Flames in the sand

Market Bosworth Station steams back to life

2011-04-12T09:21:00.000+01:00

The Battlefield Line that runs a heritage service between Shakerstone and Shenton gained a middle stop when Market Bosworth Station opened for passengers on Saturday for the first time in 80 years.

Volunteers from the Shakerstone Railway Company have been working valiantly for months to repair and renovate the disused station, which was hit by a vicious arson attack in 2008. Two steam trains from the GWR pulled into the platform on a beautiful Gala Weekend morning to strike a blow for triumph over adversity.

My article on this event will be appearing shortly in Heritage Railway magazine. I got some pretty fair photographs and managed to do it all without tripping over my anorak. Steam on!

Death of a tree

2011-03-17T17:29:00.018+01:00

A year ago I strode into Leicester's New Street car park with my camera as I set about researching the possible final resting place of Richard III. The car park is on the old site of the Greyfriars Monastery, the place where the slain king was brought by the friars to be cleaned and interred. I wanted a shot of the only thing that remains of the monastery: a small section of outer wall. As I wandered about looking like a cross between an American tourist and a reject hack from the Daily Star, the car park attendant emerged from his hut and steadily came towards me. Belatedly and sheepishly, I asked for permission to proceed.

This kindly and helpful man not only showed me the piece of wall I was looking for, but was very forthcoming about something else which I had not expected to find: a mighty tree, just a few feet from the wall and even closer to the attendant's hut. What a beast it was. Gloriously imposing yet strangely incongruous amongst the smart cars and busy patrons, its odd shape alone was enough to elicit curiosity.

"It could be 200 years old," he told me. "And I bet the roots spread right beneath the whole area of this car park. I reckon it could be two trees in one." I asked if that was possible; he assured me it certainly was. He even showed me the bend in the trunk where the merger had been effected.

I took photographs of the wall and of the tree. Imagine my surprise and sadness when I walked through New Street two days ago and saw that the mighty hybrid had been chopped down. For me it had become something of a marker; a point of reference to concentrate one's attention to the riveting possibility that somewhere beneath its shadow could lie the remains of England's lost king.

For those who do not believe the old legend that Richard's remains were ripped up during the Reformation when Henry VIII looted the Greyfriars, leaving a local mob to cast the bones into the nearby River Soar, the only feasible place where he could be is the area under the monastery grounds . . . where until recently a big tree had stood for a very long time.

For more about the above topic, please see my article 'Homeless Bones' in April's issue of Fortean Times (FT273), page 58-59.

Pics: 1.Tree in New Street car park. 2.Remains of Greyfriars Monastery wall. (c)

A visit to a poet's grave

2011-03-15T20:02:00.020+01:00

I'd put it off for too long. After reading Jonathan Bate's excellent biography of the poet John Clare, I had determined to go to Helpston and see for myself the final resting place of the man they had called the 'Peasant Poet'. One fine spring day, I finally made it.

'A Poet Is Born Not Made' is the inscription on one side of Clare's distinctive gravestone. Sadly for John, when he was born the world was already turning into a place so unsuited to his talents and temperament that it eventually drove him into the confines of a lunatic asylum for most of his adult life.

John Clare was born in 1793 in Helpston (then 'Helpstone') in the county of Northamptonshire. The borders of the shires have altered since that time and the village now nestles just inside Cambridgeshire, a few miles from Stamford. He was born into poverty but lived a happy childhood life with his parents and siblings. His love for nature compelled him to write about it almost obsessively, and eventually his poems were discovered and promoted by an influential Stamford publisher with contacts in London. Clare became famous almost overnight, rather in the way that his great idol Lord Byron had a few years before.

Clare met and mixed briefly with the literary lions of London. But he remained a country lad at heart, and his loyalties and responsibilities to his roots held him back when others might have gone forward. Never a man of robust health, the conflicts and tensions of his situation virtually broke him. Instead of a happy and successful life, John Clare found only physical hardship and mental anguish.

