Elisa Rolle's Blog, page 203
July 4, 2017
2017 Rainbow Awards Submission: Drama Queens and Devilish Schemes (Actors and Angels #3) Kevin Klehr
Drama Queens and Devilish Schemes (Actors and Angels #3) Kevin KlehrGay - Alternative Universe/Reality
Series: Actors and Angels (Book 3)
Paperback
Publisher: Ninestar Press, LLC (June 19, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1947139266
ISBN-13: 978-1947139268
Amazon: Drama Queens and Devilish Schemes (Actors and Angels #3) Kevin Klehr
Adam is dead, but that's not his only problem. His husband, Wade, is still alive and sleeping with losers. His guardian angel, Guy, has grown fond of the liquor cabinet. And Adam suspects his demise was the result of foul play.
Meanwhile, in the depths of the Afterlife, the devil forces Adam to put on a play for the sinners. If he fails to entertain them, Guy's parents will spend eternity in the Underworld.
As he gambles with the freedom of the damned angels, Adam comes to terms with infidelity, friendship, and the reason why he was the victim of a double murder.
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2017 Rainbow Awards Submission: Caught Inside (Boys on the Brink #1) Jamie Deacon
Caught Inside (Boys on the Brink #1) Jamie DeaconGay - Young Adult
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing (September 29, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1786450356
ISBN-13: 978-1786450357
Amazon: Caught Inside (Boys on the Brink #1) Jamie Deacon
Luke believes he has his life figured out...and then he meets Theo. It should have been simple-a summer spent with his girlfriend Zara at her family's holiday cottage in Cornwall. Seventeen-year-old Luke Savage jumps at the chance, envisioning endless hours of sunbathing on the private beach and riding the waves on his beloved surfboard. He isn't interested in love. Though his rugged good looks and lazy charm mean he can have his pick of girls, he has no intention of falling for anyone. Nothing prepares Luke for his reaction to Theo, the sensitive Oxford undergraduate who is Zara's cousin and closest friend. All at once, he is plunged along a path of desire and discovery that has him questioning everything he thought he knew about himself. No one, especially Zara, must find out; what he and Theo have is too new, too fragile. But as the deceit spirals beyond their control, people are bound to get hurt, Luke most of all.
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2017 Rainbow Awards Submission: It Could Happen Mia Kerick
It Could Happen Mia KerickGay - Young Adult
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 5, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1635336880
ISBN-13: 978-1635336887
Amazon: It Could Happen Mia Kerick
Three misfits, mismatched in every way—Henry Perkins, Brody Decker, and Danny Denisco—have been friends throughout high school. Now in their senior year, the boys realize their relationship is changing, that they’re falling in love. But they face opposition at every turn—from outside and from within themselves. Moving to the next level will take all the courage, understanding, and commitment they can muster. But it could happen.
Henry is a star athlete and the son of religious parents who have little concern for the future he wants. Brody is a quirky dreamer and adrenaline junkie, and Danny is an emo artist and the target of bullies. Despite their differences, they’ve always had each other’s backs, and with each of them facing a new and unique set of challenges, that support is more important than ever. Is it worth risking the friendship they all depend on for the physical and romantic relationship they all desire?
In this unconventional new adult romance, three gay teens brave societal backlash—as well as the chance that they might lose their treasured friendship—to embark on a committed polyamorous relationship.
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2017 Rainbow Awards Submission: Scarred Mia Kerick
Scarred Mia KerickTransgender - Contemporary Romance
Paperback: 234 pages
Publisher: CoolDudes Publishing (March 1, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1544212356
ISBN-13: 978-1544212357
Amazon: Scarred Mia Kerick
Matthew North waited ten years to heal from the devastating wounds inflicted by the man who abducted and abused him as a child. Living reclusively on a tropical island—with no company but his four cats—he merely avoids the lingering pain. Wearing twisted ropes of mutilated skin on his back, Matt struggles with a profound hindrance—the scars that deaden his soul. However, on the night he meets lively Vedie Wilson, a local restaurant busboy who expresses his gender by wearing lipgloss and eyeliner along with his three-day beard, things change. Gradually, Vedie and Matt unite in friendship. Through a series of awkward encounters, the pair learns each other’s secrets. Vedie learns that an angelic face can front for a scarred soul. Matthew learns that the line between one’s masculine and feminine sides is blurred. Can they embrace the painful stories behind each other’s scars if they’re to find everlasting love? Or will surrendered love come to be yet another blemish on their souls?
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2017 Rainbow Awards Submission: The Visionary Charli Coty
The Visionary Charli CotyGay - Alternative Universe/Reality
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: NineStar Press (January 25, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1945952407
ISBN-13: 978-1945952401
Amazon: The Visionary Charli Coty
Colin Page, eighteen-year-old community college student, apple polisher and all-around goody-goody, has a secret. He sees things that aren’t there. Unfortunately, the Doc Martens on the floor of the mail vestibule in his apartment building really are there and attached to a dead body. Hunkered over the body is someone Colin had barely noticed before, Private Investigator Al Green. Most people scare Colin, but for some reason, Al doesn’t, even after he reveals that he knows about the hidden reality of their world. Alonzo Green, despite his low-power mind, is determined to help right the wrongs he unknowingly contributed to. He’s also hopelessly smitten. He knows it’s wrong—probably even dangerous—to enlist Colin’s help with the investigation. And that’s before considering all Al has to fear from Colin’s fiercely protective and powerful mother. Colin and Al put some of the pieces together, but as soon as one thing becomes clear, the picture changes. The search for the Big Bad takes them from Portland to Tacoma and Seattle, and eventually to San Francisco, but their journey into each other’s arms is much shorter.
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2017 Rainbow Awards Submission: The Worst Werewolf (The Immutable Moon #1) Jacqueline M. Rohrbach
The Worst Werewolf (The Immutable Moon #1) Jacqueline M. RohrbachBisexual - Alternative Universe/Reality
Series: The Immutable Moon
Paperback: 236 pages
Publisher: NineStar Press (February 9, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1945952679
ISBN-13: 978-1945952678
Amazon: The Worst Werewolf (The Immutable Moon #1) Jacqueline M. Rohrbach
The werewolf said, “Race you to the road.” It was the last thing Tovin heard before his life became uncomfortably complex. Before that night in the forest, Tovin was the type of guy to play it safe. Happy wearing the same shoes, buying the same deodorant, and eating the same meals day after day, he thought his simple existence was pretty great. At least until his boyfriend dumps him for being boring. Heartbroken but on a mission of vengeance, Tovin decides to start a new life filled with excitement, danger, and maybe a meal from a questionable food truck. A date with Garvey would start it all. Handsome, sophisticated, the man is everything Tovin thinks he needs. It’s a pity he turns out to be a werewolf on a mission to save his pack from destruction. Now Tovin is caught up in Garvey’s world. Abducted and forced to be the bloodservant of a powerful Alpha, he lands right in the middle of a brewing conflict that threatens to destroy humanity.
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2017 Rainbow Awards Submission: Angels Fall N.S. Beranek
Angels Fall N.S. BeranekGay - Paranormal Romance
Paperback
Publisher: Lethe Press (October 25, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590215729
ISBN-13: 978-1590215722
Amazon: Angels Fall N.S. Beranek
Tired of being told by straight and gay alike that he loves ''incorrectly,'' vampire Ehrichto Salvatolle gave up on the idea of having romantic love long ago. When a member of the created family he's focused on instead comes under threat from a mysterious illness, Ehrichto strikes a deal with his own sire, to return to the sire's bed in exchange for his help. But when he meets the great-grandson of the first man to break his heart, Ehrichto spies a chance to have the one thing he's always wanted: true love.
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July 3, 2017
West Midlands - Day 5
House: Langlar Rectory (Church Ln, Langar, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG13 9HG) was the birthplace of Samuel Butler (1835–1902), a great Victorian iconoclast and novelist. Samuel Butler never married, and although he did for years make regular visits to a woman, Lucie Dumas, he also "had a predilection for intense male friendships, which is reflected in several of his works." The property now known as Langar House on Church Lane, Langar was originally built as Langar Rectory in 1721/2 to replace an earlier parsonage, which had fallen into disrepair.
