Rural Britain Then & Now by Roger Hunt

Title: Rural Britain Then & Now: A celebration of the British countryside featuring photographs from the Francis Frith Collection
Author: Roger Hunt
ISBN: 9781844034222
Publisher: Cassell, 2006
Paperback, 208 pages
Genre: Historical Photography
Rating: A
Source: Purchased from Bookcloseouts.com

First Line: Britain was born out of the countryside; from hills and fields, streams and mountains, moors and downs, fens and forests: places where nature's architecture and man's industry have, over millennia, combined.

1859 marked the beginning of Francis Frith & Co.-- the world's first specialist photographic publisher. In 1860 Frith embarked on a monumental project: to photograph every town and village in the United Kingdom. Today anyone with an interest in British history and photography is in for a treat when they visit the Francis Frith website... where it's almost impossible not to make a purchase.

When I saw that this book was available, I had to snap up a copy because, to me, the best part of Britain is its countryside-- its fields and villages-- and page by page, photograph by photograph, I was led on a marvelous journey throughout rural England.

The before and after photos are wonderful, but there is a lot to be learned from the text as well. The origin of pubs, popular sports, how the farmers and villagers lived together, worked together, and played together.

This book is such a rich source of material that I know I'll be referring to it again and again. If you have the slightest interest in British history or historical photography, you'll get a lot of enjoyment from Rural Britain Then & Now, too.

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Inspirational Haverholme Priory As Seen By Simon Marsden

Haverholme Priory in Lincolnshire, England has some very well documented spirits. Some are known to frequent the Ghost Walk, and dogs and horses want nothing to do with a bridge at the end of a long avenue of elm trees. This area terrifies them. It's also said that Charles Dickens used Haverholme as his model for Chesney Wold in Bleak House.

Marsden's photograph once again is creepily atmospheric. That tower looming above me is watching me, daring me to come closer. Daring me to hear footsteps crunching on the gravel of the Ghost Walk. Enticing me to walk the avenue of elms down to the bridge. Something tells me I may not be brave enough to accept the challenge.

If you enjoy architecture, history, photography and things that go bump in the night as much as I do, find yourself a copy of The Haunted Realm: Ghosts, Spirits and Their Uncanny Abodes by Simon Marsden because I'm not going to turn loose of my 1987 edition! Marsden's book can be found at Amazon and on his own website and archive.

Reading about these historic and spooky old places is putting me in the perfect mood for Halloween!

Simon Marsden Visits Castle Grant

Visit Castle Grant in Scotland and you may see a ghostly piper trying to deliver news of the defeat at Culloden, or a serving maid whose tasks are never done. You may even see the small benevolent spirit of Barbara Grant who learned the consequences of defying her father's wishes. Barbara's father insisted she marry a man she did not love. When she refused to obey, he locked her in a cupboard where she was left to starve to death unless she changed her mind. She chose death.

A visit to Castle Grant might turn out to be the highlight of your holiday. In Simon Marsden's wonderful photograph, it does look foreboding-- a place of ultimatums and unhappiness.

If you'd like to read more about Castle Grant and other spine-chilling places to visit in the British Isles, grab a copy of The Haunted Realm: Ghosts, Spirits and Their Uncanny Abodes by Simon Marsden. His photography is marvelous, and the accompanying text draws you in and keeps the pages turning. The cover seen to the left is from my copy of the 1987 edition. The book has been updated and can be found at places such as Amazon or on Sir Marsden's own website where you'll also find greeting cards, calendars and other items available for purchase.

Visiting haunted houses is the perfect way for me to get in the mood for Halloween!

The Curse of Alloa Tower

Alloa Tower in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, looms unhappily above its visitors. It has good reason to be unhappy: the hereditary curse upon the Erskines, Earls of May, has no equal as a prophecy of doom that came true almost to the last detail. What gives the curse its spine-tingling authenticity is the fact that it was well known long before the predictions came to pass.

The curse is a bit long, but here are the highlights:

The family would become extinct and their lands would be given to strangers; an Erskine would see his house burnt and his wife would die in the fire; horses would be stabled in the Great Hall; but when an ash sapling grew from the topmost stone of the tower, the curse would have run its course.

All these things came to pass, including the ash sapling which appeared between 1815 and 1820. Simon Marsden's photograph captures the unhappy atmosphere surrounding the tower to perfection.


If you'd like to read more of Alloa Tower and its curse-- along with all the histories and photographs of the other buildings in the book, find yourself a copy of The Haunted Realm: Ghosts, Spirits and Their Uncanny Abodes by Simon Marsden. The book cover you see to the left is from my personal copy of the 1987 edition. It has been updated and can be found at Amazon as well as Sir Marsden's own website and archive-- where you will also be able to find other items that just might tickle your fancy.

Watton Priory Through the Eyes of Simon Marsden

Watton Priory in East Yorkshire is my kind of house: it's riddled with secret cupboards and passages and there is also a river running beneath the building. Although the house is mainly in the style of the Tudors, it also incorporates the remains of an eighth-century nunnery and a medieval priory. You would expect a house such as this to have several ghosts-- and it does--but the two "stars" are both women grieving over their lost children.

