The Papers of Matthew Locke

When Matthew Locke survives a shipwreck on the coast of Anglesey, he is cared for by the family of Llyws Llewellyn in the fishing village of Rhosneigr. During his recovery from the ordeal, he finds himself slipping through boundaries of time, becoming involved in events from Anglesey`s mysterious past. In these episodes, he meets, in different guises, Bryony, Llwys Llewellyn`s elder daughter, and it is here that their strange love affair begins.

Set in Anglesey in the 1880s, and beginning with the loss of `The Norman Court`, a clipper in the Java sugar trade, John Wheatley`s novel explores the shadowy territory between history, myth and fantasy.

A Golden Mist

In 1859, `The Royal Charter`, a steam clipper, returning from Melbourne, carrying 500 passengers and crew, and laden with bullion from the Australian gold fields, was wrecked in hurricane conditions at Moelfre, on the coast of Anglesey. Only forty people survived. A hundred and fifty years later, Saffy Williams, visiting the UK from South Africa, finds evidence that one of her ancestors lived in Moelfre at the time. In two fictional contemporary narratives, the diary of Sophia Davis on board `The Royal Charter`, and the memoir of Richard Williams, a young man living in Moelfre in 1859, the story of the lost treasure ship and the lives and passions of people associated with her, is told.

SHIPWRECKS OF ANGLESEY

Shipwrecks of Anglesey

Fame and notoriety

Standing off the coast of Wales, facing the Irish Sea, with a temperate climate yet sometimes - and unpredictably - exposed to violent extremes of weather, Anglesey has had its fair share of sea tragedies and tales of heroism.

 Hindlea

In 1959, almost exactly a hundred years after the loss of The Royal Charter, and just a few yards from the scene of that disaster, Hindlea, a 400 ton coaster  was driven onto the rocks at Porth Helaeth, close to Moelfre.  The incident was notable for the incredible bravery of the Moelfre lifeboat crew, who, in monstrous seas, brought their boat alongside to rescue  Hindlea`s eight man crew. The Cox, Dick Evans, was awarded the RNLI Gold Medal  for bravery for his part in the rescue. The same man achieved the same distinction again rescuing the crew of a Greek freighter Nafsiporos in  1966. He was 61 at the time.  A statue of Dick Evans now stands outside the Lifeboat house at Moelfre, one of Anglesey`s true heroes.

There are, no doubt, many untold tales of heroism, but the history of shipwrecks on the island`s coast occasionally takes on a more lugubrious tone. For some years, in the late 18th century, the notorious Crygill robbers thrived along the coast near Rhosneigr.There was some suspicion of what was known, in wreckers` lore, of using `false lights` to draw unsuspecting ships onto the rocks for plunder, but there is no true evidence for this. What does seem to be the case, however, was that the looting and pillaging of wrecked vessels went to dire extremes. When Charming Jenny was wrecked at Rhosneigr in 1773, it was alleged that the Captain`s wife, struggling to get to shore, had been deliberately drowned by a local man so that her rings and other valuables about her person could be pilfered. Distraught, her husband, Captain  Chilcott promised vengeance through justice and in due course six men were prosecuted for the theft of spirits and other goods, and one man, Sion Parry, was tried at Shrewsbury and hanged. It was the end of the Crygill Robbers.

Another ship to be dashed to pieces on the treacherous rocks of Rhosneigr was The Norman Court, a sugar trader returning from Jacarta in 1883. As the waves crashed over the hull, the crew took to the rigging to preserve their lives; eventually, the lifeboat crew from Holyhead was brought to the scene, and all but two of the crew were rescued alive. Some of them, it is said, had to be prized from the rigging like frozen washing.

The Norman Court

But of all the stories of wrecks on the Anglesey coast, the one which casts the longest shadow over the island`s history is that of The Royal Charter.  On her return journey from Melbourne - carrying bullion and personal fortunes from the Australian gold fields - and only thirty miles from the Port of Liverpool, her destination, she was caught in the worst gale of the century, and just as she turned around Lynas Point to begin the homeward stretch, the gale turned to the north east and blew her mercilessly towards the vicious rocks of the Anglesey shore. One after another her anchor chains snapped, and just  before dawn she grounded on the sands below Porth  Helaeth. Before the light revealed her true position, the rising tide began to smash her against the rocks, and it was too late.

