History of St. Dominick – Map 1 {Pre-history – 1485} Part 1 – Neolithic times

{continuing the ‘occasional series’ I am also writing on StDominicksBlog For previous posts on the history of this area see St. Dominick History tab under ‘History – local and everyday’ Topic}}

The original of this project map was created by the late John Dyke, an artist and, during the second world war and before his retirement from the NT, a cartographer, who used to live in Bohetherick.

On this map he included the streams and the river and dotted in the tracks that we believed would have been there by 1485, as they went from farm to farm or from these to the Mills, Church or the Manor houses. This was then shaded to show the hills in the manner used on very old maps, so that hills appear in profile even though the map is in plan-view.

Section of Map 1 with added Neolithic detail outside parish boundary

However, in prehistory – of course – there was no such designated area as our Parish, but what there most probably was were the streams and the river. From countries, to counties to parishes, natural features, such as rivers and streams have been used to delineate borders, and so it is with St. Dominick parish – and it is that which gives it its shape and the slightly odd pointed end.

If you look at a reasonable large size ordnance survey of the area you will see that there are two main streams issuing into the Tamar, either side of our parish. One comes out beside Cotehele quay, the other at the far side of Halton Barton and Strawberry Hill, before Pentille. If you follow these up – you will see the parish boundary follows them as far as they go to at least one of the their higher sources (streams often having a few springs converging on them) From the highest point of each is a short run on up – and across what is now the A388 to join with the rising of two separate springs which themselves converge – and this is the odd pointed bit that just takes in Westcott. A rough sketch is shown below:

At one time it was a ‘fun’ and ‘educational’ event to ‘Beat the Bounds’ where ‘everyone’, especially the young* were taken around the whole parish boundary (*to teach them where the boundary lay). I understand there are many in the parish who took part in the last one held here – and have heard tales of this, especially concerning Westcott. Do comment if you have a tale to tell!

Setting this area in its larger pre-historic setting, by pulling our focus out a just a little, we find the Neolithic Henge (around 2500 BC) known as Castlewich Henge, situated between Castlewich and Westcott, and identified in 1951. This is not a henge like Stonehenge, but circular a bank and ditch henge, the ditch being inside the bank, of some 90m external diameter, and showing no signs of occupation (no signs of buildings within at anytime) and is therefore most probably associated with ritual or trade use in Neolithic times.

Above this, on the other side of the A388, is Balstone Down Quarry (in the triangle of trees between the A388 and the smaller road that cuts though to Callington) which was the site of Neolithic excavation and manufacture of greenstone axes – considered a Neolithic ‘axe-factory’.

Greenstone axes were prized in Neolithic times, a fine-grained dense stone it polished well and held an edge – and, for some reason, green-coloured hard stone, of any mineral composition, was popular across the Neolithic world. Some were for use but some are believed to have been used as ceremonial axes; given as gifts or deposited as votive offerings. Fifty-six greenstone axes, found in various places across the southern half of Britain, have been identified (by mineral analysis) as having come from ‘the Callington area’ and so most probably from the Balstone Down Quarry. There are only five greenstone quarries known of in Cornwall, only this one is near Callington and all the others further west – and producing a different quality of greenstone. (1)

That greenstone axes from this area were traded, and therefore found distributed across the country, bolsters the opinion that the henge may have been used as a site of trading, especially as a Neolithic ridgeway runs close to both these areas (quite likely part of the A388 follows this ridgeway)

A ridgeway was the Neolithic highway, going, literally, along the higher ridges where possible (safer to travel than the densely wooded valleys) from settlement to settlement. With the river offering a means of travel, this ridgeway is also believed to have headed down to the Tamar, quite possibly to the Halton Quay area, as travel by river was faster, safer and associated with trade. (2)

So, what of Neolithic evidence found within our ‘parish’ boundary, seeing as it is evidenced close by? Interestingly, the evidence within the parish is not of greenstone axes, but of a number of small flint tools discovered in the Ashton area. The picture below these is a drawing made by Mary Martin from the originals. (Copyright Mary Martin and reproduced here with permission) *when I have access to my stored papers I can replace this mono-chrome version with the original colour version.

I am not surprised that these were found in the vicinity of Ashton – as this is an area particularly well-endowed with springs – a pre-requisite for any early settlements. It is also closer to the recognised Neolithic features described above – henge, quarry (axe-factory) and ridgeway, – than the bulk of our parish area.