If you want to read more about this fascinating (if spooky) house, you'll have to get your hands on a copy of Simon Marsden's The Haunted Realm: Ghosts, Spirits and Their Uncanny Abodes. You can find it at Amazon, or you can go directly to Sir Marsden's website where you can find other items such as greeting cards and prints available for purchase.

But before I leave you, I just have to take another look at Watton Priory. There's something rather judgmental and anticipatory in the way the house sits there. I could swear the house is watching me. Waiting for me.

Some people don't care for black and white photography, and I tend to be one of them. But there are times when it's perfect. Black and white photography is absolutely perfect for these places with sad and tragic histories, don't you agree?

Simon Marsden Looks at Whitby Abbey

Whitby Abbey on the Yorkshire coast has to be one of the most atmospheric places in England, and Simon Marsden's black and white photograph captures it perfectly. Whitby's ghosts? An ancient coach pulled by four headless horses which races along the clifftop near the abbey before plunging over the cliff into the dark water below. Constance de Beverley (Sir Walter Scott's Marmion) who violated her vows and was bricked up alive in a Whitby Abbey dungeon. Those are only two of the spirits who call the abbey home.

What makes Whitby Abbey so special for readers? Bram Stoker visited once and was so impressed that he was inspired to write Dracula.

The next time I'm in the UK, I definitely want to visit Whitby Abbey, but in the meantime, I do love looking closely at Simon Marsden's photograph. The photograph alone can scare me! If you'd like to see and read more on the subject, you need to find a copy of The Haunted Realm: Ghosts, Spirits and Their Uncanny Abodes by Simon Marsden. The book can be found at places such as Amazon, or at Sir Marsden's website where you'll also find posters, prints, calendars and other items that are available.

Celebrate Halloween with Simon Marsden's The Haunted Realm

This year I'm doing something a bit different for Halloween-- partly because I was nosing around on my shelves and came across one of my favorite books.

This is my 1987 edition of Simon Marsden's The Haunted Realm: Ghosts, Spirits and Their Uncanny Abodes. In researching what I wanted to do, I learned that Simon Marsden is now a Sir, and he has his own website: Simon Marsden Photographer & The Marsden Archive.

Not only has The Haunted Realm been updated, but now there are calendars, prints, greeting cards, DVDs, and posters available for purchase. I love his atmospheric photographs, and something tells me that I'll soon be visiting his website to make further purchases!

Starting tomorrow (Sunday), I'm going to be featuring one house per day from The Haunted Realm, giving you a taste of marvelous photography and hauntings until Saturday when I will feature my own photography and a tale of one of my English family ghosts from West Yorkshire. I do hope you'll join me in this week-long celebration of the otherworldly!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Marsden Archive for allowing me to use a few photographs from my edition of the book. I'd also like to remind everyone always to ask before using anyone else's work. It's the right-- and the only-- thing to do!

REVIEW: Ghosts & Gravestones of Haworth

Title: Ghosts & Gravestones of Haworth
Author: Philip Lister
ISBN: 0752439588/ Tempus Publishing, 2006
History
Rating: B

First Line: For over 700 years folks have settled in Haworth, on the steepest of Yorkshire's hillsides.

Grandson of Haworth's former village bobby, author Philip Lister is a popular area tour guide, and his knowledge and humor shine through in this slim volume. I enjoyed my visit to Haworth so much that I was determined to buy a souvenir at the Bronte Parsonage gift shop. Being a rabid bookaholic, Ghosts & Gravestones of Haworth is what I chose to buy.

Haworth is world famous as being the home of literary giants Anne, Charlotte and Emily Bronte. It is quite an atmospheric place to visit.

Haworth

The first part of the book covers many of the interesting buildings in this village and their history: the pubs, the apothecary and its strange decoctions, the inns, and the homes of the more prominent families, as well as a family of area clockmakers and the home of the last hand loom weaver in Haworth. Lister packs lots of interesting bits of trivia in these pages along with all the photographs.

The book then turns to the Bronte Parsonage, St. Michael's Church, and the surrounding graveyard, which is estimated to hold 40,000 "inhabitants". As photogenic and fascinating as the village of Haworth is, I found St. Michael's and the graveyard to be the highlights of my visit.

St. Michael's, Haworth

The parliament of rooks with their endless melancholy cries circling above the trees at the parsonage, the bright splashes of yellow daffodils at St. Michael's, and the green-tinged gravestones crammed higgledy-piggledy all made me wonder what it would be like to be a Bronte growing up here. Lister brought all this back forcefully as I read about the stone masons and looked at the photographs of their art.

Haworth's Cemetery

Lister's humor made me laugh out loud more than once, particularly in two places. In the first he describes using his book during a do-it-yourself walking tour. He suggests taking along a rope and lantern. Why? In many cemeteries, people are buried up to three deep. In Haworth Cemetery, they're buried up to ten deep, and it's not unknown for tourists to step in the wrong place and fall in a hole that suddenly opens up beneath their feet. Lister advises that the rope be used to lower down the lantern so that the victim has light to read his book by until the Cave Rescue Team arrives.

At the back of the book, the author includes some humorous "local recipes" including A Parliament of Rooks Pie and Squirrel Burgers on Warm Toast Fingers. If you are planning a visit to Haworth, this book would be an excellent guide book as you walk the streets of the village. Even if you aren't anticipating a trip there, it's a wonderful example of armchair travel!