When Clare died in 1864, a thoughtful patron saved the poet from being buried in a pauper's grave in Northampton Asylum. The body was brought back to Helpston, where it was buried in the village churchyard alongside the grave of his parents. The suffering was over.

John Clare and his work is now being appreciated more than at any time in the past. The proprietor of the public house next to the church told me that tourists from all over the world, including Japan, come into his establishment and ask about this ill-fated but much admired genius.

I decided to take lunch in that most hospitable and unpretentious of pubs. The landlord led me into the long room which was now the dining area but was once the very room where John's coffin was laid out on the night previous to his burial. A more restful and peaceful atmosphere I could not have wished to come across. As I visited the church a little while later and read the inscriptions both on Clare's grave and that of his parents, it became clear to me that at least the poet had had one stroke of good fortune, albeit at the end of his life. He had come back home.

I am - yet what I am, none cares or knows;

My friends forsake me like a memory lost:

I am the self-consumer of my woes-

They rise and vanish in oblivion's host

(John Clare, LINES: "I AM")

Statue of an enigma

2011-01-04T11:24:00.024+01:00

In the Castle Gardens, Leicester, stands a wonderful statue of Richard III. The commission was carried out by James Butler, RA, and was erected in 1980. Repeatedly vandalised in the early days, it was transferred from its initial site to a less exposed part of the Gardens. This turned out to be an inspired move, for the interference ceased. From the new location, only yards away from Bow Bridge, it now directly overlooks the very route on which Richard led out his army westwards from the city on the morning of August 21, 1485, to locate and do battle the following day with the usurping forces of Henry Tudor.

This striking piece of work encapsulates so much of the drama and desperation associated with Richard III. It depicts the king on the verge of defeat, his clothes torn from his unprotected arms as he stands with his dagger gripped in one hand and his battle crown raised in the other. The face, a picture of searing anguish, searches to the heavens in this final moment of regal defiance.

There is no hint of deformity in this sculpture. Nor is there any evidence of Shakespeare's 'bottled spider'; no 'ugly and unnatural aspect' to furnish it. Those who wish to see such time-honoured peculiarities must look elsewhere. Here is the portrayal of a man with strong, regular features; here stands the warrior king, courageous to the last in his spirited defence of the realm. It might be argued this is how Richard himself would have hoped to have been remembered by the world at large. We know, these many years after his brutal death at Bosworth Field, that such a hope has not been fulfilled.

Shakespeare's play, Richard III, is the riveting masterpiece that brought the poet popular acclaim. Alas for Richard, it almost certainly cast its subject into eternal damnation. Posterity had been served up the epitomical arch-villain and it wasn't going to let it go. The great actors of succeeding generations faithfully rallied to the Shakespearean cause, right through to the 20th century when Laurence Olivier's stupefying interpretation gave the world the definitive article.

It is faintly ironic - some would say fitting - that the Leicester statue not only oversees Richard's path out of the city to battle, but also his awful and ignominious return in death and defeat. Perhaps in the irony we can see a kind of balance of the noble and ignoble aspects of this enigma. Perhaps, if we look hard enough at the statue and have the inclination on the day, we might even sense something of the heart-rending nature of the human condition.

Pic: (c) P Taylor

BBC axes top folk music show

2010-12-14T15:22:00.015+01:00

'When will they ever learn?' is the famous refrain from the timeless Pete Seeger song, 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone?' We must now ask the question of the BBC, and not for the first time. The Corporation's hapless but dangerous executives have decided to kill off a number of regional music programmes from their radio catalogue. Among them, sadly, is the much esteemed 'Folkwaves', broadly regarded as the best folk music programme available to listeners. It has been brilliantly run by Mick Peat and Lester Simpson for twenty-five years, covering the East Midlands region of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. And now it's got the golden BBC Boot.

