Contributors
Get to know our contributors who have shared their knowledge, stories, passion and expertise.
Deborah Roil
Editor
Deborah is the founder and editor of Tudor Places magazine. Following a career in business, Deborah is currently studying for a Masters in English Building History at the University of York and researching and writing her first book, about Tudor places. She is a co-founder of, and content creator for, the website, Tudor Times, a repository of information about Tudors and Stewarts in the period 1485 – 1625.
Nathen Amin
Nathen Amin is an author from Carmarthenshire, West Wales, who focuses on the fifteenth century and the reign of Henry VII. He wrote Tudor Wales in 2014 and York Pubs in 2016, followed in 2017 by the first full-length biography of the Beaufort family, The House of Beaufort, an Amazon #1 bestseller. He is a member of the Royal Historical Society and a trustee of the Henry Tudor Trust.
Twitter: @NathenAmin
Facebook: @NathenAminAuthor
www.nathenamin.com
Tracy Borman
Tracy is Chief Executive of the Heritage Education Trust, Joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces and an honorary professor at Bishop Grosseteste University. She is also an author, historian and broadcaster, specialising in the Tudor period, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Tracy has presented a number of history programmes for Channel 5, Yesterday TV and the Smithsonian Channel. She is a regular contributor to BBC History Magazine and gives talks on her books across the country and abroad.
Twitter: @TracyBorman
Instagram: @tracy.borman
www.tracyborman.co.uk
Kirsten Claiden-Yardley
Kirsten is a historian and historic buildings consultant. After studying the tombs and funerals of the nobility, particularly those of the Howard family, she published a biography of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, The Man Behind the Tudors. She has worked as a researcher for authors and television, including as production researcher for the BBC adaptation of Wolf Hall.
Kirsten also co-founded Oxford Heritage Partnership in 2016, specialising in assessing the significance of church buildings.
Twitter: @tudor_historian
Instagram: @kirstenclaidenyardley
www.kclaidenyardley.com
Siobhan Clarke
Siobhan has worked for Historic Royal Palaces for 20 years, delivering tours and lectures on the palaces of Hampton Court, Kensington, the Tower and the Banqueting House. She has lectured for the British Museum, National Trust, National Archives and Smithsonian and is an accredited lecturer for the Arts Society.
Siobhan's published work includes King and Collector: Henry VIII and the Art of Kingship and Gloriana: Elizabeth I and the Art of Queenship (History Press).
Instagram: @tudorhcp
Charles Farris
Charles is Public Historian for the History of the Monarchy at Historic Royal Palaces. He works across six palaces and is based at the Tower of London. His research focuses on the history and material culture of the British monarchy.
Twitter: @FarrisCharles
www.hrp.org.uk
Dr Alden Gregory
Alden is the Curator of Historic Buildings at the Tower of London. He has previously also worked as a curator for the National Trust. An expert on late medieval and early modern architecture and court culture, Alden wrote his doctoral thesis on the architectural history of Knole in Sevenoaks, Kent, and has more recently led a research project on the tents and temporary timber lodgings of the Tudor royal court.
Bettina Harden
Bettina Harden is a garden historian, writer and speaker. As an historic garden owner she was a founder member of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust, serving as Chairman (1997-2003) and is now a member of its Council. She was founder and Chairman of the Gateway Gardens Trust, bringing the disadvantaged community into the historic gardens of Wales and has been a Trustee of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, the first new botanic garden created in the twentieth century. She received her MA in garden history in 2014 from the University of Buckingham.
Bettina now welcomes people to her garden in Wales when not researching or writing. As well as many articles, she has written The Most Glorious Prospect: Garden Visiting in Wales 1639-1900.
Instagram: @bettinaharden
Alfred R. J. Hawkins
Alfred is the Assistant Curator of Historic Buildings at the Tower of London. He has previously worked as a buildings archaeologist for Pre-Construct Archaeology. Alfred has been an onscreen contributor for Channel 5’s Inside the Tower and Discovery Channel’s Unearthed.
Twitter: @ARJ_Hawkins
www.hrp.org.uk
Julian Humphrys
Julian is an historian, speaker and guide. After taking a degree in History at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he spent 12 years at Chelsea’s National Army Museum as spokesman to the media on all matters of military history. Julian is a trustee of the Battlefields Trust, the UK Charity dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Britain’s historic battlefields. He now leads a busy programme of study tours and guided visits to battlefields, castles and historic properties.