Newstead Abbey (NG15 8GE)
House: Newstead Abbey was formerly an Augustinian priory. Converted to a domestic home following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it is now best known as the ancestral home of George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824).
Address: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG15 8GE, UK
Place
The priory of St. Mary of Newstead, a house of Augustinian Canons, was founded by King Henry II of England about the year 1170, as one of many penances he paid following the murder of Thomas Becket. Contrary to its current name, Newstead was never an abbey: it was a priory. Sir John Byron of Colwick in Nottinghamshire was granted Newstead Abbey by Henry VIII of England on May 26, 1540 and started its conversion into a country house. By the time Lord Byron inherited the property, it was practically a ruin. He and his mother soon moved to Nottingham and neither lived permanently at Newstead for any extended period. Byron had a beloved Newfoundland dog named Boatswain, who died of rabies in 1808. Boatswain was buried at Newstead Abbey and has a monument larger than his master's at St Mary Magdalene (Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, NG15 7AS), by the Market Place in the centre of the town. Byron finally sold the property in 1818. The Abbey is now publicly owned, by Nottingham City Council, and houses a museum containing Byron memorabilia.
D. H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum (NG16 3AW)
House: The D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum is a writer’s home museum dedicated to the writer D.H. Lawrence situated in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, near Nottingham.
Address: 8A Victoria Street, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire NG16 3AW, UK (53.01859, -1.30706)
Phone: +44 1773 717353
Website: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/dhlherita...
English Heritage Building ID: 429408 (Grade II, 1972)
Place
It is the house in which D.H. Lawrence was born in 1885 and one of the four houses the family occupied in Eastwood. Like its sister site Durban House Heritage Centre it belongs to D.H. Lawrence Heritage and is managed by Broxtowe Borough Council. Visitors enter the museum through the house next door, through the museum shop. The house has been laid out in the style of a late XIX century working class miner’s house, with the furniture being mostly from the family of the women who founded it. There are a few original items from Lawrence’s family; the artifacts are as close to the 1880s as possible and from Nottinghamshire to make the contents as authentic as possible for the period. The house is set out as it was thought to have been when the Lawrences lived there. Visitors are given a guided tour which takes approximately 45 minutes. The significance of each room (parlour, kitchen, communal yard, washhouse, parents’ bedroom, children’s bedroom and attic) is explained and questions encouraged. There is a small exhibition of Lawrence’s early original water colour paintings and a DVD room that starts the tour giving basic information on his life in Eastwood and thereafter. Photocopies of his later paintings are also displayed. A recent addition to the collection was Lawrence’s original gravestone, which has been on display since September 11, 2009, the anniversary of his birthday.
Source: A Dream House: Exploring the Literary Homes of England, By Carol Chernega
Durban House Heritage Centre (NG16 3DZ)
House: The D.H. Lawrence Heritage Centre is closed to the public since April 2016.
Address: Mansfield Rd, Eastwood, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG16 3DZ, UK (53.02176, -1.30734)
Place
D. H. Lawrence Heritage Centre was formally known as the Durban House Heritage Centre and was the sister site of the D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum in Eastwood, near Nottingham. Both sites formally went under the name of D.H. Lawrence Heritage. The D.H. Lawrence Heritage Centre contained an exhibition on the social history of Eastwood during the time that the writer lived there, including information on the educational system, mining, trams, retail along with D.H. Lawrence and the people who were affiliated with him. In addition there was an art gallery, a bistro, conference rooms, civil wedding, funeral, birthday and education facilities.
Life
Who: David Herbert Richards Lawrence (September 11, 1885 – March 2, 1930) aka D.H. Lawrence
D.H. Lawrence was a novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter. His collected works, among other things, represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, some of the issues Lawrence explores are emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. In March 1912 Lawrence met Frieda Weekley (née von Richthofen), with whom he was to share the rest of his life. Six years older than her new lover, she was married to Ernest Weekley, his former modern languages professor at University College, Nottingham, and had three young children. She eloped with Lawrence to her parents’ home in Metz, a garrison town then in Germany near the disputed border with France. Lawrence and Frieda returned to Britain in 1913 for a short visit, during which they encountered and befriended critic John Middleton Murry and New Zealand-born short story writer Katherine Mansfield. While writing “Women in Love” in Cornwall during 1916–17, Lawrence developed a strong and possibly romantic relationship with a Cornish farmer named William Henry Hocking. Although it is not clear if their relationship was sexual, Frieda said she believed it was. After being discharged from a sanatorium, Lawrence died March 2, 1930 at the Villa Robermond in Vence, France, from complications of tuberculosis. Frieda Weekley commissioned an elaborate headstone for his grave bearing a mosaic of his adopted emblem of the phoenix. After Lawrence’s death, Frieda lived with Angelo Ravagli on the ranch in Taos and eventually married him in 1950. In 1935 Ravagli arranged, on Frieda’s behalf, to have Lawrence’s body exhumed and cremated and his ashes brought back to the ranch to be interred there in a small chapel amid the mountains of New Mexico, while instead the original tombstone was later taken to Eastwood.
Source: A Dream House: Exploring the Literary Homes of England, By Carol Chernega
School: The King's School (Brook St, Grantham NG31 6RP) is a British grammar school with academy status for boys, in the market town of Grantham, in Lincolnshire. The King's School has an unbroken history on the same site since its re-endowment in 1528 by Richard Foxe, although its history can be traced back to 1329. Nicholas Pevsner in his Buildings of England, dates the original School building to 1497. Isaac Newton (1655–1659) was a King's School scholar between 1655 and 1660. As was customary in his time, he carved his signature on the wall of what is today's school side hall, although the signature has never been confirmed as authentic; visitors from around the world come to view this indication of Newton's education. A replica of the signature is on display in Grantham Museum. The novelist and eccentric Frederick Rolfe “Baron Corvo” (1860–1913) was briefly a teacher at the school.
Queer Places, Vol. 2.2: Retracing the Steps of LGBTQ people around the World
ISBN-13: 978-1544067568 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1544067569
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/6980566
Amazon print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1544067569/?...
Amazon kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1KZBO/?...
Queer Places, Vol. 2.2 (Color Edition): Retracing the Steps of LGBTQ people around the World
ISBN-13: 978-1535453332 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1535453338
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/6444429
Amazon print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1535453338/?...
Amazon kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1KZBO/?...
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July 2, 2017
West Midlands - Day 4
Salisbury Avenue, Coventry (CV3 5DA)
House: E.M. Forster died of a stroke on June 7, 1970 at the age of 91, at the Buckinghams’ home in Coventry.
Address: 11 Salisbury Ave, Coventry, West Midlands CV3 5DA, UK (52.38834, -1.50951)
Place
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the centre of England. It was the capital of England more than once in the XV century when the seat of Government was held in Coventry. Coventry’s heritage includes the Roman Fort at Baginton, Lady Godiva, St Mary’s Guildhall (where kings and queens were entertained) and three cathedrals. Located in the county of West Midlands, historically part of Warwickshire, Coventry is the 10th largest city in England and the 13th largest UK city overall. It is also the second largest city in the West Midlands region, after Birmingham, with a population of 337,400 in 2014.
