The English Heritage Podcast

When Henry VIII separated from the Catholic Church, he was left feeling vulnerable to invasion from France and Spain. His answer was to build England’s first national coastal defence network. Rising like medieval spaceships along the English coast, these ‘device forts’ were a series of rounded stone fortresses. But how did they operate? What made them so formidable? How did they change the nature of warfare with their cutting-edge cannon technology?

Join Amy, alongside English Heritage’s Andrew Roberts and Kathryn Bedford, as they explore the story of Henry VIII's spectacular coastal fortifications and the threats they were built to face.

You can watch our coastal series as well as listen to it - either on Spotify or go to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/EnglishHeritage

Don’t forget to follow this podcast wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review if you love the show.

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠ 

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

*Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sir Ian McKellen recently unveiled an English Heritage Blue Plaque at 22 Lupus Street in London’s Pimlico. That was the childhood home of the man many still regard as the greatest actor of the twentieth century: Sir Laurence Olivier.

We were there to capture the moment, including a remarkable impromptu performance of Shakespeare’s Henry V’s speech before Agincourt,
delivered from the steps of the house just before revealing the plaque!

Join Amy and English Heritage historian Howard Spencer as they explore what made Olivier an extraordinary talent. Alongside Sir Ian, hear
from the Guardian’s Michael Billington who witnessed many of Olivier’s
legendary stage performances; Society of London Theatre President Kash Bennett; and Indhu Rubasingham, Director of the National Theatre, which was founded by Olivier.

Together, they paint a vivid picture of a theatrical giant whose influence continues to shape theatre and acting today.

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠ 

 

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of
an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

 

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

 

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no.
1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and
Wales.   

 

 *Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals.

 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

England’s coastline isn’t just a story about keeping invaders at bay. For centuries, our shorelines were bustling gateways, connecting communities through trade, travel and the everyday goods arriving by sea.

It’s a story that pre-dates fortification and invasion, revealing the heart of the close and enduring relationship between English communities and the sea. Plus, it might well be behind our love of cheese!

Join Amy as she explores the hidden history of England’s maritime past with Craig Lambert, Professor of Maritime History at the University of Southampton, and Win Scutt from English Heritage.

You can watch our coastal series as well as listen to it - either on Spotify or go to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/EnglishHeritage

Don’t forget to follow this podcast wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review if you love the show.

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠ 

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

*Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout the ages, people have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict and instability and find refuge in another country - or a different part of their own country. 

 In this episode of the English Heritage Podcast, host Amy Matthews sits down with English Heritage historian Dr Will Wyeth and Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge Prof Bart Lambert to look at that phenomenon across the Middle Ages, in particular during the Wars of Independence in Scotland and the Hundred Years' Wars in France and
the Low Countries. Together they discuss how during this period, refugees came from all social levels, from nobility, clergy and the political elite to the poor, especially women. 

This episode reveals the everyday realities of seeking safe haven in the medieval world and challenges the common assumption that medieval people rarely travelled far from home.

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠ 

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

*Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that Roman emperors had a weakness for English oysters? The Romans arrived in Britain around 43AD and one of their first settlements was at Richborough in Kent, where they found oysters so good they sent them back home.

In the first of our special series on the English coastline, we go back to Roman times. It wasn’t just a military invasion, it was an influx of culture and people from across three continents. It shaped our country and our shores.

Today English heritage experts Dr Andrew Roberts and Dr Kathryn Bedford reveal more about what the Romans actually did for us.

Now you can watch our coastal series as well as listen to it - either on Spotify or go to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/EnglishHeritage

Don’t forget to follow this podcast wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review if you love the show.

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠ 

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

*Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices