Pembroke Castle
Pembroke Castle is a medieval castle in Pembroke, Wales. The castle was the original family seat of the Earldom of Pembroke. A Grade I listed building since 1951, it underwent major restoration during the early 20th century. In 1093, Arnulf of Montgomery built the first castle at the site when he fortified the promontory beside the Pembroke River during the Norman invasion of Wales. A century the castle was given by Richard I to William Marshal, who became one of the most powerful men in 12th-century Britain, he rebuilt Pembroke in stone creating most of the structure. The castle is the largest privately-owned castle in Wales; the castle is sited on a strategic rocky promontory by the Milford Haven Waterway. The first fortification on the site was a Norman motte-and-bailey, it had a timber palisade. In 1189, Pembroke Castle was acquired by William Marshal; the Earl Marshal set about turning the earth and wood fort into an impressive Norman stone castle. The inner ward, constructed first, contains the huge round keep with its domed roof.
Its original first-floor entrance was through an external stairwell. Inside, a spiral stairwell connected its four stories; the keep's domed roof has several putlog holes that supported a wooden fighting-platform. If the castle was attacked, the hoarding allowed defenders to go out beyond the keep's massive walls above the heads of the attackers; the inner ward's curtain wall had a large horseshoe-shaped gateway. But only a thin wall was required along the promontory; this section of wall has a square stone platform. Domestic buildings including William Marshal's Great Hall and private apartments were within the inner ward; the 13th Century keep. In the late 13th century, additional buildings were added to the inner ward including a new Great Hall. A 55-step spiral stairwell was created that led down to a large limestone cave, known as Wogan Cavern, beneath the castle; the cave, created by natural water erosion, was fortified with a wall, barred gateway and arrowslits. It may have served as a boathouse or a sallyport to the river where cargo or people could have been transferred.
The outer ward was defended by a large twin-towered gatehouse and several round towers. The outer wall is 5 metres thick in places and constructed from Siltstone ashlar. Although Pembroke Castle is a Norman-style enclosure castle with great keep, it can be more described as a linear fortification because, like the 13th-century castles at Caernarfon and Conwy, it was built on a rock promontory surrounded by water; this meant. Architecturally, Pembroke's thickest walls and towers are all concentrated on its landward side facing the town with Pembroke River creating a natural defense around the rest of its perimeter. Pembroke Castle stands on a site, occupied since at least the Roman period. Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury founded the first castle here in the 11th century. Although only made from earth and wood, Pembroke Castle resisted several Welsh attacks and sieges over the next 30 years; the castle was established at the heart of the Norman-controlled lands of southwest Wales.. Arnulf de Montgomery appointed Gerald de Windsor as his castellan at Pembroke.
When William Rufus died, Arnulf de Montgomery joined his elder brother, Robert of Bellême, in rebellion against Henry I, William's successor as king. Henry appointed his own castellan, but when the chosen ally turned out to be incompetent, the King re-appointed Gerald in 1102. By 1138 King Stephen had given Pembroke Castle to Gilbert de Clare who used it as an important base in the Norman invasion of Ireland. In August 1189 Richard I arranged the marriage of Isabel, de Clare's granddaughter, to William Marshal who received both the castle and the title, Earl of Pembroke, he had the castle rebuilt in stone. Marshal was succeeded by each of his five sons, his third son, Gilbert Marshal, was responsible for enlarging and further strengthening the castle between 1234 and 1241. All of Marshal's sons died childless. In 1247, the castle was inherited by William de Valence, who had become Earl of Pembroke through his marriage to Joan de Munchensi, William Marshal's granddaughter; the de Valence family held Pembroke for 70 years.
During this time, the town was fortified with three main gates and a postern. Pembroke Castle became de Valence's military base for fighting the Welsh princes, during the conquest of North Wales by Edward I between 1277 and 1295. On the death of Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, William de Valence's son, the castle passed through marriage to the Hastings family. In 1389, 17-year-old John Hastings died in a jousting accident ending a line of inheritance stretching back 250 years. Pembroke Castle reverted to Richard II. Short tenancies were granted by The Crown for its ownership. By 1400 Owain Glyndŵr had begun a rebellion in Wales; however Pembroke escaped attack because the castle's Constable, Francis а Court, paid off Glyndŵr in gold. In 1452, the castle and the earldom were presented to Jasper Tudor by his half-brother Henry VI. Tudor brought his widowed sister-in-law, Margaret Beaufort, to Pembroke where in 1457 she gave birth to her only child, to become the future King Henry VII of England.
