I’m often asked why did I call my business “Essex Voices Past”.

Well, here’s the answer!

In 2011, at 3am one night, I was researching my Cambridge University masters’ dissertation on Great Dunmow. I attempted to decipher a chunk of handwriting written in the 1520s.

There was one line of Tudor text that was particularly perplexing and mysterious. It had puzzled me for days. So, I resorted to saying the text out loud. Phonetically.

The old Essex accent

As the words came out of my mouth, I found myself talking with the true old Essex country accent.

Loud and clear, I heard the voice of a long-dead Tudor parish-clerk emerging through the night-air. My baffling text was finally solved.

Essex Voices Past

It occurred to me in that moment, that the ancient documents I had been avidly studying contained not only the stories from Essex’s rich past, but also their voices. And thus, Essex Voices Past was born. Originally as a blog to record stories of Essex’s heritage. Now I, as Essex Voices Past, research stories of our past.

And now, finally, after nearly 10 years, my research that inspired me to start Essex Voices Past has now been published!

Nothing like lock-down to focus the mind and get stuff done!

Tudor Lives

Tudor Lives: Great Dunmow during the Reformation – the story of a town during the turbulent 16th century

Now available through Amazon. It’s on Kindle and paperback.

Click the book below to “Look Inside” my book on Amazon

The story of a north Essex town

This is book is a must read for anyone interested in Reformation history at a local level. Or anyone interested in the local history of an Essex town. It is also of interest for anyone with Tudor ancestors who hailed from Great Dunmow. Numerous local family names are detailed within the book.

During this period, society and religion were firmly interlinked. This study provides a narrative of one Essex town during the turbulent 16th century.

Post created: April 2020 © Kate J Cole | Essex Voices Past™ 2012-2020

If you are, you might be interested in my new book about Great Dunmow and the English Reformation.

It’s taken me nearly 10 years and a global pandemic to finally stop making excuses and just do it…

10 years ago I spent countless sleepless nights studying and writing. This was coupled with many trips to Cambridge University and Essex Record Office before I emerged triumphant. 

I had finally studied, researched and written up my dissertation for my Masters degree in local history. 

My topic? 

The impact of Henry VIII and his three children’s religious policy on Tudor town of Great Dunmow in Essex.

The hard work was worth it – it’s the “MSt” you will see after my name – “Master of Studies”.

I was awarded my masters degree at the end of 2011.

And, as I enjoyed my research so much, I immediately created my blog – Essex Voices Past so I could continue to write about Tudor Great Dunmow.

I have also given many talks across Essex about the happenings in Tudor Great Dunmow.

And there was some terrific “happenings”…  Anyone for the burning of an effigy of a Scottish Catholic Cardinal in the middle of not so sleepy Great Dunmow in 1546!

The effigy even had its very own mock-castle built so that local youths could practice their archery by shooting at it and the Cardinal!

Despite all the stories I discovered, my complete dissertation got put to one side. To rub salt in the wound – Cambridge University even sent me back their copies of my dissertation. They didn’t have the storage room to keep masters dissertations so back mine came.

For nearly 10 years, only I had my dissertation. No archive or library had a copy. Only various bits of it I’d had the time to post online on this blog, Essex Voices Past.

Until covid-19 and lockdown…

Nothing like a pandemic to focus to mind and return to the past. 

Both my past and Great Dunmow’s Tudor past.

I’ve spent lockdown days productively and have turned my dissertation into a Kindle book. That was a feat in itself! But thanks to covid-19, I finally had enough time to devote turning my dissertation into a book:

Tudor Lives: Great Dunmow during the Reformation – The story of an Essex town during the turbulent 16th century.

My book is a must read for anyone interested in the English Reformation at a local level.

Or anyone interested in the Tudor local history of an Essex town.

It is also of interest for anyone with Tudor ancestors who hailed from Great Dunmow.  Numerous local family names are detailed within the book.

Phew! I’ve finally done it! 

Here’s the link to my new book on Amazon… At the moment it’s only available on Kindle.

Tudor Lives: Great Dunmow during the Reformation – the story of an Essex town during the turbulent 16th century

Numerous other Essex towns and villages – along with their association to Great Dunmow – are also mentioned in my book.  These include Great Bardfield, Barnston, Bocking, Broxted, Great and Little Canfield, Great and Little Dunmow, Great and Little Easton, Good Easter, Hatfield Broad Oak, High Easter, The Rodings, Lindsell, Northend, Panfield, Rayne, Little Sailing, Shalford, Stebbing, and Thaxted.

My book also includes Tudor history from the 1520s for Maldon and Heybridge. Both towns had a strong connection and association to Great Dunmow by way of Tudor vicar, William Walton.  

