A series of articles featuring tales of Kings, Queens, Ruins, Hollywood Stars, Murder, Ghosts, and Satellites
Every town has them, those hidden, sometimes secret places, usually only known to a select few, often kept alive by local enthusiasts and amateur historians places that truly tell the stories that shape our world.
Should we start with Martian invasion?
Well, not an actual invasion but perhaps the most famous fictional account of one, beginning with the immortal line, ‘No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own…’
That’s right, The War of the Worlds, written of course by H.G. Wells sees the Martians land on Horsell Common before roaming the area causing death and mayhem to the ‘puny humans’ in their way.
Nowadays the common is a beautiful 916 acre space, packed with wonderful things to see and do including nature reserves, Bronze Age burial mounds, great walks, a splendid café and plenty of parking.
Download the map of Horsell Common here, and get exploring, it’s well worth a visit and takes no more than 15 minutes to get there from Mandolay by car.
A little closer to home is St Catherine’s Chapel, half a mile south of Guildford town centre along the road to Godalming (Old Portsmouth Road). High on St. Catherine’s Hill with commanding views over the town and the River Wey, this used to be the site of Guildford Palace, a place of some importance in the 13th century, occupied by the King, and his wife Eleanor of Provence, wife of Henry III.
The Chapel itself was almost certainly built on the orders of Eleanor herself, in memory of her Grandson, and today the substantial remains can be seen by visitors, giving a fascinating glimpse into life almost 800 years ago.
And finally for this little historic roundup, we will take you to the beautiful village of Shere, and a story of cricket among the literary set.
Mad keen cricket fan JM Barrie of Peter Pan fame created his own ‘scratch’ team which at various times included literary giants AA Milne, the creator of Winnie the Pooh, teller of wild tales about Jeeves and Wooster, PG Wodehouse and perhaps most famous of all, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the mind behind Sherlock Holmes and his faithful friend, Dr. John Watson.
Matches took place on Albury Heath and marked with the first appearance of Barrie’s team in 1887 against the local Shere XI. We should not dwell for too long on the outcome, but let us just say that as far as cricketing ability is concerned, it’s a good job that they were all great writers !
Next time we have tales of ghostly goings on, witches and buried treasures.