At the beginning of 1676, Lady Anne Clifford, Dowager Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Cumberland was just about to turn 86 years old. Now she was about to enter her final months, and as she had for most of her life, she continued to ensure that her day-to-day activities would be documented. Anne had been a prolific diarist throughout her life, and she ensured this continued.

On 03 March 1542, Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, died within the Tower of London, aged about eighty-years old, having been imprisoned there since May 1540.

On This Day (23 February) in 1554, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, was executed on Tower Hill, having being convicted of charges of high treason five days previously.

On the morning of 12 February 1554, Jane Grey, then known as 'Jane Dudley', was spending her last hours within the Tower of London, where she had been held prisoner the previous seven months. Just before 10 o'clock, fellow prisoner and her husband of less than a year, Guildford Dudley, was led from the Tower to nearby Tower Hill, where he was beheaded. A short time later, Jane herself was taken to a scaffold that had been erected on Tower Green, where he was also beheaded.

On 08 January 1604, Margaret wrote to Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, daughter of 'Bess of Hardwick', from North Hall, describing her sister's ongoing illness. Her health having continued to decline, "Anne, Countess of Warwick, widow, late wife of Ambrose late Earle of Warwick deceased" died at Northaw on 09 February 1604, aged 55 years old. At her request, Anne was subsequently buried amongst her ancestors, including her parents, "without pomp", at Cheynes.