Jill Armitage – författare

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.

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.

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.

British naval officer Sir John Franklin enjoyed a distinguished naval career in the Napoleonic wars, before being appointed governor and commander-in-chief of Tasmania. He established an education system copied throughout the colonies, but his sympathetic approach to the native aborigines and transported convicts made him unpopular with the colonists. Returning to Arctic exploration to investigate the unknown, he mapped over 3,000 miles of the coast of Northern Canada but his fourth and final voyage in 1845, immortalised in The Terror, failed to return. Some 50 expeditions were sent over 20 years to find him or his remains, until in 2014, his ship The Erebus was discovered. Now, through modern technology, the true fate of Sir John, and the secrets of that fateful voyage, are being rediscovered. This new biography by Jill Armitage, who is distantly related to Sir John Franklin, explores the man and his life, and his fateful final journey.

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.