In the 15th and 16th centuries the castle was a place of peace until the outbreak of the English Civil War. Although most of South Wale
Nobility
Nobility is a social class ranked under royalty and found in some societies that have a formal aristocracy. Nobility possesses more acknowledged privileges and higher social status than most other classes in society; the privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be honorary, vary by country and era. As referred to in the Medieval chivalric motto "noblesse oblige", nobles can carry a lifelong duty to uphold various social responsibilities, such as honorable behavior, customary service, or leadership positions. Membership in the nobility, including rights and responsibilities, is hereditary. Membership in the nobility has been granted by a monarch or government, unlike other social classes where membership is determined by wealth, lifestyle, or affiliation. Nonetheless, acquisition of sufficient power, military prowess, or royal favour has enabled commoners to ascend into the nobility. There are a variety of ranks within the noble class.
Legal recognition of nobility has been more common in monarchies, but nobility existed in such regimes as the Dutch Republic, the Republic of Genoa, the Republic of Venice, the Old Swiss Confederacy, remains part of the legal social structure of some non-hereditary regimes, e.g. Channel Islands, San Marino, the Vatican City in Europe. Hereditary titles and styles added to names, as well as honorifics distinguish nobles from non-nobles in conversation and written speech. In many nations most of the nobility have been un-titled, some hereditary titles do not indicate nobility; some countries have had non-hereditary nobility, such as the Empire of Brazil or life peers in the United Kingdom. The term derives from the abstract noun of the adjective nobilis. In ancient Roman society, nobiles originated as an informal designation for the political governing class who had allied interests, including both patricians and plebeian families with an ancestor who had risen to the consulship through his own merit.
In modern usage, "nobility" is applied to the highest social class in pre-modern societies, excepting the ruling dynasty. In the feudal system, the nobility were those who held a fief land or office, under vassalage, i.e. in exchange for allegiance and various military, services to a suzerain, who might be a higher-ranking nobleman or a monarch. It came to be seen as a hereditary caste, sometimes associated with a right to bear a hereditary title and, for example in pre-revolutionary France, enjoying fiscal and other privileges. While noble status conferred significant privileges in most jurisdictions, by the 21st century it had become a honorary dignity in most societies, although a few, residual privileges may still be preserved and some Asian and African cultures continue to attach considerable significance to formal hereditary rank or titles. Nobility is a historical and legal notion, differing from high socio-economic status in that the latter is based on income, possessions or lifestyle.
Being wealthy or influential cannot ipso facto make one noble, nor are all nobles wealthy or influential. Various republics, including former Iron Curtain countries, Greece and Austria have expressly abolished the conferral and use of titles of nobility for their citizens; this is distinct from countries which have not abolished the right to inherit titles, but which do not grant legal recognition or protection to them, such as Germany and Italy, although Germany recognizes their use as part of the legal surname. Still other countries and authorities allow their use, but forbid attachment of any privilege thereto, e.g. Finland and the European Union, while French law protects lawful titles against usurpation. Although many societies have a privileged upper class with substantial wealth and power, the status is not hereditary and does not entail a distinct legal status, nor differentiated forms of address. Not all of the benefits of nobility derived from noble status per se. Privileges were granted or recognised by the monarch in association with possession of a specific title, office or estate.
Most nobles' wealth derived from one or more estates, large or small, that might include fields, orchards, hunting grounds, etc. It included infrastructure such as castle and mill to which local peasants were allowed some access, although at a price. Nobles were expected to live "nobly", that is, from the proceeds of these possessions. Work involving manual labour or subordination to those of lower rank was either forbidden or frowned upon socially. On the other hand, membership in the nobility was a prerequisite for holding offices of trust in the realm and for career promotion in the military, at court and the higher functions in the government and church. Prior to the French Revolution, European nobles commanded tribute in the form of entitlement to cash rents or usage taxes, labour or a portion of the annual crop yield from commoners or no
Elizabeth Woodville
Elizabeth Woodville was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. At the time of her birth, her family was mid-ranked in the English aristocracy. Elizabeth's first marriage was to a minor supporter of the House of Lancaster, Sir John Grey of Groby, her second marriage, to Edward IV, was a cause célèbre of the day, thanks to Elizabeth's great beauty and lack of great estates. Edward was the first king of England since the Norman Conquest to marry one of his subjects, Elizabeth was the first such consort to be crowned queen, her marriage enriched her siblings and children, but their advancement incurred the hostility of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick,'The Kingmaker', his various alliances with the most senior figures in the divided royal family. This hostility turned into open discord between King Edward and Warwick, leading to a battle of wills that resulted in Warwick switching allegiance to the Lancastrian cause, to the execution of Elizabeth's father Richard Woodville in 1469.