If you purchase it and enjoy, please could you leave me a review on Amazon? It would help me tremendously to get more exposure if my book has reviews.

 

Post created: April 2020 © Kate J Cole | Essex Voices Past™ 2012-2020

I give talks all over Essex and Suffolk on various aspects of local history (full list as below). A fully illustrated PowerPoint presentation accompanies all my talks and I will bring all the equipment required (including a portable screen). I am on the approved Panel of Speakers for the Federation of Essex Women’s Institutes. I am available to give talks during both the day and evening – all talks last for between 45 minutes and an hour. If you want to arrange me to speak at your group, please contact me via email on kate[at]essexvoicespast.com.

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Talk 1: The Witches of Elizabethan Essex

During the sixteenth century, the cry “she’s a witch!” was heard throughout many towns and villages across England; particularly within Essex.  Our county indicted and prosecuted more than double the combined totals for those legally accused of witchcraft within Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex.   My talk puts the witchcraft trials of Essex into their legal and historical context and explores local Essex cases to explain why there were so many witchcraft court-cases within Essex.

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Talk 2: Great Dunmow and Henry VIII’s English Reformation

The first half of the sixteenth century was a turbulent time to live within any English town or village.  The king, Henry VIII, increasingly attacked English parish life in his quest to rid England of the influence of the pope.  This talk is about the impact of the English Reformation on the rural town of Great Dunmow and how the town moved from its pre-Reformation Catholic communal life and finally embraced Henry VIII’s Reformation by publicly re-enacting a notorious and bloody murder of a prominent Scottish Catholic. (NB This talk is more suitable for local history groups & societies, rather than general interest.)

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Talk 3: From rural Essex & Suffolk to the Battles of the Somme: the story of a nurse of the Great War

In the months before the First World War, a young woman from Suffolk joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment nursing service and nursed in small military hospitals within Essex and Suffolk.  Just weeks before the opening days of the Battles of the Somme, she was sent as a volunteer-nurse to one of the largest military hospitals on the Western Front where she nursed casualties from the battlefields.  This talk is the story of Clara Woolnough’s life as a nurse of the Great War in Essex, Suffolk, and France.

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Talk 4: Al Capone’s gangster car and the Kursaal in 1930s Southend

Hotly pursued by the FBI through 1930s gangster Chicago, my great-uncle exported Al Capone’s bullet proof car from America to England.  My talk is the story of my American great-uncle, who, to use his own words, was a ‘showman from yester-year’.  And how Al Capone’s car (along with an enormous embalmed whale called Eric) ended up at the Kursaal amusement park in 1930s Southend.  My talk also includes the life of my great-grandmother who literally ran away to the circus to perform as Thauma – the Half Living Lady for American 19th century shows such as Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.

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Talk 5: Postcards from the front: 1914-1919. The story of how postcards sent home to loved ones became the Facebook and Twitter of the Great War.

Between 1914 and 1918, a special mail-train left Victoria train station in London every single day bound for the Western Front, carrying with it letters and postcards sent from British people to their loved ones serving overseas.  With millions of items of correspondence passing over the channel, postcards became the social media phenomenon of the day.  My talk charts the First World War and its immediate aftermath through postcards.

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Talk 6: Christmas in Medieval Essex

Boy Bishops, the Feast of St Nicholas, the Lord of Misrule, the Christmas Candle, Plough Monday, and the Twelve Days of Christmas.  These were once all part and parcel of Christmas celebrations in many parishes within Medieval and early Tudor Essex.  This talk looks at some of the Christmas revells our Essex ancestors enjoyed.  You may be surprised to discover which ancient customs have evolved into modern day much-loved traditions!

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Talk 7: My ancestor was a witch: The Witches of Elizabethan & Stuart Essex

Please note that this talk is only suitable for local or family history groups.  The talk is similar to my witches talk (detailed further up this page).  However, this talk is longer at 1½ hours and  concentrates on the historical and primary source evidence used when researching Essex Tudor witches.  Therefore this talk is only suitable for societies or clubs whose members are very familiar with historical sources and research methods.In 1562 a devastating Act of Parliament against Conjurations Enchantments and Witchcrafts was passed in England. For the first time, the “common sort” could be put on trial for their life, accused of the diabolical act of witchcraft. With most legal proceedings taking place in Essex, the county became infamous for its witches. This lecture traces the progress of the Elizabethan and Stuart witchcraft prosecutions in Essex, detailing cases from across the county. Also considered are the sources available to family historians researching witches, including legal court records, contemporary sensational pamphlets, and sources once kept in the parish chest.

