OVERVIEW

THE RATTON TRILOGY
While researching medieval Willingdon for the Millennium Maps we were commissioned to carry out, I gained a lasting interest in the nearby Manor of Ratton which existed in Norman times and was proved to go back to the Anglo-Saxons. Its gripping story in the end filled three books and even overlapped into the second book of the Norman Trilogy.

THE NORMAN TRILOGY
This began by my coming across the startling ideas of Nick Austin about the Norman Invasion in 1066; these are explored in THE CONQUEST COUNTRY.

The Trilogy continues with PIERCING THE VEIL OF TIME which further connects the Norman Abbey of Grestain with its numerous alien properties in East Sussex, While the Third book considers how the Norman Abbey of Fécamp had considerable influence in the area between Hastings and Rye twenty years before the 1066 Invasion.

TWO NORMAN CASTLES
Living for so long in the minds of the Normans and having lived in HASTINGS for eighteen years made me want to compare the Castle there with another Norman Castle to the west, that of BRAMBER.

THE NORMAN EXPLOSION
Sheer amazement at the colossal explosion of building in Norman times made me want to try to discover a little of how they were able to do it! Hence the NORMAN EXPLOSION.

END OF A ROYAL DREAM
In 2005, we were at Christ Church, Oxford (my old college) for a special interest weekend about Charles the First`s time at Oxford when he made it the Royal Capital in the Civil War and lived and held his Parliament at Christ Church. My enthusiasm was whetted and so i wrote END OF A ROYAL DREAM to find out more.