Jill Armitage – författare

Ghost enthusiasts and pet lovers can combine their passion in this unique publication which will make a most absorbing read for animal lovers and those interested in the paranormal.

Since the days of Jane Austen, Derbyshire has been considered one of England's most romantic destinations but unfortunately not everyone is as lucky in love as Elizabeth Bennet. From creepy sightings of mysterious shadowy figures and spirits, such as the kissing ghost at Renishaw Hall, to moving objects, unexplained sounds and bloodstains that cannot be removed, this selection covers various aspects of paranormal - and romantic - activity in the county.

The Peak District of Derbyshire is said to experience more bizarre happenings and unexplainable encounters than any other part of England. This chilling collection of true-life tales details many terrifying accounts of spectres and apparitions which have been documented over the years. Ranging from private residences and graveyards to public houses, tourist attractions, theatres and museums, this book includes many pulse-raising narratives that are guaranteed to make your blood run cold. Containing over sixty illustrations, Haunted Peak District will appeal to everyone with an interest in the supernatural history of this part of Derbyshire.

Secret Shepperton explores the history of the town from its early origins as an Iron Age settlement nestling on the banks of the River Thames. It’s the place where Caesar crossed the river in AD 54. Subsequent river finds reveal that this area regularly encountered invaders, such as the Saxons, who grazed sheep here and consequently called it Shepperton. It’s always been a place that attracts artists, such as Turner and Constable, and writers such as Charles Dickens and J. G. Ballard, who wrote the Unlimited Dream Factory in which his protagonist gains energy by phagocytizing the people of Shepperton. In H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, the Martians destroy Shepperton and turn the Thames into a boiling inferno with their heat rays.In the twentieth century Shepperton was dubbed the playground of London and Richard D’Oyly Carte bought an island here to build a mini version of his Savoy Hotel. In 1931, Sir Richard Burbridge, Chairman of Harrods, sold his Shepperton mansion to Norman Loudon at a time when ‘the pictures’ were in their infancy but a new fad was catching on – films with sound. This was the forerunner of Shepperton Studio, still operating today and known throughout the world as the ‘Hollywood of England’.

Eyam (pronounced Eem), given the Saxon name Eaham, meaning a well-watered hamlet, is a secluded Peak District village hemmed in by green slopes and majestic hills. Within ¼ mile, the busy world passes by along the A623, yet every year thousands of people head directly to this isolated rural community, tragically famous as the plague village that self-isolated. The year 1665 saw outbreaks of bubonic plague in London and many other cities, towns and villages across England. The incomprehensible terror of the plague, caused by the bite of a rat flea infected by the bacterium Pasteurella pestis, arrived in Eyam in September 1665 and in order to contain the disease, the villagers chose to lock themselves in isolation. This was an act of true altruism by grief-stricken people in a village where every home became a morgue and every resident a mourner.Some 350 years later, as we have encountered a pandemic of gigantic proportions with the Covid-19 crisis, the story of Eyam has inspired Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate, to devote half of his poem ‘Lockdown’ to the suffering of these people.Secret Eyam: Plague Village, illustrated throughout, expands upon these stories, taking a closer examination of this area’s important history.

Staines-upon-Thames and its neighbour Laleham are 19 miles west of central London, linked by road and river. Because of the stranded or braided character of the river here, when the Romans came in AD 43, they found a series of primitive wooden bridges crossing the flood plains of the Thames, Colne and Wraysbury rivers. They called it Ad Pontes – literally ‘at the bridges’. It became an important inland port/trading town due to its strategic position where the essential road route from London to the West Country crossed The Thames.It retained its prominence through the centuries due to waterpower that drove mill machinery, grinding flour and mustard, fulling fabric, producing papier-maché, ale and linoleum which became a global success on an unheard-of scale for the time. As commerce replaced industry, Staines reinvented itself with a make-over on a gigantic scale, gaining the prestigious Town Centre Environment Award in 2003 for its ambitious shopping precincts, offices and homes.Few vestiges of the past were preserved but Staines has retained its secrets in twenty-six monumental site-specific representations on an art trail along the Roman backbone of the town. Part of the social fabric of everyday life, each artwork discloses a fascinating tale. Continue your journey beside the Thames to Laleham, a quiet riverside village with immense charm, and you walk in the footsteps of former Laleham resident Thomas Arnold, the Headmaster of Rugby immortalised in Tom Brown’s School Days. His school in Laleham, the present Muncaster House, is just one of twenty-five listed buildings here, where a wander along its picturesque lanes is a walk through its intriguing history.

