Two summer 2012 events: Walk, and Royal Thames Boat Trip, for Katherine and John

This year we had planned to visit Winchester for our Walk for Katherine and John. However, some of the key places we wished to visit were not be open and Kettlethorpe village fete was being held on 23 June, which is the nearest Saturday to the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist.We therefore planned two events:

• A Thames boat trip for Katherine and John on Saturday, 30 June, which went ahead;

• Walk for Katherine and John in Winchester, on a Saturday in August to be confirmed - this again had to be postponed because of the illness of the Society member who was organising it and lives locally.

Boat trip for Katherine and John

We met at 11 AM at Charing Cross Pier (very close to the site of the Savoy Palace) where we will board a Thames Clipper to travel along the Thames to Greenwich Pier. On the way we passed:

• the site of the Savoy Palace;

• the site John Beaufort's house;

• near Winchester Palace London residence of Henry Beaufort and the site of Joan Beaufort's wedding feast when she married James I Scotland;

• Southwark Cathedral (formerly Southwark Priory) burial place of the poet and friend of Chaucer John Gower;

• the site of the old London Bridge;

• Billingsgate fish market;

• the Tower of London where Robert Hales, the Lord Prior of the Knights Hospitallers of England and Lord High Treasurer of England was beheaded for being responsible for the poll tax during the peasants revolt 1381;

• St Katharine's Hospital where John Beaufort died and where his body was put on a boat to travel down the Thames en route for burial in Canterbury Cathedral.

Greenwich in mediaeval times was the site of a Royal Palace or hunting lodge - the estate is now one of the Royal Parks of London. It is where Henry IV apparently signed his will. Henry V gave the Manor to Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter - he died here in 1417. The Palace at Greenwich was built at the instigation of Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Pembroke who was the youngest son, by Mary de Bohun, of Henry IV. Humphrey gave the edifice the name Bella Court. It was named Palace of Placentia by Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI when she took it over following Humphrey's fall from grace.

Humphrey's first wife was Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut and Holland. The marriage was annulled and he married his mistress Eleanor Cobham. She was subsequently imprisoned for treasonable necromancy, eventually dying at Beaumaris Castle on the Isle of Anglesey, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge currently live. Humphrey was arrested for treason and died at Bury St Edmunds three days after his arrest allegedly from poisoning, but possibly from a stroke. He was buried in St Albans Abbey were both Blanche of Lancaster and John of Gaunt's funeral processions stopped en route to London.

Duke Humphrey's Tower was demolished and in its place the Royal Observatory, which is still there of course, was constructed.


Practicalities:

If you want to follow the route, start at Embankment Pier (Embankment or Charing Cross underground stations).

Boat tickets:
Book a River Rover ticket (as of summer 2012 the cost is £13.60, this ticket gives flexibility as to which boat you use.
https://booking.thamesclippers.com/river_roamer

The Royal River exhibition is now closed.  You can find details about visiting the museums which are on the site of Thomas Beaufort's erstwhile home here:

 

 

In 2012, our annual Walk for Katherine and John was to take place in the City of Winchester. Katherine and John's second son, Henry Beaufort, was Bishop of the Diocese of Winchester. His tomb is in Winchester Cathedral.

 

Once the Society member has recovered, we may be able to reschedule the walk, the provisional plan is to visit the following:

 

 

 Use the contact form if you have any queries about either of these events.