Author: Graham Evans

Eleanor of Aquitaine – Sara Cockerill

We round off the year with the return after too many years of Sara Cockerill, the “Queen of the Eleanors”. This time she is coming to talk to us about the other one – the one not connected with our Cross. Married to two kings and mother of two more, Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in medieval Europe. To say that she had an eventful life would be a serious misunderstanding.

NB Delapre Abbey will be hosting its annual “Winter Light Trail”. Parking is still free for NBS members, but allow yourself extra time to park, and be sure to tell the parking stewards you are attending the NBS meeting. Society members should carry their membership cards in case they asked to provide proof. Non-members should have their tickets to hand.

Tickets are now available on the Society’s Ticket Source page:  https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/northantsbattles . These are free to Northamptonshire Battlefields Society members, £5 to non-members. Talks are held at Delapre Abbey. Doors open about 7:00pm, with the meeting starting at 7:30pm. Entry is through the Orangerie Restaurant. 

Tea and coffee will be available before hand, provided by the Abbey volunteers. Please make an appropriate donation.

These tickets are for personal attendance at Delapre Abbey ONLY. Members joining in by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.

The Spendthrift Election – Graham Evans

NB THIS MEETING STARTS AT 7:00PM TO ACCOMMOIDATE THE SOCIETY’S AGM

October’s meeting sees us go back to the riotous political scene of the 18th century, when a man was proud to stand up and say who he voted for. As long as his wife, landlord and patron agreed. Northampton’s famous election in 1768 became a by word for corruption, excess and violent behaviour as three noble lords struggled to dominate the borough their candidates elected. Can Society Chair Graham Evans make sense of it all? He’ll give it a go, as he tries to explain what really happened on a very different battleground.

Tickets are now available on the Society’s Ticket Source page: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/northantsbattles . These are free to Northamptonshire Battlefields Society members, £5 to non-members. Talks are held at Delapre Abbey. Doors open about 6:30pm, with the meeting starting at 7:00pm. There is ample free parking on site. Entry is through the Orangerie Restaurant. 

Tea and coffee will be available before hand, provided by the Abbey volunteers. Please make an appropriate donation.

These tickets are for personal attendance at Delapre Abbey ONLY. Members joining in by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.

Those who came on the walks on 24th July and 13th September this year will know that there is work going on within the bounds of the Registered Battlefield of Edgcote. This involves the burying of a large area of the medieval battlefield under an enormous pile of waste soil generated by the construction of HS2 in the area. I will be appearing on the BBC Radio Northampton breakfast show just after 7am on Thursday, 18th September, to discuss what has happened and what could be done about it.

Update: The interview on the radio is now available on catch up. I am on at 7:10am. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002j7vw

The BBC also ran an article on the Northamptonshire local news section: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qnxwewelpo

Graham Evans
Chair, Northamptonshire Battlefields Society

NBS Chair, Graham Evans, points at the large mound of earth on the Culworth side of the battlefield during the recent walk.

The size of the mound is much clearer from this picture, taken from near the tree in the middle of the previous photo. The fence line across the middle is closer to the natural ground level.

For our September meeting we welcome Charles Cordell, author of the “Divided Kingdom” series of novels, the most recent of which features characters from Northampton. Charles will be discussing how he goes about meeting the challenges of writing historical fiction, how he does his research and the trials and tribulations of getting published.

Tickets are now available on the Society’s Ticket Source page: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/northantsbattles . These are free to Northamptonshire Battlefields Society members, £5 to non-members. Talks are held at Delapre Abbey. Doors open about 7pm, with the meeting starting at 7:30pm. There is ample free parking on site. Entry is through the Orangerie Restaurant. 

Tea and coffee will be available before hand, provided by the Abbey volunteers. Please make an appropriate donation.

These tickets are for personal attendance at Delapre Abbey ONLY. Members joining in by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.

