Cotswold Tales Past

21/08/2026

Past and future.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EZyvnCL2W/

02/08/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DDUcjV2Fi/

01/08/2026

Bad week for road painters in the Forest of Dean 😬 🤭
The mayor of Lydney had to make sure these pictures "were not AI" after errors were painted next to electric vehicle bays in TWO Forest of Dean towns.

Both of these have now been corrected by the appropriate contractors ➡️ https://bbc.in/4yPak2l

01/08/2026

Not Cotswolds but worth sharing…

https://www.facebook.com/100063654842643/posts/1777702481028230/?app=fbl

Somewhere, this portrait still exists. Have you seen this missing Tudor masterpiece?

Every year, Kate McCaffrey and I share this portrait in the hope that someone, somewhere, recognises it. It would mean a great deal to us if you could share this post and help us reach as many people as possible.

In 2003, five priceless portrait miniatures were stolen from Anne Boleyn’s Bedroom at Hever Castle & Gardens. Two have since been recovered. Three remain missing, including this exceptionally rare miniature of Thomas Cromwell, after Hans Holbein the Younger.

Cromwell’s story is inseparable from Hever Castle. He helped raise Anne Boleyn to the throne, masterminding the political and religious revolution that made her queen. Barely a thousand days later, he orchestrated the events that ended with her ex*****on.

After Anne’s fall, and her father’s death, it was Cromwell’s officials who came to Hever to seize Thomas Boleyn’s possessions. Yet Henry VIII turned against him too. Following the failure of the king’s fourth marriage to Anne of Cleves, Cromwell was executed, while Anne of Cleves became the owner of Hever Castle, where she would spend the final seventeen years of her life.

This miniature has now been missing for over twenty years. It deserves to be back where it belongs.

If you’ve never seen it before, please take a moment to look closely. If it seems familiar, or you know someone involved with historic art or antiques, we’d be incredibly grateful if you would share this post. It only takes one person recognising it for this remarkable piece of Tudor history to find its way home.

30/07/2026

The Gloucester Candlestick. Lost then found again in France. Now in the V & A.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1JKsNnMerP/

18/07/2026

Such short sighted thinking.

Had a massive effect on rural life and farming. The Beeching reports were a government study into the financial viability of Britain's railways, named after the man who chaired the board running the reports, Dr. Richard Beeching.

The reports' conclusions were that a huge number of lines and stations couldn't justify their own existence and that the rail network should be drastically cut down so that we could afford to modernise what was left.

Even though something like this was ultimately necessary for the long term health of the railways, the sheer scale of cuts combined with the near total lack of replacement services meant that Dr. Beeching was, and remains, an extremely unpopular figure in British history.

17/07/2026

The A417 will be shut in both directions between the A46 Brockworth junction and the Air Balloon roundabout from 21:00 on Friday 17 July until 06:00 on Monday 20 July.
It's to allow crews to divert a water main, clear vegetation and complete surfacing works as part of the ongoing Missing Link project ➡️ https://bbc.in/4wJ1a5D

14/07/2026