Life
Who: Edward Morgan Forster OM CH (January 1, 1879 – June 7, 1970)
For 40 years, E.M. Forster and the policeman Bob Buckingham were in a loving relationship. Buckingham was 28, Forster 51, when the two met. They shared holidays, friends, interests, and – on many weekends – a domestic and sexual life in Forster’s Brunswick Square flat. Buckingham’s wife, May – also became E.M. Forster’s friend and nursemaid. Perhaps this is not so surprising for the writer who valued personal relationships above all else, and for whom the motto "only connect" applied as much to his private life as to his novels. Buckingham was a large, good-humoured man, with a nose flattened in the boxing ring, a wide smile and a deep, loud laugh. On the day they met, he impressed Forster with his knowledge of the Thames and told him he was reading Dostoevsky. Forster invited Buckingham to his flat, and soon the two became close, with Forster taking over Buckingham’s reading list, and Buckingham thrilled to become something of a highbrow. Soon Forster was in a position to write of Buckingham’s falling "violently in liking" with him. To his friend Sebastian Sprott, Forster wrote with rather old-maidish coyness that the "spiritual feeling" between him and Buckingham had now "extended to my physique.” During these early years of their relationship, Forster seems to have at last found happiness. In his Commonplace Book, he reported that "From 51 to 53 I have been happy, and would like to remind others that their turn can come too." This was in spite of Buckingham finding a girlfriend – May Hockey, a nurse – not long after he’d met Forster. In 1932 Buckingham announced that he was to marry May; the register-office wedding took place in August, with Forster as witness. Once Buckingham was married, Forster’s worst fears seemed to come true – Buckingham became rather unreliable about their meetings, and Forster panicked, calling his rival "domineering, sly and knowing" and wondering if he should break with his lover and go abroad to escape the situation. Buckingham, ever the voice of calm sense, wrote that the two of them simply had "to go without pleasure for a bit.” Following his final stroke in May 1970, Forster was fetched from his rooms at King’s College by the Buckinghams and put to bed at their Coventry house, where he died. For most of that morning, he held May’s hand. After his death, May wrote: "I now know that he was in love with Robert and therefore critical and jealous of me and our early years were very stormy, mostly because he had not the faintest idea of the pattern of our lives and was determined that Robert should not be engulfed in domesticity. Over the years he changed us both and he and I came to love one another, able to share the joys and sorrows that came." E.M. Forster’s ashes were mingled with those of his friend Robert Buckingham and scattered in the rose garden of Canley Garden crematorium, Canley, Coventry, West Midlands near Warwick University (Cannon Hill Rd, Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7DF).
Source: Connecting with E. M. Forster: A Memoir, By Tim Leggatt
House: Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) was born at 5 Hillmorton Rd, Rugby CV22 5DF, the second of the three sons of William Parker Brooke, a Rugby schoolmaster, and Ruth Mary Brooke, née Cotterill. At the end of Regent Street, there is a bronze statue of him. He was educated at two independent schools in Rugby: Hillbrow School and Rugby School.
School: Rugby School (Lawrence Sheriff St, Rugby CV22 5EH) is a day and boarding public school (private and co-educational) in Rugby, Warwickshire. It is one of the oldest private schools in Britain. Rugby School was founded in 1567 as a provision in the will of Lawrence Sheriff, who had made his fortune supplying groceries to Queen Elizabeth I of England. In many ways the stereotype of the English public school is a reworking of Thomas Arnold's Rugby. It is one of the original seven English public schools defined by the Public Schools Act 1868. Rugby School was purportedly the birthplace of Rugby football. In 1845, three Rugby School pupils produced the first written rules of the "Rugby style of game". Notable queer alumni and faculty: Christopher Lloyd (1921–2006), Rupert Brooke (1887–1915).
House: Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family at 30 Clarendon Square, Leamington Spa CV32 5QX, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) rejected the fundamentalist Christian faith to pursue an interest in Western esotericism. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, further suggesting that he remained a spy throughout his life.
Warwick Castle (CV34 4QX)
House: Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from an original built by William the Conqueror in 1068.
Address: 51 Mill Street, Warwick CV34 4QX, UK (52.27966, -1.58522)
Phone: +44 871 265 2000
Website: www.warwick-castle.com
English Heritage Building ID: 307361 (Grade I, 1953)
Place
Early site, probably dating from pre-Norman times. Much mediaeval work remains. Good XVIII century and later additions. In 1871 a fire gutted the Great Hall and East Wing, these being restored by Anthony Salvin. This castle, (containing a fine collection of antiques and works of art) is considered of very great national interest. Main block with XIV century walls and vaulted undercroft. Caesan's tower and Guy's tower, the Gatehouse and its Barbican also XIV century. The curtain walls may date from this period. Bear and Clarence towers XV century, left incomplete 1485 and later given battlements; probably intended as a stronghold within the castle similar to that at Raglan. Late XVII century internal features include exceptional plasterwork and wood carvings to the Cedar Room by Roger and William Hurlbut, completed 1678. Altered 1753-5 by Lancelot Brown, who rebuilt the porch and stairway to the Great Hall. Porch extended forward and additional rooms built beside it, 1763-9, by Timothy Lightoler. Watergate tower restored by A Salvin 1861-3. It was used as a stronghold until the early XVII century, when it was granted to Sir Fulke Greville by James I in 1604. Greville converted it to a country house. Fulke Greville spent over £20,000 (£3 million as of 2016) renovating the castle; according to William Dugdale, a XVII-century antiquary, this made it "a place not only of great strength but extraordinary delight, with most pleasant gardens, walks and thickets, such as this part of England can hardly parallel". It was owned by the Greville family, who became Earls of Warwick in 1759, until 1978 when it was bought by the Tussauds Group. In 2007, the Tussauds Group merged with Merlin Entertainments, which is the current owner of Warwick Castle.
Life
Who: Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, de jure 13th Baron Latimer and 5th Baron Willoughby de Broke KB PC (October 3, 1554 – September 30, 1628) and Sir Philip Sidney (November 30, 1554 – October 17, 1586)
Sir Philip Sidney was a poet, courtier, scholar, and soldier, who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. Returning to England in 1575, Sidney met Penelope Devereux, the future Lady Rich; though much younger, she would inspire his famous sonnet sequence of the 1580s, “Astrophel and Stella.” His artistic contacts were more peaceful and more significant for his lasting fame. During his absence from court, he wrote “Astrophel and Stella” and the first draft of “The Arcadia and The Defence of Poesy.” Somewhat earlier, he had met Edmund Spenser, who dedicated “The Shepheardes Calender” to him. Other literary contacts included membership, along with his friends and fellow poets Fulke Greville, Edward Dyer, Edmund Spenser and Gabriel Harvey, of the (possibly fictitious) “Areopagus,” a humanist endeavour to classicise English verse. Sidney had returned to court by the middle of 1581 and in 1584 was MP for Kent. That same year Penelope Devereux was married, apparently against her will, to Lord Rich. Sidney was knighted in 1583. An early arrangement to marry Anne Cecil, daughter of Sir William Cecil and eventual wife of de Vere, had fallen through in 1571. In 1583, he married Frances, teenage daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham. In the same year, he made a visit to Oxford University with Giordano Bruno, who subsequently dedicated two books to Sidney. Later that year, he joined Sir John Norris in the Battle of Zutphen, fighting for the Protestant cause against the Spanish. During the battle, he was shot in the thigh and died of gangrene 26 days later, at the age of 31. As he lay dying, Sidney composed a song to be sung by his deathbed. Sidney’s body was returned to London and interred in the Old St. Paul’s Cathedral on February 16, 1587. The grave and monument were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A modern monument in the crypt lists him among the important graves lost. An early biography of Sidney was written by his friend and schoolfellow, Fulke Greville. While Sidney was traditionally depicted as a staunch and unwavering Protestant, recent biographers such as Katherine Duncan-Jones have suggested that his religious loyalties were more ambiguous. Sir Fulke Greville, was an Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1581 and 1621, when he was raised to the peerage. Greville is best known today as the biographer of Sir Philip Sidney, and for his sober poetry, which presents dark, thoughtful and distinctly Calvinist views on art, literature, beauty and other philosophical matters. In 1628 Greville was stabbed inside Warwick Castle by Ralph Heywood (or Haywood), a servant who believed that he had been cheated in his master’s will (he had been left only £8,000) Heywood then turned the knife on himself. Greville’s physicians treated his wounds by filling them with pig fat rather than disinfecting them, the pig fat turned rancid and infected the wounds, and he died in agony four weeks after the attack.
Collegiate Church of St Mary (CV34 4RB)
Church: The legend is that Sir Philip Sidney might have been secretly buried in Fulke Greville’s monument, without a tomb, in St Mary’s Church.