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Happy talk clients

As featured in…

I look forward to receiving your booking!Kate J Cole, MSt Local History (Cantab) Contact me via email at kate[at]essexvoicespast.com Twitter: EssexVoicesPast Facebook: Kate J Cole

Post updated: January 2019 © Kate J Cole | Essex Voices Past™ 2012-2019

Last week, I brought you British Costumes from the time of Henry VII and Henry VIII. This Friday, here are images of British costumes during the reign of Elizabeth I (born 1533, died  1603).

Cigarette cards printed and published by cigarette manufacturer, Ogdens.  Title of set is ‘British Costumes 100BC to 1904′ and printed circa 1905.  The selection of cards below are costumes from the reign of Elizabeth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time of Elizabeth – 1558                                                                    Time of Elizabeth – 1565

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time of Elizabeth – 1572                                                                  Time of Elizabeth – 1580

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time of Elizabeth – 1590                                                                 Time of Elizabeth – 1595

 

You may also be interested in the following posts
– Prince Arthur, Prince of Wales
– History Howlers – Henry VIII
– Tudor Coronations
– Images of Tudor people
– British Costumes from the time of Henry VII and Henry VIII

On this day in history, 14 December 1542, James V of Scotland died, leaving his only child, Mary, the Queen of Scotland.  She was aged just 6 days.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

Poor, tragic, Catholic Mary.  As the grand-daughter of Henry VIII’s sister, Margaret Tudor, she had a strong claim to the English throne – a throne that belonged to Elizabeth I, the Protestant daughter of Henry VIII.  Executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was originally buried in Peterborough Cathedral by the gravedigger, Old Scarlett, but her son, James I of England (VI of Scotland), had  her remains removed and reburied in Westminster Abbey in 1612.

‘Mistress of Scotland by law, of France by marriage, of England by expectation,
thus blest, by a three-fold right, with a three-fold crown’

Translation of part of the Latin inscriptions on her tomb,
from Westminster Abbey’s Online History
Mary Queen of Scots

Famous Scots – Mitchell’s Cigarette Cards 1933

The cards below are all from Scotland’s Story – Mitchell’s Cigarette Cards 1928

 

Notes about the Nursery Rhyme, ‘Mary, Mary’
‘Popular tradition has it that the original Mary was Mary, Queen of Scots, who with her gay, French, and Popish inclinations much displeased the dour John Knox.  In this case ‘the pretty maids’ might be the renowned ‘Four Marys’, her ladies-in-waiting, and it has even been stated that the ‘cockleshells’ were the decorations upon a particular dress she was given by the Dauphin.  Such assertions are, of course, the work of the ‘happy guessers’.  No proof has been found that the rhyme was known before the eighteen century.  It is to be remarked, however, that a lost ballad ‘Cuckolds all a row‘ was registered in June 1637, and that there is a tune ‘Cuckolds all a row’ in the 1651 edition of Playford’s Dancing Master.’  From Iona and Peter Opie (Editors) The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (2nd Edition, Oxford 1997) page 355.

You may also be interested in the following posts
– Arthur – Prince of Wales
– A Tudor Gravedigger
– History Howlers – Elizabeth I
– History Howlers – Mary I
– History Howlers – Henry VIII
– Tudor Coronations
– Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper

School Trip Friday will return in the New Year.

As the days grow shorter and the nights become longer, our School Trip Fridays sometimes have to be done in the comfort of our home in front of a roaring log fire.  Even though we can’t get out and head for the hills, the computer is still switched off and our own unique style of learning about our country’s great heritage continues.

As an amateur historian, I am a firm advocate of our English heritage.  However, to understand our rich past, I feel that we have to have ‘pegs’ on which we can hang our historical information. For example, if you are looking at a grand half-timbered English building, how can you say ‘this is a beautiful Tudor building’ when you don’t know roughly what period ‘Tudor’ is!  Is Tudor before or after Georgian?  Is Regency 100 years ago or 500 years ago? Where do Victorians’ ‘Morals and Values’ come into all of this?…  Without realising it, we unconsciously use language about our rich past in our daily live. So what better ‘pegs’ are there then the long timeline of English/British monarchs!

However, because of my child’s complex educational needs, it is pointless me ‘teaching’ kings and queens in a traditional (or should I say, old-fashioned!) way.  I can’t quote facts and figures to him, and expect them to be regurgitated back to me parrot style.  For one, his poor memory means he won’t be able to do that with any level of success and for another, what’s the point in him learning meaningless information that has no relevance to him!  Our learning has to be hands-on, interactive and participative for both him and me.

