WITH hit television series Wolf Hall back on our screens at long last, many may be wondering how to delve more deeply into the murky mysteries, turmoil and terror of the Tudor world.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light returned to television screens on Sunday after almost a decade as audiences were once more plunged into the beautiful, beguiling but often deadly court of the much-maligned Henry VIII.
Based on the final instalment of the late Hilary Mantel’s masterpiece, the BBC television show follows on from the 2015 series which covered the first two books in the trilogy – Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.
But you don't have to go all the way to Hampton Court Palace or Hever Castle to immerse yourself in this strange (but at times oddly familiar) age as there is much right here to enjoy, right on our doorsteps.
Fortunately, Worcestershire is a county where you can still get a strong sense of what life was like in Tudor times from the seductive to the outright sinister. And much of it is entirely free to enjoy.
So here is a list of places and sites to explore which can still conjure up the ghosts of this brilliantly resplendent but sometimes brutal and bloodthirsty time from the ostentatious tomb of a prince, dead before his time, to priest holes hidden inside the magnificent houses of once sprawling country estates.
All these relics serve as a reminder of the labyrinthine intrigues and violent plots which proliferated in these troubled times and help you get inside the mind of the Tudors.
(1) Prince Arthur's Chantry at Worcester Cathedral
You can visit the elaborate tomb of Henry VIII's eldest brother, Prince Arthur Tudor, at the city's cathedral. The ornate carved chantry seems as delicate as lace and is mesmeric in its beauty.
Arthur had been married to Catherine of Aragon (later the wife of Henry VIII) but the boy died at the age of 15 at Ludlow Castle in 1502. He developed sweating sickness from which his young wife recovered. He, of course, did not.
The chantry is a fascinating for its heraldry including carvings symbolising the various great Houses including York, Lancaster, Beaufort and Catherine of Aragon's pomegranate.
It had been this earlier marriage to his late brother that Henry VIII later relied on as ammunition to seek an annulment from devout Catholic Catherine on the grounds of 'incest' as he pursued Anne Boleyn, driving much of the plot of Mantel's novels and the television show upon which they are based.
(2) Priest holes at Harvington Hall, near Kidderminster
The break with the Mother Church initiated by Henry VIII over his desire to wed Anne Boleyn helped sow seeds of discord, the ramifications of which rumbled through the rest of the Tudor age and into the Jacobean and beyond. It became a powder keg which, at times, threatened to blow up.
This medieval moated manor contains more priest holes or hides than any other house in England. The old stones and creaking chambers are still soaked with the paranoia and intrigue of the Elizabethan age, a time of whispered conspiracies and treasonous plots. A visit here can help visitors imagine what life might have been like here in Worcestershire at around the time of Wolf Hall.
They can still sense the fear which must have gripped the Roman Catholic priests and imagine the tapping of the pursuivant's cane.
The hides, some in quite ingenious locations, give an impression of the oppressive climate of fear and distrust which permeated the world of the Tudors, especially in the later Elizabethan age.
(3) Visit Worcestershire's beautiful historic pubs
The county is spoiled for choice when it comes to pubs which conjure up the history and atmosphere of Tudor England. If you like crooked beams, conspiratorial nooks and crannies, low ceilings, uneven floors and grand fireplaces with strange carvings and more than a few secrets (including tales of folklore and witchcraft), then this county is truly blessed.
Among the best are the Three Kings Inn in Hanley Castle, King Charles House in New Street in Worcester (which even has its own 'dungeon' or oubliette and a fireplace carved with dancing devils), the Cardinal's Hat in Friar Street (which claims to be the city's oldest pub), the Fleece Inn in Bretforton (with its famous witch marks or witch circles to protect the building from evil spirits), the Old Chestnut Tree in Lower Moor (which has a gravestone in the fireplace) and the Camp House Inn in Grimley (where Queen Elizabeth I still owes money to the Wainwright family who run it).
(4) Worcester's blood-soaked shrine to Catholic martyrs
This is an eerie spot, still capable of making the hair on your neck stand on end and shows the painful legacy of Henry VIII's founding of the Church of England, the Reformation and the plots and conflicts which followed.
A crucifix and plaque mark the spot where the Catholic martyr, The Venerable John Wall, was hanged, drawn and quartered in Red Hill in Worcester 1679.
This is also the site where the Jesuit Priest Edward Oldcorne suffered the same fate on April 7, 1606. Also considered a Roman Catholic martyr, he was beatified in 1929. The York-born priest was suspected (although it was never proved) to have links to the Gunpowder Plot.
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Papal authority was renounced when Henry VIII failed to secure a papal annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
The English Reformation accelerated under the regents of his successor, King Edward VI, before a brief restoration of papal authority under Queen Mary I and King Philip. The Act of Supremacy in 1558 ended the English reformation, and charted a course enabling the English church to describe itself as both Reformed and Catholic. This remains the bedrock of the current Anglican Church.
In the earlier period of the English Reformation, there were both Roman Catholic martyrs and Protestant martyrs.
(5) Visit Worcestershire's museums and National Trust properties
Visits to the Commandery in Sidbury in Worcester or Greyfriars or Tudor House in Friar Street are still capable of transporting you (in spirit at least) back to Tudor times and the world of Wolf Hall.
After serving its original function for nearly 500 years, the hospital at the Commandery was among the last monastic institutions to be dissolved by Henry VIII in 1540.
The site later became known for its later role as the Royalist headquarters during the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651.
The Great Hall can still stop the breath, displaying many features of a medieval open hall with moulded beams, curved timber braces and an awe-inspiring hammerbeam ceiling.
It is fascinating to think this late 15th century timber framed building would have been standing throughout the events depicted in Wolf Hall.
If you want to get an impression of the damage Henry VIII wrought and the controversies which still dog his reputation, you need only stand by the ruins of the Abbey church and its surrounding buildings in Evesham, destroyed within a few years of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
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