How strange that some merchants feel fit to cast away their best goods without paying heed to the wishes of their loyal customers. When will they ever learn?

(Pictured: Pete Seeger)

THE TYRANNICIDE BRIEF (Geoffrey Robertson) Book Review

2010-11-26T12:13:00.023+01:00

No doubt the fault lies with me, but I have never found a book about the English Civil War that has managed to hold my interest for very long . . . until now. Geoffrey Robertson's 2005 book, The Tyrannicide Brief, enables the reader to gain an understanding of the causes and complexities of those most turbulent of times. By telling the story of one man's personal and critical involvement in the trial of Charles I, Robertson has provided not only the detailed backdrop of the dramatic conflict between Parliament and King but also a disturbing insight into the darker aspects of human nature.

John Cooke was the lawyer who accepted the brief to prosecute Charles I at his trial in 1649. Cooke took on this huge responsibility when other men of his profession were literally hiding in their chambers in fear of the potential consequences of such an undertaking. Eleven years later, with Cromwell dead and and the members of the 'cause' left rudderless and badly divided, Charles II was put on the throne. England again became a monarchy, and John Cooke was to pay the ultimate price for his efforts. The new king ruthlessly and vindictively set about rounding up all those deemed responsible for the execution of his father. Those who were subsequently brought to their mock trials became known as The Regicides. Their fate was sealed, and the author rightly spares us none of the gruesome details of the manner of their deaths at the hands of the appointed executioner. If England thought it had stepped into a more enlightened age, the hanging, drawing and quartering of the Regicides reminded everyone that plumbing the depths of depravity is not peculiar to any given era.

Times and opinions may change, but much of what makes the world of politics what it is does not. In this book, which deals with events that took place three and a half centuries ago, we find examples of behaviour and attitudes that are common enough today: the lust for power and the abuse of power; dogmatic conviction and calamitous intransigence; machiavellian mendacity and downright brute force. Thanks to the likes of John Cooke, there is also a large chunk of decency and courage.

A FREEWHEELIN' TIME (Suze Rotolo) Book Review

2010-11-20T16:11:00.001+01:00

There is a warmth about this book that comes to its pages as naturally as a leaf falling from a tree. That is a rare gift, and all the more remarkable considering Suze Rotolo must have felt as if she was caught up in an emotional tempest of Shakespearean proportions during its creation.

A Freewheelin' Time is Rotolo's account of her personal memories of Greenwich Village in the early part of the nineteen-sixties. It was the era of the Folk Music revival, the defiant stand of the freedom-fighting artist . . . and the appalling thundercloud of impending doom that was the missile-crisis stand-off of superpowers playing toy soldiers with the rest of mankind. To be young then, as Suze Rotolo was, must have meant many things; to have met and fallen in love with a guy called Bob Dylan at the same time will probably take a lifetime to get into perspective.

There has been an awful lot written about Dylan throughout the years, with no doubt more to come. What is so refreshing and inspiring about this book (which is not, incidentally, all about Dylan) is the fact that Rotolo speaks with no bitterness, no animosity, no rancour, about a true romance that played itself out during the very months and years that Dylan developed his unique talents into something that even today cannot really be fully quantified. Just as there will only ever be one Shakespeare, one Dickens, one Muhammed Ali, there can only ever be one Bob Dylan . . . so do not wait for another.

Few partnerships can withstand the insanity of world-wide fame. Dylan was a difficult enough character as it was, but as his star rose to unprecedented heights the day-to-day realities of keeping a relationship on an even keel became too much. Rotolo, to her eternal credit, refrains from scattering blame around or complaining about what might or might not have been. She tells it like it was, there in the Village amongst the cast of brave, talented and oft-crazy one-offs; there in the Dylan circus, good and bad, happy and sad.

If you get a chance to read this book, please grab it. For this is more than a vibrant recollection of experiences of one of the most influential periods in twentieth-century culture. Herein lies an example of how to take the rough with the smooth, and let good intentions towards people always take preference over negative attitudes.

