June 2022

11 Buckden Roundabout June 2022 A Tale of three Dukes A Tale of three Dukes (redux) In the March Roundabout, I wrote an article about Charles Brandon, 1 st Duke of Suffolk, and his sons, the 2 nd and 3 rd Dukes who died in Buckden Towers of the sweating sickness within hours of each other. I asked if anyone had further infor- mation about the location of the burial. What I should have done, of course, was to consult Barry Jobling, the St Mary ’ s church historian, and the chairman of Buckden Local History Society. Barry has very kindly provided some answers to the question of the location of the burial and also some additional information. He writes: “ While Queen Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII ’ s first wife, was under house arrest at Buckden Palace in 1533, the King sent his most trusted courtier Charles Brandon, the 1st Duke of Suffolk, to force her to sign documents renouncing her marriage and to be removed to Somersham but she refused both demands. He took away her furniture and all her English servants leaving her only a few Spanish servants. Buckden vil- lagers rose up in arms and obliged him to leave the village in haste. He returned in 1534 and removed the Queen to Kimbol- ton where she died two years later. Buckden ’ s villagers must have found some irony in the Duke ’ s sons dying at the Palace where their father had acted so callously. “ The boys were living in London when the English Sweat broke out at court on 7th July 1551. They immediately fled with their mother and their tutor, Thomas Wilson, to Cambridge where Henry had been studying, but upon arrival found that the Sweat was also in that city. Hearing that the West Country was free of the contagion the family quickly headed west, arriving at Buckden Palace on the 10th planning to stay for a few days before continuing westwards. King Henry VIII, having dissolved the monasteries and stripped the clergy of their properties, had taken Buckden Palace from John Longland, Bishop of Lin- coln in the 1530s and by 1551 it was probably in the hands of the Beaufort family on Henry ’ s behalf. “ By 14th July, young Henry was unwell showing all the signs of the Sweating Sickness and he died that afternoon. His brother, Charles, now inherited the title and became the 3rd Duke of Suffolk, but he probably never knew it as he too was now delir- ious. He died within an hour of his brother and thus became the shortest - lived peer in English history. “ According to their tutor, who recorded the boys ’ stories that same year in ‘ The Lives and Deaths of two Suffolk brothers etc. ’, they were buried either on 14th or 15th July in Buckden church cemetery. “ The boys probably lie buried beneath the lowest and oldest table - top - tomb in the churchyard southeast of the porch as local tradition would have it. However, the tomb itself is an anomaly, being made from reused materials, the ornate sides being from an unknown tomb of c.1500 style and the coped top from possibly a priest ’ s grave of c.1400 - 1450, both long before the boys ’ deaths. The sides have been extended by a blank stone insert and the reasons for this unusual reuse of memorial is unknown. ” My thanks to Barry for this information about the burial along with additional colour and context to add to the original arti- cle. - Alec MacAndrew Completion of the Knot Garden Accessibility Project FoBT are proud to announce the completion in early April of the paved footpath within the Knot Garden. This project pro- vides improved accessibility from the ornamental iron gate to the raised terrace at the top of the garden. The pavement re- places the loose gravel surface previously existing, and enables a gentler gradient for access onto the terrace. The project was conceived two years ago and has involved much time and effort in finding materials suitable for the Grade I Historic Monument environment of the Knot Garden and in getting the necessary Local Authority conservation approvals. The material used for the paved surface, supplied by Westmin- ster Stone Ltd., is from a range of artificial stone (cast stone) flagstones designed to replicate paved surfaces in certain Na- tional Trust properties, in this case Petworth House in the South of England. The material is tough, of uniform consisten- cy, and has a high slip resistance, even when wet. It will be very durable and will provide ease of access for all for many years to come. Keith Lawrence Chairman, FoBT