Many people believe they have seen a ghost. The experience is as old as records of civilisation, yet we are told that ghosts are purely hallucinatory; spooks caught on camera are dust particles on the lens; mysterious lights are fireflies and UFOs are chinese lanterns. But what if these anomalies are not caused through hallucination, dust particles, fireflies or chinese lanterns? More and more people are becoming aware that things beyond the current range of scientific explanation or normal human capabilities can and do happen and this presents us with a paranormal puzzle. Is there some mysterious earth energy that acts like a giant power grid; do certain rocks hold energy that can be released like disco lights; is it possible to see a scene as it happened years ago like some form of hologram? Spook lights, aerial phantoms and things that fall from the sky pre-date the invention of the aeroplane, and how do we account for phantom planes, UFOs and extraterrestrial visitations? Such things challenge all established views and ideas. Paranormal Derbyshire is not only packed with amazing stories, you are also invited to participate in a spot of ghost hunting. We'll guide you safely through the techniques so you too can delve into the paranormal secrets of Derbyshire. The paranormal is a mysterious, intriguing, awe inspiring and exciting facet of human life that common sense simply can't justify or explain but who knows - it could be just a matter of time before the paranormal becomes the normal.

When an Anglo-Saxon chieftain named Snot settled in the area and built a wall around the town, he named it Snottingham, meaning homestead for his people. They utilized the caves and passages under the town as homes and workplaces, giving us the oldest subterranean industries in existence and an alternative name Tig guocobauc, meaning the dwelling of caves.When the Normans arrived they subjugated the people and built a fortified castle on the hill. Nottingham Castle subsequently became one of the greatest fortresses of medieval England. Much frequented by early kings, it features in the tales of Robin Hood, that legendary outlaw synonymous with Nottingham and the arch enemy of the sheriff. Nottingham is world renowned for its lace making and Raleigh Bicycle Co., Boots the Chemist and Player’s Cigarettes have their roots in Nottingham. It was also home of the Rebel Writers Byron, Lawrence and Sillitoe. With its many and diverse elements, Nottingham is a vibrant new city with a varied and exciting past.

In 1562, Elizabeth I, the last of Henry VIII’s children, lay dying of smallpox, and the curse of the Tudor succession again reared its head. The queen was to recover, but the issue remained: if the queen did not produce an heir, who was next in line to succeed?Lady Arbella Stuart was cousin to both the English queen and James VI of Scotland, a woman whose parents’ marriage had been orchestrated to provide an heir to the English throne. Raised by her formidable grandmother, Bess of Hardwick, Arbella lived her life in Elizabeth’s shadow and, unfortunately, at her mercy.In this book, Jill Armitage revitalises Arbella’s tale, focusing on her lineage, her life and her legacy. Through her story we discover a well-born, well-educated woman desperate to control her own fate, but who is ultimately powerless against those in the scheming Tudor court; and the author explores the harsh consequence that comes from being on the wrong side of the revenge of a jealous, calculating queen.

When Mary Stuart was forced off the Scottish throne she fled to England, a move that made her cousin Queen Elizabeth very uneasy. Elizabeth had continued the religious changes made by her father and England was a Protestant country, yet ardent Catholics plotted to depose Elizabeth and put Mary Stuart on the English throne.So what was Queen Elizabeth going to do with a kingdomless queen likely to take hers?She had her placed under house arrest with her old friend Bess of Hardwick, then married to her fourth husband, the wealthy and influential Earl of Shrewsbury. The charismatic Scotswoman was treated more like a dowager queen than a prisoner and enjoyed the Shrewsbury’s affluent lifestyle until Bess suspected Mary of seducing her husband. But for sixteen years, with the never-ending threat of a Catholic uprising, Bess was forced to accommodate Mary and her entourage at enormous cost to both her finances and her marriage.Bess had also known the doomed Jane Grey and Mary Tudor, Queen of France. She had been in service in the Grey household and companion to the infant Jane. Mary Tudor had been godmother to Bess’s fifth child.Four Queens and a Countess delves deep into the relationships of these women with their insurmountable differences, the way they tried to accommodate them and the lasting legacy this has left. The clash of personalities and its deadly political background have never been examined in detail before.

