After issuing a declaration of grievances, the army left Wells and marched to Winchester via Bristol and Salisbury, remarkably unopposed as they progressed across the south of England. At this point, having come so far, there seems to have been some questioning of what exactly should be done. Flamank proposed that they should head for Kent, 'the classic soil of protests', the home of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and Jack Cade's rebellion, to rally the volatile men of Kent to their banner. Having failed to attract support in Kent part of the army abandoned the march and returned home while the rest turned towards Surrey.
Moving back west, by Tuesday 13 June 1497 the Cornish army arrived at Guildford. Although shocked by the scale of the revolt, Henry VII had not been idle. The army of 8000 men assembled for Scotland was recalled. The same day that the Cornish arrived at Guildford, Lord Daubeney and his army took up position upon Hounslow Heath and were cheered by the arrival of food and wine dispatched by the Lord Mayor of London.
The Crown decided to take the offensive and test the strength and resolve of the Cornish forces. Lord Daubeney sent out a force of 500 mounted spearmen and they clashed with the Cornish at 'Gill Down' outside Guildford on Wednesday 14 June 1497.
The Cornish army left Guildford and moved via Banstead and Chussex Plain to Blackheath where they pitched their final camp, looking down from the hill onto the Thames and City of London. Somehow An Gof held his army together, but faced with overwhelming odds, some Cornish deserted and by morning there remained only some 9-10,000 Cornish stalwarts left in arms.
The Battle of Deptford Bridge (also known as Battle of Blackheath) took place on 17 June 1497 on a site in present-day Deptford south-east London, near the River Ravensbourne and was the climax of the Cornish Rebellion. Henry VII had an army of some 25,000 men and the Cornish lacked the supporting cavalry and artillery arms essential to the professional forces of the time. After carefully spreading rumours that he would attack on the following Monday, Henry moved against the Cornish at dawn on Saturday (17 June 1497). The Royal forces were divided into three 'battles', two under Lords Oxford, Essex and Suffolk, to wheel round the right flank and rear of enemy whilst the third waited in reserve. When the Cornish were duly surrounded, Lord Daubeney and the third 'battle' were ordered into frontal attack.
At the bridge at Deptford Strand, the Cornish had placed a body of archers to block the passage of the river. Here Daubeney had a hot time of it before his spearmen eventually captured the crossing with some losses (a mere 8 men or as many as 300 depending on one's source). Through ill-advice or inexperience, the Cornish had neglected to provide support for the men at Deptford Strand bridge and the main array stood well back into the heath, near to the top of the hill. Lord Daubeney and his troops poured across in strength and engaged the enemy with great vigour. Daubeney himself was so carried away that he became isolated from his men and was captured. Astoundingly enough, the Cornish simply released him and he soon returned to the fray.
The two other Royal divisions attacked the Cornish precisely as planned and, as Bacon succinctly put it: being ill-armed and ill-led, and without horse or artillery, they were with no great difficulty cut in pieces and put to flight. Estimates of the Cornish dead range from 200 to 2000 and a general slaughter of the broken army was well under way when An Gof gave the order for surrender. He fled but only got as far as Greenwich before being captured. The less enterprising Lord Audley and Thomas Flamank were taken on the field of battle.
By 2pm, Henry VII had returned to the City in triumph, knighting deserving parties on the way, to accept the acclamation of the Mayor and attend a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's.
In due course, severe monetary penalties, extracted by Crown agents, pauperised sections of Cornwall for years to come. Prisoners were sold into slavery and estates were seized and handed to more loyal subjects. The remaining rebels that escaped went home ending the rebellion.
An Gof and Flamank were both executed at Tyburn, London on 27 June 1497. An Gof is recorded to have said before his execution that he should have ""a name perpetual and a fame permanent and immortal"". Thomas Flamank was quoted as saying ""Speak the truth and only then can you be free of your chains"". Audley, as a peer of the realm, was beheaded on the 28th June at Tower Hill, London.
In 1997 a statue depicting the Cornish leaders, "Michael An Gof" and Thomas Flamank was unveiled at An Gof's home village of St Keverne and a commemorative plaque was also unveiled on Blackheath Common.
Pont du Gard
The Pont du Gard is a Roman aqueduct in Southern France. It is in the Gard département, in the area of the commune of Vers-Pont-du-Gard. The name should mean "Bridge over the Gard" (the river Gardon).
The aquaeduct supplied the city of Nîmes with water. It has a length of nearly 50 kilometres. The bridge is 49 metres high and has bows on three levels. It was probably built in the 1st century. In 1985, the Pont du Gard was classified a World Heritage Site.
Hersal Thomas
Hersal Thomas (1910 in Houston – July 3, 1926 in Detroit, Michigan) was an American blues and boogie woogie pianist. He strongly influenced the development of piano blues and boogie woogie. Later pianists like Jimmy Yancey, Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis named him as an important influence in their own career.
Thomas was born in Houston, Texas into a musical family. When young, he had talent for blues piano playing and composition. Besides Hersal, also his older brother George W. was a very good piano player. His sister Sippie Wallace and his niece Hociel Thomas sang.
He started playing piano in New Orleans. Later he went to Chicago, where his sister Sippie lived. In 1924, he started recording piano rolls and 1925 disk records. He worked solo but also as sideman for Hociel Thomas, Sippie Wallace, Lilian Miller and Sodarisa Miller. Shortly before his death he was on tour with Louis Armstrong and King Oliver. His sister Sippie Wallace recorded seven of his titles: "A Jealous Woman Like Me", "A Man for Every Day of the Week", "Dead Drunk Blues", "Have You Ever Been Down?", "I Feel Good", "Shorty George Blues" and "Trouble Everywhere I Roam". His most famous records are "Suitcase Blues" (8958-A Okeh 8227) and "The Five". Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis named this records under the fundamental boogie records.
Thomas died of food poisoning while working at Penny's Pleasure Inn in Detroit, Michigan.
Shuttle
A shuttle is a tool designed to neatly and compactly store weft yarn while weaving. Shuttles are thrown or passed back and forth through the shed, between the yarn threads of the warp in order to weave in the weft.
The simplest shuttles, known as "stick shuttles", are made from a flat, narrow piece of wood with notches on the ends to hold the weft yarn. More complicated shuttles incorporate bobbins or pirns.
Shuttles are often made of wood from the Flowering Dogwood, because it is so hard, resists splintering, and can be polished to a very smooth finish.
Originally shuttles were passed back and forth by hand. However, "John Kay" invented a loom in 1733 that incorporated a "flying shuttle". This shuttle could be thrown through the warp, which allowed much wider cloth to be woven much more quickly and made the development of machine looms much simpler and easier to use.
Cranleigh
Cranleigh is a village and civil parish in Waverley, Surrey, England. In 2001 there were 11,241 people living in Cranleigh and many of them were British.
Wadhurst
Wadhurst is a town and civil parish in Wealden, East Sussex, South East England. As of June 2018, there were an estimate of 4,036 people living in Wadhurst. Out of which 1,872 were men and 2,164 were women.