The Mount Pleasant footbridge featured in my first novel, Plagued, and I often cross it on my walks. Despite recent makeshift repairs, it has become alarmingly rickety of late, so it was no great surprise to learn it was due to be replaced. Precisely what this entailed wasn’t clear, but I’d heard work would begin in February and involved closing the road. So, on 1 February, I went for one last look before it was too late.
Continue reading The cycle of change
Researching the historical facts for Plagued was a learning curve The research took longer than the writing. Finding out what Southampton was like over a hundred years ago was helped by old maps, Kelly’s Directories, history sites and a great deal of reading and walking. The one thing that really brought Northam in 1918 to life though, was the wealth of old photographs I found. Today I’m going to share a few of them with you.
Continue reading Northam – a picture is worth a thousand words