After the death of her husband in 1483 Elizabeth remained politically influential after her son proclaimed King Edward V of England, was deposed by her brother-in-law, Richard III. Edward and his younger brother Richard both disappeared soon afterwards and are presumed to have been murdered on Richard's orders. Elizabeth would subsequently play an important role in securing the accession of Henry VII in 1485. Henry married her daughter Elizabeth of York, ended the Wars of the Roses and established the Tudor dynasty. Through her daughter, Elizabeth was the grandmother of the future Henry VIII. Elizabeth was forced to yield pre-eminence to Henry's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, her influence on events in these years, her eventual departure from court into retirement, remains obscure. Elizabeth Woodville was born about 1437 in October, at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, she was the first-born child of a unequal marriage between Sir Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, which scandalised the English court.
The Woodvilles, though an old and respectable family, were gentry rather than noble, a landed and wealthy family that had produced commissioners of the peace, MPs rather than peers of the realm. In about 1452, Elizabeth Woodville married Sir John Grey of Groby, the heir to the Barony Ferrers of Groby, he was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461. This would become a source of irony, since Elizabeth's future husband Edward IV was the Yorkist claimant to the throne. Elizabeth Woodville's two sons from this first marriage were Richard. Elizabeth Woodville was called "the most beautiful woman in the Island of Britain" with "heavy-lidded eyes like those of a dragon." Edward IV had many mistresses, the best known of them being Jane Shore, he did not have a reputation for fidelity. His marriage to the widowed Elizabeth Woodville took place secretly and, though the date is not known, it is traditionally said to have taken place at her family home in Northamptonshire on 1 May 1464. Only the bride's mother and two ladies were in attendance.
Edward married her just over three years after he had assumed the English throne in the wake of his overwhelming victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton, which resulted in the displacement of King Henry VI. Elizabeth Woodville was crowned queen on 26 the Sunday after Ascension Day. In the early years of his reign, Edward IV's governance of England was dependent upon a small circle of supporters, most notably his cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. At around the time of Edward IV's secret marriage, Warwick was negotiating an alliance with France in an effort to thwart a similar arrangement being made by his sworn enemy Margaret of Anjou, wife of the deposed Henry VI; the plan was. When his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, both a commoner and from a family of Lancastrian supporters, became public, Warwick was both embarrassed and offended, his relationship with Edward IV never recovered; the match was badly received by the Privy Council, who according to Jean de Waurin told Edward with great frankness that "he must know that she was no wife for a prince such as himself".
With the arrival on the scene of the new queen came many relatives, some of whom married into the most notable families in England. Three of her sisters married the sons of the earls of Kent and Pembroke. Another sister, Catherine Woodville, married the queen's 11-year-old ward Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who joined Edward IV's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in opposition to the Woodvilles after the death of Edward IV. Elizabeth's 20-year-old brother John married Katherine, Duchess of Norfolk; the Duchess had been widowed three times and was in her sixties, which created a scandal at court. Elizabeth's son from her first marriage, Thomas Grey, married Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington; when Elizabeth Woodville's relatives her brother Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, began to challenge Warwick's pre-eminence in English political society, Warwick conspired with his son-in-law George, Duke of Clarence, the king's younger brother. One of his followers accused Elizabeth Woodville's mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, of practising witchcraft.
She was acquit
Midhurst
Midhurst is a market town and civil parish in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother 20 miles inland from the English Channel, 12 miles north of the county town of Chichester; the name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 as Middeherst, meaning "Middle wooded hill", or " among the wooded hills". It derives from the Old English words midd or mid, meaning "in the middle", plus hyrst, "a wooded hill"; the Norman St. Ann's Castle dates from about 1120, although the foundations are all that can now be seen; the castle, the parish church of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Denis, together with South Pond, the former fish-pond for the castle, are the only three structures left from this early period; the parish church is the oldest building in Midhurst. Just across the River Rother, in the parish of Easebourne, is the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House; the former Parliamentary Constituency of Midhurst is now an electoral ward of the Parliamentary Constituency of Chichester, has been represented in the House of Commons since 2017 by Conservative MP Gillian Keegan.
