King Richard III remains found

 

"A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!"!"
DNA tests have just confirmed that remains found buried underneath a parking lot in England are those of King Richard III.

King Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in central England in 1485 and his bones ended up in a Franciscan friary known as Greyfriars, located in the centre of Leicester. A team from the city's university began excavating the site last month and said they had discovered a skeleton with wounds apparently sustained in combat, which they believed might be that of the last English king to die in battle. Richard's two-year reign was the subject of one of William Shakespeare's most celebrated plays, which portrayed him as an evil, ugly hunchback, and which helped cement the public perception of him.

Now it would seem that at least some of that legend may be true, after archaeologists unearthed a fully intact skeleton of the medieval king which has a deformed spine. The skeleton was an adult male, who appeared fit and strong, but with spinal abnormalities that pointed to the fact that he had severe scoliosis, a form of spinal curvature. This would have made his right shoulder appear higher than his left, and in less enlightened times would almost certainly have been cause for him being nicknamed a "hunchback".

Richard III ruled England between 1483 and 1485, during the decades-long tussle over the throne known as the Wars of the Roses.

http://www2.le.ac.uk/news/blog/2013/february/it2019s-him-university-announces-discovery-of-king-richard-iii

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/21261553

Ward Acres

 

original Ward home

original barn complex

Once used for breeding race horses, Hillanddale Farm in New Rochelle, NY was on 62 acres of land owned by the Ward family of Wonder Bread fame in the early 1900’s. The shingle style barn was built in 1906 and was at the time a state-of-the-art 15,000 sq. ft. barn complex with 3 stables, 2 apartments, a large paddock and a blacksmith shop. The land is now used for a school, community gardens and a dog park. I often walk by these ruins with my dog Pippa and was curious about the history.

A walk through time in London

I thought these photos were amazing and show a fantastic contrasting view of the modern world with the past. After seeing the work of photographer C.A. Matthew in London, photographer Adam Tuck was inspired to revisit the locations of the pictures taken a century ago. Blending his current photographs from 2012 with those from 1912, he has created a new series of compelling images. The people of today co-exist in the same space with people of the past and the photographs capture time passing during the last one hundred years.

One Saturday in 1912, C.A.Mathew walked out of Liverpool St Station with a camera in hand. No-one knows for certain why he chose to wander through the streets of Spitalfields London taking photographs that day. How populated his photos are. The streets were fuller in those days. It is a joy to see so many children playing in the street, a sight no longer to be seen in many parts of London. 

From Tuck's website: This project sought to illustrate the continuing influence of a territory's past upon its present. C A Mathew's photography of East London's Spitalfields in 1912 (used courtesy of the Bishopsgate Institute) have been blended with shots retaken at the same spots in 2012, to create the illusion of people and elements interacting across the century.

Photographs and original text from: http://spitalfieldslife.com
Photographer Adam Tuck's website: http://www.abaculus.co.uk
For more original images: http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/04/20/c-a-mathew-photographer-2/

Veterans Day

 

Remembering all of my relatives that sacrificed for us; some I knew and others were before my time.
http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/holidays/vetsday/vetshist.html
http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/pcoll/civilwar/index.html