We’re extremely excited to announce that Dr Rachel Delman will be joining Placecloud as our latest expert. Rachel is a late medieval historian at the University of York. She specialises in women’s and gender history, material culture, and the built environment. Rachel holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford and was formerly a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Alongside her academic work, Rachel frequently collaborates with heritage partners to tell more diverse stories at historic sites and properties.
Rachel’s viewpoints will look at late medieval women’s connections to London’s buildings and places.
Margaret of Anjou and Greenwich Palace
The seventeenth-century Queen’s House at Greenwich is a popular visitor attraction, but few know that the first queen made her mark at Greenwich two centuries earlier. This viewpoint explores the ‘lost’ palace of one of England’s most infamous queens, Margaret of Anjou, which now lies buried beneath the Old Royal Naval College.
The Silkwomen of Soper Lane
Young girls came to London from all over England to work on Soper Lane as silkwomen. Silkwomen were skilled practitioners who made items of silk, from braids laces, ribbons and buttons to veils, gloves and kerchiefs. This viewpoint explores their lives and craft.
Margaret Pole and Le Herber
Beheaded at the Tower of London in 1541, Margaret Pole is one of the most famous martyrs in English History. During her lifetime, she was one of the richest magnates in England and had several properties befitting her wealth and status. This viewpoint discusses her Thames-side residence, the Erber, which stood on Dowgate Street.
Cecily Neville and Baynards Castle
Cecily Neville was the mother of two kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III. Her Thameside residence at Baynard’s Castle was a hive of royal activity. This viewpoint discusses her Castle and daily life in her household.
Syon Abbey
Founded in 1415 by Henry V, the double monastery of Syon became a spiritual powerhouse until the Reformation. This viewpoint discusses the life of the nuns who lived there, and some of the laywomen who came into contact with them, including Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII.
The Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital
This viewpoint discusses the Augustinian Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital, which once stood on Bishopsgate street.
Halliwell Priory
This viewpoint discusses the history of Haliwell Priory, a house of Augustinian nuns which stood in Shoreditch. In particular, it looks at the living arrangements made between one of the Prioresses, Elizabeth Prudde, and a vowess named Alice Hampton in 1492.
Agnes Forster and the rebuilding of Ludgate Prison
This viewpoint looks at the building activities of Agnes Forster, the widow of a London mayor, who reformed Ludgate Prison.
Isabel Flemyng
This viewpoint discusses the domestic life of a wealthy gentlewoman, Isabel Flemyng, whose memorial can be seen in St Mary’s Church, Addington, and who owned houses in both Addington and Lewisham.
The Bell-Founders of St Botolph’s
This viewpoint discusses two women who ran bell-founding workshops in the fifteenth-century parish of St Botolph Aldgate.