ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

The little parish church of St Mary the Virgin at Speen, Berkshire is the closest church to Benham Place, and it was at this tiny ancient Norman church that the Craven family used to attend services when they were in residence on the estate. When Elizabeth Craven returned to Benham with her second husband, the Margrave of Ansbach, they would also attend church, in the correct expected manner. The Margrave was a good Protestant and there was no problem with him fitting in. The church has many fine memorials that testify to the history of the parish.  This wonderful Tudor monument is the tomb of Sir John Castillion, the lord of the manor in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He lies on it in full armour, indicating his rank as knight, though his services to the crown lay more in the direction of teaching Italian and later acting as an ambassador. Elizabeth Craven studied Italian herself, like the Tudor Princess, and even translated Italian poetry into English. This ...

If you go to Hamstead Marshall, near Newbury, in Berkshire, you will see a pair of enigmatic gateposts standing in the middle of what looks like open farmland. They lead nowhere, and the effect is surreal. There are seven other pairs of gateposts of similar style in the locality, giving a clue to the existence of a now-vanished house and park. In fact there have been many buildings on this site, including a mediaeval castle. The name comes from the Marshall family who owned it in the reign of Henry II. In 1550, Edward VI gave the estate to his sister, the young Princess Elizabeth.  There are some scandalous rumours that the Tudor house was a hiding-place for a secret love-child the Queen bore in her youth, but this is probably legend. Elizabeth I when a Princess   c.1546. Did she have a secret love-child  at Hampstead Marshall? After she came to the throne, the Queen gave Hamstead to  Sir Thomas Parry, formerly her bursar, who built a new reside...