Address: 17 Church Street, Warwick CV34 4RB, UK (52.28226, -1.588)
Phone: +44 1926 403940
Website: http://www.stmaryswarwick.org.uk/
English Heritage Building ID: 307351 (Grade I, 1953)
Place
The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in the town of Warwick. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is a member of the Greater Churches Group. The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities.) There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry. The church foundations date back nearly nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123. In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the College of Dean and Canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt. The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the XIV century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style. His descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of Queen consort Catherine Parr. The chamber of the Chapter House is filled almost to the ceiling by the monument built by Sir Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke. The tombe’s inscription reads: “Folk Grevill / Servant to Queene Elizabeth / Conceller to King James / Frend to Sir Philip Sidney / Trophaeum Peccati.” A letter written by Fulke Greville to his friend and assistant Sir John Coke in 1615, shows that Greville was outraged that his famous friend, the great Sir Philip Sidney, was “in pawls church wher he lyes open.” Following the first state funeral for a commoner, held in St Paul’s and attended by the Queen, Sidney’s body had been buried into a hole in the wall and marked with a small wooden plaque. Within a short time the plaque fell off. The letter makes clear that Greville had “long promised” that his “brother” Philip would be reburied in a magnificent tomb and that Greville would be buried with him. Greville describes the tomb he would build as a “sepulchre” with himself lying below with Sidney lying above him, like bunk-beds. Greville never built the tomb for Sidney and himself in St Paul’s but he did build a magnificent monument with a black marble sarcophagus in St Mary’s Church, Warwick, which bears the name “Sir Philip Sidney” and Fulke Greville is buried in the crypt directly beneath it.
Nottingham Castle (NG1 6EL)
House: Nottingham Castle is a castle in Nottingham. It is located in a commanding position on a natural promontory known as "Castle Rock", with cliffs 130 feet (40 m) high to the south and west. In the Middle Ages it was a major royal fortress and occasional royal residence. In decline by the XV century, it was largely demolished in 1649. The Duke of Newcastle later built a mansion on the site, which was burnt down by rioters in 1831 and left as a ruin. It was later rebuilt to house an art gallery and museum, which remain in use to this day. Little of the original castle survives, but sufficient portions remain to give an impression of the layout of the site.
Address: Lenton Rd, Nottingham NG1 6EL, UK (52.94935, -1.15446)
Phone: +44 115 876 1400
Website: www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk
Place
Edward III used the castle as a residence and held Parliaments. In 1346 King David II of Scotland was held prisoner. In 1365 Edward III improved the castle with a new tower on the west side of the Middle Bailey and a new prison under the High Tower. In 1376 Peter de la Mare, speaker of the House of Commons was confined in Nottingham Castle for having “taken unwarrantable liberties with the name of Alice Perrers, mistress of the king.” In 1387 the state council was held in the castle. Richard II held the Lord Mayor of London with Aldermen and Sheriffs in the castle in 1392, and held another state council to humble Londoners. The last visit recorded by Richard II was in 1397 when another council was held here. From 1403 until 1437 it was the main residence of Henry IV's queen, Joan. After the residence of Joan maintenance was reduced. Only upon the Wars of the Roses did Nottingham Castle begin to be used again as a military stronghold. Edward IV proclaimed himself king in Nottingham, and in 1476 he ordered the construction of a new tower and Royal Apartments. This was described by John Leland in 1540 as: “the most beautifulest part and gallant building for lodging... a right sumptuus piece of stone work.” During the reign of King Henry VII the castle remained a royal fortress. Henry VIII ordered new tapestries for the castle before he visited Nottingham in August in 1511. By 1536 Henry had the castle reinforced and its garrison increased from a few dozen men to a few hundred. In 1538 the Constable, the Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, reported on the need for maintenance. A survey in 1525 stated that there was much “dekay and ruyne of said castell” and “part of the roof of the Great Hall is fallen down. Also the new building there is in dekay of timber, lead and glass.”
Life
Who: William Neville (died October 10, 1391)
The guided walk in Nottingham called the Gay Robin Hood tour examines the alleged homosexual origins of the man and has been researched by Nottingham historian Tony Scupham-Bilton. Scupham-Bilton believes Robin's origin dates back 700 years. It revolves around the relationship of two real life characters - Sir William Neville, the constable of Nottingham castle, and Sir John Clanvowe, a poet. According to the historian the two were as good as hitched, even though Sir William had a wife, Elizabeth. "The two men were soldiers who'd fought in the One Hundred Years War. They formed a close friendship. It's commonly accepted now that they were a gay couple." As a writer, Sir John Clanvowe was always looking for inspiration. "One of the ideas he had when King Richard II visited was to write a brand new ballad," says Scupham-Bilton. The result was “The Jest of Robin Hood.” According to Tony Scupham-Bilton all the stories created in the ballad became the basis of every film, book and television series around the character. "It was the gay connection that Sir John Clanvowe had with the constable of Nottingham that formed all the background to Robin Hood." Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe died on pilgrimage near Constantinople. Neville died two days later of Clanvowe. Their tombstone survives in the Archaeological Museum of Constantinople.
Source: Was Robin Hood gay?, BBC Nottingham website, London Road, Nottingham, NG2 4UU
School: Nottingham High School (Waverley Mount, Nottingham NG7 4ED) is an independent fee-paying day school for boys and girls in Nottingham, comprising the Infant and Junior School (for ages 4–11) and Senior School (for ages 11–18). Located on Waverley Mount, the school's main building is close to local amenities and public transport. The main building is in the style of Gothic Revival architecture. In 1513, the school was founded as the "Free School" by Dame Agnes Mellers, after the death of her husband, Richard, partly in his memory, but also as an act of atonement for his several wrongdoings against the people of Nottingham. In order to do this she enlisted the help of Sir Thomas Lovell, who was both the Governor of Nottingham Castle and Secretary to the Treasury. As a result of their combined efforts, King Henry VIII sealed the school’s foundation deed on the November 22, of that year. D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) attended Beauvale Board School (now renamed Greasley Beauvale D. H. Lawrence Primary School in his honour) from 1891 until 1898, becoming the first local pupil to win a County Council scholarship to Nottingham High School in nearby Nottingham. He left in 1901, working for three months as a junior clerk at Haywood's surgical appliances factory, but a severe bout of pneumonia ended this career. In the years 1902 to 1906 Lawrence served as a pupil teacher at the British School, Eastwood. He went on to become a full-time student and received a teaching certificate from University of Nottingham, in 1908. During these early years he was working on his first poems, some short stories, and a draft of a novel, “Laetitia,” which was eventually to become “The White Peacock.” At the end of 1907 he won a short story competition in the Nottingham Guardian, the first time that he had gained any wider recognition for his literary talents. The University of Nottingham (Nottingham NG7 2RD) is a public research university based in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881 and was granted a Royal Charter in 1948.
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House: E.M. Forster died of a stroke on June 7, 1970 at the age of 91, at the Buckinghams’ home in Coventry.
Address: 11 Salisbury Ave, Coventry, West Midlands CV3 5DA, UK (52.38834, -1.50951)
Place
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the centre of England. It was the capital of England more than once in the XV century when the seat of Government was held in Coventry. Coventry’s heritage includes the Roman Fort at Baginton, Lady Godiva, St Mary’s Guildhall (where kings and queens were entertained) and three cathedrals. Located in the county of West Midlands, historically part of Warwickshire, Coventry is the 10th largest city in England and the 13th largest UK city overall. It is also the second largest city in the West Midlands region, after Birmingham, with a population of 337,400 in 2014.