# Stepping out of the Neolithic: There are at least six springs in the Ashton area. Five of these had been turned into ‘captured-spring wells’* at sometime in history and given a little ‘well house’ – unfortunately there’s no date-line for this – but medieval is suggested (Noted by the Cornwall Archaeology Unit – referring specifically to Cornish Holy Wells “The numerous holy wells in Cornwall may be a reflection of a prehistoric, pagan, reverence towards water spirits and other natural forces. Many natural springs were provided with a well house or covering during the mediæval and later periods.” (3). The CAU only seem to consider ‘holy wells’ but there are many, many more ‘domestic captured spring wells’ that are totally disregarded and just disappear through lack of recognition or care)

*This is where a spring is dug out, a slate open box made, or carved rock basin placed, to contain the water and a little stone ‘well house’ made over it (back, sides and a roof, sometimes with a little slate shelf and usually a door to keep out animals and detritus). Water could then be dipped from this well, the excess water running over and out, making a small stream.

Four of these were visible roadside in Ashton until quite recently (when the falling of a hedgerow tree destroyed what was left of the little well-house of one and the other, basically one wall and a roof, just subsided into the stream), one is in the grounds of a cottage, one is semi-filled-in and hidden by undergrowth. The best condition and most visible is that beside Ashton Barton (the ‘manor house’ for the later Manor of Ashton) Photo below – if you zoom in you can see the well-water in the ‘box’.

REFERENCES

(1) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-019-09438-6Schauer, P., Bevan, A., Shennan, S. et al. British Neolithic Axehead D(2) Movement and mobility in the Neolithic. Editors: Jim Leary and Thomas Kadoristributions and Their Implications. J Archaeology Method Theory 27,

(2) Movement and mobility in the Neolithic. Editors: Jim Leary and Thomas Kador Click for link

(3) Cornwall Archaeology Unit – Holy Well
LINK cornwall-and-scilly-historic-environment-record/access-to-monuments/find-by-period/find-monuments-by-period/mediaeval/holy-well

Did you ‘Beat the Bounds’ back in the day? Do tell your tale in the comments!

Did you already know of Castlewich Henge and the greenstone axe ‘factory’ at Balstone Down?

Had you noticed the well-houses in Ashton – and in many other parts of St. Dominick too? 
Have you got one in your grounds, or in the lane outside locally?

Do SHARE and COMMENT – I love to hear from you. Xx Ann 🙂 

ps If you are reading this on email and would like to comment just click onto the title and it will take you to the actual blog – so you can comment there.
If it is the first time you have written a comment don’t worry if it doesn’t appear immediately, your first comment has to be verified (to keep the spam-bots out) and I do this personally – so I am sure to see your comment – thanks for reading – Ann

Remember – reviews of books are a great way to say ‘thank you’ to an author if you like what they write,
  Thank You

Sharing:

A Blog Post Elsewhere … History of St. Dominick

Our local Pub, The Who’d Have Thought It Inn, St. Dominick, had the great idea of providing a BLOG for the parish (the village and the parish have the same name!) They then asked for contributors – and yours truly offered to write up an occasional series on the History of St. Dominick – as I have gathered a huge amount of information over the years.

Though aware that this blog is read all over the world, I have decided to re-post these blog-posts here too. St. Dominick is ‘home’ and St. Dominica (the patron saint of the church – and therefore namesake of the parish) is my inspiration for the book I am researching and writing at the moment.

So – welcome to our little corner of Cornwall, and I hope you enjoy this diversion into its history.

When we moved into Radland in 1983 I was determined to find out the history of that old house – and that also led me into glimpses of the history of St. Dominick itself. However, it was the inspiration of The Parish Map Project (a Common Ground initiative) that led me to work with about forty people within the parish, with many doing the research, artists creating the illustrations and others providing services, like photocopying, all to create a series of maps illustrating the history of the parish.

part of the 1485 – 1748 map

If you were not involved, a little about the Project. Parish Maps could be of any material, design, interest-focus or scope. We decided to take five snap-shots-in-time – and base most of them on existing maps. Many households in the parish have a copy, and there is a large-size set hanging in the Parish Hall.

As there were no actual maps of the area until the seventeen hundreds, so the first map was dated at 1485 – showing everything we found from pre-history to that time. This date was chosen as it is also the start of the Tudor period. It is acknowledged that the relative stability of the Tudor period accelerated change in all parts of the country, making this point a good place to pause and look back.

