Looking through the Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic of the reign of Henry VIII for a special piece of research, I came across this entry of 1537, detailing some of the jewellery owned by Jane Seymour. Jane was Henry's third wife, who died tragically shortly after the birth of her son Edward, at Hampton Court Palace. After her death Henry was plunged into grief, and there are mentions in private letters of him not wanting to see anyone, and even less marry again, despite his reputation today as an enthusiastic bridegroom. Shortly after Jane's death, an enquiry was made into the jewels she owned and if she had gifted any. Special mention was made as to the recipients of any of the jewels. All this information was detailed in 'A book of the Quenes juelles'.

Not only does this short document show us the different types of jewellery Jane owned and wore, but reveals some of her alliances within the court. She gave strings of beads to women such as Margaret Douglas (the king' niece), and also to Lady Mary, her stepdaughter. The women mentioned were ' lady Bewham, (sic), lady Duddeley, lady Weston, lady Page, lady Douglas, lady Norfolk, lady Calthrope, lady Lyell, lady Lyster, Mrs. Oxenbryg, lady Guldeford, lady Audeley, lady Mary'.

Jane Seymour. New York Public Library Digital Collections, Public Domain.

She was also recorded as giving other jewels, pomanders and tablets to the Lady Mary as well as to Henry's second daughter the Lady Elizabeth, from his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Jane is well known for her accommodating and friendly attitude towards Mary, the daughter of Henry and Katherine of Aragon, but her gifts to Elizabeth show that she was also friendly towards her. This is often overlooked, and Jane perceived as dismissive to the four-year old daughter of Anne Boleyn, the queen she supplanted in Henry's affections. The list of men and women who received similar gifts were: 'lady Lister, Mrs. Oxenbrygge, Mr. Knyffet, lady Rocheford, lady Russell, Mr. Longe. lady Marquis Dorset'. It was also noted that Jane had owned 'A glass with the images of the King's father and others', showing that she wore, or held, images of her father-in-law Henry VII.

Jane also gifted a girdle, an (often jewelled) chain that hung around the waist, to the Countess of Surrey 'at the christening of her child'. Gertrude Courtenay Marchioness of Exeter also received a girdle as a gift from the queen. Once again, the lady Mary makes an appearance here. We also see that Jane owned several brooches made of gold, and the gifts of these are more widespread. Her brother Thomas Seymour received one from her, as did 'Cutberd the King's poticarie', an apothecary of the court. This may have been given as a gift in thanks for his service to Henry or for herself. Elizabeth Cavendish, later to become Bess of Hardwick, also received one, as did the Lady Elizabeth (future Elizabeth I) on New Year's Day. 'Palmer the Lord Privy Seal's servant' also received one (a servant of Thomas Cromwell). Here's the full list: 'A catalogue of "brouches of gold," some given to Mr. Thomas Seamowre, Mr. Hennage, Guilliam the brotherer, Cutberd the King's poticarie, the lady Shelston, Palmer the lord Privy Seal's servant, Fras. Elmam, Eliz. Cavindishe, Dr. Benteley, Dr. Augustine, Mr. Russell, Mr. Browne, Mr. Carowe, lord Zouche, Mr. Pownes, Ant. Denny, lady Musgrave, Cruche, the lady Grey, Mrs. Eliz. Darsye, lady Elizabeth at New year's day'. Jane also gifted gold buttons, bracelets and chains to members of her household and to people present at court, although these are not individually detailed in the publication, at least as it appears in the transcript of Letters and Papers.

Gifts of jewels were important, and could be given to gain trust, support and promote friendship. Jane's widespread giving of items to the apothecary, ladies of the court and servants of important men suggest that she was likely working to secure backing as a relatively new queen in a turbulent court. She only ruled for little over a year - from May 1536 to October 1537.

Liked this? You might also like: Will the Real Jane Seymour Please Stand Up, Who Was Henry VIII's Favourite Wife?, and Entertaining Henry VIII: His Visit to Wolf Hall in 1538.

Interested in Tudor history? You might also like my second book, Power Couples of the Tudor Era, published by Pen and Sword Books, which explores the contributions couples made to their own times as well as how they influenced our own. Edward and Anne Seymour are one of the couple explored in depth. 

Order your copy here. 

The Tudors are famous for creative expression, art and the theatre during their reigns. But the English Renaissance started a lot earlier than 1485. Find out more in my book Power Couples of the Renaissance. It features relationship dynamics that went against accepted norms of the period and power-hungry couples who ruled, fought and spread the patronage of art, science and culture across the globe during one of the most tumultuous periods of history. Find it on the Pen and Sword Books website. 

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Source: Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic. James Gairdner. Volume 12, Part 2. London, 1891. Page 340.

We live quite close to Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire (ok, a 30 minute train ride away) and although I've visited the museum when the children were little, we've never actually done the proper visit around the town. 

