Half-way house: the Stuarts at Titchfield

The ruins of Place House/Titchfield Abbey. The mansion would have evoked difficult memories for both Charles I and his eldest two sons.

Titchfield Abbey (or Place House) in Hampshire is perhaps best known for its Shakespeare associations: its owner, the Third Earl of Southampton, was the playwright's patron (and, many assume, the 'Fair Youth' to whom the majority of his sonnets are addressed), and some of the bard's plays are believed to have been performed there for the first time.

Less well-known, but no less dramatic, however, is Titchfield's association with the Stuarts ...

John Stubbs talks about Reprobates

John Stubbs talks about his book Reprobates: The Cavaliers of the English Civil War in a short BBC clip - click here to watch (from 00.45).

The work has been widely praised, though the title is slightly misleading, focusing as it does on the formative lives of the 'Cavalier poets' rather than their exploits during the war itself ...