The second map was dated 1748, and was based on an existing map you can view if you go to Lanhydrock, drawn by Thomas Martyn. To this was added the research that was gathered that focussed on properties that had been built and were still there between 1485 and the map’s date.

part of 1748 – 1841 map

The third map is based on the Tithe Map 1841, probably the most detailed map made of the area – ever! A tithe map was made to commute tithes-in-kind (for example: one stook of wheat in every10 harvested) into a monetary value – so they could be paid that way instead. The original tithe map is huge – and barely any of the fine detail could be shown on our maps, but the basic information and everything discovered was added to the original map.

The fourth map was based on the 1951 ordnance survey map – and shows how life had changed dramatically over the previous 110 years – and brings us firmly into history as remembered by people born in St. Dominick.

The final map was set at the year we completed the project, 1995, and yet, even in this short time-period the changes are dramatic to see in terms of housing development and change of use for other buildings.

In this occasional series I hope to share with you the research and the sources (where possible) and describe this area as it developed from just an area bordered by streams and the river, into the parish we know today. I do hope you’ll join me for the journey – Ann

Do you like local history?

What aspects interest you most?

Have you taken part in any history projects where you live?

love to hear from you 🙂 Xx Ann

ps If you are reading this on email and would like to comment just click onto the title and it will take you to the actual blog – so you can comment there.
If it is the first time you have written a comment don’t worry if it doesn’t appear immediately, your first comment has to be verified (to keep the spam-bots out) and I do this personally – so I am sure to see your comment – thanks for reading – Ann

Remember – reviews of books are a great way to say ‘thank you’ to an author if you like what they write,
  Thank You

Sharing:

One morning the sky seemed full of aircraft …

At last, the second volume of my father’s memoirs is published – and these are the first words of the first chapter, it is D. Day – and six days later it was his 18th birthday and his call-up papers arrived.

Sadly this is also the final volume of Frank’s memoirs – even though, if Frank had the time left to him to write them, he would have probably been into volumes 4 or 5 at the very least before the end.

Volume 2 takes him up until he is 28, he then began Volume 3 … but the rest of his life is sketched in by his children (myself and my brother Mark) covering almost all the interests he participated in over the years and explaining a few of those unexplained bits he put in his own writing – saying – ‘more about this later’.

Frank had always intended his memoir to be a record for his descendants though, with his eye for detail, it is also a great exercise in observation of life in those times and a good social comment from the point of view of the ordinary man.
With his descendants in mind, the book concludes with a piece he wrote before he began his memoirs – things he’d been told by his parents about their life and about their parents – taking the family memories back another generation.

The first four years of Volume 2 see him in the Army at the end of WWII and up until his (late) de-mob. In his inimitable ‘voice’ we have an insight into the induction of civilians into the war-time army and the procedures of life in the army.
Much of his time he was posted in Europe – and these chapters include his own photographs of places he saw (some from tiny pictures – about 1″ x 2″).

Talking of photographs, from after the war there is a picture of the first car he and his brother Peter got – the photo this was taken from was about a half inch square (12mm square).

Editing this was a mammoth task – and I am pleased that it has been achieved. For those of you who read and enjoyed his first volume – it is available via Amazon HERE. (Or directly from me if you live close enough to pick it up)
And for everyone – here is a sample of the rest of that first chapter.

Chapter 1 – Into the Army

One morning the sky seemed to be full of aircraft all with three broad white bands around their wings and fuselage. It was D day, 6th June 1944 and on the 12th of June I was 18 and I received my call up. With this came a travel warrant to report to Norwich barracks on the 29th of June. I had already handed my rifle into the Home guard but kept my uniform (battledress) to travel in – as I still had no decent civilian clothes.

On the afternoon before I went I pointed to the apples on the tree outside the window and said ‘There won’t be any of those left when I get home again.’

Next morning I set out to walk to South Zeal to catch the early bus to Exeter and the train to Norwich, a long tedious trip. When the train finally arrived we were met by Sergeants directing the recruits to army lorries. It seemed that all those that came from the West Country were pointed to a different lorry from the others. When we arrived at the barracks we were sent to the dining hall and given a mug of tea and a plate with something like soggy lumpy mashed potatoes – boiled butter beans – all ice cold. I started eating mine but sitting opposite me were two lads dressed in nice casual clothes moaning about the food, and when one reached across towards my plate and saying. ‘I don’t know how you can eat that,’ without thinking I slammed my fork into the table close to his hand and growled. He jumped back and said. ‘Christ where did they get you from?’ I was a bit disturbed as I realised I’d had a flashback to cripple school meals, and having to defend them.

