Kenilworth Castle
Where the queen
was wooed
Elizabeth’s greatest favourite,
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leices-
ter, was granted Kenilworth
Castle near Coventry in 1563,
and immediately began
modernising it in an attempt to
entice the queen to add it to the
itinerary of one of her regular
progresses around the country.
Elizabeth’s most famous visit
took place in 1575, when
Leicester pulled out all the
stops in a final attempt to
convince her to marry him. No
expense was spared during 19
days of spectacular entertain-
ments, which included
pageants, fireworks, bear-bait-
ing, mystery plays, hunting and
sumptuous banquets. It was
said to have almost bankrupted
the queen’s favourite – but all in
vain. The castle was largely
dismantled during and just
after the Civil War.
english-heritage.org.uk/visit/
places/kenilworth-castleALAMY/HARVINGTON^ HALL^ -PAULVINCENT/ALAMYHarvington Hall
A Catholic sanctuary
Nestled in a peaceful corner of
Worcestershire, Harvington Hall is
a testament to the terror in which
Elizabeth’s Catholic subjects lived
during the later years of her reign.
Originally built in the 14th century, the
beautiful moated manor house was
remodelled around 1580 and boasts
the finest collection of secret priest
holes in the country – seven of them,concealed beneath staircases,
behind panelling and in a number of
other ingenious locations. Though
Elizabeth famously declared that she
had “no desire to make windows into
men’s souls”, after being excommuni-
cated by the pope in 1570 she lived
under constant threat of assassina-
tion by her Catholic subjects. The
priests who sheltered at Harvington
and elsewhere would have paid with
their lives if they had been discovered.
harvingtonhall.comHarvington Hall
features the finest array
of secret priest holes in
England (below)Ruined fortifications
at Kenilworth Castle,
modernised by Robert
Dudley in the 1560s in an
attempt to woo ElizabethElizabethan lives / Magnificent homes