Back in time for a new novel

Now those crazy busy weeks of promoting The Artist’s Gift have come to an end, I’m ready to get stuck into a new novel and have been determined to go right back in time. I’ve scouted about for something to hold my interest. And so, returning to familiar pages in Romney Marsh Survival on a Frontier, I’ve explored the idea of setting a novel in West Hythe at a time before there was any permanent settlement there. Called Sandtun, in the late 7th century it was on the edge of a tidal lagoon, which was sheltered by a shingle spit – roughly where the Hythe Ranges and Dymchurch Wall are today. What was happening on Sandtun? It was a seasonal trading place: craftsmen from the surrounding area would come to sell their wares to those who had sailed across the Oceanous Britannicus in order to trade. Archaeologists have found evidence of this from the 7th to the 9th centuries in the form of pottery and coins. The Sandtun was also a place for fishermen who descended the Shipway (Lympne Hill) to fish; evidence has been found in the form of fish hooks and bones.
While this was happening, the islands of (Old) Romney and Lydd were home to the hardy people who lived with the risk of the incoming tide, in a flat, barren landscape. Nearby Burmarsh (the land on the burgh of the Marsh), one of the oldest settlements, was not yet evolving.
The Romans had been gone for the past 400 years. Their fort at Lympne was once built on the top of the hill and at some point (possibly due to an earthquake) it slid to its current position (I can feel another novel coming here!). For the sake of my novel, the fort is still at the top of the hillside. So, having just released a WW2 novel, I find myself in a very different era and very much enjoying learning new things.

While this is all very absorbing for me, how about something to spice things up a bit? Have you ever wondered about St Botolph’s Bridge pub sign? It shows four monks, crossing a drainage ditch at night. Two of them are carrying a coffin and a beam of golden light shines down to show them the way. The body of St Botolph lies in that coffin. He died in Lincolnshire – so what was he doing on Romney Marsh? You'll have to read the novel to find out!

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