Katherine Swynford – fact and fiction.

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I know I’ve posted about Katherine Swynford before- she even features in a chapter of Medieval Royal Mistresses. However, Kathrine by Anya Seton is one of my favourite historical novels, so the chances of me not writing about her again were slim. The novel dates from 1954 and has stood the test of time.

Katherine de Roet, the daughter of a minor Flemish knight, and her sister Philippa begin the tale as part of Philippa of Hainault’s household. It’s likely that their father came to England with the queen when she married Edward III. Philippa is married to Geoffrey Chaucer while Katherine is married to Sir Hugh Swynford, an impoverished knight from Lincolnshire.  Seton, who is writing a novel, changes Katherine’s age to make her slightly older than she probably was in fact. What was acceptable in the fourteenth century is not something that is acceptable in modern times. A novelist can change ages – a historian has to provide the facts, and in Katherine’s case this involves potential ages and analysis of known facts both for Katherine and of known medieval averages to arrive at the most likely year for her birth and her marriage.

Swynford isn’t necessarily the most sympathetic of characters and that’s where fact and fiction part company. Quite simply we know very little about him – https://thehistoryjar.com/2017/07/14/sir-hugh-swynford/ or his relationship with Katherine. The historical record, unsurprisingly, is a blank. A novelist can fill in the blank – a historian cannot.

After Hugh’s death – and that’s where papal dispensations and account rolls provide us with historical evidence, Katherine, who is the governess to John of Gaunt’s daughters, begins an affair with the duke – although who started what is a matter of speculation rather than fact. Evidence of their relationship, explored in the non fiction work by Alison Weir, including the birth of four children, gifts, visits, monastic chronicles, court records, and the Peasant’s Revolt provide primary source evidence. The fact that Katherine married John in 1396 and that their children were subsequently legitimised provides a paper trail of evidence that would otherwise have been lacking. What makes Katherine remarkable, is that history knows as much about her as it does.

And just so we’re clear – Seton is able to develop the story of Katherine of John’s relationship because she is writing a work of fiction. The research is impeccable but while Alison Weir can only write about what the evidence provides, Seton can enhance the plot line; provide a narrative for what happened to Katherine while she was absent from the existing historical record; and use dialogue to develop character. Both writers make sound use of the sources and tell Katherine’s story but Seton does not have to rely on verifiable facts. A good historical novelist like Anya Seton does extensive research before putting pen to paper but no one should be quoting anything in a novel as historic fact, no matter how good it might be.

My favourite verifiable, historical fact is that on Valentine’s Day 1382, Gaunt issued Katherine with a legal document which said that neither of them owed each other anything. It was a formal renunciation of property rights. The quitclaim, to give the document its correct name, ended their ten year old affair. No one could now take away from Katherine anything that the duke had given to her. She was independent and safe. It’s an unusual Valentine – but John of Gaunt was a hated figure at this time. The Peasant’s Revolt of the previous year had seen his London residence at The Savoy burned to the ground. The Church was attacking him because of the protection he offered to John Wycliffe. Monastic chroniclers attacked Katherine in order to damage the duke. There was also the small matter of Gaunt’s second wife, Constanza of Castile and Gaunt’s desire to win himself a crown of his own.

And if you like to compare writers – Anne O’Brien’s The Scandalous Duchess is also about Katherine Swynford.

Matilda of Flanders, Duchess of Normandy and Queen of England

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The first thing I recall about Matilda is the story, told I think in J.R. Unstead’s book, about the girl who turned her nose up at the prospect of marrying an illegitimate Duke of Normandy. A stand up fight followed, at which point Matilda decided she did want to marry William. It does make a good story! It’s perhaps not surprising that Joanna Courtney’s novel The Conqueror’s Queen contains a summary of this tale in its blurb. It also develops the narrative about Matilda’s romance with an Anglo-Saxon thegn. The difference between history and historical fiction being that tales and rumours can be embroidered in the latter but not the former. Although this didn’t seem to unduly bother the writer of the Chronicle of Tours, written some two hundred years after Matilda’s life. It was this document that provided all those tall stories about William’s diminutive wife..and that was a later story.