The sergeant bawled out, ‘Outside for induction!’ I joined the induction queue and suddenly found myself in front of an ATS who snapped out, ‘Name?’ and then wanted all my other details, all in a tone that said I was holding up the complete war effort. Then she rattled off a string of numbers. I hesitated and she said, ‘That’s your number, move on.’ And then the confusion really kicked in as a single battledress was pushed towards me and the soldier behind the counter shouted out, ‘Battledress. two.’ (where others were given two) I realised that was because I was already wearing one.
As I progressed along the counter more clothes and equipment were pushed at me, each time with the description called out including a ‘housewife, soldiers for the use of’ which turned out to be a sewing and darning kit.
Then all the webbing equipment and water bottle were added, and just when I was so loaded I could not see over the top I got 3 blankets.
Again I was asked my number. I staggered away hoping I had got it right.

We were told we were now fully responsible for the kits and any loss or damage would be replaced at our cost. Then we were marched away to the barracks – which turned out to be the old cavalry section and the area I was in, with 30 others, was the ex stables and faintly smelt like it. I was given a bunk which happened to be double and the other lad opted for the lower one – I was pleased with that. Then the order came to change into uniform. I began to look round at the others and was surprised at the obvious difference in ages. I thought they would all be my age but the call up was gradually creeping up and among us were men who had been in the occupation army in Germany after the First World War. So what it amounted to was, of the thirty in the barracks room, some knew the routine of army life but the majority were all ages called up as their reserve jobs came to an end, but all mature and confident … and me. Confused, lost and, in modern parlance, definitely out of my comfort zone.

Finally – I would like to wish
YOU ALL a Very Happy and Hopeful NEW YEAR. May 2021 be a better and happier year for everyone, for you and for those you love.

I love to hear your comments – please do feel free to chat 🙂
X ANN

ps If you are reading this on email and would like to comment just click onto the title and it will take you to the actual blog – so you can comment there
If it is the first time you have written a comment don’t worry if it doesn’t appear immediately, your first comment has to be verified (to keep the spam-bots out) and I do this personally – so I am sure to see your comment – thanks for reading – Ann

Remember – reviews of books are a great way to say ‘thank you’ to an author if you like what they write,
  Thank You

Sharing:

Armistice Day 100 years remembrance – poems

wp_20181111_002There’s red poppies EVERYWHERE!
Towns and villages have sprouted them, made of glass, or yarn, pottery or wood – they flow down walls, dot verges, surround memorials.

Four years ago, marking the century-old start of what became to be known as World War One, or The Great War, or (unquestionably wrongly) The War to End All Wars, we, as a poetry group wrote a number of works on this theme.

So, today I’ll share some of mine: The first reminds me that we (our WI) used to ‘sell’ poppies door to door – until the year members were upset so much by reactions that it stopped. Partly because of this, I had researched the ‘peace poppy’ thinking it a recent innovation – only to find it was as old as the war – and much misunderstood. Now red-poppies are back in vogue I think it continues to be.

By any other colour   (the peace poppy)

Perhaps they should have picked another colour
to that of the shame-filled feather;
those war widows and war weary veterans
who would have agreed with Owen’s poem
‘Dulce et decorum est’ if they’d understood Latin,

Perhaps then they’d not have been spat upon
sacked and shunned, just for wanting
peace over everything and wearing it,
a sign they wanted it to really be the end
with no disrespect intended.

Perhaps they should just have paused
eighty-odd years, by which time selling poppies
meant slammed doors, even in rural villages
and indifference meant few came
when the Remembrance bugle called.

Perhaps poppies, white or red, or even
remembering the dead, does nothing, for
a hundred-years on from ‘the one to end all’
governments still wave the patriotic flag
and world-wide, still make war.

 

The next I’m going to share with you is short and, possibly, the one most people liked when it was first performed.

How to Grow Poppies

For flowers in abundance
row after row, whole
landscapes turned crimson, first
turn the soil.
Digging trenches works well.
Poppies thrive in open spaces,
the removal of trees and other shade
is recommended.
Fertilize well, blood and bone is best.
Water in, a long winter of rain at least,
and leave … nature will do the rest.

 

I’ll leave you with a final Peace Poppy poem, mainly because I believe that the World needs Peace more now than ever. Wars and conflict are driving poverty and migration across continents, which is driving further right-wing and extremist movements. The Map of War and Conflicts LINK HERE   is frightening – and the refugees and the human misery these are creating affects us all.

 

Peace Poppies

They are white,
white like the feather
dished out to any man
deemed to be fit
but not fighting

They are white,
like the bones
of the sixteen
thousand conchies
who died at the front

They are white,
like the rain-washed faces
of the dead and injured
they rescued from
no-mans land

They are white
a bloom to remember
peace and the peaceful
who’d not kill
but not shirk

They are white
when all others are red
misunderstood today
as much as when
they came to be

They are white
or they are red to
remember and honour
not the war, not the glory
only the sacrifice.

