Did you know November 1st is celebrated worldwide as All Saints Day? And I’d love to take you on an enriching tour of some English sights that suit the holiday.
Halloween, or All Hallows Eve as it’s called in England, is the night before All Saints Day when we memorialize the Christian faithful. And, Halloween gets the lion’s share of the spotlight with costumed little ones gathering neighborhood candy and attending scary events. Fun. But, after visiting inspirational English abbey ruins, crypts, manor houses, ancient churches, and a fun village pub, I decided to write an All Saints Day mystery. Come along and tour the English countryside with me to see what inspired All Hallows Dead.
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The
ruins of Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire carved its way into my story-mind.
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Here we are at Whitby Abbey. It’s so easy to get lost in the former grandeur of the place, with images of monks singing hushed chants amidst brightly colored stain glass. Enraptured, you barely notice the chilly sea wind that blows cross the headland and makes your cheeks red. If walls could talk, what stories would they tell? What secrets abide here? It’s an amazing muse for my fictional Criswell Abbey, the hallowed ground where All Hallows Dead takes place.
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| Whitby Abbey sits on a headland that juts into the North Sea. |
Next, here we are at Mount Grace Priory, not far from the city of York.
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| Style and beauty rule the exterior of Mount Grace Priory’s manor house. |
Many priory and abbey ruins became the property of individual families in the fifteen hundreds, often a favor from a ruling monarch. For some, the building formerly reserved for lengthy visits from church officials and other dignitaries, was reworked into a manor house for the family. We’ll now take in reworked interiors, beautiful furnishings, and open hearths of the manor house at Mount Grace Priory. This was fodder for Marthrad House, manor home of the fictional, landed Cavendish family who own Criswell Abbey grounds in my All Saints tale.
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| An Arts and Crafts period interior decorates the manor home at Mount Grace Priory |
Let’s travel to the south of England now. Welcome to a rainy day in beautiful Wiltshire where we will visit Lacock Abbey, a nunnery started by Ela of Salisbury in the twelve hundreds.
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| Lacock Abbey is one of the few church grounds that survived the sixteenth century Dissolution of the Monasteries. |
These are not abbey ruins, but complete and habitable buildings, though now they are owned by England’s National Trust. The architecture and charm make imaginations spin as we wander the abbey grounds. Who lived here? What were their lives like? Many women of privilege, often in widowhood, took the veil and called Lacock home. But let’s duck into an out building for a moment’s reprieve from the misty rain.
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| Enter Lacock Abbey’s brew house with me and view the stairwell that leads to the cooping rooms. Sorry, no ale on tap here. |
What do you know? We’re in the abbey brew house. Yes, the monasteries of long ago brewed their own ale and often sold it to the villagers as well. The water was a bit chancy back then. But once it went through the brewing process, it was easily digested, no trouble. Or, so I’m told. Add to that fact a true story of how a landed family, who owned abbey grounds, built a pub around the remaining wall of their brew house, which is frequented by the villagers to this day. I’ve heard English public houses, or pubs, described as, “the community living room.” They aren’t bars, nor are they entirely restaurants, but they’re a higgldy-piggldy mixture. This brew building, helped along by the true pub story, was the springboard for Watergate Alehouse, the historical local pub that serves all and sundry in my fictional village of Criswell. In a sense, it is the community living room.
Would you like to grab a pub lunch, along with a fizzy pop, and some pudding? Let’s take a break in the Bull and Butcher found in Turville, Buchinghamshire, England. It’s your quintessential English pub.
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| The Bull and Butcher Pub in Buckinghamshire is cozy on a blustery day, just as is my fictional Watergate Public House. |
Of course, there’re loads and loads more we could ramble through. This is just a taste of all England has to offer a writer’s creative brain. And when it comes to inspiration for an All Saints Day mystery, this is only a sniff. I hope you’ve enjoyed the quick tour.
Oh, here’s a departing word to note. Reading All Hallows Dead isn’t complete until you can snuggle into a comfy chair with a steaming cup of tea and wooly throw. It’s a cozy mystery that’s just right for short autumn days and long blustery nights. Cheers.
To find out more about Marilyn, see snaps of England, or view other books she’s written
To make a purchase: amazon.com
What secrets lie within the stones of Criswell
Abbey’s medieval church, St. Baldred’s? Berdie Elliott digs to find the
truth in All Hallows Dead.
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| The crypt of St. Cedd at the parish church in Lastingham, England |
Just for a tickle, here’s an excerpt
Berdie Elliott and her best friend, Lillie Foxworth, often find themselves in hot water, and they’re not brewing tea.
“What I found is absolutely priceless.
There’s….” Berdie stopped when she became aware of clip-clop steps in the nave.
“Shh.” She put her index finger to her lips.
“Why shush?” Lillie didn’t make her
voice particularly quiet.
Berdie
raised her brows and pointed toward the nave. “Someone’s about the place,” she whispered.
“We can’t let on that we’re in here…”
The steps outside became louder. They
were advancing toward the tower.
Lord have mercy.
There was a hesitation.
Berdie
held her breath. She realized instantly that whoever was on the other side of
the door, was perhaps one who knew all the secrets of this place which could
mean she and Lillie were in very real danger.
How can a sixteenth century saint help solve
a twenty-first century crime?
About Marilyn Leach:
Though Marilyn Leach grew up in the Western United States, she became a dyed-in-the-wool British enthusiast after exploring the UK and making friends there. Her travels throughout England color her life and written works. Though she dreams of settling in England, Marilyn lives lakeside on the Front Range of Colorado.