Queens Cartimandua and Boudica were both Celtic noblewomen, recorded by classical writers as part of a tradition of women who showed particular courage, ambition and political skill, and who were just as formidable in war as their husbands. They took on the status of Celtic goddesses and were central players in the struggle against the Roman annexation of Britain.Boudica led the rebellion against the Romans but her reputation may be largely symbolic. Using historical and archaeological evidence, Celtic Queen uncovers the arguably more impressive story of Queen Cartimandua, the independent ruler of the powerful Brigante tribe whose territory was the single largest Celtic kingdom in Britain.Cartimandua’s leadership in battle and political influence were probably much greater than Boudica’s. Unlike Boudica, wife of King Prasutagus of the Iceni tribe, Cartimandua was the regent of the Brigante tribe in her own right. Her tribe prospered in the new Imperial world because she cooperated with the invaders and she held her position as queen until AD69. Cartimandua's territory was considerable, covering most of modern Cheshire, South and North Yorkshire, Lancashire, North Humberside, Cumbria, County Durham and Tyne and Wear. But she was seen as a shameless adulteress after an open affair with her husband’s armour bearer. Such sexual liberation was normal for powerful Celtic women but it scandalised Roman society.With many references to popular Celtic culture, their gods, beliefs, art and symbolism, as well as living conditions and the hillforts that would have been Cartimandua’s headquarters, Celtic Queen offers an insight into the life of this fascinating woman and the Romano/Celtic world in which she lived.

In 1562, Elizabeth I, the last of Henry VIII’s children, lay dying of smallpox, and the curse of the Tudor succession again reared its head. The queen was to recover, but the issue remained: if the queen did not produce an heir, who was next in line to succeed?Lady Arbella Stuart was cousin to both the English queen and James VI of Scotland, a woman whose parents’ marriage had been orchestrated to provide an heir to the English throne. Raised by her formidable grandmother, Bess of Hardwick, Arbella lived her life in Elizabeth’s shadow and, unfortunately, at her mercy.In this book, Jill Armitage revitalises Arbella’s tale, focusing on her lineage, her life and her legacy. Through her story we discover a well-born, well-educated woman desperate to control her own fate, but who is ultimately powerless against those in the scheming Tudor court; and the author explores the harsh consequence that comes from being on the wrong side of the revenge of a jealous, calculating queen.

When Mary Stuart was forced off the Scottish throne she fled to England, a move that made her cousin Queen Elizabeth very uneasy. Elizabeth had continued the religious changes made by her father and England was a Protestant country, yet ardent Catholics plotted to depose Elizabeth and put Mary Stuart on the English throne. So what was Queen Elizabeth going to do with a kingdomless queen likely to take hers?Elizabeth had Mary placed under house arrest with her old friend Bess of Hardwick, then married to her fourth husband, the wealthy and influential Earl of Shrewsbury. The charismatic Scotswoman was treated more like a dowager queen than a prisoner and enjoyed an affluent lifestyle until Bess suspected Mary of seducing her husband. But for sixteen years, with the never-ending threat of a Catholic uprising, Bess was forced to accommodate Mary and her entourage at enormous cost to both her finances and her marriage.Bess had also known the doomed Jane Grey and Mary I, Elizabeth’s predecessor. She had been in service in the Grey household and companion to the infant Jane. Mary had been godmother to Bess’s fifth child.Four Queens and a Countess delves deep into the relationships of these women with their insurmountable differences, the way they tried to accommodate them and the lasting legacy this has left.

A new biography of the distinguished naval officer Sir John Franklin, who famously disappeared with his ship, The Erebus