Free Republic

During renovations at a former Tudor hunting lodge known as The Ashes, which is located in Inglewood Forest, Cumbria, workers exposed rare sixteenth-century wall paintings, according to a statement released by Historic England. The Grotesque-style artworks were brought to light upon removal of sections of more recent plaster work that had been covering up the 450-year-old images. The scenes, which were created using a secco technique in which pigments are applied to dry plaster, feature fantastical beasts and decorative foliage thought to imitate textile designs of the period. "The combination of motifs discovered here is unusual even by national standards,"...

On this date in 1554, rebel leader Thomas Wyatt the Younger tied on his own blindfold and laid his head on the block, having declared that not “any other now in your durance [i.e., the Tower] was privy to my rising” That remark exculpated the Princess Elizabeth, who just days before had been ominously rowed to the Tower on suspicion of having known of or involved herself in Wyatt‘s abortive revolt. And Wyatt had had to do more than talk the talk to keep the future Queen Elizabeth I out of the executioner’s way. Sore afraid that Wyatt’s rebellion had...