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.

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 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.