Dear Chris
I was delighted to find a copy of "The Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066" in the shop at Burnby Hall Gardens on a recent visit home to Yorkshire. It offers a helpfully clear and well-informed assessment of the events of that fateful year. It also includes a lot of local detail I had not previously known.
In September 2009, with interest aroused by Channel 4's "The Battle for Middle Earth", I visited Stamford Bridge and was astounded that the battle site was now a housing estate and that there was so little information in the village about it and so few signs. My mother said darkly that it must be because those in charge are Normans!
Incidentally, last year in November I visited the English Heritage site at Battle in November. It was closed for winter and surrounded by spiked iron railings! When I asked if there was any way I could get to see it on a footpath as I had come a long way, the lady in the gift shop told me that only local people knew how to do that. Anyway, I did find a way in but felt I was skulking around exactly like a disinherited Anglo Saxon!
Since then I have read more about 1066 and was again astounded, as a Yorkshire born and bred person, to have never heard of the Harrying of the North and its devastating impact. Maybe my mother's right- the truth is too uncomfortable in a country where the descendants of the Normans still hold much power and privilege.
Almost a thousand years on, it really is the right time to reassess 1066 and its impact. I now live in Scotland and the debate over independence has highlighted how, until recent programmes like Michael Wood's Story of the British People, the English have had little understanding of who we are and where we come from, compared to the Scots, Welsh and Irish. Your book has really set my imagination working about my ancestors, who were farmers on the North Yorkshire coast as far as the family tree goes back.
Yours sincerely
Kathryn Mawson
''Chris,
I was delighted to find a copy of "The Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066" in the shop at Burnby Hall Gardens on a recent visit home to Yorkshire. It offers a helpfully clear and well-informed assessment of the events of that fateful year. It also includes a lot of local detail I had not previously known.
In September 2009, with interest aroused by Channel 4's "The Battle for Middle Earth", I visited Stamford Bridge and was astounded that the battle site was now a housing estate and that there was so little information in the village about it and so few signs. My mother said darkly that it must be because those in charge are Normans!
Incidentally, last year in November I visited the English Heritage site at Battle in November. It was closed for winter and surrounded by spiked iron railings! When I asked if there was any way I could get to see it on a footpath as I had come a long way, the lady in the gift shop told me that only local people knew how to do that. Anyway, I did find a way in but felt I was skulking around exactly like a disinherited Anglo Saxon!
Since then I have read more about 1066 and was again astounded, as a Yorkshire born and bred person, to have never heard of the Harrying of the North and its devastating impact. Maybe my mother's right- the truth is too uncomfortable in a country where the descendants of the Normans still hold much power and privilege.
Almost a thousand years on, it really is the right time to reassess 1066 and its impact. I now live in Scotland and the debate over independence has highlighted how, until recent programmes like Michael Wood's Story of the British People, the English have had little understanding of who we are and where we come from, compared to the Scots, Welsh and Irish. Your book has really set my imagination working about my ancestors, who were farmers on the North Yorkshire coast as far as the family tree goes back.
Yours sincerely
Kathryn Mawson
''Chris,
Thank you for giving me a guided tour of the Stamford Bridge battle site. I have been keen to listen to someone like yourself who has some considerable knowledge of the battle and the event leading up to it. To see the geography of the area and recognise the task which the Saxon army had to overcome was very sobering. I would recommend this tour to all who have an interest in battlefields. Chris Rock is about to launch a book on the battle of Stamford Bridge and I for one will be purchasing it, and are looking forward to some of his own views on this momentous event. Unfortunately for me, changed the course of English history''
Regards, Alan Thompson.
Yorkshire, March 2012.
Yorkshire, March 2012.
The book Alan mentions is NOW available. It is a new upto date visitor guide and historical review of the personaliites and the events leading upto the battles of Fulford and Stamford in 1066. With plenty of photos and newly drawn illustrations it brings the story upto date. Also included is a detachable self-guided walk to the battleground at Stamford and it will be available to buy direct from me here, around the local shops in Stamford and in York at selected bookshop outlets. Price is £5.99.Contact me for order or other details.
Hello
Many thanks for producing the Battle of Stamford Bridge leaflet. I lead a group from the York U3A Historical Walks Group round the battle site following your leaflet which is very useful. We met the person who produced the leaflet and he asked us to respond with any ideas. It would be a great help if discreet signs with information added could be put up along the walk. The start of the walk through the mill yard is not very well sign posted.
Hope this helps and thanks again for producing the leaflet, we had an informative and enjoyable afternoon.
Regards, Clive Dawson
July 2012 Many thanks for producing the Battle of Stamford Bridge leaflet. I lead a group from the York U3A Historical Walks Group round the battle site following your leaflet which is very useful. We met the person who produced the leaflet and he asked us to respond with any ideas. It would be a great help if discreet signs with information added could be put up along the walk. The start of the walk through the mill yard is not very well sign posted.
Hope this helps and thanks again for producing the leaflet, we had an informative and enjoyable afternoon.
Regards, Clive Dawson
Excellent web site you have here.. It's hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I honestly appreciate people like you! Take care!!
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