In reality, little is known about the historical figure of Matilda. Information about women often has to be picked out from a narrative that is more interested in warfare than family politics. William of Poitiers described Matilda’s arrival at Rouen and clearly William respected his bride – she acted as his regent. He also ensured that she spent almost all the early years of her married life giving birth to their children. What we don’t know is how involved she was in the duke’s politicking, or whether Edward the Confessor promised the growing family a kingdom – Courtney weaves a well thought out tale using Norman sources as her guide. Tracey Norman, whose autobiography of Matilda, is a must read, is required to be more nuanced.

During the 1070s problems for Matilda and William arose because their son, Robert, rebelled against his overbearing father. It seems that Matilda, who was something of a model wife, chose her son who was described in the Orderic Vitalis as being decadent, spendthrift and …er…all those other unwise things that rebelling sons get described as. Tensions between father and son boiled over in 1077/1078. Robert took himself off to Flanders but Matilda continued to correspond with him, and sent him money. When William found out, he gave orders for the queen’s messenger, a man named Samson, to be arrested and blinded. The Orderic Vitalis concludes the tale with the information that Matilda was able to find the man refuge in a monastery. The best indication of William’s wrath, however, lies in the fact that Matilda never acted as regent in her own right again. The rift was patched up but historians cannot say much more unless it’s couched in terms of ‘ifs, whats and maybes’ – a novel writer has much more to play with.

What is certain about the queen’s life is that a papal dispensation was required for consanguinity before the pair could marry; that Matilda governed Normandy of William’s behalf before the 1077 revolt; looked to the interests of Flanders and educated her brood of children. To all intents and purposes she was a model wife. Her support for William extended to the purchase and outfitting of the Mora, William’s flagship at the invasion of 1066. When Matilda died in 1083, William was at his wife’s bedside. She was buried in Caen.

Generally speaking, it is thought that William was never unfaithful to her and after she died it is said that he quit hunting, something of a passion with the Norman kings of England. During the four years that were left to him, before his own death, William was described as something of a tyrant. The Orderic Vitalis, described a ‘storm of troubles.’ Borman suggests that without Matilda to influence her husband’s decision making, William became more acquisitive and less concerned about creating harmony between invader and invaded. Almost inevitably, the patched up family relationship between father and son came unravelled. When he died, the funeral was a lacklustre affair with William’s second son, William Rufus hurrying off to claim England before his father was even interred. Only William and Matilda’s youngest son, Henry, attended the funeral at Caen.

When the casket containing Matilda’s incomplete skeleton was opened during the twentieth century she was found to be 5ft tall – which was about average at the time. An earlier measurement taken in 1819 reported that she was about 4ft 2ins tall – a likely miscaluclation but typical of the lack of reliable information about England’s first post-conquest queen .

Joanna Courtney – The Conqueror’s Queen (well researched, effective use of dialogue to create character and build narrative.)

Tracey Borman – Matilda, Queen of the Conqueror. The auto-biography creates a picture of a resolute and intelligent consort

Getting back to grips with the History Jar and Preparing Tudor Kings…

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It’s been a busy year and I’m only slightly over half way through it. Preparing the Tudor Kings and Princes to Rule was published at the beginning of the year but since then I’ve submitted the Little History of Nottinghamshire and an A-Z of Colchester. I worked on them across 2024 and 2025. All that remains is for me to check my footnotes for Preparing Stuart Kings and Princesses to Rule and submit it by the beginning of September. You can perhaps see why I’ve gone quiet on the History Jar front for a while.

However, I have a new planner; my bookcase is being tidied up before it finally collapses; and I have a new project to get my teeth into. The Right Little Madam, who isn’t so little these days, has an essay which requires her to compare a work of historical fiction with a non fiction text set in the same time period. She asked me if I could think of any books….oh dear…it was perhaps a question that needed rephrasing. In any event, she’s gone away happy with two books and some suggested additional reading/listening including Hilary Mantel’s 2017 Reith Lectures which are available via I-player.

