Books on Local History

A Guide to Medieval Spalding

Produced by Spalding and District U3A in conjunction with Spalding Gentlemen’s Society and Ayscoughfee Hall.

A spokesman for the U3A said: “Covering the period 1050 to 1550, the guide is an extremely approachable overview of numerous facets of life in and around the town during this time.

“Everyday life came to be dominated by the Priory and its great wealth, later the devastating effect of The Black Death, the medicinal use of herbs and spices, how people lived their lives on a daily basis. There is an imagined Sunday morning walk through the then town on the way to church…and much more besides.

“The text is amply illustrated with period prints, maps and drawings as well as more recent photographs. “It’s not a book to be read cover to cover at a single sitting but one to savour and dip into section by section at leisure.

Budbury from Hillfort to Houses

The booklet has been written by local historian Pamela Slocombe and Roy Canham, who have focused on the finds from archaeological excavations in the area.

Two studies of Budbury have been produced this year. Bradford-on-Avon Museum Research Group has brought together the results of various excavations and chance finds which have been published in volume 112 of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine.  In March, the museum also published the booklet by Mrs Slocombe and Mr Canham on the colourful history of the Budbury manor area to the present day.

The Little History of Coventry

Publisher The History Press says the book packs centuries of history into its pages, telling the story of a city often ignored by mainstream historians, despite being at the heart of some of the UK’s landmark moments.  Peter Walters – who has written two books on the city already – will explore the events and characters that have shaped its rise.

A History of Christianity in Newbridge-Essays on Sacred Places in St Conleth’s Parish

Local historian Paul Cooke generously dedicated his second book to the memory of his late school friend at its launch in Newbridge recently.  The book was written to commemorate the 1,500th anniversary of St Conleth’s death, when he was devoured by wolves on a pilgrimage to Rome.

Medieval author Cate Gunn explores Colne Engaine's 800 years of history

From Halstead Gazette: 

An author has released a book about the beginnings of a village near Halstead, in celebration of its forthcoming anniversary.

Dr Cate Gunn is a popular medievalist writer who specialises in ancient origins and religious literature.

Her latest offering centres on the history of Colne Engaine. Published by Millrind Press, Colne Engaine 1219 explores the historic village’s early lifestyle and environment, while also investigating the origins of the compact community’s name.

Cate has lived in Colne Engaine for more than 30 years, and has written the 90-page book to celebrate the village’s approaching 800th anniversary, its first rector and the establishment of its parish.

She said: “The book describes what a small village in northern Essex would have been like in the early 13th century and shows how traces of that ancient village are still apparent.

read more here @ Halstead Gazette

History of Higham Ferrers to be told in new book

From the Northamptonshire Telegraph:

Higham Ferrers 1251 to 1914, a portrait of the town and its people through its historic charters, will be published in June. 

Higham Ferrers has six charters, five of which have been stored in the town hall. The charters, which set out the legal framework for how the borough of Higham Ferrers was to function, have deteriorated over the years – but Heritage Lottery money was recently made available to preserve them after a bid by Higham Ferrers Town Council, supported by the Higham Ferrers Tourism, Business and Community Partnership.

At nearly 300 pages the book tells the stories of the events that happened to Higham people from 1251 (the first charter) to 1886 (the last charter) and beyond, finishing at 1914. The book is fully illustrated with both colour and black and white pictures.

read more here @ Northamptonshire Telegraph and @ Higham Ferrers Tourism

New book looks at history of Omey Island

From Connacht Tribune:

In her new book on Omey, Dr Heather Greer explores the origins of Omey as an island – its native rock types, dominated by the 422 million years old Omey granite (among the oldest in Connemara) and by much older Dalradian psammite rock peppering the west and south of the island, dating from around 750 million years ago.

Omey Island: A Geological and Human History has been a real labour of love for Heather for the past six or seven years and more.

The book is the result of a vast amount of research – going through the old annals; historical works on the area; PhD and other academic papers addressing aspects of Omey; and discussions and conversations with scholars and with local people originating from Omey (and their descendants in Ireland or the US).

read more here @ Connacht Tribune

Bigamy, bankruptcy and poisoning at ancient Monks Hall, Waveney

From Eastern Daily Press:

Bigamy, arsenic and a tragic wartime pilot are all part of the story of a stunning Waveney manor house. One tenant was accused of arsenic poisoning, another was a convicted bigamist. Monk’s Hall, a beautiful manor house in Syleham, near Diss, has seen 1,000 years of history and could be the oldest continually-occupied house in Suffolk.

Monks Hall: The History of a Waveney Valley Manor, by Elaine Murphy, is published by Poppyland Publishing

From the publisher:

This story of a Waveney Valley manor house and estate is told through the lives of its owners, occupants and admirers, a tale that spans 1000 years and provides a fascinating social history of rural England in one place, extensively researched and written by someone with a love of the Waveney Valley. The manor was unusually well documented from medieval times because it was owned by the monks at Thetford Priory, who kept a detailed record of expenditure and gave a description of a house recognisable today, despite its 16th century ‘renovations’. After the dissolution of the priory in the mid 16th century, a succession of owners and scientifically gifted absentee landlords neglected to modernise the hall, leaving it remarkably little changed over the centuries until it was restored and renewed in the 1930s. The people who lived at Monks Hall weathered famine, riots, plague, religious intolerance and war; their family lives reflect the rigours of country living over a millennium.

The Hopkins Conundrum by Simon Edge

Book Review by Emily Beament - Press and Journal:

Tim Cleverley has inherited a struggling pub in North Wales, near the Jesuit seminary where Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote the poem The Wreck of the Deutschland.

Inspired by a terrible holiday with his ex on the trail of blockbuster Holy Grail novel The Poussin Conundrum, Tim hits on a plan to drum up more trade. He invents a mystery around Hopkin’s obscure religious poem and the local area, and entices the Conundrum’s author to come and write about it.

What follows is a witty satire in which Edge cleverly weaves together Hopkins’ struggles as he writes the poem, those of a group of nuns on the doomed Deutschland and Tim’s bid to turn his corner of the world into the next Grail hunting hotspot.

By turns gripping and laugh-out-loud funny, this is a great read for anyone who has ever reached the end of a Vatican thriller with an eyebrow raised.

An expert look at the history of Seaham’s churches

From an article in the Sunderland Echo, come this review of Fred Cooper's book, A History of the Churches at Seaham:

..... begins in Saxon and Norman times when the area we know as Seaham was served by the two churches of St Mary’s and St Andrews in the two parishes of (Old) Seaham and Dalton-Le-Dale.

Fred added: “In medieval times, churches were often built by the manorial lord who were the patrons of the church and were the possessors of the advowson i.e. the right to appoint the Rector.”