Of a crew and company of five hundred, only forty survived. Without the bravery of the men of Moelfre who risked their own lives on the treacherous rocks, the death toll would have been much higher. Many of the dead were women and children. Some drowned, weighted down with pockets full of gold they tried to save; others were simply smashed against the rocks and died from impact injuries. Many of the bodies were taken to the small church of St Galgo, just above Moelfre, and the churchyard there bears sad witness to whole families as well as individuals who lost their lives. There is hardly a church along this stretch of coast, however, that did not provide the final resting place for Royal Charter victims, as the tides washed bodies further and further afield.

Visiting the scene in the aftermath of the disaster, Charles Dickens recorded, in The Uncommercial Traveller, the heroism of the Reverend Stephen Roose Hughes, who cared meticulously and with great humanity for the dead, writing over a thousand letters to bereaved relatives.

John Wheatley`s latest Anglesey novel, "The Papers of Matthew Locke" features both the NORMAN COURT and CHARMING JENNY. The novel is available from Amazon as a paperback orKindle E-book.

The Isle of Anglesey

The Isle of Anglesey

Anglesey, with its beautiful landscape, and its long and dramatic history of settlement and conflict, is the setting of John Wheatley`s three novels: A Golden Mist, Flowers of Vitriol and The Weeping Sands.

The isle of Anglesey stands in the Irish Sea, separated from the Welsh mainland by the beautiful Menai Strait, once described - with its treacherous tides and unpredictable currents - as the most dangerous waterway in the world.

Wherever you go on Anglesey, you find stories.

When the Romans were fastening their iron grip on Britain, two legions under Suetonius Paulinus crossed the strait to Insula Mona to destroy the  Anglesey stronghold of Druid culture, and by all accounts the bloodiest of slaughters took place. In ensuing centuries, as the emergent kingdom of Wales defended its freedom against powerful enemies, Anglesey was the retreat of the Princes, and a royal household was established at Aberffraw. Ancient historical and cultural ties with neighbouring  Ireland were consolidated  when, after the Act of Union, 1800, Holyhead, on Anglesey was chosen as the final stage of the mail route to Dublin, and it was this which led to the building of the Menai Bridge, completed in 1826.

My first Anglesey novel, A Golden Mist, was inspired by the story of the loss of the Royal Charter. Returning, in 1859, from Melbourne, with a company of 500 men, women, children, and crew, and laden with bullion from the Australian gold fields, the Royal Charter was only thirty miles from her destination, the port of Liverpool when she was wrecked, in hurricane conditions, on rocks close to Moelfre, a fishing village on Anglesey`s north west coast. Only forty people survived. The sad evidence of the Royal Charter disaster is still to be found in remote and scattered churchyards along that stretch of coast, and it is said that many of the drowned, reluctant to  lose the fortune they had gained on the far side of the world, went to their death weighed down with pockets full of gold. Many stories, too, told of villagers from Moelfre who grew mysteriously rich in the aftermath of the disaster! In A Golden Mist , Saffy Williams, visiting the UK from South Africa, finds evidence that one of her ancestors lived in Moelfre at the time. Through her quest, and two fictional contemporary narratives, the diary of Sophia Davis on board the Royal Charter and the memoir of Richard Williams, a young man living in Moelfre in 1859, I tell the story of the lost treasure ship and the lives and passions of people associated with it.

In 1770, `the great discovery`  on Parys Mountain, near Amlwch, on Anglesey`s north coast, was the uncovering of rich copper deposits, and it was to lead to a furious mining operation, lasting fifty years, which turned Amlwch from a tiny coastal village into a busy and tawdry industrial town – the copper capital of the world. My second Anglesey novel, Flowers of Vitriol, is a moody story of love, betrayal, jealousy and vengeance set during this early chapter of Britain`s industrial revolution.

Baron Hill, the fabulous neo-Palladian mansion set on the hillside, above Beaumaris, and overlooking the celebrated castle - one in the chain of fortifications by which Edward 1^st attempted to subjugate the Welsh -  represents the wealth and influence of the Bulkeley family, who provided statesmen in the courts of Elizabeth 1^st and James 1^st, and who played a vital role in Anglesey politics from the Civil War to modern times. When I found, in my research of Baron Hill, a true story of love and adultery leading to an almost Oresteian tragedy of family vengeance and self-destruction, I chose this as the subject for my third Anglesey novel, The Weeping Sands. Over the centuries, Baron Hill played host to many distinguished guests, including royalty, but the Bulkeley family quit the mansion in 1926. Troops were billeted there during the second world war, and after substantial fire damage, the house was finally abandoned. It now stands, a derelict and awe-inspiring ruin, camouflaged by trees, on the hillside above Beaumaris.

John Wheatley`s novels are available through AMAZON.

