Eddy Greenfield – författare

Wiltshire’s very landscape is steeped in folklore and mythology, with almost every hill, standing stone and barrow having its own stories and legends. With so much of this history still visible on the land it is no wonder that the county has more than its fair share of mysterious happenings and strange tales from ancient times to the modern day. This book will explore a multitude of these tales, from how locals earned nicknames such as Moonrakers, Dabchicks, Snuffy, Gudgeons and Knobs, to tales of buried treasure and origin myths of the county’s stone circles. It will look at the folklore around sites such as Oliver’s Castle, Hackpen Hill, Old Sarum, Collingbourne Wood and, not least, Stonehenge and Avebury. Folk tales have developed around the county’s personalities, such as the ‘flying’ monk of Malmesbury, the Devizes Wizard, the Seend Giant and the wonderful oddities of Jack Spratt’s amazing clocks at Wootton Rivers. Other unusual aspects of Wiltshire’s history and traditional customs that have entered into local legend include Thomas Lambert (who died before he was born), the election song at Salisbury, the annual fairs on Cley Hill and Cow Down and the healing waters of Purton. Some stories are founded in historical fact, such as the sudden death of a woman in Devizes Market, the reason why Bristol’s cross now stands in Wiltshire, the discovery of somewhat ‘mysterious’ mud springs at Royal Wootton Bassett and Salisbury’s memorial to a woman killed by a tiger. Modern mysteries also form part of the county’s folklore including the rumours surrounding Rudloe Manor, the alleged Boscombe Down spy plane, the dart embedded in the tower of Calne’s church, the tunnels at Corsham and the monolith that suddenly appeared on Laverstock Down in 2021.

The only city in West Sussex, Chichester’s history dates back to the Roman era when Noviomagus Reginorum was founded as a military garrison shortly after the Roman invasion of AD 43. The military usage was short-lived, and it was quickly adopted as a Romano-British civilian settlement. By the time of Alfred the Great, Chichester had become a substantial town and its future as a major county town of Sussex was cemented.Despite being continually redeveloped to the present day, much of the city’s built heritage survives, with representations from most of the major historical eras dating back to its foundation. This journey through the city’s past, as represented by its buildings, covers all aspects of Chichester’s history – religious, medical, educational, administrative, political, military and social. Alongside the city’s favourite buildings such as the Market Cross, cathedral and the Novium Museum, some of the more unusual aspects of the history of the city will be revealed, for example, County Hall’s formerly top-secret role during the Cold War, the rule-breaking 1960s architecture of Marriott House, and the Chichester Harbour Hotel where General Dwight D. Eisenhower hosted a meeting of his D-Day advisors.Chichester in 50 Buildings explores the history of this city in West Sussex through a selection of its most interesting buildings and structures, showing the changes that have taken place over the years. The book will appeal to all those who live in Chichester or who have an interest in the area.

One of the largest and most populous counties in England, Hampshire has been continuously settled for around 14,000 years. As a result, the area is steeped in history and folklore. Illustrated Tales of Hampshire delves deep into the unsolved mysteries, mythology, strange stories and folklore of this ancient English county. It examines local traditions, folk medicine, and supernatural beings such as the Mermaid of Nately Scures, the Highclere Grampus, as well as the several giants said to have once inhabited the county, and the time Spring-heeled Jack terrorised Aldershot. There are unusual stories surrounding local personalities, such as the Nazi saboteur Dorothy O’Grady, the séances of Helen Duncan (the last person to be convicted of witchcraft), Dame Alice Lisle (the last person to be publicly beheaded), and the 1415 Southampton Plot conspirators. Notable tales of haunting and spectral apparitions abound, including the Duc de Stacpoole at Glasshayes House, the phantom monk of Netley Abbey, and the menagerie of ghostly beings at Beaulieu, and legends surround many of the local landscape features, such as the Gospel Oak, Bentworth Thorn and the many prehistoric hill forts, mounds and barrows.These strange and spooky stories are accompanied by illustrations of places featured in the text, both present-day and historical, in this hugely entertaining book.

The A–Z of Horsham delves into the history of this West Sussex market town. It highlights well-known town landmarks, famous (and infamous) residents and digs beneath the surface to uncover some of the lesser-known facts and hidden gems of Horsham. The town’s most significant landmarks and buildings include the Old Town Hall (scene of the Acid Bath Murder trials in 1949), the lonely tower of St Mark’s Church and Christ’s Hospital School, but Horsham’s story also includes tales of criminal, military, political, social and ancient history.Famous names associated with the town include Barnes Wallis, Catherine Howard, test pilot Neville Duke and Percy Bysshe Shelley, but this book also unveils a darker underbelly to its history, including the time the town flirted with Mosley and his Blackshirts, why several residents were interned by the British government in the Second World War, how the population struggled against the plague and how Horsham was once the capital of political corruption. This fascinating A–Z tour of Horsham’s history is fully illustrated and will appeal to all those with an interest in this West Sussex town.

The town of Arundel in West Sussex is overlooked by Arundel Castle and the Roman Catholic cathedral, which was built through the support of the Duke of Norfolk, but the history of Arundel is built on much more than the castle and the dukes and earls. Secret Arundel unveils the lesser-known stories of its townspeople and events. These include the wartime German spy scandal that rocked the town’s Home Guard and saw its second-in-command jailed in 1940, how escaped German POWs concealed themselves in a top-secret bunker that was originally intended to house resistance fighters in the event of a Nazi invasion, and the history of the town’s jailhouse and some of those who found themselves locked behind its iron bars.With no fewer than three priories, a friary, a medieval church, a Gothic Revival cathedral and even a Commandery of the Knights Hospitallers nearby, Arundel has had a long and fascinating religious history. The town was also the site of a medieval Jewish community and a stronghold for nonconformism. In Secret Arundel the author explores the lost and disused churches and chapels dotted around the town and its immediate surroundings as well as other unusual stories.With tales of remarkable characters, unusual events and tucked-away or disappeared historical buildings and locations, Secret Arundel will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of this town in West Sussex.