 

Off to the Remembrance service now  🙂 with my red poppy on – and a lovely Cornish badge made locally and sold for the RBL complete with poppy and dove of peace – as in the picture above.

Any thoughts – all welcome

Best Ann

Sharing:

Hello Blog, it’s me – been a long time …

Hello Blog, it’s me – been a long time … I’ve missed you.

I missed a lot of things in the past nine months. I tried, I really did, but a blog a month was all I managed – why? Well, I didn’t want to write about the main thing in my life back then as it wasn’t only mine to write about, but now, now that my dear and lovely Dad has passed away, and I am just resurfacing, I can say – yes, looking after Dad took most of my ‘spare’ time and all of my emotional effort to remain cheerful and upbeat for him at times when I really wanted to cry. He always hated to be dependant in any way – and I could not let any strain show for his sake.

frank-foweraker-recent
Taken just before his 90th birthday

So we saw him though operations and radiotherapy and the realisation that the cancer had come back into his lymph nodes and that nothing more could be done. He had his last wish and died at home in our lovely old house, where he’d lived for the past twenty-seven years, having seen his grandsons arrive from all over the world to sit with him in the last days, hold his hand, talk or watch old episodes of Dad’s Army with him when he was really tired.

Yet, he was 91, an age he’d never expected to reach when he was young. He’d had a varied and interesting life and had achieved much.9781909936904-Perfect_FINAL copy Sadly he never got to see the second volume of his memoirs in print – but he did write it, and I will edit and have it published. However, this second volume only takes him from 18 years to 28, so I will have to add a little to fill in the remaining years even if only in bullet pointed highlights. This is one of my targets for this year, even if my own writing takes a back seat.

I don’t think many people expected to do a music hall sing-along at the funeral tea – but that is just what one of his grandson’s arranged. You see, Dad had been talking about this song two Christmases ago, and it was found and played to him … with resulting laughter all round. Here’s a youtube link to a video of him listening to it:

And this is the original – so you can hear properly what the hilarity is all about.(Note:it pauses half way through to turn the record over!)  Dad would have loved it, proper Cockney humour and a proper old-time sing-along!

So that’s where I have been and what I have been doing while I’ve not been talking to you, dear blog readers…

What has the past nine months brought you? Happy times? Sad?

Do share – because I really do like to hear from you

x
Ann

Sharing:

Planned Parenthood – early medieval style

It is amazing where researches for a book take you. Regular readers will know that I am embarking upon my first historical novel – and that it is set in early medieval times – late AD600s to be precise.

So my wise-woman is going to help a female Saxon slave to ensure she doesn’t conceive. Umm – and how does she do that? The male in question is not going to be party to any care that needs taking – so off into the depths of the internet I go – following one thread after another until I find some answers – and other interesting facts…siphium

One thread took me back so far that the herb in question had become extinct even before the years I was looking at! But was fascinating anyway. A herb that was the making of Cyrene – wanted for so many reasons apart from that of being the most effective contraceptive potion available. The plant was known as Silphium and it featured on the coins of the country – that’s how important it was! It appears to have been only able to grow in a narrow strip of land – and, despite many attempts, could not be propagated anywhere else. Seeds simply did not grow, roots or cuttings did not work elsewhere.

Silphium had properties that also made it a go-to culinary condiment and ingredient, where leaves, stems and roots were used – as well as making the meat of sheep grazed on it most wonderfully tender. It was used to treat a wide range of maladies – and then there was its powerful contraceptive properties.  It was so valuable that Julius Caesar had a cache (1,500lbs or 680kg) stored in the official treasury. Ultimately it was harvested (or eaten by the sheep) into extinction!

Medical Texts from ancient Greece and Rome

In many medical texts available at the time, there were lists of mixtures designed to ‘hurry the menses or cleanse the womb’, therefore these mixtures were usable to end an unwanted pregnancy, especially very early or before it had begun! One version of the Antidotarium has several recipes for ‘quickening the menses’ utilizing a number of herbs including arum, birthwort, artemisia, century plant, lupine, pepper, Queen Anne’s Lace, myrrh, licorice, pennyroyal, rue, peony, parsley, and cypress.

