Wessex Attractions: Sir Bevil Grenville’s Monument
Sir Bevil Grenville (1596-1643) was a Cornish nobleman who was one of the leaders of the royalist Western Army during the English Civil War. He led 1500 Cornish pikemen at…
Wessex Attractions: The Rollright Stones
According to local folklore, an army serving under an unnamed king was marching across the border between Wessex and Mercia when they were accosted by a witch named Mother Shipton,…
Wessex Attractions: Bratton Camp
Anyone who has travelled through Westbury in Wiltshire cannot fail to have noticed the magnificent white horse carved into the side of Bratton Camp hillfort, visible from the approach to…
Wessex Attractions: Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill is a neolithic chalk mound near Avebury in Wiltshire, the largest artificial mound in Europe. Roughly contemporary with the Egyptian pyramids, it is comparable in size, though its…
Wessex Attractions: Bishop’s Waltham Palace
The bishops of Winchester in the middle ages enjoyed a level of wealth and political power that would have had Jesus reaching for his whip of cords. One symbol of…
Wessex Attractions: Greyfriars, Gloucester
We have already covered the Dominican Blackfriars monastery in Gloucester on this blog. Now it is the turn of its Franciscan counterpart, located two minutes' walk away. The Dominicans and…
Wessex Attractions: Temple Church
Temple Church in Victoria Street, Bristol is sometimes known as the "leaning tower of Bristol", because its tower leans 5 feet from the perpendicular. This is not as dramatic as…
Essential Wessex: Berry Pomeroy Castle
With its beautiful woodland setting and Hammer Horror design, Berry Pomeroy Castle in South Devon is a popular destination for lovers of the gothic. But it has much to offer…
Wessex Attractions: Blackfriars, Gloucester
Blackfriars is a former Dominican priory located on Southgate Street in Gloucester. It was founded in 1239, during the reign of Henry III, on the site of a former Norman…
Wessex Attractions: Over Bridge
Before the opening of the first Severn Bridge in 1966, traffic wishing to cross the River Severn from Bristol and points south had two choices: the Aust Ferry, and Over…