Major Archaeological Find: Ancient Settlement near Stonehenge

The settlement, located at a site called Durrington Walls, once housed hundreds of people, and dates to around 2600 BC, the scientists said at a press conference this morning. It is the largest settlement from the Neolithic time period ever found in Britain.

Read the entire article here

1920s

Chariots of Fire (DVD - Ben Cross) - The story of several athletes in the 1924 Olympic Games.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (the book is suitable for older teens and adults, viewer discretion advised on the movie starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews).

Act of Settlement - 1701

This act banned Catholics (or anyone married to a Catholic) from ruling Great Britain.

That all and every person and persons, who shall or may take or inherit the said Crown, by virtue of the limitation of this present act, and is, are or shall be reconciled to, or shall hold communion with, the See or Church of Rome, or shall profess the popish religion, or shall marry a papist, shall be subject to such incapacities.

Catch the details here

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Picture Books:
William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki
The Bard of Avon by Diane Stanley

Grade School:
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children by Edith Nesbit
Shakespeare for Kids: His Life and times, 21 Activities by Colleen Aagesen and Margie Blumberg

Primary Sources:
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

On the Web:
William Shakespeare Collection at Bartleby
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb

Saint Edmund Campion (1540-1581)

Grade School:

Edmund Campion: Hero of God's Underground by Harold Gardiner, S.J.

Teen/Adult:

Edmund Campion by Evelyn Waugh
Tyborne and the Gem of Christendom by Mother Mary Magdalen Taylor
The Martyrdom of Father Campion and His Companions by William Cardinal Allen

Primary Sources:

Challenge to the Privy Council by Edmund Campion

Saint Thomas More (1478-1535)

St. Thomas More of London by Elizabeth Ince

The King's Good Servant but God's First by James Monti

Sir Thomas More attributed to William Shakespeare

Primary Sources:

Utopia by Saint Thomas More

The Sadness of Christ by Saint Thomas More

On the Web:

Center for Thomas More Studies

Movies:

A Man for All Seasons (1966 - Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Orson Welles)

Saint Thomas Becket (d. 1170)

Grades 5-8:

If All the Swords in England by Barbara Willard (or read-aloud to younger children)

Grades 9-12:

Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot

Movies:

Becket (1964 - Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud) - teen/adult - recommend previewing by parents first

On the Web:

Eyewitness to History

Images from Canterbury Cathedral

Bayeux Tapestry - 11th century, Britain

Saint Augustine of Canterbury (England, died 605)

Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard
1963, Bethlehem Books, Sewn softcover, 179 pages, Catholic

Historical fiction account of the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury to bring Christianity to England in 597, as seen through the eyes of a young boy accompanying the monks on the journey. While not as fast-paced as other Bethlehem Books titles, the story really brings the era to life and is a very good tale besides - full of little insights into human nature, Christian ideas and heroism.

Reviewed by Alicia Van Hecke (11-6-99)
Available from Adoremus Books, All Catholic Books, Aquinas and More, By Way of the Family, Emmanuel Books, Our Father's House, and Stella Maris Books