Did they work?  Well, I’m not sure about pepper but pennyroyal, parsley, and Queen Anne’s lace for instance, are so effective that modern women are recommended to avoid them if they want to become pregnant. In fact, for many of them to work, the concentration had to be so high as to be dangerous to the women themselves. (Yes, I’ve looked a lot of these up – and many are on the Poisonous plants list!) oueen-annes-lace

Herbs could also be used as physical barriers for conception or as pessaries, pulped and often mixed with pungent oils, honey or even animal dung. Ewww!

I need something that would be growing in Ireland at the correct time, and so far have settled on Queen Anne’s Lace – the wild carrot. Modern day use of this as a contraceptive suggests a number of ways, but chewing the seeds for a number of days after intercourse looks like a method that could have been used in Eire in that time, and would be a safer alternative. Apparently it works because chemicals in the seeds block progesterone synthesis, thus disrupting implantation thus preventing pregnancy.  I wonder – how did they find that out in the first place!?

Now to find out if the plant grew there, then! Harder than you might imagine as it will only be if it has been traced by pollen in samples or if a book written, at the correct time in Eire, mentions it, even though it is described as a native plant nowadays – I have discovered this does not necessarily mean it grew there in AD 600.

Do you end up down the rabbit tunnels of the internet – just because you looked up one thing?

Have you ever wondered how they managed these things back in deepest history? – when being pregnant was a very dangerous condition – resulting in death more times than we like to think about.

Do share your thoughts – as always I am fascinated to learn

X    Ann

 

Sharing:

Mud & Poetry – Port Eliot Festival 2017

All the Arty stuff seems to come together for me – first it was the belly dancing – then the Poetry.

This time we were back at the Port Eliot Festival – yes I’ve written about being there before – but this year was different – in a couple of ways.

To begin with it had been raining – and I mean seriously raining (should have known that a dry weekend for Glastonbury would have to mean a wet one later on!)

I normally wear only sandals – nearly all the year – though I will wear boots in winter when the rain makes my feet too cold, but not if it is dry and cold. This year, middle of the summer, I wore my sandals but packed my glittery canvas slip-ons and my common green garden wellies. Thank goodness I did.

‘Is it really bad down there?’ I asked at the gate. I have seen falsified reports of mud on the TV on previous years where they must have persuaded the lithesome girls to paddle in the mud at the edge of the river to ‘make a story’ out of what were a few puddles here and there. The guy grinned, and said, ”tis a bit’.

So wellies on, and feeling a bit weird, I ventured down. No sooner than I was though the gate and I could see the main route down was mud. (DOWN being the operative word, a steepish sloping field) I picked my way carefully down, thinking I really didn’t want to stand up before an audience plastered top to toe in mud. It was a real possibility! wp_20170730_12_49_16_prowp_20170730_12_49_53_prowp_20170730_12_50_22_pro

At the bottom, the two main tents, Park Stage and The Ace of Clubs stage tent, were marooned in a veritable SEA of MUD! Squelching through carefully this I stepped over the temporary bridge over the HaHa – wp_20170730_12_51_11_proto a relatively clean and well-drained wp_20170730_15_50_07_proarea that surrounded the main house – like a different world!

 

From here up the hill the other side, via the gravelled tracks, to the walled garden, where some areas were thick with mud, while others relatively unscathed. Here the Liskeard Poets were to give the first show of the day in the Tiddy Tent. Thankfully, this year a tent that held not just the electrical equipment, but one that was also was big enough for performers and a decent-sized audience, all undercover, with overspill space to the side.wp_20170730_10_35_28_pro

Even though we were on quite early for the last day of a festival – we had a significant audience, which grew as passing people heard and joined those listening.

Then off to look around and listen in to other poets, music, comedians, and dance to the great music in the Ace of Clubs – until it was the turn of a few of us to try our hand on that same stage. I watched as they scraped a layer of mud off of what was, beneath, a green ground mat, then scattered straw all over it. The effect of this was to gather a lovely halo of straw around your wellies as you walked across the inside of the tent. This was going to be weird – I would prefer to be barefoot while reading poetry (if you gave me a choice) but to stand there with wellies with a muddy-straw fringe – well!

The first three of us up took to the stage between the music acts, pop-up poets were designed to entertain while those behind removed or placed equipment. We performed against this – and to an audience who weren’t really expecting poetry at all – and a full bar operating in the background. A challenge we all rose to – belting it out! Here’s my ‘The Novelist’

The second pop-up poets slot we did was slightly more challenging – in that this time we followed a Pole-dancing demonstration and had to stand part way behind them as they dismantled their poles!

I spent quite a bit of time listening the poets in the more refined space of the new Poetry Tent between and afterwards and wondered how well some of them would have got on in the Ace of Clubs!  Port Eliot is always a fabulous festival – but this year was more memorable than most!