Meanwhile, we will begin with the Norman Conquest and William’s wife, Matilda tomorrow and then progress from there. I met Joanna Barnden who writes as Joanna Courtney when she came to give a talk at a nearby village, so I will be looking at The Conquerors Queen. It will be good to get back into a routine. Thank you for your patience.

The Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick

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The Lord Leycester, a medieval range of buildings, sits on Warwick’s Westgate, a hop and a skip from the castle. iIs chapel is above the narrow gateway. The chapel was originally built by one of the Norman earls of Warwick on the site of an earlier Saxon one. It was rebuilt in 1383 by the 12th Earl of Warwick – one of the Lords Appellant who opposed Richard II. When Thomas Beauchamp met with the usual fate of men who opposed kings, the chapel was gifted to the Guild of St George. By the 15th century the chapel and the associated site belonged to the amalgamated guilds of Warwick – the Holy Trinity Guild and the Guild of the Blessed Virgin and St George. The United Guilds created a large complex of buildings. The current guildhall was built by Richard Neville a.k.a. The Kingmaker.

Once the Reformation began many guilds lost their lands but in Warwick the guild master passed ownership of the property, and associated rental as far afield as Gloucester and Lancaster to the town’s corporation which meant that the income continued to be used for the benefit of Warwick rather than the king. At one point it even served as Warwick’s grammar school. In 1571, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester established a hospital – somewhere to live- for disabled and infirm soldiers at the request of Queen Elizabeth I. The corporation gave Dudley the guildhall because who wants to irritate Elizabeth Tudor or her favourite. Dudley was keen to please the queen and it raised his credentials as a pious man. The earl ensured that an act of Parliament was passed for the foundation of his hospital – the only private act he ever secured (Howard, p.149) and sent his surveyor, William Spicer to oversee work.

The hospital, which was independent of the town because of its associated with Leicester, accommodated a master, twelve soldiers and their families. It retains its role as an almshouse today but has offered a home to eight retired servicemen since the 1960s rather than the original twelve. When the hospital was first created there was a common kitchen for use by the twelve brethren rather than individual hearths. When Elizabeth I visited Warwick in 1572, the Master of the Hospital was on hand to present her with some verse in Latin to mark the occasion. It was the summer that the Earl of Leicester presented the queen with lavish entertainments as well as matching portraits in a bid to win her hand. The Princely Pleasures at nearby Kenilworth lasted for three weeks.

Meanwhile, the guildhall was used to entertain James I in 1617 and was fortunate to escape the blaze that incinerated much of Warwick in 1694. The courtyard was renovated by the Victorians who added the ornamental gables, plaster bears and Robert Dudley’s crest. The porcupine is the Sidney family crest. Ultimately, it was Dudley’s sister, Mary, who inherited the hospital. Initially the countess of Leicester, Lettice Knollys, claimed some of the estates belonging to the hospital as her dower and withheld the income which belonged to the hospital. (Howard, pp.150-151). It took another Act of Parliament and the support of William Cecil to ensure that the terms of Leicester’s will in the matter of the hospital were honoured.

Howard, Maurice. The Building of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007)

The Lord Leycester Hospital guidebook

The Lord Leycester Hospital. An Account of the Hospital of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leycester in Warwick (Warwick: HT Cooke and Sons, 1870).

Medieval marriage

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The Medical History portal, about all things medieval and well worth a visit if you haven’t already been there, very kindly invited me to write a guest post for them – which I duly did. It can be found here:

Medieval Marriage: Love Was Never the Point

Celia Fiennes in the Peak District

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Chatsworth in gingerbread form – Chatsworth at Christmas 2024

Celia visited the Peak District in 1697 during the homeward leg of her journey. Having sampled the ale at Chesterfield, which she thought very fine, Celia and her two servants continued to Chatsworth.