Henley is right on the riverside, with the Thames lapping under its bridges and against riverboat moorings. When we arrived, in February 2026, it was even more so, after a season of heavy rain causing the river to swell and trickle under the benches of The Angel pub and restaurant nearby. We had a walk around the shops, dropped off our bags at our hotel and then decided to pop out for some lunch. 

The Bull Inn by N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

We really loved the time we spent at The Bull, the food was honestly great and the staff were friendly and happy to recommend dishes we'd like, from the menu. It's just a short stroll from the river from New Street and then turn left into Bell Street. Walking this way, you really get a sense of Henley's historic past, via fifteenth century cottages Anne Boleyn's Cottage and Tudor Cottage and the other historic structures you pass as you go. Another historic pub I'd absolutely recommend. Thank you to The Bull on Bell Street for looking after us so nicely. 

Liked this? You might also like: The Stonor Family of Henley on Thames During the Wars of the Roses, The 1474 Inventory of Stonor Park and 10 Things to Know About Stratford on Avon Before You Visit.

Interested in the Wars of the Roses? My first book explores the roles of women from all sectors of fifteenth century society and the impact they had on the Wars of the Roses conflict. Many of the Stonor family from Henley on Thames are discussed, and we peer around various women's homes and surroundings through evidence in their inventories and wills. Order your copy here. 

The Bull on Bell Street was standing during an important period in the development of England's science, culture and the arts. Find out more in my book Power Couples of the Renaissance. It features relationship dynamics that went against accepted norms of the period and power-hungry couples who ruled, fought and spread the patronage of art, science and culture across the globe during one of the most tumultuous periods of history. Find it on the Pen and Sword Books website. 

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When you think of Scottish 'monsters' you probably think of Nessie, the famous aquatic beast that's supposed to dwell in the depths of Loch Ness, right? But a closer look at the country's history shows that tales of unusual animals and giant fish are far more widespread than you'd think.

As early as 1500, a man called Hutcheon Frizell in Glenconie [Glencoe?] shot at a creature while out hunting. He was on high land when he heard an unusual call, and turning, released an arrow from his bow into the animal that had made it. It squirmed with the pain, and Frizell noticed it on the ground - it had no feet but two fins on either side of its body as it lay among the heather. It also had a tail and 'a terrible head', and his hunting dogs refused to go near it. He was convinced that he had caught a dragon. Frizell's description does bring to mind the characteristics of something the shape of a dolphin, which is known to venture into local shores but there is no explanation as to why it was on high ground or considered unusual enough to have been thought of at the time as a dragon.

Just ten years later, another creature was seen in a loch in Argyll. This time, a knight named Duncan Campbell claimed to have witnessed in 1510 a ‘terrible beast... of the bigness of a greyhound, and footed like a gander. Issuing out of the water early in the morning about midsummer,’ he ‘did very easily and without any force or straining of himself, overthrow huge oaks with his tail, and therewith killed outright three men that hunted him with three strokes of his said tail, the rest of them saving themselves in trees thereabouts, whilst the aforesaid monster returned to the water. Those that are given to the observation of rare and uncouth sights, believe that this beast is never seen but against some great trouble and mischief to come upon the realm of Scotland.’ The identity of the animal is certainly a mystery even today.

Residents living close to Loch Fyne in 1570 also believed the sighting of a 'monster' was an omen of future worrying events. They swore they'd seen a 'monstrous fish' that could stand above the water 'as high as the mast of a ship'. The creature was reported to have had two crowns, one large and one small, on its head. In an age where almost anything unusual was taken as a sign of prophecy, locals insisted that its appearance heralded 'sudden alteration within this realm'. The period was certainly turbulent, with changes of government, the fall of Mary Queen of Scots and religious change in the Scottish kingdom and residents must have feared for what the future might bring.

Saunders, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Ralph Holinshed, the Tudor chronicler, noted in 1577 in the Firth of Forth ‘sundry fishes of a monstrous shape, with cowls hanging over their heads like unto monks, and in the rest resembling the body of man. They show themselves above the water to the navel, howbeit they never appear but against some great pestilence of men or murrain of cattle; wherefore their only sight doth breed great terror to the Scottish nation, who are very great observers of uncouth signs and tokens.’

