A Glance At England's Chalk Carvings I lived in East Sussex for many years. A land of rolling hills covered in trees that formed part of The Weald, a vast forest that once spread from Southampton to Ashford in Kent and whose trees had seen Julius Ceasar, and later the first Saxon invaders sweep in from wintry seas beyond. Many of those trees were mercilessly cut down during the Armada and Napoleonic Wars, but The Weald still exists in clumps and coppices throughout [...]
Glimpses Of The Otherworld Have you ever stood in woods during summer, a light breeze lifting your hair and the warm sunshine making you smile as the soft drone of bees accompanies birds chirping nearby? You turn on a whim hearing the chime of distant water you hadn't noticed before? Or maybe look up glimpsing a hint of movement, some creature –- perhaps a fox or deer –– watching you silent and hidden, but closer than you think. When surrounded by nature and alone it's [...]
Legends Of Robin Hood I was born in a small town near Doncaster in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In those days this was a mining area with collieries scattered all around and chimneys belching filth. RAF Finningley was close by with its Vulcan Bombers, great camouflaged darts streaking the skies above. I remember the Vulcans as a kid; they were formidable, in shape, flight and the awesome racket they made. But back in the Middle Ages, this region formed the northern [...]
Atlantis–– Did It Exist? There was a man named Solon. Greek Archon and knowledgeable chap. He found a map, supposedly of this lost continent somewhere beyond the Pillars of Heracles ( aka Gibralter Straits -- where Scylla and Charybdis hung out back in the day.) We don't know much about Solon, but Plato took things further with his allegorical theories about this mystery island continent which challenged Athenian power 9000 years before Solon's time, (approx 600 BC.) These Atlanteans were warlike conquerors and took slaves [...]
A Trojan Legacy Dark Age Britain fills our minds with images of chariots racing, ancient battles, Roman legions and Celtic warriors, Saxon raiders and later the Vikings. Then there is Arthur and the vivid world surrounding him. But what happened before Arthur took the stage? How did Britain come to be? Here are some myths surrounding those earliest times. Brutus of Troy was a descendant of Aeneas who alone of that city's princes escaped the carnage alive. Aeneas's people settled in Rome [...]
Viking Time! AD 793 Portents and dire warnings spoke of a new terror unleashed. A devastation worse than anything seen before; it would descend on England, and all would be lost. Monks in the remote isle of Lindisfarne were the first to come face to face with this new calamity. That scourge took the form of long sleek ships and the savage raiders they brought to shore. The Vikings had arrived, and all Europe would soon know about it. Right [...]
Ley Lines: Earth Magic or Weird Science? There is a place called Asbury in Oxfordshire, England close to the Wiltshire border. A pretty village flanked to the south by steep green downs. A brisk 5-minute walk to the top of those downs and you find yourself up on The Ridgeway, one of Britain's ancient paths. It's peaceful and quiet there, the sort of place where your soul can 'steep' (or take time out) as you amble toward the eerie wuthering trees of [...]
History & Mystery The Struggle For Britain AD 410 was a difficult time for a lot of folks. Rome got sacked by Alaric the Vandal and Emperor Honorius called back his people from the far-flung corners of his Empire. The furthest flung being The British Isles. Parts of Britain (mostly southern England and a bit of Wales) had enjoyed a nice civilized spell under the Romans, once Boudicca's rebellion got squashed in AD 79. The Romano-British culture waxed for three centuries. But, as [...]
Merlin's Prophecy Rumors echoed of long ago when the Island of Britain was a realm of giants and dragons. Years before the Romans came and built their villas, cities, and forts. Before the ferocious Celts hacked their way across Europe, with bad hair and attitude, eventually arriving on those misty shores with Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas of Troy. Before even the great stone builders raised Stonehenge and Avebury; this was a land of magic and myth. And those echoes can [...]
History & Mystery Every now and then I like to delve back through the years and look at our bloody past and just be grateful I was born in 1961 and not a thousand years earlier. History repeats itself because of mankind's folly. Regrettably, we forget that past far too soon. In these snippets, I like to weave connections between History & Mystery as the gap is often narrower than we think. Mystery hints at things we tap into –– the [...]