Life
Who: Edward Morgan Forster OM CH (January 1, 1879 – June 7, 1970)
For 40 years, E.M. Forster and the policeman Bob Buckingham were in a loving relationship. Buckingham was 28, Forster 51, when the two met. They shared holidays, friends, interests, and – on many weekends – a domestic and sexual life in Forster’s Brunswick Square flat. Buckingham’s wife, May – also became E.M. Forster’s friend and nursemaid. Perhaps this is not so surprising for the writer who valued personal relationships above all else, and for whom the motto "only connect" applied as much to his private life as to his novels. Buckingham was a large, good-humoured man, with a nose flattened in the boxing ring, a wide smile and a deep, loud laugh. On the day they met, he impressed Forster with his knowledge of the Thames and told him he was reading Dostoevsky. Forster invited Buckingham to his flat, and soon the two became close, with Forster taking over Buckingham’s reading list, and Buckingham thrilled to become something of a highbrow. Soon Forster was in a position to write of Buckingham’s falling "violently in liking" with him. To his friend Sebastian Sprott, Forster wrote with rather old-maidish coyness that the "spiritual feeling" between him and Buckingham had now "extended to my physique.” During these early years of their relationship, Forster seems to have at last found happiness. In his Commonplace Book, he reported that "From 51 to 53 I have been happy, and would like to remind others that their turn can come too." This was in spite of Buckingham finding a girlfriend – May Hockey, a nurse – not long after he’d met Forster. In 1932 Buckingham announced that he was to marry May; the register-office wedding took place in August, with Forster as witness. Once Buckingham was married, Forster’s worst fears seemed to come true – Buckingham became rather unreliable about their meetings, and Forster panicked, calling his rival "domineering, sly and knowing" and wondering if he should break with his lover and go abroad to escape the situation. Buckingham, ever the voice of calm sense, wrote that the two of them simply had "to go without pleasure for a bit.” Following his final stroke in May 1970, Forster was fetched from his rooms at King’s College by the Buckinghams and put to bed at their Coventry house, where he died. For most of that morning, he held May’s hand. After his death, May wrote: "I now know that he was in love with Robert and therefore critical and jealous of me and our early years were very stormy, mostly because he had not the faintest idea of the pattern of our lives and was determined that Robert should not be engulfed in domesticity. Over the years he changed us both and he and I came to love one another, able to share the joys and sorrows that came." E.M. Forster’s ashes were mingled with those of his friend Robert Buckingham and scattered in the rose garden of Canley Garden crematorium, Canley, Coventry, West Midlands near Warwick University (Cannon Hill Rd, Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7DF).
Source: Connecting with E. M. Forster: A Memoir, By Tim Leggatt
House: Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) was born at 5 Hillmorton Rd, Rugby CV22 5DF, the second of the three sons of William Parker Brooke, a Rugby schoolmaster, and Ruth Mary Brooke, née Cotterill. At the end of Regent Street, there is a bronze statue of him. He was educated at two independent schools in Rugby: Hillbrow School and Rugby School.
School: Rugby School (Lawrence Sheriff St, Rugby CV22 5EH) is a day and boarding public school (private and co-educational) in Rugby, Warwickshire. It is one of the oldest private schools in Britain. Rugby School was founded in 1567 as a provision in the will of Lawrence Sheriff, who had made his fortune supplying groceries to Queen Elizabeth I of England. In many ways the stereotype of the English public school is a reworking of Thomas Arnold's Rugby. It is one of the original seven English public schools defined by the Public Schools Act 1868. Rugby School was purportedly the birthplace of Rugby football. In 1845, three Rugby School pupils produced the first written rules of the "Rugby style of game". Notable queer alumni and faculty: Christopher Lloyd (1921–2006), Rupert Brooke (1887–1915).
House: Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family at 30 Clarendon Square, Leamington Spa CV32 5QX, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) rejected the fundamentalist Christian faith to pursue an interest in Western esotericism. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, further suggesting that he remained a spy throughout his life.
Warwick Castle (CV34 4QX)
House: Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from an original built by William the Conqueror in 1068.
Address: 51 Mill Street, Warwick CV34 4QX, UK (52.27966, -1.58522)
Phone: +44 871 265 2000
Website: www.warwick-castle.com
English Heritage Building ID: 307361 (Grade I, 1953)
Place
Early site, probably dating from pre-Norman times. Much mediaeval work remains. Good XVIII century and later additions. In 1871 a fire gutted the Great Hall and East Wing, these being restored by Anthony Salvin. This castle, (containing a fine collection of antiques and works of art) is considered of very great national interest. Main block with XIV century walls and vaulted undercroft. Caesan's tower and Guy's tower, the Gatehouse and its Barbican also XIV century. The curtain walls may date from this period. Bear and Clarence towers XV century, left incomplete 1485 and later given battlements; probably intended as a stronghold within the castle similar to that at Raglan. Late XVII century internal features include exceptional plasterwork and wood carvings to the Cedar Room by Roger and William Hurlbut, completed 1678. Altered 1753-5 by Lancelot Brown, who rebuilt the porch and stairway to the Great Hall. Porch extended forward and additional rooms built beside it, 1763-9, by Timothy Lightoler. Watergate tower restored by A Salvin 1861-3. It was used as a stronghold until the early XVII century, when it was granted to Sir Fulke Greville by James I in 1604. Greville converted it to a country house. Fulke Greville spent over £20,000 (£3 million as of 2016) renovating the castle; according to William Dugdale, a XVII-century antiquary, this made it "a place not only of great strength but extraordinary delight, with most pleasant gardens, walks and thickets, such as this part of England can hardly parallel". It was owned by the Greville family, who became Earls of Warwick in 1759, until 1978 when it was bought by the Tussauds Group. In 2007, the Tussauds Group merged with Merlin Entertainments, which is the current owner of Warwick Castle.
Life
Who: Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, de jure 13th Baron Latimer and 5th Baron Willoughby de Broke KB PC (October 3, 1554 – September 30, 1628) and Sir Philip Sidney (November 30, 1554 – October 17, 1586)
Sir Philip Sidney was a poet, courtier, scholar, and soldier, who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. Returning to England in 1575, Sidney met Penelope Devereux, the future Lady Rich; though much younger, she would inspire his famous sonnet sequence of the 1580s, “Astrophel and Stella.” His artistic contacts were more peaceful and more significant for his lasting fame. During his absence from court, he wrote “Astrophel and Stella” and the first draft of “The Arcadia and The Defence of Poesy.” Somewhat earlier, he had met Edmund Spenser, who dedicated “The Shepheardes Calender” to him. Other literary contacts included membership, along with his friends and fellow poets Fulke Greville, Edward Dyer, Edmund Spenser and Gabriel Harvey, of the (possibly fictitious) “Areopagus,” a humanist endeavour to classicise English verse. Sidney had returned to court by the middle of 1581 and in 1584 was MP for Kent. That same year Penelope Devereux was married, apparently against her will, to Lord Rich. Sidney was knighted in 1583. An early arrangement to marry Anne Cecil, daughter of Sir William Cecil and eventual wife of de Vere, had fallen through in 1571. In 1583, he married Frances, teenage daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham. In the same year, he made a visit to Oxford University with Giordano Bruno, who subsequently dedicated two books to Sidney. Later that year, he joined Sir John Norris in the Battle of Zutphen, fighting for the Protestant cause against the Spanish. During the battle, he was shot in the thigh and died of gangrene 26 days later, at the age of 31. As he lay dying, Sidney composed a song to be sung by his deathbed. Sidney’s body was returned to London and interred in the Old St. Paul’s Cathedral on February 16, 1587. The grave and monument were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A modern monument in the crypt lists him among the important graves lost. An early biography of Sidney was written by his friend and schoolfellow, Fulke Greville. While Sidney was traditionally depicted as a staunch and unwavering Protestant, recent biographers such as Katherine Duncan-Jones have suggested that his religious loyalties were more ambiguous. Sir Fulke Greville, was an Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1581 and 1621, when he was raised to the peerage. Greville is best known today as the biographer of Sir Philip Sidney, and for his sober poetry, which presents dark, thoughtful and distinctly Calvinist views on art, literature, beauty and other philosophical matters. In 1628 Greville was stabbed inside Warwick Castle by Ralph Heywood (or Haywood), a servant who believed that he had been cheated in his master’s will (he had been left only £8,000) Heywood then turned the knife on himself. Greville’s physicians treated his wounds by filling them with pig fat rather than disinfecting them, the pig fat turned rancid and infected the wounds, and he died in agony four weeks after the attack.
Collegiate Church of St Mary (CV34 4RB)
Church: The legend is that Sir Philip Sidney might have been secretly buried in Fulke Greville’s monument, without a tomb, in St Mary’s Church.