July’s talk is by Simon Marsh of the Battlefields Trust. Simon has published detailed research into the artillery train of the Earl of Essex, and his book “The Trayne of Artillery 1642-1646: Ordnance and associated capabilities of English armies during the First Civil War” will be published by Helion in December this year. Simon’s research into this often neglected aspect of the Civil Wars enables him to give us a unique insight into its operations and effectiveness.

Tickets are now available on the Society’s Ticket Source page: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/northantsbattles . These are free to Northamptonshire Battlefields Society members, £5 to non-members. Talks are held at Delapre Abbey. Doors open about 7pm, with the meeting starting at 7:30pm. There is ample free parking on site. Entry is through the Orangerie Restaurant. 

Tea and coffee will be available before hand, provided by the Abbey volunteers. Please make an appropriate donation.

These tickets are for personal attendance at Delapre Abbey ONLY. Members joining in by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.

This is what we’re up to in July, in addition to our monthly talk, on the 31st. This is “Artillery in Battle during the British Civil Wars” and is being given by Simon Marsh of the Battlefields Trust. Tickets for the talk are now available on our Ticket Source Page: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/northantsbattles

June’s meeting features the return of Major Tom Mouat MBE. Tom is a graduate of the Army Staff college and has served in the Army since 1977. He spent 12 months in Bosnia with IFOR, for which he was awarded the MBE. On his last visit he spoke about his experiences during his deployment. This time he will be talking about his time spent in Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein, where he was involved in training the new Iraqi forces. This will be a unique experience to hear the inside story of “The War on Terror”.

Tickets are now available on the Society’s Ticket Source page: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/northantsbattles . These are free to Northamptonshire Battlefields Society members, £5 to non-members. Talks are held at Delapre Abbey. Doors open about 7pm, with the meeting starting at 7:30pm. There is ample free parking on site. Entry is through the Orangerie Restaurant. NB In a change to normal this meeting will be held in the Billiard Room.

Tea and coffee will be available before hand, provided by the Abbey volunteers. Please make an appropriate donation.

These tickets are for personal attendance at Delapre Abbey ONLY. Members joining in by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.

The Battle of Tewkesbury

This month we welcome Richard Goddard, Chair of the Tewkesbury Battlefield Society to talk to us about the climactic battle of the Wars of the Roses, which ushered in 14 years of peace and Yorkist control. TBS is one of the longest standing battlefield societies in England, and do excellent work commemorating and campaigning for their local battlefield.

Tickets are now available on the Society’s Ticket Source page: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/northantsbattles . These are free to Northamptonshire Battlefields Society members, £5 to non-members. Talks are held at Delapre Abbey. Doors open about 7pm, with the meeting starting at 7:30pm. There is ample free parking on site. Entry is through the Orangerie Restaurant.

Tea and coffee will be available before hand, provided by the Abbey volunteers. Please make an appropriate donation.

These tickets are for personal attendance at Delapre Abbey ONLY. Members joining in by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.

The Northamptonshire Regiment in the Great War – Mike Price

During the Great War local rugby star Edgar Mobbs became the focal point for the raising of a New Army battalion following Lord Kitchener’s appeal for volunteers. This lead to the formation of the 7th Service Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment, or “Mobbs’ Own”. From their arrival in France in 1915 to the Armistice in 1918 the battalion took part in all the major battles on the Western Front.

Our speaker is Mike Price who is a member of the Western Front Association. He will take us through the poignant story of the battalion’s recruitment and subsequent experiences.

Tickets are now available on the Society’s Ticket Source page: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/northantsbattles . These are free to Northamptonshire Battlefields Society members, £5 to non-members. Talks are held at Delapre Abbey. Doors open about 7pm, with the meeting starting at 7:30pm. There is ample free parking on site. Entry is through the Orangerie Restaurant.

Tea and coffee will be available before hand, provided by the Abbey volunteers. Please make an appropriate donation.

These tickets are for personal attendance at Delapre Abbey ONLY. Members joining in by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.