And for a small child who loves collecting Top Trump cards, football cards and what-ever cards the local newsagent currently has in stock, what can be more interactive and hands-on then looking at the beautifully drawn and illustrated postcards and cigarette cards of a hundred years ago.  Our great-grandparents’ equivalent of pre-computer multi-media and Top Trumps game-cards!

So last week’s School Trip Friday was spent looking at images of the kings of England between 1066 and 1485 from the exquisitely illustrated set of postcards made by Tuck in 1902 and the handsome 1935 cigarette cards from Players.  What can be more beguiling and magnetic to a small child who can barely read and write then such fine pictures! (Sadly, our only medieval Empress/Queen Matilda was not acknowledged in either set.)

Raphael Tuck’s Kings and Queens of England postcards (1902) – Normans to Plantagenets

 

Player’s Kings and Queens of England cigarette cards (1935) – Normans to Plantagenets

History is all about the telling of stories from our past, and the picture below shows all the characters from one of the more murkier tales from English history.  By using these 5 cards, I was able to retell to my child the story of intrigue, treachery, treason and murder – and the last English king to die in battle.  And then bring that narrative right up to date with this summer’s remarkable discovery in a car park in Leicester.   But who was the villain of this story – the first of the Tudors, or the last of the Plantagenets?  Henry or Richard?  I know what we decided… How about you?

I asked my child who was his favourite king from all of the cards of Norman and Plantagenet kings.  My academically challenged child replied ‘whoever invented the longbow’.  Whilst he didn’t invent the longbow, this naturally brought us on to Henry V and Agincourt and watching the battle scenes from the BBC’s recent wonderful production of Shakespeare’s Henry V.  Very naughtily, I also told my child about the legend of the longbow archers and how it came about that the English always stick two-fingers up to their enemies.  History doesn’t have to be dry and dusty, our children can be taught the naughtier bits too – even if it might not be entirely true and more myth then fact!

 

Is my child academically challenged or a child whose school-teachers totally failed to engage him with traditional teaching methods?

 

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings.”

The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll

You may also be interested in
– School Trip Friday – Weald and Downland Open Air Museum
– School Trip Friday – Chapel of St Peter’s on the Wall, Bradwell
– School Trip Friday – Imperial War Museum Duxford

My previous post, History Howlers – Henry VIII and History Howlers – Mary I looked at the school-child historical howlers relating to Henry VIII & Mary I, as depicted by the 1930s cigarette card manufacturer, Churchman. Today’s post continues this by displaying images of Henry VIII’s and Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth I, and howlers relating to her reign. This was the larger cigarette card size and the card is number 4 of 16.

You may also like to read the following posts
–  History Howlers – Henry VIII
–  History Howlers – Mary I

If you like my blog, please leave me a comment in the comments box.  Please tell me what you think of my posts and how you found my blog.  Thank you!

My post on Elizabeth I’s visit to Great Dunmow discussed Elizabeth’s summer progress through the town on 25^th August 1561.  Today’s post is about the route she took and the houses she visited that summer.

Title page from the Bishops Bible (London, 1569),
shelfmark G.12188, © British Library Board

Mary Hill Cole ‘s book The portable queen : Elizabeth I and the politics of ceremony (Massachusetts, 1999) lists the hosts and their houses visited.  Looking at that list today, the venues now read as a who’s-who of 21^st Century wedding venues and independent/private schools!  I myself married at Layer Marney Towers (nr Colchester).  It’s interesting to note that many of those hosts were descendants of Richard Rich, 1^st Baron Rich, that arch-villain of Tudor history.

– London (Robert Dudley), 24 June 1561.
– Charterhouse, London  (Lord North), 10-14 July 1561
– Strand, London (William Cecil), 13 July 1561.
– Wanstead, Essex (Lord Rich), 14 July 1561.
– Havering, Essex, 14-19 July 1561.
– Pyrgo, Essex (Lord John Grey), 16 July 1561.
– Loughton Hall, Essex (Lord Darcy), 17 July 1561.
– Ingatestone Hall, Essex (Sir William Petre), 19-21 July 1561.
– New Hall, Essex (Earl of Sussex), 21-26 July 1561.
– Felix Hall (Henry Long), 26 July 1561.
– Colchester (Sir Thomas Lucas), 26-30 July 1561.
– Layer Marney (George Tuke),around 26-30 July
– St Osyth (Lord Darcy), 30 July to 2 August.
– Harwich, Essex,  2-5 August.
– Ipswich, Suffolk,  5-11 August.
– Shelley Hall, Suffolk (Philip Tilney), 11 August.
– Smallbridge, Suffolk (William Waldegrave), 11-14 August.
– Castle Hedingham (Earl of Oxford) 14-19 August.
– Gosfield Hall (Sir John Wentworth), 19-21 August.
– Leez Priory (Lord Rich), 21-25 August.
– Great Hallingbury (Lord Morley),  25-27 August 1561.
– Standon, Hert (Sir Ralph Sadler), 27-30 August 1561
– Hertford Castle, Herts, 30 August – 16 September.
– Hatfield, Hert (16 September?).
– Enfield, Middsex (16-22 September).

