A while ago we reported the commissioning of a unique chess set celebrating the history of the Manor of Weddington in England and its rebirth as the New Weddington Isles in the southern hemisphere. This will be added to our State Artefacts collection.
Work is progressing on this which we hope to have completed by the end of August.
Mounted on onyx, the Queen is fashioned from a coin from the mid-Late First Century BC. It is an British Celtic Iceni coin (a tribe who resisted Roman occupation at the time) and shows the head of Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni. She has strong links of activity in Warwickshire (where the Manor of Weddington lay), and was eventually defeated by the Romans at nearby Mancetter.
The King is a King John penny (1166-1216AD). Known popularly for signing the Magna Carta, King John is notable in Weddington's history, as the original site of Weddington Castle may well have housed one of his many Hunting Lodges, which were built throughout the country during his rule. The certainty of a Hunting Lodge of King John being based at Weddington is not proven, although a number of local historical and media reports do refer to this.
Work is progressing on this which we hope to have completed by the end of August.
Mounted on onyx, the Queen is fashioned from a coin from the mid-Late First Century BC. It is an British Celtic Iceni coin (a tribe who resisted Roman occupation at the time) and shows the head of Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni. She has strong links of activity in Warwickshire (where the Manor of Weddington lay), and was eventually defeated by the Romans at nearby Mancetter.
The King is a King John penny (1166-1216AD). Known popularly for signing the Magna Carta, King John is notable in Weddington's history, as the original site of Weddington Castle may well have housed one of his many Hunting Lodges, which were built throughout the country during his rule. The certainty of a Hunting Lodge of King John being based at Weddington is not proven, although a number of local historical and media reports do refer to this.