legacy of (the ECW) period, as passed down, revisited and periodically reworked over two and a half centuries of subsequent English history.' Definitely one for the reading list. You can read more about it on the Reaktion Books website here ..read more

Staunton Harold church, Leicestershire (1653). Photo: David Stowell (CC BY-SA 2.0) Various numbers are quoted for how many churches were built during the Commonwealth (1649-1660), usually ranging from four to seven. A web search suggests no consensus, with the lack of clarity seeming to hinge on whether the churches were entirely new constructions, re-modellings of older ones, or whether you include Scotland or not. Here's a rundown of all the contenders I've found quoted as having been built during the Commonwealth, with a stab at some conclusions ... Holy Trinity and ..read more

One of the culverins on Gun Hill, Southwold. The origin of the six guns is still open to conjecture. Photo: © Copyright Evelyn Simak (CC BY-SA 2.0) After revisiting an old guest blog article on 17th century siege warfare I stumbled across a fascinating analysis of a Royal Ordnance inventory  ... Dr A R Collins has looked at the Royal Ordnance Survey of 1637, prior to Charles I taking military action against the Scots, using photographs of the source alongside a mirror transcription. It shows what's held in the Royal armouries, compares it with the inventory levels recommended at a 1626 counci ..read more

Preparing for the service of remembrance for the fallen at Marston Moor on the 375th anniversary. The 2nd of July 2019 marked the 375th anniversary of the Battle of Marston Moor. In this guest article, author Mark Turnbull tells the story of the battle and more about his novel Allegiance of Blood, due out later this year ... "On a moor just outside of York an overlooked battle took place three hundred and seventy-five years ago. It is the second largest on English soil. The 2nd July 1644 was a watershed moment in the English Civil War: a conflict that saw brothers fighting brothers, fathers f ..read more