The Peak District landscape

Celia did not much enjoy the journey from Chesterfield to Chatsworth. According to her the hills were too steep and the landscape barren. However she did pause to consider the minerals that Derbyshire contained and, in good Puritan fashion, looked to find God’s work around her – although she doesn’t use the words ‘sublime’ or ‘awe inspiring’ she infers both ideas which would become increasingly popular with the beginning of the Eighteenth Century.

Alll Derbyshire is full of Steep hills and nothing but the peakes of hills as thick one by another is seen in most of ye County wchare very steepe, wch makes travelling tedious and ye miles Long. You see neither hedge nor tree but only Low drye stone walls round some ground Else its only hills and Dales as thick as you Can Imagine, but tho’ the Surface of ye Earth Looks barren yet those hills are impregnated wth Rich marble stone metals, Iron and Copper and Coale mines in their bowells, from whence we may see the wisdom and benignitye of oer greate Creator to make up the Defficiency of a place by an Equivolent, and also the diversity of the Creation wch Encreaseth its Beauty.

Chatsworth, the Duke of Devonshire and the Glorious Revolution

One of the difficulties of writing about individuals is that it’s easy to get caught up in their lives and ignore what’s happening on the political stage at the time. In this instance William Cavendish, the 4th Earl of Devonshire was one of the so-called ‘Glorious Seven’ who supported the deposition of James II and who invited James’ son-in-law, William and the former king’s daughter Mary to take the throne in his stead. The Glorious Revolution happened in 1688 – so still less than a decade before Celia made her journey. The earl became the 1st Duke of Devonshire in 1694 and Marquis of Hartington. Unsurprisingly he set about turning the family seat into something rather splendid. At the time of Celia’s visit, Chatsworth was being transformed into a baroque palace. It’s possible that Grinling Gibbons was busily carving in the chapel at Chatsworth or elsewhere in the house at the time of Celia’s visit, or else the work was being completed by Derbyshire craftsman, Samuel Watson. Inevitably Ms Fiennes enjoyed her visit, describing the house and ornate seventeenth century gardens in some detail.

Bakewell and Haddon Hall

More hills and steep inclines but Celia found the town both ‘pretty’ and ‘neat’ – adjectives which still apply. By the end of Celia’s journey it is clear that she visited many stately homes – and all without the aid of a National Trust or Historic Houses card. To Celia, Haddon seemed rather old fashioned – which is its appeal these days.

Buxton and St Anne’s Well

Both Chatsworth and St Anne’s Well were described as wonders of the Peak but Celia was not impressed with the latter, nor with Buxton’s beer or the accommodation offered by the Duke at the hotel there:

the beer they allow at the meales is so bad yt very Little Can be dranke. You pay not for yr bed roome and truely the other is so unreasonable a price and yeLodgings so bad, 2 beds in a Roome some 3 beds and 4 in one roome, so that if you have not Company Enough of your own to fill a Room they will be ready to put others into the same Chamber, and sometymes they are so Crowded that three must Lye in a bed. Few people stay above two or three nights its so Inconvenient. We staid two nights by reason one of our Company was ill, but it was sore against our Wills for there is no peace nor quiet with one Company and another going into the bath or Coming out; that makes so many strive to be in this house because the bath is in it. Its about 40 foot Long and about 20 or 30 ffoote broad being almost square. There is 10 or 12 springs that bubble up that are a Little warme, its not so warme as milke from ye Cow, and not a quick spring, so yt its not Capable of being Cleansed after Everybody has been in. Its warme Enough just to Open the pores of ones body, but not to Cause sweat, I was in it and it made me shake, its farre from the heate that is in the Somersetshire baths. Its Cover’d over the top, but not Ceiled and there is an open place in the middle like a Tunnell wch pours the Cold down on ye head, it would in my thoughts be better if it were Exposed all to ye aire and sunn. There is a pavemt of Stone on one side at ye brim to walke on, with benches of Stone to Sitt on. You must have a guide ytSwims with you, you may Stand in some place and hold by a Chaine and ye water is not above yr Neck, but in other parts very deep and strong it will turn you down. About 10 or 12 yards distant is a spring Called St Anns Well wch is for drinking, they have arch’d it up yt its much hotter, it heates ye Cup you take it up in but not or near so hot as ye Somersetshire baths and springs are, the taste is not unpleasant but Rather like Milk, they say its Diaretick – I dranke a part of a Cup full.