Below is a map of Elizabeth’s route.
 © Essex Record Office, Map Showing the Royal Progress of 1561 (2008)

The cost of the Queen’s progress
The cost to both the Queen and her hosts was extensive.  The cost to Sir William Petre of Ingatestone Hall was £136, the Earl of Oxford spent £273 and to Lord Rich at Leighs (Leez) Priory was £389.

At its heart, then, challenge of travel for the royal household was a financial one, because the Queen spent more on food, supplies, and accommodation when on progress than when she remained in the London area….. For the 1561 progress into Essex and Suffolk, Thomas Weldon, cofferer of the household, kept a tally of the Queen’s expenses at each of the places she stayed during the seventy-six day trip.  The court’s expenses varied from £83 to £146 per day, with a total cost of £8,540.

J. E. Archer, E. Goldring, and S. Knight (ed.),
The Progresses, Pageants and Entertainments of Queen Elizabeth I

Below are 20th century images of the homes of some of Elizabeth’s hosts.

 

Layer Marney

 

 

 

 

 

Layer Marney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leez Priory

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leez Priory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Castle Hedingham

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Osyth Priory

 

 

 

Further Reading
J. E. Archer, E. Goldring, and S. Knight (ed.), The Progresses, Pageants and Entertainments of Queen Elizabeth I (Oxford, 2007).
Mary Hill Cole , The portable queen : Elizabeth I and the politics of ceremony (Massachusetts, 1999)
F.G. Emmison, Tudor Secretary: Sir William Petre at Court and Home (London, 1961)
John Nichols, The Progresses & Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth (3 volumes),  (London, 1788-1823).
University of Warwick – Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, The John Nichols Project, (2012)

Notes about Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts
Great Dunmow’s original churchwardens’ accounts (1526-1621) are kept in Essex Record Office (E.R.O.), Chelmsford, Essex, D/P 11/5/1.  All digital images of the accounts within this blog appear by courtesy of Essex Record Office and may not be reproduced. Examining these records from this Essex parish gives the modern reader a remarkable view  into the lives and times of some of Henry VIII’s subjects and provides an interpretation into the local history of Tudor Great Dunmow.

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This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom.  If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following:
– Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Great Dunmow: Part 1
– Index to each folio in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts
– Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts: transcripts 1526-1621
– Tudor local history
– Elizabeth I

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

On the 2nd June 1953, our Queen, Elizabeth II, was crowned with great solemnity and ceremony in Westminster Abbey whilst seated in the ancient Coronation Chair (King Edward’s Chair). Today’s post celebrates and marks her reign by publishing images connected to the coronations of Elizabeth II’s Tudor predecessors.

 

 

Coronation Chair, with and without the Stone of Scone (The Stone of Destiny)

 

 

 

 

Henry VII (born 28 January 1457, died 21 April 1509)

Postcard of the Burial chapel of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Westminster Abbey. Henry was crowned in Westminster Abbey on 30 October 1485.

Henry VIII (born 28 June 1491, died 28 January 1547)

Coronation Oath of Henry VIII with his own annotations (crowned 24 June 1509), shelfmark Cotton Ms. Tiberius D viii, f.89, © British Library Board. (For more information on his changes, see the British Library’s explanation.  Was Henry anticipating his break with Rome?)

Edward VI (born 12 October 1537, died 6 July 1553)

Coronation procession of Edward VI along Cheapside, London. Edward’s coronation was on 20 February 1547.

Mary I (born 18 February 1516, died 17 November 1558)

Crowned 1 October 1553.

Elizabeth I (born 7 September 1533, died 24 March 1603)

 Coronation procession of Elizabeth. Her coronation took place on 15 January 1559.

Finally…
Not a coronation image but an image of the Queen at Epsom Races in 1974.  This weekend’s Jubilee Celebrations begin in Epsom as she watches the Derby.

Picture  © British Library Board.  This image is personal to me as I was born in Epsom and spent my first 12 years living in the town. The Queen visiting the races was very much a part of my childhood. Not least, because in those days the Derby was run mid-week, so we were always sent home from school early. I have many childhood memories of waiting by the Spread Eagle Pub in Epsom town centre and waving as the royal cars swept through the town.