The book ends with a classic sentence about the sixties - one that people today would perhaps do well to take note of:

"The new generation causing all the fuss was not driven by the
market: we had something to say, not something to sell."

More news needed at Bosworth

2010-10-22T09:25:00.016+01:00

Things seem to have gone a little quiet on the news front regarding the 'new battlesite' at Bosworth. We need to know if there are any more digs taking place and if any more evidence is emerging to back up the claims that the battle really took place on the Fenn Lane as suggested by the results of the Heritage campaign. Will there ever be enough 'finds' to confirm beyond doubt that the new spot is the real deal?

I personally feel we should be sceptical about putting too much faith in the grouping of cannon shot turfed up so far; cannon and gun shot deployment in 1485 was an inaccurate affair at best and they could not have landed all in one spot. There has to be more to come, or I am afraid the mysteries will continue. Perhaps that's the way it should be. Meanwhile, the field where we were told that these discoveries came to light seems remarkably quiet and untroubled . . . if not actually undisturbed by experts. Let's hope we are not being led down the garden path as well as down the Fenn Lane.
(Pic: Standard of Richard III on Ambion Hill (c) P. Taylor)

Canals & Rivers Article

2010-07-31T16:10:00.003+01:00

I have a four-page spread in the June issue of Canals & Rivers magazine. It is about the Ashby Canal and its proximity to the Bosworth Battlefield.

Bosworth Field: A version verified

2010-03-17T10:11:00.016+01:00

In 1990, Peter Foss published a short volume on his take on the siting of the Battle of Bosworth, titled The Field of Redemore. In light of the recent surveys and digs funded by the Heritage Lottery, it is beginning to look as if Mr Foss was virtually spot on with his conclusions. In his diagrams of what he believes to be the site of the final melee, we can see the edge of the triangular field where the recent discoveries have been found. It is but a few yards further to the south-west, along the Fenn Lanes. Full marks to the man and his superlative interpretation of the battle. And the good news for traditionalists is that Peter Foss states that Richard most likely camped at Ambion Hill on the eve of battle, and would have used the lower slopes as the starting point for his move towards Tudor. Foss, having got the site of the denoument correct, is unlikely to have erred regarding other features of the conflict.(Above pic: the new field of battle, with Fenn Lanes in the distance.)

Digging up the past

2010-03-10T12:28:00.014+01:00

There are interesting developments regarding the Battle of Bosworth. New finds from the archaeological dig have, I think, persuaded all but the most hard-bitten of traditionalists that the battle was fought a mile or two further to the south-west of the existing site. Having visited the new battleground with camera and notepad, I found it to a be a field like any other. That will soon be rectified, no doubt, pending permission from the landowner. However, all the cannon shot and belt buckles in the world will not tell us exactly why Richard III was defeated by a rag tag and bobtail set of mercenaries on August 22, 1485. No doubt someone was paid off handsomely for playing the deadly political game of duplicity.

I do hope that if any memorials are erected on this new site, it will only be for the brave warrior king and not the Tudor usurper. One wonders just exactly where on this field Henry was skulking when the final gratuitous blows were struck against the last of the Plantagenets. (Pic: Richard's standard on Ambion Hill)

'Betjeman' by A N Wilson

2010-03-06T11:39:00.008+01:00

An enjoyable biography. It was interesting to find out about Betjeman's influence on the early days of television programming at the BBC. Sadly, a lot of his advice went unappreciated, and at one point he threatened to withdraw his pioneering services as a writer and frontman on documentaries about archictecture as he was barely being paid enough to cover his expenses. He was actually being paid a far higher fee for his appearances on rather frivolous quiz shows and the like. It does seem to be taking the corporation a long time to get things right.

Goodbye winter, hello blogspot

2010-03-04T15:26:00.000+01:00

To mark the demise of a terrible winter, I hereby venture into the world of weblog.