Are you into going to festivals?

Do you like the variety – the wildness – the camping?

Do Share – you know I love to hear from you

ps  if reading this on email to see the video you need to click into the blog post title at the top of the page 🙂

Sharing:

Lost in Time – researching for Dominica!

I’ve been gone one thousand, three hundred and twenty-eight years – back in time … to an era we call ‘The Dark Ages’. The Roman garrisons have gone – left these isles to tend to their problems closer to Rome with a farewell letter to the Romano-British from the Emperor Honorius, in AD410, to see to their own protection  – even as they called for aid to fend off the raiding Saxons. However, by the date I’ve been visiting, AD689, the Angles, Jutes and Saxons are well ensconced in the majority of what will become England, but the Vikings are not yet attacking.

wp_20170406_15_34_30_pro
Can you see the river Tamar, just behind the trees – and further beyond?

I am in Cornwall, here, just over the border – the river Tamar. Though, in AD689 Cornwall is not Cornwall – as such, it is part of Dumnonia, roughly Devon and Cornwall and part of Somerset and Dorset, and it is a different place culturally to the rest of ‘England’. The West Saxons (those being the closest – Wessex) have not overtaken the people of Dumnonia yet – in fact – even the Romans had made little impact here, this side of the river, either … a few forts only – no fancy towns all laid out Roman style with villas and influence over the local Kings* here. (*or ‘big-man’ as the system seemed to be in Cornwall in the pre-Roman times … and probably was even at the end of the AD600s.)

So it is a tumultuous time on the border, the threat of invasion by the West Saxons is real, they have made in-roads into Dumnonia … and they have a new battle-cry. By this time the Anglo-Saxons had, by and large, turned from their pagan gods to Christianity, some converted by missionaries from Rome, some by missionaries from Ireland. This had resulted in a clash of Christian doctrines – the Roman church and the Celtic church having different ways to work out the Christian calendar, different tonsures for their monks, and differing rules and ways of worship and a different attitude towards women. Within my time-line comes the decisive synod of Whitby, AD664, that found in favour of the Roman Church and meant that the Celtic churches that would not change were then seen as heretical – and to be wiped out.

The Church in Dumnonia, and especially the ‘Cornish’ ones backed by King Geraint and so rich in Celtic saints from Ireland, refused to change – setting themselves up for the West Saxons to proclaim a ‘religious war’ as a motive to back-up their invasions.

It’s been hard to get back to the here and now – I look at the landscape around me with different eyes – where would have been occupied? Where would have been safe? I read the names of the places I know and refer to my books to see whether I can call the place by its current name – whether the name we know is, in fact, original Celtic (Cornish) or an English name given only after the West Saxons’ invasion, or a blend … and even that has made me look at the landscape again and see things with different eyes as I find the meanings behind the words.

Those who know me in person, know that I am interested in history, mainly local history rather than that of Kings and Queens, but this is something different. To weave a story based on a few scanty legends (Dominica and Indract), set in a time that is poorly recorded (there’s the reason it is called the Dark Ages) and to try to throw myself back into that time and inhabit that landscape and that life is, for me, an extraordinary experience, both thrilling and very scary. It is also totally absorbing and takes me to a place I have never travelled before!

Wish me luck on my time-travels 🙂

Do you go time-travelling?

Do you find yourself inhabiting a different world when visiting ancient houses or estates?

Do share – you know I love to hear from you!

Sharing:

Looe Literary Festival and an authorly-secret

 

‘Welcome to Looe’ the sign said – indeed – welcome to the Looe Literary Festival 2016, no longer a baby – now a three-year-old and growing and learning every year.

I was honoured, once again, to be invited to present my new book at this festival – the places aren’t unlimited, even though the brave organisers, June and Amelia, try to make space for all.

It was great to see Waterstones, led by Lee (who held my launch of Some Kind of Synchrony in the Plymouth, New George Street, branch) getting involved as the Literary Festival’s main book seller – and it was great to have the pop-up Art Gallery and ‘locals’ book shop at Archies once again (after missing out on it last year.)

The venues had almost all changed as well. Us Local Authors were in the very nice space of the upstairs of The Black Swan. So it was there that a goodly number appeared to hear my talk. Now, without an interviewer this year I planted questions to get me on my way. (*if I do this again, and you happen to come along, you might like to know that if you volunteered to ask me a ‘planted’ question you would be entered for an instant draw – the prize for which, this time, was a signed copy of The Angel Bug.*) – but this isn’t my authorly-secret.

