From certain angles, the award-winning Mary Rose Museum has the look of a flying saucer, landing right next to Nelson’s historic flagship, HMS Victory in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard. When you step inside however, that is where the similarity ends – even though the technology that has brought us to this point in Mary Rose’s history is…
Category: Historic Heritage
The last line of defence: Hurst Castle
None of my friends seem to have heard of Hurst Castle – at least the one here in the UK. So, just to be crystal clear, I am referring to Henry VIII’s English castle rather than Randolph Hearst’s Californian home! Hurst Castle at the tip of the Solent is a pristine example of Henry VIII’s policy of…
Carisbrooke Castle – a fairytale castle
Carisbrooke Castle, one of the UK’s most perfectly preserved castles, has one of the most difficult access roads ever – a short but steep single track climb with a totally blind, 90 degree turn into the unknown – relying on traffic lights to keep us safe. Once there, high up above the surrounding landscape, the views…
The Ragged School
My accountant, Chris Stolborg, told me about John Pounds and said his story was inspirational. So, one fine day, I ventured out to the High Street in Old Portsmouth to the Unitarian Chapel named in his honour to find out more. Walking down the side of the church, I caught sight of a memorial to John Pounds…
The last days of Nelson …
As a proud Portsmuthian, you can’t live in this naval city without knowing a little bit about Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson – it would be unthinkable. We have his flagship HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, his memorial atop Portsdown Hill and even Fort Nelson, one of Palmeston’s Follies – a brilliant museum to visit….
All aboard The Watercress Line
As soon as I heard about The Watercress Line, Hampshire’s Heritage Steam Railway, I knew a train trip would be imminent. And so it came to pass, this last weekend, that The Hound and I arrived at Alresford Station to travel to Alton in style … even better, The Hound travelled free! It’s nick-named The…
The Victorian Bathing Machine
Being interested in all thing seaside, I have long wanted to see an actual Victorian Bathing Machine in person. So it was with great anticipation that I saw the most exclusive bathing machine of them all this past week – Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s own bathing machine on her very own private beach at the…
A ticket to Ryde
I first heard about the Grade II listed Ryde Pier when I listened to the well known Beatles song of a similar name if not spelling. Apparently John Lennon and Paul McCartney visited the island in the ’60’s to visit Paul’s cousin and inspired this well known ditty. It wasn’t until recently however – and funnily enough,…
On the trail of John Keats
Has this ever happened to you? Sometimes when you work on a new project, a name pops up again and again and you start seeing references to it everywhere you go. What do they call it – Six degrees of separation? So it was for me with the poet John Keats who is thought to…
The ultimate dovecote
This surely has to be the most magnificent dovecote I have ever seen – I call it the Westcott Wonder. Pristinely thatched and maintained in the picturesque village of Westcott, one mile west of Dorking in the Surrey Hills, the dovecote resides close to the central village green. It has a weather vane above it…
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