Julian's published books include The Private Life of Palaces; Clash of Arms: Twelve English Battles; and Enemies at the Gate: English Castles under Siege.
Twitter: @JulesHumphrys
Instagram: @julianhumphrys
www.julianhumphrys.com
Hannah Leueen Matthews
Hannah is Curator at the Mary Rose Trust, an architectural historian and osteoarchaeologist. Hannah has previously worked in Operations and Historic Building Conservation roles at Burghley House Preservation Trust and Historic Royal Palaces based at HM Tower of London and Banqueting House, Whitehall. She specialises in sixteenth-century royal building works and is a qualified osteoarchaeologist. Hannah is currently researching James Nedam, carpenter and Surveyor of the King’s Works (1532-44), for her DPhil in Architectural History at the University of Oxford.
Twitter: @HLMatthews_MR
www.maryrose.org
Dr Sarah Morris
Sarah is the founder and CEO of The Tudor Travel Guide. She aims to inspire people from all over the world to learn about and visit places steeped in Tudor history. Sarah is the author of three books including the Amazon best seller, In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn, is host of The Tudor History & Travel Show podcast and runs an eponymous YouTube channel dedicated to exploring and chronicling Tudor places.
Twitter: @TheTTGuide
Instagram: @thetudortravelguide
www.thetudortravelguide.com
Dr Elizabeth Norton
Elizabeth is a British historian. She has written widely on the Tudor period, including the critically acclaimed The Lives of Tudor Women (Head of Zeus, 2016). She acted as Historical Consultant and onscreen contributor for the BBC’s The Boleyns, A Scandalous Family and is regularly featured on television. She was recently a finalist in Christmas University Challenge, in the alumnae team for Hertford College, Oxford.
Twitter: @ENortonHistory
Dr Nicola Tallis
Nicola is an independent historian and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She specialises in the Tudor period and has a particular interest in queenship and jewel history. She is a regular contributor to magazines and television, and her books have been published to wide critical acclaim. They include Crown of Blood, Uncrowned Queen, and All the Queen's Jewels, 1445-1548.
Twitter: @Nicola Tallis
Instagram: @historian_nicola
www.nicolatallis.com
Melita Thomas
Melita is the co-founder and editor of the website, Tudor Times. She trained as a Chartered Surveyor and followed a career in business before researching and writing about the Tudor period. Melita has published three books, The King’s Pearl: Henry VIII and His Daughter Mary, The House of Grey: Friends & Foes of Kings, and 1000 Tudor People. Melita is currently studying the social and political networks of Mary I for her doctorate at University College London.
Twitter: @thetudortimes
Instagram: @tudor_times
www.tudortimes.co.uk
Brigitte Webster
Brigitte and her husband, Tom, live in an authentic Tudor manor house in north Norfolk, from where they run the Tudor and 17th Century Experience. Brigitte is a qualified teacher of home economics and history, making her the perfect 'accomplished' Tudor housewife in a modern world. As a competent and experienced cook with a deep passion for Tudor history she fully immersed herself in archaeological, experimental cookery which also motivated her to grow period vegetables, herbs and fruits to achieve the most authentic results.
Brigitte's brainchild, the Tudor and 17th Century Experience, allows her to share her passion for all things Tudor with a wider audience.
Twitter: @tudorfoodrecipe
Instagram: @tudor_experience
www.tudorexperience.com
Dr Emma J Wells
Emma is an ecclesiastical and architectural historian/buildings archaeologist as well as public historian, specialising in the late medieval/early modern English parish church/cathedral, pilgrimage, the cult of saints, and the ‘senses’, as well as built heritage more generally. She is currently a Technical Director and Head of Historic Buildings in the private sector and was formerly Programme Director at the University of York.
Emma is a trustee of the Churches conservation Trust and sits on the church buildings Council's stained-glass committee. She is also an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University.
Emma’s latest book, Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World’s Greatest Cathedrals, was published in September 2022.
Twitter: @Emma_J_Wells
Instagram: @wells_emma
www.emmajwells.com