Midhurst is part of the Chichester District of West Sussex County, governed by the Chichester District Council and West Sussex County Council respectively. Midhurst is represented by two councillors on the Chichester District Council, both of them Independent; the Midhurst Town Council comprises 15 directly elected members. The May 2015 election was uncontested as there were 13 nominations for the 15 seats, therefore 2 vacancies. Four of these were women. Various changes have occurred since the election; the Council is led by a Chairperson nominated by the councillors from among themselves. The Council is supported by a staff of two: an Assistant Town Clerk. There are three Council Committees: Finance and Policy, Community and Environment and Planning and Infrastructure, which has an advisory function only to the principal planning authorities; the times and dates of meetings, the minutes of meetings and other information is available on the Town Council website. The Midhurst Town Council organises a community street party every December, an annual "Midhurst in Bloom" competition, a carnival parade on August Bank Holiday, to coincide with the Grand Finale of the MADhurst Festival, a "Spring Clean-up" around the town.
The council is responsible for the town recreation ground and the town cemetery, provides grants to various local clubs and organisations. In 2014 the Town Council moved from its former offices in Capron House on North Street to the Old Library building on Knockhundred Row; the building is leased from the West Sussex County Council, with a view to its eventual purchase by the Town Council. Midhurst is a market town servicing its rural hinterland through many small businesses, shops and cafes, its primary economic activities, in terms of employment, are wholesale and retail businesses including motor mechanics, hotels and drink and office administration. In 2011 it had a population of 4,914, comprising 2,434 households and 3,477 economically active residents. Of the 1,027 economically inactive residents, 673 were retirees. Between 1913 and 1985, the Midhurst Brickworks, famous for producing "Midhurst White" bricks, was situated close to the former Midhurst Common railway station. There is an area of light industry in the south of Midhurst, between the Holmbush Estate and Little Midhurst.
The Midhurst Music and Drama Festival is an annual community event that brings together the creative, artistic & musical talent of Midhurst. It takes place at multiple venues in and around Midhurst for ten days every summer, culminating on August Bank Holiday in a Carnival Parade and Grand Finale celebration with stalls, a music festival, clowns and more at the Midhurst Sports Ground; the programme for each festival varies from year to year, but includes evening and lunchtime concerts, an art trail, an artisan fair, a'family fun day' for young children and dance performances, a local Gardeners Question Time, a short story competition and numerous workshops on creative skills, plus a range fringe events such as exhibitions, beer festivals, quiz nights, treasure trails and others. The event brings together the whole community to manage the box office, arrange workshops, help with PR and social media, provide security and everything needed for a smooth-running festival – a genuine team effort.
The Midhurst Medieval Festival takes place annually in the Old Town, in early May, featuring re-enactments, falconry and weaving demonstrations, have-a-go archery, medieval music and medieval food. The architectural heritage of Tudor and Victorian buildings in Midhurst is considerable, with 94 listed buildings; the Midhurst Society was founded in 1969 to help conserve this heritage. The Society aims to preserve and improve local features of historic or public interest, it promotes high standards of planning and architecture and seeks to enhance the local environment and amenities, in liaison with public authorities. A biannual magazine "Midhurst Magazine" is published to encourage interest in the local past and future; the Knockhundred Shuttles a Midhurst-based mixed Morris Dancing club, meets to practice, appears in numerous country festivals. The Midhurst Players present 3–4 amateur dramatic productions each year, the Midhurst Art Society and the Midhurst Camera Club each hold summer exhibitions each year, the Midhurst Ch
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London, England at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, the prison was extended and rebuilt many times, remained in use for over 700 years, from 1188 to 1902. In the early 12th century, Henry II instituted legal reforms that gave the Crown more control over the administration of justice; as part of his Assize of Clarendon of 1166, he required the construction of prisons, where the accused would stay while royal judges debated their innocence or guilt and subsequent punishment. In 1188, Newgate was the first institution established to meet that purpose. A few decades in 1236, in an effort to enlarge the prison, the king converted one of the Newgate turrets, which still functioned as a main gate into the city, into an extension of the prison; the addition included new dungeons and adjacent buildings, which would remain unaltered for two centuries.
