oldexeterinnAuthor & Historian plays Sir Walter’s mother and brings him with her. In part!
ITV popped in to the Old Exeter Inn to speak with Devon author and historian, Rosemary Griggs who was launching her new book, A Woman of Noble Wit. Rosemary decided to come to the Old Exeter for reasons that will be rather obvious when you read on!
Her novel tells the story of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother, and features many of the county’s well-loved places.
“Set against the turbulent background of a Devon rocked by the religious and social changes that shaped Tudor England; a Devon of privateers and pirates; a Devon riven by rebellions and plots, A Woman of Noble Wit tells how Katherine became the woman who would inspire her famous sons to follow their dreams. It is Tudor history seen though a woman’s eyes”
Sir Walter was beheaded at Westminster Palace Yard in 1618.
Sir Walter’s head was embalmed and carried around by his wife in a red bag
A documented reference from the day of his execution noted that Lady Raleigh and her ladies left the scene carrying Sir Walter’s head in a red bag. It was said that she had her husband’s head embalmed and carried it around with her for the rest of her life. Read more about Sir Walter Raleigh here.
Rosemary has been researching Devon’s sixteenth-century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretched far beyond the West Country. She loves telling the stories of the forgotten women of history — the women beyond the royal court; wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who played their part during those tumultuous Tudor years: the Daughters of Devon.
Rosemary creates and wears sixteenth-century clothing, a passion which complements her love for bringing the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history and re-enactment. Her appearances and talks for museums and community groups all over the West Country draw on her extensive research into sixteenth-century Devon, Tudor life and Tudor dress, particularly Elizabethan.
Out of costume, Rosemary leads heritage tours of the gardens at Dartington Hall, a fourteenth-century manor house and now a visitor destination and charity supporting learning in arts and ecology.
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