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 ...