The Footsore Researcher’s Guide
To Historic England
People often ask if I had to do a lot of
research for The Bitter Trade: well,
yes I did – in fact I am still researching 1688 London for a second edition –
but it’s not just about spending days and weeks in the library.
I love reading, but I learn kinesthetically
(through touch and physical experiences), which is rather challenging if you
want to learn about people who have been dead for 300 years! But it’s taken me
to some unusual places, and I’ve met some very interesting characters, and worn
out a lot of shoe leather.
I really wanted to recommend some of those
experiences to readers who plan to visit England, so here’s the Footsore Researcher’s
Guide to Historic England.
Wandering
the Buried Rivers
Many readers of Just One More Chapter will know
that London has over a dozen hidden rivers, culverted and buried as the city
developed. The best-known are the Fleet, the Westbourne, the Tyburn and the
Effra, and they were important waterways in the past – unfortunately doubling
up as sewers.
Much of the action in The Bitter Trade takes place on and around the Fleet: it wends its
stinky way through the story, separating the poor hardworking Huguenot craftsmen
from the corrupt but attractive world of commerce and conspiracy. Because it’s
buried deep beneath Farringdon Road – you can sometimes see its waters seeping
through the walls of the Circle Line at Kings Cross – I walked its length above
ground, from Hampstead to Blackfriars. Along the way I saw the Hardy Tree,
named for Thomas Hardy; and the original Clerks’ Well, a pilgrimage site where
many of London’s riots and revolutionary movements have started.
Walking around the nearby area of Clerkenwell inspired
many scenes in the book, and it’s become one of my favourite parts of London.
If you’re a bit more adventurous, you can take
a kayak tour of the Thames, paddling from Chiswick to Westminster, and then
riding the incoming tide back upriver. Along the way, the guides take great
pleasure in pointing out the buried rivers, and their rather murky role as
reserve sewers when it rains too much. It’s an amazing trip.
Kayaking
the mighty Thames with my brothers
Entrance to the Fleet River by Samuel Scott, c1750
The
Hardy Tree, growing between gravestones that were moved when a young Thomas
Hardy worked at St Pancras Old Church
The
Clerks’ Well being rediscovered in 1924
The
Floating Library
If your main character is remotely
well-travelled – and mine, Calumny Spinks, is a cheeky, ambitious sort – then
he or she will be spending plenty of time on board ships. My uncle and cousin
were both Navy commanders, and my dad grew up sailing boats in Torbay, so I
thought it would be fun to organise a day on board an old-fashioned
three-masted sailing ship, the Lord
Nelson, to celebrate my father’s birthday a couple of years back. Along the
way, I thought I would get some more inspiration for Cal’s next voyage.
Big mistake!
The problem with writing is that you start to
believe you have experienced what your characters have experienced. But of
course I haven’t been in a swordfight or sailed across the Atlantic, and I got
badly seasick. My dad was at the tiller, taking us out of Dartmouth harbor; the
rest of us moaned and groaned below decks. Quite funny really!
I learned something very useful, though: most
people do get seasick, and that was no joke in the age of sail. So I have an
unpleasant trip planned for young Cal…
Jubilee
Sailing Trust’s Lord Nelson: not for the faint of stomach!
Playing
the Past
As a kinesthetic learner, I’ve come to find
that going to reenactments and live history events really helps to connect with
my characters’ lives – not to mention meeting plenty of kooky, generous people
who inspire new characters.
I recently spent some time with the English
Civil War reenactors of The Sealed Knot, experiencing the boredom, banter and
adrenaline of close-quarters action with musket and pike (www.piersalexander.com/powder-horn). It
really brought home the reality of war for a typical tenant farmer, conscripted
into his lord’s regiment and sent off to a lumpy battlefield with an unfamiliar
weapon; and I’ve made some big-hearted new friends from it. Even if you don’t
want to get dressed up, it’s a great family day out.
Georgia Ball and Colonel John Pickering’s Drummer
Girls of the Sealed Knot
The
Bitter Trade refers to coffee smuggling, and so I was
delighted to hear about Dr Matthew Green’s coffeehouse tours round the City of
London. Matt is a charismatic, erudite and witty historian who recreates the
hustle, bustle and low morals of the seventeenth century coffeehouses. I
rewrote a couple of scenes after going on his tour. Recently, I was lucky
enough to hear his talk at the National Maritime Museum in connection with
their Ships, Clocks and Stars
exhibition, which I recommend.
To launch the book, we wanted to recreate a
seventeenth century coffeehouse atmosphere: low lighting, noise, music, and
strangers meeting convivially. It was a lot of fun: eighty people unexpectedly
joining in scurrilous three part harmony! (http://www.piersalexander.com/july-news-frothing-launch-robert-elms-show-huguenot-festival/)
Dr
Matthew Green at the book launch
Footsore and happy
I’m not the only
kinaesthetic historical writer out there. I sometimes laugh out loud when I see
my author friends’ Facebook statuses: they are always zooming around England,
tracking down obscure manuscripts, going to reenactments, dressing up… The next
historical novel you read, just remember this: the author had a LOT of fun
writing it!
Footsore Adventures
Sail on a tall ship: www.jst.org.uk
Go to a Civil War
re-enactment: www.thesealedknot.org.uk
Kayak past the buried
rivers: www.kayakinglondon.com
Tour London’s
coffeehouses and chocolate houses: www.unrealcityaudio.co.uk
Ships, Clocks and Stars
at the National Maritime Museum: www.rmg.co.uk
Piers Alexander is the author of The Bitter Trade, a
historical novel set during England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688. It has won
the Pen Factor and a Global Ebook Award for modern historical fiction, and is a
top 5 European historical fiction bestseller on Amazon.com.
To buy The Bitter Trade ebook: www.smarturl.it/justonemorechapter
www.piersalexander.com
@thebittertrade
facebook.com/thebittertrade
