The League of Augsburg
Well, it'll be my birthday!
The Rapture Gaming Festival happens to be taking place over July 1st and 2nd and one of those days is my birthday. It is being hosted at Chatham Royal Dockyard, a site which I have planned to visit for a long time but never gotten round to. To get to Chatham is about an 860 mile round trip for me.
To go that far takes a little bit of planning, a few days away from home and over a birthday weekend,...
Join us on a battle cruise down the Medway?
An opportunity has arisen to take a private chartered cruise boat down the Medway and to the key battle sites of the 1667 Dutch attack on the English fleet. This would involve a trip of between 4-7 hours on a fully equipped large cruiser with toilet facilities, viewing deck and seating. Depending on numbers it may also have limited catering facilities on the day.
The trip would be guided by me...
Understanding the Irish campaigns of 1689-1691- Storming of Athlone
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| Irish defences south of Athlone Castle and the bridge |
Having spent time walking many of the battlefields of the Irish wars I am constantly gaining a better understanding of the actions that took place. The recent Promenades Travel Jacobite Wars tour gave me a chance to do some more sniffing around.
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| The Castle and bridge in 1691 |
Being based in Athlone allowed considerable time to explore this small...
Greenwich - hub of maritime history
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| Pool of London to London Bridge circa 1710 |
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| Pool of London at the Tower circa 1710 - 1/1200 scale model |
Late and Early... An in between Anniversary Post
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| A well received version of Neerwinden at Partizan about 15 years ago. Terrain by Ade Howe. |
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| Another shot of the Partizan game |
The Battle of the Boyne 1st/12th July 1690. Remembered as a wargame
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| Williamite infantry crossing the river |
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| A version displayed at a Scottish show |
An excusable digression.. Waterloo Day
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Battles of Goa 1638-39
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| Da Silva sails out to do battle with Van der Veere |
The Portuguese colony of Goa came under repeated pressure from the Dutch VOC during the period of European expansion in the 17th century. Here is a link to a previous blog post about my visit to Reis Magos - the 16th century Portuguese fort at Goa, still in working order.
Portuguese Fort Reis Magos -Goa
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| 1639 raid by van der Veere on the three... |
Airborne Museum Oosterbeek
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| Memorial to the Airborne Forces at Oosterbeek |
This trip happened in November 2018 and for some reason I didn't get around to posting some of the lovely photos.
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| British Sherman in the museum forecourt |
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| I am almost certain this is a 17pdr. I don't think Urquhart's men had too many of these to hand. |
We spent an excellent couple of hours in this outstanding museum and finished our trip by crossing the...
8 battlefields.... and a wedding!
In Scotland it is! Between leaving home in East Kilbride and arriving at the Craigellachie Hotel near Dufftown we passed through or within one mile of eight battlefields.
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| Craigellachie bridge over the Spey in the heart of whisky country. Manufactured in Wales! |
The destination was a beautiful Georgian era bridge over the River Spey at Craigellachie on which three famous Highland...
Lucky connections or coincidence?
Not only did I get to sail across the very spots that Spragge, De Ruyter et al manouevred and battled with their fleets in the 17th century, I managed to make several other tangible connections with my periods of interest during the annual sojourn to Antwerp.
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| Spanish Gate at Breda Castle.. some irony in the title - the Spaniards left a water gap in their defences |
The girls wanted a stop off en...