Another unusual animal was noted in 1635, during the reign of Charles I, in the River Don of Aberdeenshire. It actually seems very similar by its description to that seen by residents in 1577 at the Firth of Forth. 'There was seen in the water of Don a monster-like beast, having the head like to one great mastiff dog or swine, and hands, arms, and paps like to a man. The paps seemed to be white. It had hair on the head, and the hinder parts, seen sometimes above the water, seemed clubbish, short-legged, and short-footed, with one tail. This monster was seen swimming bodily above the water about ten hours in the morning, and continued all day visible, swimming above and below the bridge without any fear. The townspeople came out in great multitudes to see this monster. Some threw stones; some shot guns and pistols; and the salmon-fishers rowed cobles with nets to catch it, but all in vain. It never shrinked nor feared, but would duck under the water, snorting and bullering, terrible to the hearers and beholders. It remained two days, and was seen no more.’ Robert Chambers, writing of events in Scotland's history, offered the explanation that locals here had seen a lost manatee. 'The manatees haunt the mouths of rivers in the hottest parts of the Atlantic Ocean, and it is just possible that a stray individual may have found its way to the coast of Scotland, more especially as it was the summer season', he wrote in 1885. Manatees certainly have facial features that resemble a mastiff dog or even a pig, and as it moved quickly through the water, its fins might have been interpreted as arms from the distance to the shore. It may also have been a manatee that locals also saw in 1577, based on Holinshed's similar account. 

Enjoyed this? You might also like Urquhart Castle in Scotland, The Coronation of Anne of Denmark Queen of Scotland and Elspeth M'Ewan, the 'witch' of Balmaclellan.

Source: Domestic Annals of Scotland, Robert Chambers. 1885.

My friend and I took a drive out to Yattendon, mostly for the breakfast at the local cafe called The Pantry in the village, but also to see if we could visit the church for a little historic sightseeing. There's a little car parking area opposite the pub, and from there you can see what looks like a market cross. Standing at The Pantry facing the pub, you turn right, and in a couple of minutes you arrive at the beautiful church of St Peter and St Paul. 

Yattendon was a busy place back in the medieval period. It was among the lands held by the crown in Saxon times, and was owned by King Alfred's wife Ealhswith. After the Norman invasion it was mentioned in Domesday Book in 1086, and William the Conqueror granted it to the de la Beche family of nearby Aldworth. Yattendon was granted its own market in 1258, later confirmed to John de la Beche in 1319. Eventually, the manor passed into the hands of the Norreys family, and Sir John Norreys built a Manor House in the fifteenth century, along with much of the medieval foundations of the church that survives today in around 1450.

The medieval church, like so many of Berkshire's local churches, was restored in the nineteenth century. Yattendon was rebuilt in 1858, and Alfred Waterhouse, the architect responsible for many of these churches, is buried inside. A monument opposite the door remembers him as a man of the parish. Waterhouse is believed to have conducted Victorian additions to the building here in 1881-1896. The medieval walls were built in flint stone, although the tower was restored and rebuilt over the centuries. 

Yattendon Church, Jo Romero

Quite often in these 'restored' churches of the Victorian era you still see medieval brasses, effigies and other visible traces of the older church. Here, most of the inside looks nineteenth century or later. The font, usually pretty ancient, dates to the 1800s or later, and there are no medieval wall paintings or other visible monuments. Ashmole however, in his History and Antiquities of Berkshire, mentions seeing a 'kneeling figure of a knight, his two wives, sons and daughters, and part of an inscription'. Sadly, I could find no trace of it inside. Ashmole recorded some of the inscription of the monument, revealing that it belonged to John Norreys, the founder of the medieval church. 

There's a beautiful timber ceiling inside, and some stained glass windows. The door of the church looks pretty ancient, older even than the 1800s to me, and has an interesting decorative knocker with series of lines etched into it. A visitor to the church in 1915 made a note of the bells in the tower, which dated to 1627, 1653, 1656, 1660 and 1756. An earlier bell was believed to have been added in the reign of Henry VI, dating it to John Norreys' work on the church in 1450. The bell was engraved with Henry's symbol of a leopard, and fleur de lys patterns. 

There are various monuments to the Norreys and Bertie families who have lived in the village for centuries, and on the internal wall near the bell tower are monuments with the dates 1711 and 1732. Our visitor of 1911 also noted a south doorway which is part of the pre-existing medieval church. They state: 

'The south doorway within a porch has been almost entirely renewed. It is square-headed. The door is old with the original lock, and a very good iron escutcheon above. The tower was re-built in 1896, but the west doorway was preserved. It is a good specimen of 15th century work with a label terminating in circles enclosing roses.'

I didn't find any medieval brasses or monuments to go home and research for my Forgotten History series on Substack, but Yattendon church is really beautiful and worth a visit. There's an old and gnarly yew tree in the churchyard, an organ inside, and the church is really well kept. There are some hints of the previous medieval church, but the overall look on the inside is Victorian. Definitely worth a visit though, and I can recommend The Pantry as a lovely place to stop for a bite, too.

Liked this? You might also like Tudor Power Couple: Elizabeth and George Forster, Aldermaston and Julius Palmer, Tudor Martyr of Newbury. 

Source: Visit in February 2026, and Ditchfield, Rev. P. H. The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Archaeological Journal, 1915. Published by Slaughter, London.