Chester's Historic Legacy

An interesting new report has just been published on Chester's use of its heritage, with some suggestions for maximising its potential, such as using the Roman Ampitheatre as part of an 'Chester History Experience Centre' and revamping the old harbour and canal to bring in more visitors to the city.
Image: The Rows on Eastgate St, Chester, Saturday Magazine, 1836.

Review of Mr Darcy's Secret

Get ready to relive the world of Pride and Prejudice! Jane Odiwe's Mr Darcy's Secret explores life for the newly married Darcy couple. The book begins just after Lizzy's fairytale wedding at Longbourn. But it's not long before our heroine has to cope with the hostility of Lady Catherine de Bourgh and  her friends.  Soon Elizabeth wonders if she knows her husband as well as she thought. Who is the mysterious child allegedly linked with the Darcy family? Is her husband involved? What is the meaning of Caroline Bingley's dark hints? The bride also has her hands full with Georgiana Darcy  - a rash engagement, egged on by her brother Darcy, could wreck Georgiana's happiness forever. Odiwe skilfully and lovingly recreates Austen's characters, and there are some wonderful touches of humour, too. The sizzling plot will keep readers turning the page to find out what happens next.  Will Lizzy and Darcy have a happy ending after all, or will a long-hidden Pemberley scandal wreck their marriage? You'll have to read the book to find out!

Happy 50th issue, JARW!

Many congratulations to Jane Austen's Regency World on its 50th issue! As ever, it’s packed with informative articles on Austen and her times. My feature for JARW this month contrasts the lives of George Austen and Patrick Bronte, both fathers of famous novelists. Brontë (1777-1861) was a controversial figure during his own lifetime. His children’s literary talent brought him an unwelcome taste of fame… but to find out more, you’ll have to buy a copy!


Images: Jane Austen’s Regency World March 2011 cover.
Title page from Mrs Gaskell’s controversial Life of Charlotte Brontë (Smith, Elder & Co, 1906).

Narrowboat Fun

I very much enjoyed watching BBC1's The Boat That Guy Built last night. Guy's narrowboat sailed along the Bridgewater Canal at Worsley, and travelled through our local engineering wonder, the Anderton Boat Lift. The programme explored the world of the industrial revolution. Guy tried to make some items for his boat completely from scratch - he built a blast furnace so he could cast an iron pot to brew some tea, and visited the Wedgwood factory to create his own china mug. Can't wait for the next episode!

Image: A narrowboat leaving the Anderton Boat Lift. © Sue Wilkes. 



Update June 2014: You can see some British Pathe clips of the Boat Lift in action here, here (it is the Anderton Lift, not locks as in the caption) and here. Many thanks to Jim Shead's website for these links. 

Oxfordshire Museums

We had a quick trip to Oxford last weekend and visited some great museums. The Oxfordshire Museum has fascinating displays on social history and a dinosaur garden.  On Sunday we went to the Didoot Railway Centre - it was a 'steam day' and we had several rides on steam trains.  This is a very interesting site - it was part of the Great Western Railway and has a broad gauge section of track and a replica broad gauge engine, the 'Firefly'.  There's a relic of Brunel's ill-fated atmospheric railway, and a small museum with memorabilia of railway workers.

Images: Dinosaur garden at the Oxfordshire Museum.  GWR engine 'Trojan' at the Didcot Railway Centre.

Coming Soon!

The proofs for The Children History Forgot arrived yesterday for checking, so I will be very busy for the next few days.  I'll do a big blog update later this week, hopefully, when I need a breather.

Nowhere To Go

News broke last week that Manchester City Council is axing all but one of its public toilets and reducing bin collections. The council pleads it has no option owing to the savage government cuts. Now the cleanliness ofour public streets in not just a matter of civic pride, but of public health. Before the 1850s, when the first public loos appeared in Britain, city streets were ‘temples of pollution’, as the Victorians coyly put it. Granted that cuts have to be made, are there really no other areas which can be slashed without inconveniencing the elderly, infirm and people with young children? Or, if they are expensive to run, why not charge more for using them? When we go on holiday to Scotland, there is a small charge to use the public toilets, but they are usually immaculate.

Also, the north-west of England, with its important history and heritage, is marketed as a tourist destination. It’s not a great way of welcoming foreign visitors to Manchester, is it? If tourists don’t understand they can make use of café facilities, they will have nowhere to go.


Images: A corporation dustcart and the arms of Manchester. Manchester Old and New Vol.I, Cassell & Co, c.1894.