By the 15th century, Newgate was in need of repair. Following pressure from reformers who learned that the women's quarters were too small and did not contain their own latrines – obliging women to walk through the men's quarters to reach one – officials added a separate tower and chamber for female prisoners in 1406; some Londoners bequeathed their estates to repair the prison. The building was collapsing and decaying, many prisoners were dying from the close quarters, rampant disease, bad sanitary conditions. Indeed, one year, 22 prisoners died from "gaol fever"; the situation in Newgate was so dire. The executors of Lord Mayor Dick Whittington were granted a licence to renovate the prison in 1422; the gate and gaol were rebuilt. There was a new central hall for meals, a new chapel, the creation of additional chambers and basement cells with no light or ventilation. There were three main wards: the Master’s side for those could afford to pay for their own food and accommodations, the Common side for those who were too poor, a Press Yard for special prisoners.
The king used Newgate as a holding place for heretics and rebellious subjects brought to London for trial. The prison housed both male and female debtors. Prisoners were separated into wards by gender. By the mid-15th century, Newgate could accommodate 300 prisoners. Though the prisoners lived in separate quarters, they mixed with each other and visitors to the prison; the prison was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, was rebuilt in 1672 by Sir Christopher Wren. His design extended the complex into new buildings on the south side of the street. In 1770, construction was begun to add a new sessions house. Parliament granted £50,000 towards the cost, the City of London provided land measuring 1,600 feet by 50 feet; the work followed the designs of George Dance. The new prison was constructed to an architecture terrible design intended to discourage law-breaking; the building was laid out around a central courtyard, was divided into two sections: a "Common" area for poor prisoners and a "State area" for those able to afford more comfortable accommodation.
Each section was further sub-divided to accommodate debtors. Construction of the second Newgate Prison was finished when it was stormed by a mob during the Gordon riots in June 1780; the building was gutted by fire, the walls were badly damaged. Dance’s new prison was completed in 1782. During the early 19th century the prison attracted the attention of the social reformer Elizabeth Fry, she was concerned at the conditions in which female prisoners were held. After she presented evidence to the House of Commons improvements were made. In 1858, the interior was rebuilt with individual cells; the prison closed in 1902, was demolished in 1904. All manner of criminals stayed at Newgate; some committed acts of petty crime and theft and entering homes or committing highway robberies, while others performed serious crimes such as rapes and murders. The number of prisoners in Newgate for specific types of crime grew and fell, reflecting public anxieties of the time. For example, towards the tail end of Edward I's reign, there was a rise in street robberies.
As such, the punishment for drawing out a dagger was 15 days in Newgate. Upon their arrival in Newgate, prisoners were chained and led to the appropriate dungeon for their crime. Those, sentenced to death stayed in a cellar beneath the keeper’s house an open sewer lined with chains and shackles to encourage submission. Otherwise, common debtors were sent to the "stone hall" whereas common felons were taken to the "stone hold"; the dungeons were so depraved that physicians would not enter. The conditions did not improve with time. Prisoners who could afford to purchase alcohol from the prisoner-run drinking cellar by the main entrance to Newgate remained perpetually drunk. There were lice everywhere, jailers left the prisoners chained to the wall to languish and starve; the legend of the "Black Dog", an emaciated spirit thought to represent the brutal treatment of prisoners, only served to emphasize the harsh conditions. From 1315 to 1316, 62 deaths in Newgate were under investigation by the coroner, prisoners were always desperate to leave the prison.
The cruel treatment from guards did nothing to help the unfortunate prisoners. According to medieval statute, the prison was to be managed by two annually elected sheriffs, who in turn would sublet the admi
Denbigh
Denbigh is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, of which it was the county town. The town's Welsh name translates as a reference to its historic castle. Denbigh lies near the Clwydian Hills. Denbigh Castle, together with its town walls, was built in 1282 by order of King Edward I; the Burgess Gate, whose twin towers adorn the symbol on Denbigh's civic seal, was once the main entrance into the town. The first borough charter was granted to Denbigh in 1290, when the town was still contained within the old town walls, it was the centre of the Marcher Lordship of Denbigh. The town was involved in the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294-95; the town was recaptured by Edward I in December. Denbigh was burnt in 1400 during the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr. During the Wars of the Roses, the town was destroyed, subsequently moving from the hilltop to the area of the present town market. In 1643, during the English Civil War, Denbigh became a refuge for a Royalist garrison. Surrendering in 1646, the castle and town walls fell into ruin.
