Solstice 2013

A rather late Solstice post.

I write this at an important stage in the history of the Stonehenge Landscape.
The 24th June (Midsummer) saw the closure of the notorious A344 slip road that runs alongside Stonehenge, cutting off the monument from its processional avenue. As part of the new Visitors Centre improvements, the area from the Heel Stone down to Stonehenge Bottom will be grassed over, reuniting landscape and monument once again.

We attended Solstice this year just as dusk was descending. No longer being able to do the whole night, we decided to go down for a few hours in the evening (actually ended up being about 5 hours) and dress for the occasion.
So, we put on our finest Bronze Age finery (being careful to leave axes and daggers behind of course) and headed out down the Old Stonehenge Road from Amesbury.

As it sounds, the road follows the old fording point over the River Avon, passing very near to the enigmatic Bluestonehenge/West Amesbury Henge site, where the Stonehenge Avenue terminates (or begins)

Glancing to our right, the familiar wooded expanse of Vespasians Camp looms above in the failing light, site of feasting and tribal gatherings long before Stonehenge was envisaged - hiding its secrets for yet another day...

There was something very special about walking in our ancestors' shoes (literally as we were wearing authentic replica BA shoes) across the fields running adjacent to the cordened off A303 (itself on top of a prehistoric trackway) Seeing Stonehenge in the distance, with hundreds of people swarming around the embankment, the faint drumming of music permeated the air and reverberated across the fields full of silent guardian barrows.

I'd like to hope that their occupants might somehow of approved of our homage in a small way, by being one of the few, from the tens of thousands, who bothered to do something a little different and bring a touch of "authenticity" to proceedings. But then these modern solstice parties start off with good intentions, we must appreciate that back in the day, the monument probably never saw these numbers of people. In fact, it's highly likely they would be excluded and the monument kept for the elite, and for the ancestors. The partying would be held nearby at Durrington Walls as evidenced by the large amounts of domestic waste excavated from the site and evidence of buildings outside of the henge where the people of Stonehenge lived, if not all year around, then at least four of five months of the year.

Astronomer Priest and two BA reenactors pay honour to the sun at Choir Gawr, the Dance of Giants.

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The Mabinogion : A window to an earlier culture? - Hero Cycles and the Bronze Age

Whilst re-reading "The Lady of the Fountain" recently,  I was struck by the description of the weaponry, specifically where it mentions the 'swords of bright gold, with white whale bone hilts.'

Obviously this does not sound anything like a medieval sword, let alone an iron age sword, and these stories were primarily written in the middle ages & were considered a medieval view on the celtic Iron Age period. To me, it brought an image of a bright, bronze blade from the Bronze Age, possibly with a hilt made from horn or bone.
Arthur himself was meant to have a smaller blade besides Excalibur, called Carnwennan, translated as"little white hilt."

This is the thought now over in Ireland-that the popular Irish Hero Cycles like The Book of Invasions give us a glimpse of the Bronze Age period and  not in fact Iron Age "celtic" society at all. Why not the same for the Welsh legends, which are closely related in many respects?

Another few interesting elements in THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN,  besides the usual female spirit of the water, is that there was a STONE next to the fountain,  which when struck in a certain manner in turn brought thunder. Again, this act seems to be harkening to a more primitive period of antiquity, and is not especially tied into the heroism and derring do of the story at all. It's definitely invoking & remembering something far older, barely understood in the era of those who wrote it down.

Geoffrey of Monmouth Stained Glass Window at a church in Monmouth. Engendered as the major establisher of the Arthurian canon. Was he writing from extracts of oral tradition or just simply a medieval fantasy writer? He was closer than certain truths than many would have you believe. 

Another successful STONE LORD Talk to Amesbury Stroke Association

Just back from a well-turned out talk to the Stroke Society this afternoon in my home town of Amesbury.
I managed to answer some great questions and sell many signed copies of the book ... More signings coming soon!

St Melor Parish Church, Stonehenge Road, Amesbury, Wiltshire. 

Amesbury is the closest town to Stonehenge, and also the reason for Stonehenge being there. We have evidence here of one of the oldest known areas of continued habitation ever in the British Isles. Amesbury Abbey, long since gone once owned Stonehenge. It is also the place where two Queens were buried. Queen Eleanor of Provence and the legendary Queen Guinevere, wife of King Arthur. The parish church, with its unusual dedication not only gives us tentative evidence of a possible God worshipped at Stonehenge, but may also have been part of the original abbey structure. Does this mean that Queen Eleanor and for that matter Guinevere herself may be buried before the high altar ready to be discovered?

Magical Books - The World of Portal Fantasy Fiction and its relationship with Oxford

I got out from behind my writing desk today to go and see the Magical Books Exhibition at The Bodleian Library, Oxford. On display were some of the original manuscripts from a number of writers who have inspired my own writing ; Tolkien, C.S Lewis, Alan Garner and Susan Cooper.
I would urge anyone with an interest to go and see the exhibition before it finishes.

J.P.R

The Bodleian's summer exhibition takes as its theme the work of some of the foremost modern exponents of children's fantasy literature, members of the group of writers informally known as the 'Oxford School': C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Susan Cooper, Alan Garner and Philip Pullman. From its unique holdings of these authors' papers, the Library will display a selection of Tolkien's original artwork for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; C.S. Lewis’s 'Lefay notebook' and his map of Narnia, and manuscripts of novels and poems by Alan Garner, Philip Pullman and Susan Cooper. Also featured in the exhibition will be some of the books and manuscripts that contain the myths, legends, and magical practices on which these Oxford-educated authors freely drew for inspiration. This historic material is housed in the Bodleian where the Library scenes in the Harry Potter films were shot. - See more at: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/whats-on/upcoming-events/2013/may/magical-books#sthash.jJ9eW1va.dpuf

Moon Lord nearly complete!

I was up till 1:30 AM last night, working on MOON LORD. The bloodthirsty thrilling ending is in sight! BUT...it is also, for another chapter or so, the most complicated section of the story, zipping between Ardhu's campaign in Brittany and Mordaed taking over Kham-el-Ard (and a lot of other stuff I'm not telling.) 

Other good news is that I sold loads of PRINT copies on Amazon yesterday, shooting it up to about 13,000 out of all books on Amazon, and in the top half of the historical fantasy genre. No too shabby for a little homegrown book.

Oh, and another Five Stars Review just in from AMAZON ...

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, 10 Jun 2013

By 

MRS ELISE FOX - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)

This review is from: Stone Lord: The Legend Of King Arthur, The Era Of Stonehenge (Paperback)

This was a present for my son and he loved it and I got it signed by the author which was more personal.

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EXCALIBUR : A bit of fun!

I was having a much needed relax from writing the sequel to MOON LORD today and happened to find this old photo of myself with Nicholas Clay (1946-2000) Boorman's film EXCALIBUR,based on Mallory's LeMorte D'Arthur, was one the major influences for my writing during the 1980's as well as the television show, ROBIN OF SHERWOOD. 

I have written on Robin Hood before so it seems fitting that now I should be turning my attention to our other great hero archetype, Arthur ...

Your author with actor Nicholas Clay "Lancelot" in John Boorman's 1981 Feature Film, "EXCALIBUR"