Epochs
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The Dissolution of the Monasteries in Midsomer Murders
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 04×01: Garden of Death, 07×06: The Straw Woman, and 11×07: Talking to the Dead. With a little bit of 20×01: The Ghost of Causton Abbey, 08×03: Orchid Fatalis, and 14×07: A Sacred Trust.)
•Tom Barnaby and Ben Jones are in Bow Clayton with the Reverend Wallace Stone in his drawing room. The clergyman is standing in front of a mirror in a cassock, getting ready for the next service, while he tells the two detectives what he thinks of the legend of Monks Barton Wood: It’s about the monks of Monks Barton Abbey, slaughtered in the nearby forest by mounted men in the name of Cromwell and his Dissolution of the Monasteries. A horrific event and their screams and moans of their ghosts can still be heard in the woods, the locals say.
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Deeds Not Words
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 09×05: Four Funerals and a Wedding)
•Joyce’s mother, Muriel, is a guest at the Barnaby home. Much to the chagrin of Tom Barnaby, who gets on well with his mother-in-law, but doesn’t seem to have a warm relationship with her. Nevertheless, he gets the conversation going at home after work. Cully wants to go to Broughton for the Skimmington Fayre. Her parents are less than enthusiastic, but her grandmother is more so. Everyone but her seems to know the origins of the Skimmington Fayre and is enlightened.
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Sports History in Midsomer, pt. 2: Other Sports
As well as playing a lot of cricket, Midsomer has been very successful in chess, Formula 1 and boxing. The famous boxing match of 1860 is a topic for another time: here we look at chess and F1 first.
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 06×01: A Talent of Life, 08×02: Dead in the Water, 14×01: Death in the slow lane, 15×05: The Sicilian Defence, and a little bit of 05×03: Ring Your Dead and 19×03: Last Man Out)
•In 1893 there was a world champion from Bishopwood in Midsomer County: Reverend Stannington.
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In Remembrance in Midsomer County in 2024
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 02×01: Death’s Shadow, 02×02: Strangler’s Wood, 02×03: Dead Man’s Eleven, 02×04 Blood Will Out, 03×01: Death of a Stranger, 11×07: Days of Misrule)
•In 2024, no anniversaries will be celebrated in Midsomer – at least none that end with -24, -49, -74 or -99. But there are a few death anniversaries.
Note: I’m referring to the year of first broadcast in the UK, unless the date of death on the coffin or something is stated otherwise.
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Witch-Hunting in Midsomer County
In view of the upcoming International Women’s Day, let’s talk about two historic women from Midsomer County: Mary Bloxham and Katherine Malpas. Both women were helpful, clever women with good knowledge of healing and curing who lived in Midsomer County in the 17th century. Both were discredited and murdered as alleged witches.
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 05×02: A Worm in a Bud, and 07×06: The Straw Woman)
•Witch-hunting is not a medieval invention. It was not until the early modern period, i.e. the 15th and 16th centuries, that the persecution and condemnation of women who did not conform to the ideal of womanhood began: A God-fearing person, submissive to all men and authorities.
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The Bell Ringers from Midsomer Wellow
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 05×03: Ring out your Dead)
•Tom and Joyce Barnaby are sitting at the table in the kitchen, and Tom is looking through numerous papers, most of which are in front of him. In 1860, the vicar of Midsomer Wellow was thrown down a well and died. Before that, there had been real trouble with the local bell-ringers because he had tried to force them to attend services and had had their beer barrel removed from the ringing room. Although the case was obvious, the evidence was lacking and the witnesses remained silent.
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Doom Paintings
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 16×02: Let us prey)
•Towards the end of the 11th century, people began to worry – again, it must be said – that the world was coming to an end and that the Last Judgement was imminent. Scholars kept calculating new dates based on possible coded references in the Bible and other Christian writings. (Nothing unfamiliar to us when we think of the hullabaloo surrounding 21 December 2012. But fear of God was more widespread then).
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Public Footpaths
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 02×03: Dead Man’s Eleven, 09×02: Dead Letters, 13×01: The Sword of Guillaume, and 14×04: The Oblong Murders)
•The Barnaby family are looking for a new place to live in Fletcher’s Cross and have a bite to eat in the Queen’s Arms, outside, in the garden. As they leave the pub, they are approached by Zelda Frasier. She is collecting signatures for the petition of the Fletcher’s Cross Ramblers Association, who are fighting for the right of way through Robert Cavendish’s estate. It’s a public footpath, but the landlord has blocked off part of it without permission.
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Jane Austen & Baroness Orczy in Midsomer County
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for episodes: 10×07: They Seek Him Here, & 19×05: Death by Persuasion)
•The idyllic landscape of Midsomer County is well known. No wonder Jane Austen and Baroness Emma Orczy, two famous writers, are said to have stayed here. Or is that just a story?
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Sports History in Midsomer, pt. 1: Boxing
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 13×06: The Noble Art)
•Cricket is played in many episodes – even actively by Sergeants Gavin Troy and Ben Jones – but unfortunately the history of cricket is never discussed, and football is completely absent. However, there are mentions of historical events in three other sports, each involving very successful Midsomer County sportsmen: chess, Formula 1 and boxing. See: Sports History in Midsomer, pt. 2.