I’m not sure I would describe Buxton water as tasting like milk but Celia was something of an expert.

Poole’s Cavern, Mam Tor, Peak Cavern and Tideswell

Celia who must have read a copy of Thomas Hobbe’s De Mirabilibus Pecci: Being The Wonders of the Peak in Darby-shire, Commonly called The Devil’s Arse of Peak took the opportunity to visit both Poole’s Cavern, Mam Tor and Peak Cavern at Castleton. Her journal describes her scrambling over rocks and wading waist deep in water with a company of other ladies and gentlemen – which rather changes my view of seventeenth century aristocratic women. For some reason I cannot imagine Celia spending her days with embroidery! Although of course, I could be wrong the two activities are not mutually exclusive.

I can definitely see that Celia liked a checklist of places to visit on her adventures (rather like me on my holidays) because she also went to Tideswell to see the well which ebbed and flowed with the spring rains. The tidal aspect of the spring stopped at the end of the Eighteenth Century

Celia and her two servants departed the Peak District by way of Ashbourne having explored the area and taken the waters in the way that tourists would continue to do through the following centuries. These days she might be rather more impressed with Buxton’s spa hotel and swimming pool.

Preparing Tudor Kings and Princes to Rule by Julia A. Hickey

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I’ve been a bit remiss in not mentioning my most recent book, published by Pen and Sword. While writing it, I thought of it as Educating the Tudors. It explores how a handful of trusted families were charged with raising royal children, alongside an assortment of tutors—including a lutenist and a master-at-arms.

Henry VII’s own upbringing was very different from that of his children and grandchildren. Early on, his life followed the path of a typical aristocratic child—until he was forced to flee to Brittany with his uncle, Jasper Tudor.

His children, by contrast, benefited from the close involvement of Lady Margaret Beaufort. She ensured that her grandchildren had access to the best tutors, while maintaining traditions inherited from the Plantagenet court. Conveniently, Edward IV had created household ordinances for his heir at Ludlow, which provided a ready-made model for the new royal household. Lady Margaret also had detailed knowledge of Elizabeth Woodville’s nursery at Eltham, where some of Elizabeth of York’s younger sisters remained, along with experienced nursery staff. In many ways, it was simply a matter of replacing Plantagenet princes and princesses with Tudor ones.

Elizabeth Denton, the nurse at Eltham, cared for the children of Henry VII and later for Princess Mary during Henry VIII’s reign. In 1518, she was succeeded by Lady Margaret Bryan, who went on to care for each of Henry VIII’s legitimate children as well as his acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy. It was Lady Margaret Bryan who conducted the famous correspondence with Thomas Cromwell about the state of Elizabeth’s teeth, apparel and inappropriateness of the food she was being served following Anne Boleyn’s disgrace and subsequent execution.

Many of the women featured in the book owed their positions at court to Lady Margaret Beaufort, and the relationships among them are sometimes surprising. For example, Lady Jane Calthorpe, who cared for Princess Mary when Margaret Pole fell out of favor in 1521, was one of Anne Boleyn’s aunts. Although the information about these women is often fragmentary, it offers rich insight into the networks and connections that shaped the Tudor court—and into the sheer number of people required to raise a prince or princess.

For some, these roles meant lasting fortune. For others, like Lady Shelton (another of Anne Boleyn’s aunts), it proved to be a far more uncomfortable experience.

Preparing Tudor Kings and Princes is available on special offer at the moment at Pen and Sword as well as other sites – e.g. the one associated with a South American river! It’s also going to be available at the Talk Radio Europe bookshop following my interview with Selina Mackenzie this afternoon.