Address: 17 Church Street, Warwick CV34 4RB, UK (52.28226, -1.588)
Phone: +44 1926 403940
Website: http://www.stmaryswarwick.org.uk/
English Heritage Building ID: 307351 (Grade I, 1953)
Place
The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in the town of Warwick. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is a member of the Greater Churches Group. The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities.) There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry. The church foundations date back nearly nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123. In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the College of Dean and Canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt. The chancel vestries and chapter house of the church were extensively rebuilt in the XIV century by a later Earl of Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp (later pronounced Beecham), in the Perpendicular Gothic style. His descendants built the Chapel of Our Lady, commonly known as the Beauchamp Chapel. It contains the effigial monuments of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Buried in the chancel of the church is William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, the brother of Queen consort Catherine Parr. The chamber of the Chapter House is filled almost to the ceiling by the monument built by Sir Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke. The tombe’s inscription reads: “Folk Grevill / Servant to Queene Elizabeth / Conceller to King James / Frend to Sir Philip Sidney / Trophaeum Peccati.” A letter written by Fulke Greville to his friend and assistant Sir John Coke in 1615, shows that Greville was outraged that his famous friend, the great Sir Philip Sidney, was “in pawls church wher he lyes open.” Following the first state funeral for a commoner, held in St Paul’s and attended by the Queen, Sidney’s body had been buried into a hole in the wall and marked with a small wooden plaque. Within a short time the plaque fell off. The letter makes clear that Greville had “long promised” that his “brother” Philip would be reburied in a magnificent tomb and that Greville would be buried with him. Greville describes the tomb he would build as a “sepulchre” with himself lying below with Sidney lying above him, like bunk-beds. Greville never built the tomb for Sidney and himself in St Paul’s but he did build a magnificent monument with a black marble sarcophagus in St Mary’s Church, Warwick, which bears the name “Sir Philip Sidney” and Fulke Greville is buried in the crypt directly beneath it.
Nottingham Castle (NG1 6EL)
House: Nottingham Castle is a castle in Nottingham. It is located in a commanding position on a natural promontory known as "Castle Rock", with cliffs 130 feet (40 m) high to the south and west. In the Middle Ages it was a major royal fortress and occasional royal residence. In decline by the XV century, it was largely demolished in 1649. The Duke of Newcastle later built a mansion on the site, which was burnt down by rioters in 1831 and left as a ruin. It was later rebuilt to house an art gallery and museum, which remain in use to this day. Little of the original castle survives, but sufficient portions remain to give an impression of the layout of the site.
Address: Lenton Rd, Nottingham NG1 6EL, UK (52.94935, -1.15446)
Phone: +44 115 876 1400
Website: www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk
Place
Edward III used the castle as a residence and held Parliaments. In 1346 King David II of Scotland was held prisoner. In 1365 Edward III improved the castle with a new tower on the west side of the Middle Bailey and a new prison under the High Tower. In 1376 Peter de la Mare, speaker of the House of Commons was confined in Nottingham Castle for having “taken unwarrantable liberties with the name of Alice Perrers, mistress of the king.” In 1387 the state council was held in the castle. Richard II held the Lord Mayor of London with Aldermen and Sheriffs in the castle in 1392, and held another state council to humble Londoners. The last visit recorded by Richard II was in 1397 when another council was held here. From 1403 until 1437 it was the main residence of Henry IV's queen, Joan. After the residence of Joan maintenance was reduced. Only upon the Wars of the Roses did Nottingham Castle begin to be used again as a military stronghold. Edward IV proclaimed himself king in Nottingham, and in 1476 he ordered the construction of a new tower and Royal Apartments. This was described by John Leland in 1540 as: “the most beautifulest part and gallant building for lodging... a right sumptuus piece of stone work.” During the reign of King Henry VII the castle remained a royal fortress. Henry VIII ordered new tapestries for the castle before he visited Nottingham in August in 1511. By 1536 Henry had the castle reinforced and its garrison increased from a few dozen men to a few hundred. In 1538 the Constable, the Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, reported on the need for maintenance. A survey in 1525 stated that there was much “dekay and ruyne of said castell” and “part of the roof of the Great Hall is fallen down. Also the new building there is in dekay of timber, lead and glass.”
Life
Who: William Neville (died October 10, 1391)
The guided walk in Nottingham called the Gay Robin Hood tour examines the alleged homosexual origins of the man and has been researched by Nottingham historian Tony Scupham-Bilton. Scupham-Bilton believes Robin's origin dates back 700 years. It revolves around the relationship of two real life characters - Sir William Neville, the constable of Nottingham castle, and Sir John Clanvowe, a poet. According to the historian the two were as good as hitched, even though Sir William had a wife, Elizabeth. "The two men were soldiers who'd fought in the One Hundred Years War. They formed a close friendship. It's commonly accepted now that they were a gay couple." As a writer, Sir John Clanvowe was always looking for inspiration. "One of the ideas he had when King Richard II visited was to write a brand new ballad," says Scupham-Bilton. The result was “The Jest of Robin Hood.” According to Tony Scupham-Bilton all the stories created in the ballad became the basis of every film, book and television series around the character. "It was the gay connection that Sir John Clanvowe had with the constable of Nottingham that formed all the background to Robin Hood." Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe died on pilgrimage near Constantinople. Neville died two days later of Clanvowe. Their tombstone survives in the Archaeological Museum of Constantinople.
Source: Was Robin Hood gay?, BBC Nottingham website, London Road, Nottingham, NG2 4UU
School: Nottingham High School (Waverley Mount, Nottingham NG7 4ED) is an independent fee-paying day school for boys and girls in Nottingham, comprising the Infant and Junior School (for ages 4–11) and Senior School (for ages 11–18). Located on Waverley Mount, the school's main building is close to local amenities and public transport. The main building is in the style of Gothic Revival architecture. In 1513, the school was founded as the "Free School" by Dame Agnes Mellers, after the death of her husband, Richard, partly in his memory, but also as an act of atonement for his several wrongdoings against the people of Nottingham. In order to do this she enlisted the help of Sir Thomas Lovell, who was both the Governor of Nottingham Castle and Secretary to the Treasury. As a result of their combined efforts, King Henry VIII sealed the school’s foundation deed on the November 22, of that year. D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) attended Beauvale Board School (now renamed Greasley Beauvale D. H. Lawrence Primary School in his honour) from 1891 until 1898, becoming the first local pupil to win a County Council scholarship to Nottingham High School in nearby Nottingham. He left in 1901, working for three months as a junior clerk at Haywood's surgical appliances factory, but a severe bout of pneumonia ended this career. In the years 1902 to 1906 Lawrence served as a pupil teacher at the British School, Eastwood. He went on to become a full-time student and received a teaching certificate from University of Nottingham, in 1908. During these early years he was working on his first poems, some short stories, and a draft of a novel, “Laetitia,” which was eventually to become “The White Peacock.” At the end of 1907 he won a short story competition in the Nottingham Guardian, the first time that he had gained any wider recognition for his literary talents. The University of Nottingham (Nottingham NG7 2RD) is a public research university based in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881 and was granted a Royal Charter in 1948.
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July 1, 2017
West Midlands - Day 3
Mason Croft (CV37 6HB)
House: Mason Croft, now the home of The Shakespeare Institute, takes its name from the family who lived in the building for more than 150 years.
Address: Church Street, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire CV37 6HB, UK (52.18972, -1.7093)
Phone: +44 121 414 9500
Website: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/e...
