Somehow we got talking about ghosts a couple of days ago. We were both reminded of working at Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire and how it claimed to be one of the most haunted places in the UK. We both seemed to recall that Mary, Queen of Scots was one of those said to roam the grounds, but were we remembering correctly? Not only that, but wasn't Mary executed at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire? Why would she be haunting Tutbury some 75 miles distant?We had to check. One of the first webs| Tastes Of History
February 8th, 1587: After 19 years of imprisonment, Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle.Why? Fotheringhay Castle was the last of the many genteel prisons in which Mary, Queen of Scots spent the final 20 years of her life after she was forced to abdicate from the Scotland’s throne in 1567. Genteel it may have been – it had been a royal residence – but it was also remote, surrounded by marshland and difficult to escape or be rescued from. Those were important considerat...| Tastes Of History
Historical Advisors and Cooks | Tastes Of History | United Kingdom| Tastes Of History
Interactive history workshop for Key Stage 1 and 2 schoolchildren to discover what life was like for the ancient Romans.| Tastes Of History
An exploration of Roman gladiator diets to tie in with the Royal Armouries Museum's Roman Festival 2025.| Tastes Of History
The Gun CarriageIn Part Two we looked at seven steps to building a barrel for a replica naval gun that was both lightweight and portable. The completed barrel needed a gun carriage, however. So, starting at Step Eight, in this Part we will explore one way to make a simple gun carriage to support the barrel.Step Eight Once again, the result had to be lightweight and robust, not only to support the barrel but to survive the rigours of transportation and manhandling. As shown below, the stepped sh| Tastes Of History
The Gun BarrelThe core element, the cannon's barrel, is so named because the earliest guns were constructed with iron staves bound securely by hoops as was the case in coopering a cask or barrel. The other key piece is the gun carriage. The challenge for this project is how to build both elements as light as possible but robustly enough to survive the rigours of transportation and repeated use. What follows, in Part Two, is one possible solution for constructing a replica gun barrel, the named p| Tastes Of History
The BackgroundHistory Part One of this series begins with a very brief look at the history of a typical naval gun in use with the Royal Navy of the 18th- and 19th-centuries. The story of such cannon, however, begins in 12th-century China where gunpowder, the first explosive, was discovered [1]. Gunpowder was employed in Chinese warfare to some effect from at least the 10th-century in weapons such as fire arrows, bombs, and the fire lance before the appearance of the gun. The earliest European r| Tastes Of History
The Gunners' EquipmentIn Part One, where we established the background to building our replica cannon. In describing the firing drills a number of pieces of equipment were needed for the crew to serve the gun. In Part Five, therefore, we explore how to recreate the gunners' equipment. Each item will be addressed in the order a gun crew would use them, starting with the sponge.The Sponge was a long staff, often combined with a rammer, that has a piece of sheep's fleece or lambskin wound about it| Tastes Of History
The TackleIn Parts One, Two and Three of this "How to:" series we established the background and how we went about building our scale replica cannon. In Parts Four and Five, respectively, we looked at how we recreated the projectiles and gunners' equipment needed to perform mock "firing" drills. The final stage is to recreate the tackle used to haul the cannon inboard for loading and outboard for firing through the ship's gun ports.Typically tackle is a mechanism consisting of ropes, pulley bloc| Tastes Of History
A brief introduction to the nineteen men, in no particular order of seniority, who formed Henry VIII’s Privy Council in 1540.| Tastes Of History
What follows was inspired by the video “Vegetables don’t exist” on the “Words Unravelled!” YouTube channel hosted by Rob Watts from “RobWords” and Jess Zafarris author of the etymology books “Words from Hell” and “Once Upon a Word”.Meal Times As Tastes Of History is based in the UK our focus on food history and recipes is unashamedly British and Euro-centric. Clearly, however, cuisine and dining in the “Old World” has been heavily influenced by pretty much all areas ...| Tastes Of History
July 29th, 1588: On this day in 1588, the fearsome Spanish Armada is sighted off England’s southern coast.| Tastes Of History