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Preparing-Tudor-Kings-and-Princes-to-Rule-Hardback/p/51762

Celia Fiennes visits Ripon

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Celia travelled extensively from spa town to spa town but enjoyed exploring country towns and stately homes. In 1697 she visited Yorkshire as part of her Northern Journey to take various spa waters.

Her views on Ripon

A pretty Little market town mostly built of Stone, 8 mile (from Knaresborough I think), a Large Market place with a high Cross of severall Stepps; we were there the Market day where provisions are very plentifull and Cheape. 

In the Market was sold then 2 good Shoulders of veal, they were not very fatt nor so large as our meate in London but good meate, one for 5d the other for 6d , and a good quarter of Lamb for 9d or 10d , and its usual to buy a very good Shoulder of Veale for 9 pence, and a quarter of Beefe for 4 shillings; Indeed it is not large ox Beef but good Middling Beasts: and Craw ffish 2d a Dozn -so we bought them. 

Notwithstanding this plenty some of ye Inns are very dear to Strangers that they Can impose on. The town Stands on a hill and there is a good large Stone built Church well Carved, they Call it a minster. There is very fine painting over the alter, it Looks so natural just like Real Crimson satten with gold ffringe like hangings, and Severall rows of Pillars in jsles on Either side wch looks very naturall. There are two good Bridges to the town, one was a rebuilding, pretty large with Severall arches Called Hewet bridge-its often out of repaire by reason of the force of ye water that Swells after great raines, yet I see they made works of wood on purpose to breake the violence of ye Streame and ye Middle arche is very Large and high. 

There are Severall good houses about ye town and Severall Gentlemens Seates about a mile or two distance’…She went on to describe Newby Hall which she thought was the finest country house in Yorkshire at the time.

Celia’s interests

Celia was nothing if not practical. She was interested in what she saw, the lives people led and the sights that she might see. She always wrote about town markets, describing how busy they were and whether they were thriving or not.

Celia was also very enthusiastic about stone built houses, wide streets and cleanlinesss. Rather than looking to the past her writing suggests she was in favour of modernity. Interestingly, many of Ripon’s buildings were rebuilt from brick by the time of Celia’s visit – or at least old timber framed buildings were being record in brick to make them look thoroughly modern. Obviously brick was less expensive that stone – by the end of the Georgian period it was the building material of choice and reflects the changing social status of town dwellers as well as the increasing wealth of the urban and mercantile classes.

Inevitably my pictures of Ripon town are locked up on my faulty external hard drive – but at least its an excuse to go back…

Celia Fiennes – England from a Side Saddle.

Audley End in the eyes of some of its early visitors.

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Notable Diarists and Journal Keepers

The diarist, John Evelyn visited Audley End in 1654 describing it as something between ‘ancient and modern’. He added that it was one of the ‘stateliest palaces in the kingdom’. He and Celia Fiennes who visited at the end of the seventeenth century commented on the river that ran through the park. Samuel Pepys was more interested in the quality of the wine and the prettiness of the landlord’s daughter at the inn where he was staying.

Pepys visited the home of the Earl of Suffolk at Saffron Walden on 27 February 1659. He was shown around by the housekeeper there – who was a man… ” the stateliness of the ceilings, chimney-pieces, and form of the whole was exceedingly worth seeing. He took us into the cellar, where we drank most admirable drink, a health to the king.” He visited again in 1667 and ‘mighty merry’ he was – which comes as no surprise to his readership.

Celia Fiennes, who completed her journeys riding side saddle, often with only two servant to accompany her, visited in 1697. Her journal described the building in more detail – “built round three courts. There are thirty great and little towers on the top, and a great cupola in the middle. The rooms are large and lofty, with good rich old furniture, tapestry, et cetera, but no beds in that part we saw. There are 750 rooms in the house. The canal in the midst of the park looked very fine. It’s altogether a stately palace, and was built for one of the kings.”

