Did Kit Marlowe
stay at Whitney-on-Wye
after the Deptford conspiracy?

Where would Kit Marlowe have gone to
after the events at Deptford?

It is likely he would have got advised
to make for

Whitney-on-Wye

a very quiet secluded spot
in the Wye Valley.

.............................................

seems to me he would go
to Whitney-on-Wye,

thanks to Eleanor (Whitney) Bull,

or, Catherine Carey,
the Queen's cousin,
daughter of the Lord Chamberlain
and wife of the Lord High Admiral
Lord Howard of Effingham...
she's a Whitney granddaughter.

both the women
would know well
how secluded
a spot it is and was,
where a man might disappear from
those he knew,
and, moreover,
easily send news or letters
back to London,
thanks to the drovers who made this trip
all the time.



Rhydspence is the inn at Whitney-on-Wye,
and was there in Kit Marlowe's lifetime.


http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/rhydspence/


"Rhydspence has not always been the tranquil watering hole it is today.

It was originally built in the 14th century as a manor house.

In Tudor times, and until the advent of the railways, the Inn was a main
assembly point on the 'Black Ox Trail' for Welsh drovers and Irish cowboys
pushing cattle, sheep and geese to the English towns and cities, as far as
London. Attached to the Inn were some 140 acres of land split up into
penny, ha-penny and farthing fields where animals were grazed and rested.

The drovers were broadcasters of news and events and also a method of
transferring funds across the country. A deal could be struck in Aberdovey
and cash banked in London with no movement of cash and no risk of highwaymen.

.................................................................................

The Rhydspence Inn is on the English side of the Welsh Border, the stream in the garden marks the divide.

To the East are the rolling fields of England, dotted with the famous 'Black & White' villages of Herefordshire. To the West lie the hills and mountains of Wales."

http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/rhydspence/


The Whitney Family...
their fascinating history from the time of William the Conqueror,
and their Castle on the Welsh borders


The Lord High Admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham...
did he save Kit Marlowe at Deptford?


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(written originally by lyra, edited and rewritten)