English Heritage Building ID: 366202 (Grade II, 1951)
Place
In 1900 the famous novelist Marie Corelli was living at Avon Croft in Stratford when she became aware that Mason Croft was available for rent. Although it was somewhat dilapidated, the house appealed to her sense of romance. She and her lifelong companion, Bertha Vyver, made it their permanent home. An elegant XVIII century town house of two storeys, with a simple symmetrical line of three windows on either side of the oak front door and seven on the first floor. The rear of the building, however, is gloriously different, with its seemingly haphazardly-placed pointed gables, conservatory and extensive gardens. The site was originally occupied by two houses: one a large freehold property owned by the Bartlett family since 1610 or earlier; the other a tenement belonging to the manor of Rowington (near Warwick), but associated with the Bartletts since 1632. In 1698 Ann Bartlett married the lawyer Nathaniel Mason and in 1710 they began to create a bigger, more modern dwelling. Their first additions were to the rear of the house, building a kitchen wing and chambers above, along with a “portal” and a tiny gable. Ann Mason died in 1717 and two years later Nathaniel married Elizabeth Rowney, a wealthy heiress from Halford. The joint income from Nathaniel’s business and Elizabeth’s leasing of property meant that substantial rebuilding of the family home could now take place. A new phase of building, beginning in or around 1724, created a more symmetrical house, with a butler’s pantry behind, “a place for coals,” a study, rear staircase and cellars. Above were bedrooms and, at the top, new attics. In 1727 Nathaniel bought the adjoining house, and in 1728 he had a plan for an expanded dwelling drawn up. In 1735, his son Thomas Mason bought an additional strip of land to the south of the house, and the following year he acquired two cottages on the northern boundary where the “great gates” to the rear were still sited. This impressive stone gateway was moved to its present site on the south side. The kitchen wing was extended, and to commemorate his improvements he fixed a new rainwater head, inscribed “1735 TM,” onto the rear of the building. Thomas Mason rebuilt the study wing in 1745. The paddock, acquired the previous year, was encircled with a brick wall, with “handsome gates, pillars and stone balls handsomely erected and finished.” The house remained in the family until the death of the last of the line, Thomas Mason, at the age of 90 in 1867. The property was bequeathed to Thomas Mason’s cousins John Paget and William Harcourt Clare, who sold it on to a Stratford ironmonger, Henry Newton. In 1869 the property was acquired by one William Daniels, who sold it five years later to Dr John Day Collis. Dr Collis was founder and headmaster of Trinity College, next door to Mason Croft, and he used the newly-acquired building for teaching purposes. In 1901 Marie Corelli was able to buy the property, and set about fashioning it to suit her taste. The interior decoration was renewed and she converted what had been the dining room of Trinity College into a music room. She also made a significant addition to the street frontage, adding a low wooden fence along the front of the house and a portico over the stone entrance steps. Striped blinds also appeared, a swathe of Virginia creeper, and window boxes packed with flowers according to the season. At the back of the house Corelli built a large conservatory called the “Winter Garden,” filling it with wicker furniture and palm trees. Marie Corelli died in Stratford and is buried there in the Evesham Road cemetery (Evesham Rd, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 9AA). The marble angel that Bertha Vyver had ordered from Italy is set up to watch over her tomb with one outstretched arm pointing the way to heaven. Bertha died in 1941 and is buried next to Marie. Some rooms at Mason Croft remain substantially as she left them. The sitting room retains its oak display cabinets over the fireplace, and the latter its copper hood with recurring motif of waves and a single heart. The massive fireplace in the music room still bears the intertwined initials M.C. and B.V., encircled by laurel leaves, and with the legend “Amor Vincit” (love conquers.) In 1951 the building was bought by the University of Birmingham, and the paddock was reclaimed from the Fire Station. Mason Croft has now been the home of the University’s Shakespeare Institute for 60 years. Much of the building is still as it was in Corelli’s day. The most obvious addition to the grounds is the Shakespeare Library, a purpose-built research library designed by alumnus V.H. (“Johnnie”) Johnson, which was officially opened in 1996.
Life
Who: Marie Corelli (May 1, 1855 – April 21, 1924) and Bertha Vyver (died November 20, 1941)
Marie Corelli was a British novelist. She enjoyed a period of great literary success from the publication of her first novel in 1886 until WWI. Corelli’s novels sold more copies than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, and Rudyard Kipling, although critics often derided her work as “the favourite of the common multitude.” For over forty years, Corelli lived with her companion, Bertha Vyver (died in 1941); when she died she left everything to her friend. Although she didn’t self-identify as a lesbian, biographers and critics have noted the erotic descriptions of female beauty that appear regularly in Corelli’s novels, while admitting they are expressed by men. Descriptions of the deep love between the two women by their contemporaries have added to the speculation that their relationship may have been romantic. Following Corelli’s death, Sidney Walton reminisced in the Yorkshire Evening News: “One of the great friendships of modern times knit together the hearts and minds of Miss Marie Corelli and Miss Bertha Vyver... Her own heart was the hearth of her comrade, and thought and love of “Marie” thrilled through Miss Vyver’s veins... In loneliness of soul, Miss Vyver mourns the loss of one who was nearer and tenderer to her than a sister... Over the fireplace in the fine, old spacious lounge at Mason Croft the initials M. C. and B. V. were carven into one symbol. And it was the symbol of life.” Corelli is generally accepted to have been the inspiration for at least two of E.F. Benson’s characters in his Lucia series of six novels and a short story. The main character, Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas, is a vain and snobbish woman of the upper middle class with an obsessive desire to be the leading light of her community, to associate with the nobility, to see her name reported in the social columns, and a comical pretension to education and musical talent, neither of which she possesses. She also pretends to be able to speak Italian, something Corelli was known to have done. The character of Miss Susan Leg is an author of highly successful but pulpish romance novels who writes under the name of Rudolph da Vinci and first appears in Benson’s work a few years after Marie Corelli’s death in 1924.
Source: Idol of Suburbia: Marie Corelli and Late-Victorian Literary Culture, By Annette Federico
Hall's Croft (CV37 6BG)
House: Hall's Croft, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, was owned by William Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna Hall, and her husband Dr John Hall whom she married in 1607.
Address: 7 Old Town, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire CV37 6BG, UK (52.18856, -1.70864)
Phone: +44 1789 338533
Website: www.shakespeare.org.uk
English Heritage Building ID: 366336 (Grade I, 1951)
Place
The building now contains a collection of XVI- and XVII-century paintings and furniture. There is also an exhibition about Doctor John Hall and the obscure medical practices of the period. The property includes a dramatic walled garden which contains a variety of plant life that John Hall may have used in his treatments. John and Susanna Hall later moved to New Place, which William Shakespeare left to his daughter after his death.
Life
Who: Marie Corelli (May 1, 1855 – April 21, 1924) and Bertha Vyver (died November 20, 1941)
After the death of Marie Corelli’s mother, in either 1876 or 1877 Bertha Vyver, a childhood friend, moved into Fern Dell Cottage, at Box Hill, near Mickelham, from her mothers home in Belsize Park, London. Bertha Vyver's mother, the Contess Van de Vyver died in May 1890. Marie and Bertha took a break and spent ten days in Stratford-upon-Avon, staying at the Falcon Hotel opposite the site of William Shakespeare's home. They signed the visitors book at Shakespeare's birthplace on 20th May, went boating on the river, and visited the Flowers family at their house on the banks of the river Avon. In 1899 Bertha suggested to live in Stratford-upon-Avon, and Marie wrote to Mrs Croker, the owner of Halls Croft, to ask for a furnished let for four months. Marie and Bertha moved there in mid-May. Sarah Bernhardt arrived in July to play at the Memorial Theatre in a production of “Hamlet,” and stayed at Halls Croft. Marie entered into the social life of the town; she was frequently asked to be the guest of honour at public functions, opens bazaars, and gave public speeches. Marie and Bertha decided to stay in Stratford, and offered to buy Halls Croft but Mrs Croker wished to return home. In September they moved to The Dower House, then called Avon Croft, a few doors down the street, and stayed through 1900 while they looked for a suitable property. Marie nearly purchased Alveston Leys, a house with lovely gardens on the banks of the Avon, but worrying it might be damp, she decided to lease Mason Croft in Church Street for 18 months with an option to buy. The house was a little dilapidated, and needs renovation work before it was ready for the two ladies to move in 1901.
Source: Memoirs of Marie Corelli. B Vyver, Alston Rivers 1930
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House: Mason Croft, now the home of The Shakespeare Institute, takes its name from the family who lived in the building for more than 150 years.
Address: Church Street, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire CV37 6HB, UK (52.18972, -1.7093)
Phone: +44 121 414 9500
Website: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/e...