The town grew around the textile industry in the 1600s, hosting specialist glovers, smiths, saddlers and tanners. Denbigh has been an important location for the agricultural industry throughout. Situated in Denbigh is Leicester's Church, an unfinished church begun in 1579 by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, Baron of Denbigh, it was planned as a cathedral with the title of city to be transferred from neighbouring St Asaph. The project ran out of money, when Robert Dudley died, the grounds were left as a ruin, are now in the care of Cadw. Denbigh was served by a railway station on the former London and North Western Railway part of the LMS; the "Vale of Clwyd" line leading north to St. Asaph and Rhyl closed in 1955, leaving Denbigh on a lengthy branch running from Chester via Mold and Denbigh to Ruthin, which closed in 1962. A southern continuation beyond Ruthin linking up with the Great Western Railway at Corwen had closed in 1952; the platform of Denbigh station can still be seen beside the road leading to the Home Bargains store.
At one time the majority of the population sought employment at the North Wales Hospital, dating back to the 1840s, cared for people with psychiatric illnesses. The hospital has since fallen into disrepair. In October 2008, a special series of episodes of Most Haunted, titled'Village of the Damned', was broadcast from the North Wales Hospital over 7 days; as of October 2018, the derelict building has passed into the ownership of Denbighshire County Council. Denbigh was served by a town cinema on Love Lane, it opened as the Scala in 1928 before being re-branded as the Wedgwood Cinema in the late 1970s. It was re-opened by Lewis Colwell in 1982 and renamed the Futura Cinema; the cinema closed in the 1990s. In 1995, Peter Moore re-opened the cinema for a short period before being arrested and convicted of the murder of four men; the video rental store closed and the building is now in ruin awaiting redevelopment. Denbigh has no permanent cinema, though Denbigh Film Club operates in Theatr Twm o'r Nant.
The population at the 2001 Census was 8,783. Attractions in the town include Denbigh Library, Denbigh Castle and the castle walls, Cae Dai 1950s museum, Theatr Twm o'r Nant, medieval parish church St Marcella's, a small shopping complex. Denbigh Boxing Club is located on Middle Lane. Denbigh Community Hospital was established in 1807. Denbigh Cricket Club is one of the oldest cricket clubs in Wales having been established in 1844; the club plays in the North Wales Cricket League. The 1st XI play in the Premier Division having won the Division 1 championship in 2010 with the 2nd XI in Division 3. For over 50 years, a barrel rolling competition has been held on Boxing Day in the town square. There are two secondary schools located in Denbigh. Denbigh High School is the larger of the two, consisting of nearly 600 pupils and 60 staff; the current headmaster is Dr. Paul Evans The school made UK headlines in 2016, when it placed over 70 pupils in isolation on the first day of term for wearing the wrong uniform.
St Bridget's is a Catholic voluntary aided school on Mold Road on the outskirts of the town which caters for pupils between the ages of 3 – 19. There is a strict admissions policy and until the school only accepted girls; the schools current headteacher is Mrs Rona Jones Both of the High Schools in Denbigh, along with Ysgol Brynhyfryd, Ysgol Glan Clwyd, Denbigh College, Llysfasi College have joined together to offer a combined 6th form under the title ‘The Dyffryn Clwyd Consortium’. Crest Mawr Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest to the north west, adjoining Denbigh Golf Club and the Tarmac Quarry, an historic and ancient deciduous woodland; this woodland is endangered due to competing land use in the area. Denbigh hosted the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1882, 1939, 2001 and 2013. Rhoda Broughton, novelist Shefali Chowdhury, notably in the Harry Potter films Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was through title, Baron of Denbigh Thomas Gee and journalist Eirian Llwyd and wife of former Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones Humphrey Llwyd, cartographer Sir Hugh Myddleton, royal jeweller and entrepreneur Thomas Myddelton, Mayor of London Kate Roberts, writer Several members of the Salusbury Family, who represented Denbigh in its vari
House of Tudor
The House of Tudor was an English royal house of Welsh origin, descended in the male line from the Tudors of Penmynydd. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including their ancestral Wales and the Lordship of Ireland from 1485 until 1603, with five monarchs in that period; the Tudors succeeded the House of Plantagenet as rulers of the Kingdom of England, were succeeded by the House of Stuart. The first Tudor monarch, Henry VII of England, descended through his mother from a legitimised branch of the English royal House of Lancaster; the Tudor family rose to power in the wake of the Wars of the Roses, which left the House of Lancaster, to which the Tudors were aligned, extinct. Henry Tudor was able to establish himself as a candidate not only for traditional Lancastrian supporters, but for the discontented supporters of their rival House of York, he rose to the throne by the right of conquest, his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field was reinforced by his marriage to the English princess Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, symbolically uniting the former warring factions under a new dynasty.
