I am currently lucky enough to write for a regional magazine in Leicestershire. This regular spot allocated to me by sheer chance has allowed me to write articles on historical properties in the area in which I live, which are then read by 10,000 or so. Each article is accompanied by my smiling face, as I impart my knowledge of English history in a nutshell.
Today I have been researching the history of Brooksby Hall, a small manor house in the heart of the county, which was once a Viking settlement and is now a local college and wedding venue. The place itself is not very impressive – not much has happened there, but the people that have lived and died there are another kettle of fish.
It is the birthplace of George Villiers (1592-1628) who later became the lover of King James I, and was created 1st Duke of Buckingham. He dragged England into war with France over a desire for King Lois XIII’s wife (and angered a jealous Cardinal Richlieu), and was fictionalised in Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers (1844).
James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868) owned the property for a spell, and buried his favourite hunter, Dandy, under the lawn in front of the house. He rode Ronald in 1854 as he commanded the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. This famously disastrous moment in British military history was celebrated in the way only Britain can, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem of the same year.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
And so on.
What I particularly enjoy about researching historical happenings is the feeling of immersion in a book, looking up and seeing that an hour has passed without any realisation on my part. And likewise I take great pleasure in reading fiction based on historical fact. Currently I am reading Pure by Andrew Miller. He was inspired to write a novel about the clearance of a churchyard after reading a description of the 1787 works. The grounding of the story against fact lends a weight to the work that a purely fictional tale can lack.
I just need to find my event or person....
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