Tuesday 18 May 2010

Castle for sale in France

a 15th century listed castle and its listed chapel in the Poitou region is for sale. In the heart of the Poitou region, 380 km (238 miles) south of Paris (330/206 of which are on the A10 motorway), and a little less than 50 km (31 miles) from Poitiers-Briard airport with direct flights to London, Edinburgh and other European capitals.
Close to a small medieval town with a good tourist trade and all amenities, the property nestles in an authentic hamlet situated in the Gatine area

Stirling Castle skeleton revealed as knight Sir John de Stricheley

A medieval knight whose skeleton was discovered at Stirling Castle has been identified. This Thursday, BBC Two’s History Cold Case series will attempt to discover the identity of the warrior who may have been killed during Scotland’s Wars of Independence with England in the late 13th and 14th centuries. The castle changed hands several times and scientific tests have been used to work out whether he might have been a Scot, an Englishman or even French. The programme focuses on two of 10 skeletons excavated from the site of a lost royal chapel at the castle. he was almost certainly at the centre of efforts to repel sieges of the castle when Scots were trying to reclaim it in the 14th century. Forensic experts, archaeologists and historians have joined forces on a project that has unearthed a likely name for the warrior – Sir John De Stricheley – after records showed an English knight of that name died in the castle in October 1341. The remains were found with nine other skeletons under a paved floor in a lost royal chapel in 1997, but their identities were shrouded in mystery until recently, when new scientific tests were carried out.
This work will be carried out by Dr Jo Buckberry of the University of Bradford and archaeological scientists Dr Janet Montgomery (University of Bradford) and Professor Julia Lee-Thorp (University of Oxford).