This scheme kept me on track with the main bits I wanted to include – but I also left a gap for random questions from the audience. One that I have never had before was concerning the book that will never be published – the first one I ever wrote. I had pointed out that I was glad that it had not been possible to just pop a book up on Amazon back when I started writing – as I might have been tempted and ruined my writing career before it had begun, whereas I could now see that it was full of the worst ‘first-book’ ‘new author’ errors. (no, this isn’t the authorly-secret either) looe-lit-fest-reading

‘What were these errors?’ I was asked … and I had to admit to ‘purple prose’ – too much description, every flower, every petal described on a walk… type of thing. I also admitted to ‘far too much introspection’ as the protagonist contemplated her lot and agonised over decisions. What eluded me at the time, but I recalled when I returned home, was the lack of real driving storyline. Sure she went from one relationship to another – but she did not exactly grow in the transition – and throughout was beset with angst. I’d called this book, eventually, ‘Windmills’ – after the song title ‘Windmills of your mind’ and had each chapter headed with a different line from the song. (seems that, had I actually published this, I might have ended up in trouble for using the lyrics without permission – who knew! – but this isn’t the authorly-secret either)

As it happens this never-to-be-published book found its way into A Respectable Life. It gets a sideways mention as one of the other books that the book group are reading from the ‘Best-Reads’ short list. It amused me to put it in there but, until now, only I knew! – and that IS my authorly-secret! And now you all know and will recognise it when you read that line!  looe-lit-fest-signing

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and it was SO GOOD to meet some of my readers – especially those who have read my other books and came along specially – if that was you – it was great to meet you!!

Thank all of you, both at the book launch and after the Looe Lit Fest reading, who also encouraged me to put my poems out in book form too. I am now considering it…

Back to researching and writing now … and working on fermented foods … and researching natural healing … and sorting poems … and …

What are you all getting up to as the days draw in and the cold weather starts?

Do share – you know I love to hear from you

Best – Ann

Please, if you enjoyed a book by an indie-published author, help them gain a wider audience by doing a review on Amazon – doesn’t have to be in depth – just has to be heartfelt. Thank you X

 

Sharing:

Book Launch in an Imaginary Place

So ‘A Respectable Life’ is out there now … my baby – toddling around in the world – hoping people will like it… and reports suggest they do 🙂

The book launch itself was quite different from the one to launch the paperback of Some Kind of Synchrony. That one was held in Plymouth Waterstones, particularly apt as the very same building had been the Western Morning News building at one time (and the WMN was where I had done my research for that book) and I had a ‘serious’ type interview with Simon Parker, an editor with the WMN who had been a young journalist in that very building.

This time, as the book was set in the Tamar Valley in the imaginary village of Hingsbury sited quite close to St Dominick (where I live) I chose to launch the book from the village hall – BUT the village hall was pretending to be ‘Hingsbury hall’ for the evening, in the throes of the ‘Hingsbury Art Fair’ organised by Cordelia, the ‘owner’ of the respectable life.

arl-launch-artists-and-author-med
L >R The Artists line up – Anthea Lay, Jo Totterdell, Marion Kemp-Pack, Myself, Sam Margesson and Derek Scofield

Five lovely and talented artists of my close acquaintance (most of whom either live in the parish or close by) exhibited in a pop-up way for the evening. (quite the antithesis of the carefully staged and managed Art Fair Cordelia runs in the book)arl-audienece-med

The evening was well attended – with about fifty people filling the chairs – indeed, more had to be brought out!

I presented a short talk about my writing history and the writing of the book and, after I read a piece I took questions from the audience, finishing with mentioning what I was working on next.arl-launch-cutting-the-cake-of-the-book-med

THEN I cut the cake – a book shaped and Respectable Life decorated cake. Which was the cue for drinks, nibbles, and looking at art or getting books signed.

I had a fabulous time, and I hope everyone who came enjoyed it too – warm thanks to everyone to came along!

However, if you missed out – you can hear me talk about ‘A Respectable Life’ again at the Looe Literary Festival at 2.30pm in The Black Swan on Saturday 12th November. I’d love to see you there. arl-audience-after-med

Here’s a link to the Looe Lit Fest schedule – so may good writers to see, some talk are free, some to be paid for, plus workshops and great fun for children – if you are in the area don’t miss it! {You’ll notice the Liskeard Poets on Saturday morning – I’ll be reading with them too 🙂 }

Have you been to any good book launches?

What do you think an Author MUST do to make a launch go well?

What should an Author avoid?

Do share – I’d love to know your thoughts – Ann

Sharing:

Enjoyed this blog? Please share :)