English Heritage Building ID: 366202 (Grade II, 1951)
Place
In 1900 the famous novelist Marie Corelli was living at Avon Croft in Stratford when she became aware that Mason Croft was available for rent. Although it was somewhat dilapidated, the house appealed to her sense of romance. She and her lifelong companion, Bertha Vyver, made it their permanent home. An elegant XVIII century town house of two storeys, with a simple symmetrical line of three windows on either side of the oak front door and seven on the first floor. The rear of the building, however, is gloriously different, with its seemingly haphazardly-placed pointed gables, conservatory and extensive gardens. The site was originally occupied by two houses: one a large freehold property owned by the Bartlett family since 1610 or earlier; the other a tenement belonging to the manor of Rowington (near Warwick), but associated with the Bartletts since 1632. In 1698 Ann Bartlett married the lawyer Nathaniel Mason and in 1710 they began to create a bigger, more modern dwelling. Their first additions were to the rear of the house, building a kitchen wing and chambers above, along with a “portal” and a tiny gable. Ann Mason died in 1717 and two years later Nathaniel married Elizabeth Rowney, a wealthy heiress from Halford. The joint income from Nathaniel’s business and Elizabeth’s leasing of property meant that substantial rebuilding of the family home could now take place. A new phase of building, beginning in or around 1724, created a more symmetrical house, with a butler’s pantry behind, “a place for coals,” a study, rear staircase and cellars. Above were bedrooms and, at the top, new attics. In 1727 Nathaniel bought the adjoining house, and in 1728 he had a plan for an expanded dwelling drawn up. In 1735, his son Thomas Mason bought an additional strip of land to the south of the house, and the following year he acquired two cottages on the northern boundary where the “great gates” to the rear were still sited. This impressive stone gateway was moved to its present site on the south side. The kitchen wing was extended, and to commemorate his improvements he fixed a new rainwater head, inscribed “1735 TM,” onto the rear of the building. Thomas Mason rebuilt the study wing in 1745. The paddock, acquired the previous year, was encircled with a brick wall, with “handsome gates, pillars and stone balls handsomely erected and finished.” The house remained in the family until the death of the last of the line, Thomas Mason, at the age of 90 in 1867. The property was bequeathed to Thomas Mason’s cousins John Paget and William Harcourt Clare, who sold it on to a Stratford ironmonger, Henry Newton. In 1869 the property was acquired by one William Daniels, who sold it five years later to Dr John Day Collis. Dr Collis was founder and headmaster of Trinity College, next door to Mason Croft, and he used the newly-acquired building for teaching purposes. In 1901 Marie Corelli was able to buy the property, and set about fashioning it to suit her taste. The interior decoration was renewed and she converted what had been the dining room of Trinity College into a music room. She also made a significant addition to the street frontage, adding a low wooden fence along the front of the house and a portico over the stone entrance steps. Striped blinds also appeared, a swathe of Virginia creeper, and window boxes packed with flowers according to the season. At the back of the house Corelli built a large conservatory called the “Winter Garden,” filling it with wicker furniture and palm trees. Marie Corelli died in Stratford and is buried there in the Evesham Road cemetery (Evesham Rd, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 9AA). The marble angel that Bertha Vyver had ordered from Italy is set up to watch over her tomb with one outstretched arm pointing the way to heaven. Bertha died in 1941 and is buried next to Marie. Some rooms at Mason Croft remain substantially as she left them. The sitting room retains its oak display cabinets over the fireplace, and the latter its copper hood with recurring motif of waves and a single heart. The massive fireplace in the music room still bears the intertwined initials M.C. and B.V., encircled by laurel leaves, and with the legend “Amor Vincit” (love conquers.) In 1951 the building was bought by the University of Birmingham, and the paddock was reclaimed from the Fire Station. Mason Croft has now been the home of the University’s Shakespeare Institute for 60 years. Much of the building is still as it was in Corelli’s day. The most obvious addition to the grounds is the Shakespeare Library, a purpose-built research library designed by alumnus V.H. (“Johnnie”) Johnson, which was officially opened in 1996.
Life
Who: Marie Corelli (May 1, 1855 – April 21, 1924) and Bertha Vyver (died November 20, 1941)
Marie Corelli was a British novelist. She enjoyed a period of great literary success from the publication of her first novel in 1886 until WWI. Corelli’s novels sold more copies than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, and Rudyard Kipling, although critics often derided her work as “the favourite of the common multitude.” For over forty years, Corelli lived with her companion, Bertha Vyver (died in 1941); when she died she left everything to her friend. Although she didn’t self-identify as a lesbian, biographers and critics have noted the erotic descriptions of female beauty that appear regularly in Corelli’s novels, while admitting they are expressed by men. Descriptions of the deep love between the two women by their contemporaries have added to the speculation that their relationship may have been romantic. Following Corelli’s death, Sidney Walton reminisced in the Yorkshire Evening News: “One of the great friendships of modern times knit together the hearts and minds of Miss Marie Corelli and Miss Bertha Vyver... Her own heart was the hearth of her comrade, and thought and love of “Marie” thrilled through Miss Vyver’s veins... In loneliness of soul, Miss Vyver mourns the loss of one who was nearer and tenderer to her than a sister... Over the fireplace in the fine, old spacious lounge at Mason Croft the initials M. C. and B. V. were carven into one symbol. And it was the symbol of life.” Corelli is generally accepted to have been the inspiration for at least two of E.F. Benson’s characters in his Lucia series of six novels and a short story. The main character, Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas, is a vain and snobbish woman of the upper middle class with an obsessive desire to be the leading light of her community, to associate with the nobility, to see her name reported in the social columns, and a comical pretension to education and musical talent, neither of which she possesses. She also pretends to be able to speak Italian, something Corelli was known to have done. The character of Miss Susan Leg is an author of highly successful but pulpish romance novels who writes under the name of Rudolph da Vinci and first appears in Benson’s work a few years after Marie Corelli’s death in 1924.
Source: Idol of Suburbia: Marie Corelli and Late-Victorian Literary Culture, By Annette Federico
Hall's Croft (CV37 6BG)
House: Hall's Croft, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, was owned by William Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna Hall, and her husband Dr John Hall whom she married in 1607.
Address: 7 Old Town, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire CV37 6BG, UK (52.18856, -1.70864)
Phone: +44 1789 338533
Website: www.shakespeare.org.uk
English Heritage Building ID: 366336 (Grade I, 1951)
Place
The building now contains a collection of XVI- and XVII-century paintings and furniture. There is also an exhibition about Doctor John Hall and the obscure medical practices of the period. The property includes a dramatic walled garden which contains a variety of plant life that John Hall may have used in his treatments. John and Susanna Hall later moved to New Place, which William Shakespeare left to his daughter after his death.
Life
Who: Marie Corelli (May 1, 1855 – April 21, 1924) and Bertha Vyver (died November 20, 1941)
After the death of Marie Corelli’s mother, in either 1876 or 1877 Bertha Vyver, a childhood friend, moved into Fern Dell Cottage, at Box Hill, near Mickelham, from her mothers home in Belsize Park, London. Bertha Vyver's mother, the Contess Van de Vyver died in May 1890. Marie and Bertha took a break and spent ten days in Stratford-upon-Avon, staying at the Falcon Hotel opposite the site of William Shakespeare's home. They signed the visitors book at Shakespeare's birthplace on 20th May, went boating on the river, and visited the Flowers family at their house on the banks of the river Avon. In 1899 Bertha suggested to live in Stratford-upon-Avon, and Marie wrote to Mrs Croker, the owner of Halls Croft, to ask for a furnished let for four months. Marie and Bertha moved there in mid-May. Sarah Bernhardt arrived in July to play at the Memorial Theatre in a production of “Hamlet,” and stayed at Halls Croft. Marie entered into the social life of the town; she was frequently asked to be the guest of honour at public functions, opens bazaars, and gave public speeches. Marie and Bertha decided to stay in Stratford, and offered to buy Halls Croft but Mrs Croker wished to return home. In September they moved to The Dower House, then called Avon Croft, a few doors down the street, and stayed through 1900 while they looked for a suitable property. Marie nearly purchased Alveston Leys, a house with lovely gardens on the banks of the Avon, but worrying it might be damp, she decided to lease Mason Croft in Church Street for 18 months with an option to buy. The house was a little dilapidated, and needs renovation work before it was ready for the two ladies to move in 1901.
Source: Memoirs of Marie Corelli. B Vyver, Alston Rivers 1930
Queer Places, Vol. 2.2: Retracing the Steps of LGBTQ people around the World
ISBN-13: 978-1544067568 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1544067569
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/6980566
Amazon print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1544067569/?...
Amazon kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1KZBO/?...
Queer Places, Vol. 2.2 (Color Edition): Retracing the Steps of LGBTQ people around the World
ISBN-13: 978-1535453332 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1535453338
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/6444429
Amazon print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1535453338/?...
Amazon kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1KZBO/?...
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