History Festival Photo

 

Thanks to Sue Hodgetts (in the red and yellow) for posting this photo of us yesterday in Hereford!

Herefordshire History Week

 I was in Hereford this morning, in the middle of High Town, dressed in my chainmail and helmet! I was helping to advertise Herefordshire History Week, along with Sue from Cusop History Group who was also in medieval costume.  

The events run from 9th May to 20th May, all over the county.  There'll be a walk to a hillfort; Cloddock Mill will be open; the River and  Canal Trust is involved, and there will be talks all across the county.  

One of the things they're doing is an event all about the Girl Guides and Boy Scouts during the Second World War.  We had a lovely chat with a lady who is involved in that - and she also showed us pictures of a medieval banner she made, with completely accurate heraldry and an orb near the flagpole that shows it was stitched during the year of a Coronation - 2023.  It's now in the Lady Chapel of Newent church.

I also had a lovely chat with an ex-mayor of Ledbury, who used to belong to the Sealed Knot, and a chap in a wheelchair who is involved with a History shop in Bromyard.

It was quite interesting to see who wanted to stop and talk, and who marched straight past, pretending they hadn't noticed us - groups of young teenage  boys were completely oblivious to a person in chainmail and helmet - with a sword! - while older people were a lot more interested, and often had interesting stories to tell.

As part of the History Week, I'll be doing a Weapons and Arrows talk at Cusop Castle at 4pm on May 9th, where people will have the opportunity to try on the chainmail! 

 

Talk on the Armstrong Murder Case

 Tony Pryce started his interest in the Armstrong murder case back when he was an officer with West Mercian Police, and he had to visit a local solicitor's office in Hereford.  The firm was TA Matthews, and in a glass case there was a pipe and a letter.  The pipe had belonged to Major Armstrong, and the letter was to thank the original TA Matthews for all his help during the Major's trial and appeal process.

Since then, he's gone into incredible detail on every aspect of the case, including every person involved and their family backgrounds, and how they related to each other.  He believes the evidence is overwhelming that Major Armstrong was guilty.

One interesting detail is that some evidence from the case ended up in the Metropolitan Police Museum.  Back in 1921, when a murder investigation needed to be done, small police forces often didn't have the expertise to carry them out, so they applied to the Metropolitan Police to send experienced officers.  Modern day investigations typically involve 26 police officers and 4 support staff - back then the Met sent a Detective Chief Inspector (this was his last case before retirement) and a Detective Sergeant, and they started their investigations in secret, while staying at the Green Dragon Hotel in Hereford.

So there is a packet in the Black Museum labelled as arsenic from the chemist at Hay - but it has never been analysed.  Tony Pryce tried to persuade them to find out what the white powder was, but when they realised that the objective was to prove Major Armstrong's guilt rather than overturn the guilty verdict, they decided it wasn't worth spending the money to do it.  Tony Pryce believes that the packet was planted in the Major's bureau (which was produced as a surprise exhibit during the court case) by a member of the defence team, because he owed Major Armstrong a favour.  It's a fascinating theory, and very convincing.

There were so many fascinating details like this that the talk ran for an hour and a half instead of an hour, and he could have continued.  However, he got as far as the execution at Gloucester Prison (an ex-prison governor now gives guided tours of the building!) and stopped there.

Cusop Village Hall was so full they ran out of chairs and had people standing at the back and into the entrance hall!  And there wasn't time to show the video advert for the Cusop Castle dig, which will be happening from 5th to 14th June this year.  Also, I'll be giving a talk on Saturday 9th May at Cusop Castle at 4pm on medieval weapons and arrows, hopefully with audience participation! 

Comic Shop

 I finally got to see inside the new Comic shop on Castle Street.

They've got a big selection of DC and Marvel comics, and similar, and also a corner devoted to Manga.

They also have a re-purposed 1960s bar as their counter, which goes well with the diner chairs and table in the other corner.  

While I was there, they distributed marker pens and invited us to sign their table - so I added a Starfleet insignia on one leg.

I'm sure I'll be back for some of their graphic novels. 

Cusop History Group Talk

 The next talk from Cusop History Group is on Thursday 16th April at Cusop Village Hall at 7pm.  The topic is The Murder of Katherine Armstrong and the Trial of Herbert Rouse Armstrong, and the speaker is Tony Pryce, with an introduction by Peter Ford.

Strange to think that this happened just over a hundred years ago.

Entry is £2, with donations for refreshments.

I'll be at the hall a bit earlier than that, because the Cusop Dig committee will be having a quick meeting - everything seems to be going well so far! 

Printers Fair

 I really enjoyed the Printers' Fair - two floors of stalls with all sorts of beautiful artwork and letterpress text.  I treated myself to a print with a line of Gerald Manley Hopkins poetry on it: "Glory be to God for dappled things" from the poem Pied Beauty, and it's a limited edition.  Mine is no. 6 of 100.  It was made by Kathleen Littler, who uses wood engraving, with incredibly fine detail - she has a website at www.kathlittler.co.uk

The chap from Prints of Hay was giving out free prints of Hay Castle, and I also got some cards.  I especially liked the Francesca Kay cards with simple cutouts and haiku poems.  My favourite was Anubis: 

"He protects the Dead, 

But they're quite self-sufficient,

It's not a hard job."

Several of the stalls will be at the Marches Makers Festival in Kington from Saturday 2nd May to Monday 4th May.  I hope they come back to the Castle sometime, too.

There were also families looking round the Castle, and I found two little girls with their parents in the costume corner, having a swordfight with wooden swords.  So I asked if the bigger girl would like to know how to do real sword moves, and taught her the basic defensive positions, which I think we both enjoyed immensely. 

Meanwhile down in the Buttermarket there was a Craft Fair going on, and I treated myself to two hand made pottery bowls from Helen's Art Creation.  She also sells on Etsy as helensartcreation

 

Dig for Cusop

Here's the new video advert for Cusop Dig in June!