Photos and Floods

Until I finish my next proper post, about Edward II's siege of Leeds Castle in the autumn of 1321, here are some pretty random photos of various places and things, most of which have sod-all to do with Edward II. Unfortunately I've been too busy at work lately to be able to devote much time to the blog, and also, distracted and upset by news of the terrible flooding in Cumbria, where I come from. Apparently the county has seen the heaviest rainfall in Britain since they started recording it in the early 1700s - over a foot in 24 hours - and lots more rain is forecast in the next few days. Fortunately, both my parents live on high ground and are unaffected, though streets only about a quarter of a mile from my mum's house have been evacuated. The main street of Cockermouth, fifty miles to the north, is under eight feet of water. My dad took this pic of the flooding, half a mile from his house:

Ulverston, Cumbria (in the distance), during happier, drier times earlier this year, with some of the Cumbrian mountains in the background. This is the place I call home. Historical fact: Sir Lawrence de Cornwall, who died between 1274 and 1285 and is believed to have been one of the illegitimate sons of Edward II's great-uncle Richard of Cornwall (Henry III's brother) owned lands in Ulverston including a manor house named Neville Hall. Nowadays the police station occupies the site of the hall.

Gloucester Cathedral, where Edward II is buried.

Hugh Despenser the Younger's tomb, Tewkesbury Abbey.



St Mary's Church, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, founded around the year 800.

The plain building on the left of this pic is Odda's Chapel, also in Deerhurst, completed around 1056. The farmhouse adjoining it dates from Tudor times.

Conwy, town walls and castle.

The Merchant Adventurers' Hall, York, built between 1357 and 1361.

Part of Wigmore Castle, Herefordshire, seat of Roger Mortimer.

Clifford's Tower, York, named after Roger, Lord Clifford, executed there by Edward II in March 1322.

Furness Abbey, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, founded 1127. Which would of course look soooooo much better if I'd actually bothered to get out of the car and take a proper photograph that didn't include the railings.

Messing around with the sepia function on my camera: the castles of Rhuddlan, Beaumaris and Caernarfon.

Red sky over the Karlstadt area of Düsseldorf, Germany.







Two pics of the village of Bardsea, near Ulverston, with Morecambe Bay and the Pennines visible in the pic with the rhododendron bushes.

Flowers at Lower Brockhampton, a moated manor house of the late fourteenth century in Worcestershire.

Medieval keys, from an exhibition at Helmsley Castle, Yorkshire.

Part of Edward II's chamber account of 1325 (in French), now at the Society of Antiquaries in London.

And finally, blog searches from this week:

- Richard II is an idiot blog

- kin edwards who ate the most roaches Those first two are my particular favourites.

- Edward VI's sex life

- photo of leicester castle in 1340

- hot poker sodomy

- hughpenis

- anal hot simony

- what was the ,am's nickname i.e. edward the confessor and why

- why did king edward II and III visited porchester because

- Gaveston as tragic villain

- dear daphne bannockburn news Dear Daphne, I have just humiliatingly lost the battle of Bannockburn to Robert Bruce. What the heck do I do now? Love, Edward II.

- words that explain red hot poker How about 'red', 'hot' and 'poker'?

- richard ii death horn poker

- 1 1313 wild meadow support

For some reason, I've been getting tons of really sexually explicit and, ummmm, fetishistic search terms this week that I'd blush to repeat here. Please, this is not a porn blog, people!