A GOLDEN MIST

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IR0A82

FLOWERS OF VITRIOL

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HC6EYW

THE WEEPING SANDS https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005RO8GNM

Photos of Baron Hill - the derelict mansion of Beaumaris

Beaumaris` Derelict Mansion

If you go  to Beaumaris, looking across the Menai Strait from the Anglesey shore to the Welsh mountains, you will find yourself in an attractive and slightly old fashioned sea-side town. The most noticeable feature is the medieval castle, one in the series of fortifications established by Edward 1st in his attempt to suppress the Welsh after the rebellion of 1295. On the hillside above the town, now hidden in woodland and almost inaccessible, is the ruin of the once magnificent mansion of Baron Hill. It was built by Sir Richard Bulkeley in 1617, as the family seat of the influential Bulkeley family, and with the intention of providing hospitality for the Prince of Wales on his progress to Ireland. Sir Richard`s son, also named Richard, married Anne, the daughter of Thomas Wilford, of Kent. She bore him a son and two daughters, but, as the story has it, then entered into a secret adulterous  relationship with Thomas Cheadle, a high-ranking servant and agent of Sir Richard. When Sir Richard died suddenly and violently - poisoned, it was said, by tobacco laced with ratsbane - the adulterous couple quickly married,  possibly to give legitimacy to a child she was carrying by Thomas Cheadle. The family, however, determined to have vengeance and the couple were eventually charged with murder. They stood trial at Beaumaris, and it was widely supposed that they would be found guilty. It was also clear from the court proceedings that Cheadle went to some lengths to influence the court by corrupt means; however, the verdict went in favour of Thomas Cheadle and Lady Anne. Cheadle, though despised by many of his fellow townsmen, continued to play a prominent role in Anglesey politics. During the Civil War, when Anglesey was strongly Royalist, it was rumoured  that King Charles was invited to set his standard at Baron Hill. Thomas Cheadle, however, was suspected of having dealings with the Parliamentarians, and when the Anglesey men were crushed by General Mytton at the battle of Beaumaris in 1658, the acrimony increased. By a stroke of fate, Thomas Cheadle`s son, and Sir Richard`s nephew later fought a duel on the Lavan Sands, close to Beaumaris: one of the young men was killed, the other hanged, bringing the dark story  to a suitably tragic close.

The Bulkeley family continued to prosper and build their influence, both on Anglesey and in Westminster. The mansion of Baron Hill was redeveloped in the Palladian style by the architect Samuel Wyatt.during the eighteenth century, and it continued to entertain distinguished guests from the nobility and artistic and literary circles, as well as playing a huge role in the local economy, until 1926, when the family, beset by death duties, left it for more afforable accomodation. During the second war. when troops were billeted there, the house was significantly damaged by fire, and abandoned.

The House of Baron Hill form the central link in my novel THE WEEPING SANDS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005RO8GNM

Review of "Agartha`s Last Hope" by Chrissy Peebles

Agartha`s Last Hope   by Chrissy Peebles

Congratulations to Chrissy Peebles on her action packed sequel to `Agartha`s Castaway`. The setting has changed from the paradise island with its Jurassic Park terrors to a truly Star Wars battlefield, and just as closely woven as the imaginative world of the island is Chrissy`s invention of the high-tech Sci-Fi environment, and the cosmic conflict in which her three characters are embroiled.

Stylistically, there are some echoes of the first book; there are frequent allusions, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes at moments of deadly seriousness, to parallel situations from other texts of similar genre, and this forms a backdrop of reference and cross reference which becomes part of the characters` - and the readers` - journey.

What is also a striking feature is the terrific pace, as Casey and Mike, later joined by a rescued Jack, leap from one unexpected danger to another, saving themselves, with some assistance from the alien Thorn, by the skin of their teeth, and, incidentally, saving a lot more than themselves – but I`ll not give that away!

But it`s not just action at break-neck speed – the conflict of the story never loses sight of the key moral dilemmas: the intertwining of love and hatred, the ambiguity of loyalty, the point at which a justifiable sense of grievance becomes an action plan of evil.

Casey, too, the main character, continues her own moral journey, making increasingly difficult choices, and also discovering the truth of her own inner feelings towards Mike and Jack.

I thought I might miss the luxuriant world of the island with its magical qualities and strange creatures. In fact, I didn`t because I was too caught up in the new places and the new adventure. But just in case I did have a wistful hankering back in that direction, Chrissy Peebles invented the wonderful Lodomodo creature for me, and when you read the book you`ll know  just what I mean!