Thomas Audley, Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor from 1533 until 1544 shortly before the 1st Baron Audley’s own death built the house on the proceeds of his service to the Crown. I’ve enjoyed researching Colchester’s former recorder for my A-Z of the city. He was created Baron Audley in 1538 and acquired the land at Saffron Walden with the dissolution of the monasteries.

Audley’s only surviving child, Margaret Audley, was married to Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. Their son, Thomas Howard, became the first of the Howard earls of Suffolk – hence the ownership of the property from that time onwards. Thomas Howard was born at Audley End in 1561. He inherited the house in 1564 after Margaret’s death. Just as an aside, Margaret was a cousin of Lady Jane Grey.

Royal Connections to Audley End

King James, who was fond of Margaret’s grandson, visited twice in 1614 by which time the earls of Suffolk had modified Thomas Audley’s original house. The improved grand design was based on the premise that royalty would make the most of the hospitality that the earl could provide. Which brings me to the Stuarts and the royal connection mentioned by Celia Fiennes. Charles II liked the house so much that he purchased it in 1668. James Howard 3rd Earl of Suffolk was not so enamoured of the Stewart kings that he wanted to ruin himself during the English Civil Wars – instead he lived quietly at Audley. After the Restoration he sold the house and the park to Charles II who renamed it New Palace and stayed there when he wanted to watch the races at Newmarket.

In 1701 the earls of Suffolk were restored to their former home in return for not demanding more of the £20,000 that Charles II promise but apparently never paid for the property.

And that as they say is that.

The History of Audley End, Richard Lord Braybrooke, (London: Samuel Bentley, 1836) 

From 17th Century Travel in Great Britain to John Betjeman and Arthur Lee

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Setting aside civil war and plague, the end of the seventeenth century saw the start of what can only be described as the UK’s tourist industry with the likes of Celia Fiennes making long journeys to improve her health. Her work wasn’t published until the eighteenth century. It was also forgotten for a long time before being rediscovered. Daniel Defoe’s Tour Through The Whole Island of Great Britain, the first volume published in 1724, was second only in popularity to Robinson Crusoe.

Less well known today are the works of John Taylor who made a journey in 1618 from London to Edinburgh on foot in 1618 and followed it up with a published account – oddly enough I don’t feel the need to replicate his journey.

John Ogilby published the first modern road map in 1675. I love the roads with their mountains and lakes looking remarkably like something from The Hobbit but without the dragons. Travel couldn’t be described as straightforward even with a map. The roads were often terrible and there were highwaymen of the non-romantic variety not to mention the vagaries of accommodation and the weather. Rather like Betjeman I’m more enthused by train journeys and car travel – not to mention a lovely hotel or holiday cottage.

One of the reasons I enjoy Betjeman’s poetry is because of his description of towns and other places he visits – though I think he may have been a little unfair on Slough. The Shell Guide to Cornwall, written in 1934, heralds the age of cheaper motor transport and modern tourism. I will admit to preferring Arthur Mee’s King’s England series. I love the detail contained in them, although they are very much a product of the period in which they were written – I’m not sure that you’d be encouraged to provide quite so much moral critique today – although its a tone the series shares in common with Daniel Defoe and Celia Fiennes. And to be honest, they’re not really guide books as such – more something for the reader to dip into, although I will admit that if I’m planning a journey I always looks to see what the King’s England for a particular has to say about local churches.

Then of course there are the modern histories and travel guides. The number of them reflects changing leisure time as well as ease of transport. I used to love Letter from America with Alasdair Cooke when I was a teenager. And, if I’m going to broaden the field – it’s impossible to think of travelogues without mentioning Bill Bryson. And I haven’t even ventured that deep into the realm of travel writing.

And why am I posting this? Well, I’ve just completed and sent off the ms for The Little History of Nottinghamshire. On Monday I’m beginning a four week class on Celia Fiennes. It’s not too late to sign up if you’d like to join me exploring various locations with Celia and her two servants.