The Tudors extended their power beyond modern England, achieving the full union of England and the Principality of Wales in 1542, asserting English authority over the Kingdom of Ireland. They maintained the nominal English claim to the Kingdom of France. After him, his daughter Mary I lost control of all territory in France permanently with the fall of Calais in 1558. In total, five Tudor monarchs ruled their domains for just over a century. Henry VIII was the only son of Henry VII to live to the age of maturity. Issues around the royal succession became major political themes during the Tudor era. In 1603 when Elizabeth I died without heir, the Scottish House of Stuart supplanted the Tudors as England's royal family through the Union of the Crowns; the first Stuart to be King of England, James VI and I, descended from Henry VII's daughter Margaret Tudor, who in 1503 married James IV as part of the Treaty of Perpetual Peace. For analysis of politics and social history, see Tudor period; the Tudors descended on Henry VII's mother's side from John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, one of the illegitimate children of the 14th century English prince John of Gaunt by Gaunt's long-term mistress Katherine Swynford.
The descendants of an illegitimate child of English royalty would have no claim on the throne, but the situation became complicated when Gaunt and Swynford married in 1396, when John Beaufort was 25. The church retroactively declared the Beauforts legitimate by way of a papal bull the same year, confirmed by an Act of Parliament in 1397. A subsequent proclamation by John of Gaunt's legitimate son, Henry IV recognised the Beauforts' legitimacy but declared them ineligible to inherit the throne; the Beauforts remained allied with Gaunt's legitimate descendants from his first marriage, the House of Lancaster. However the descent from the Beauforts, despite the above, did not render Henry of Richmond a legitimate heir to the throne nor did the fact that his father's mother had been a Queen of England make him an heir; the legitimate heir, or, in this case, was the Countess of Salisbury, descended from the second son of Edward III, Duke of Clarence and his fourth son, the Duke of York. This is verified by the Tudor family tree which appears in this article.
Henry Tudor had, one thing that the others did not. He had an army which had defeated and killed the last Yorkist King, Richard III and therefore the support of powerful nobles, his son Henry VIII made sure there were no other claimants to the Throne when he wiped out all the remaining Plantagenet heirs including the Countess of Salisbury and her family the Poles. One Pole alone survived, he became Archbishop of Canterbury under the Catholic Mary I. On 1 November 1455, John Beaufort's granddaughter, Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, married Henry VI's maternal half-brother Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, it was his father, Owen Tudor, who abandoned the Welsh patronymic naming practice and adopted a fixed surname. When he did, he did not choose, as was the custom, his father's name, but chose that of his grandfather, Tudur ap Goronwy, instead; this name is sometimes given as Tewdwr, the Welsh form of Theodore, but Modern Welsh Tudur, Old Welsh Tutir is not a variant but a different and unrelated name, etymologically identical with Gaulish Toutorix, from Proto-Celtic *toutā "people, tribe" and *rīxs "king", corresponding to Germanic Theodoric.
Owen Tudor was one of the bodyguards for the queen dowager Catherine of Valois, whose husband, Henry V, had died in 1422. Evidence suggests that the two were secretly married in 1429; the two sons born of the marriage and Jasper, were among the most loyal supporters of the House of Lancaster in its struggle against the House of York. Henry VI ennobled his half-brothers: Edmund became Earl of Richmond on 15 December 1449 and was married to Lady Margaret Beaufort, the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, the progenitor of the house of Lancaster. Edmund died on 3 November 1456. On 28 January 1457, his widow Margaret, who had just attained her fourte
