Several projects are in hand.
.Some of his current projects/books being written include the following:
1. The Siege of Reading 1643
The Siege of Reading is almost complete except for one or two chapters.
The first siege of the English Civil War (sometimes called the British Civil War) of 1642-1649. The town at the time was holding out for the King (though as in the rest of the country loyalties were divided). The besieging Parliamentary army was led by Lord Essex, with 16,000 infantry, 3000 cavalry and a train of siege cannon. Despite a rescue attempt by Prince Rupert and King Charles, the town fell to the Parliamentary cause. The town suffered by heavy taxes and requisitions from both sides and its thriving wool trade never recovered.
The Chapters are:
1. Introduction
2. Divided Loyalties
3. Reading in the Early 17th.Century
4.The Religious and Political Divide
5. Ship Money
6. Reading's Strategic Position
7. Reading Enters The War
8. The Pre Siege Occupations of 1642-43
9. Siege Warfare
10. How Other Siege Cities Fared
11. Composition of 17th. Century Armies
12. Essex and Aston as Commanders
13. The Scene is Set
14. The Assault on Reading
15. Reading's Fortifications
16. Disease
17. Attempted Rescue
18. Surrender
19.Aftermath
20. The Court Martial of Fielding
21. Financial Ruin
22. Conclusion
The Appendices are:
1. Notes
2. Terms of Surrender
3. Notable Reading Families
4. Notable Buildings
5. Biography of Essex
6. Biography of Aston
7. Biography of Prince Rupert
8. Biography of John Hampden
9. Biography of Sir Philip Skippon
10. Biography of Sir Jacob Astley
11. Biography of Lord Ruthven
12. Timeline : 1625-1643
13. Other Battles of 1643
14. The Act of Supremacy 1534
15. King James & Divine Right
16. The Nineteen Propositions
17. Williams Lilly's Astroloigical War Charts Ftr Reading
18. Regiments Involved in the Siege
19. The Conflict at Reading of 1644
20. Bibliography
21. Index
2 The Battle of Dyrham 577 AD
The next book will deal with the battle between Ceawlin of the West Saxons (Wessex) and three Celtic kings of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester which set the seal on the Saxon-Angle ascendancy over England and broke forever the land connection between Wales and the West British.
Chapters:
The provisional chapters so far in progress are:
1. Introduction. 2. Britain Without Rome. 3. The British Respite 493-550. 4. Consolidation of the Saxon Settlement. 5. Saxon Alliances and Advance. 6. Ceawlin 7. The Battle. 8. Sixth Century West British Kingdoms. 9. End of the Celtic West. 10. Aftermath.
Appendixes
The Appendixes so far are:
1. Notes. 2. Wansdyke. 3. Timeline. 4. Anglo-Saxon Tribes & Clans. 5. Caer Baddan (Bath). 6. Caer Ceri (Corinium). 7. Caer Gloui. 8. Bibliography.
3. Elias Ashmole
Antiquarian, botanist, alchemist of the Carolingian period he was a Founder member of the Royal Society in November 1660 and avid collector of rare and arcane books and manuscripts: it was this collection which he bequethed to Oxford University and became the world renowned "Ashmolean Museum" today. Ashmole was a Royalist during the Cvil War but he father-in -law was a Roundead officer. Ashmole's diaries states that he was a Freemason and he and his father-in-law were in the same lodge in 1646 at the height of the Civil War. His notes are among the first record of the existence of speculative Freemasonry in the modern world. Under the Restoration of Charles II his career dramatrically flourished.
4. The History of Warmley House
In South Gloucestershire in the village of Warmley lies a grand Georgian house once the home of one William Champion (1709-1789). It was the centre of one of the oldest industriall sites in Britoian and was where the commercial production of zinc and brass was piopneerd in the British Isles..By 1754 Champion had '15 copper furnaces, 12 brass furnaces, 4 spelter or zinc furnaces, a battery mill, rolling mills for making plates, rolling and cutting mills for wire, and a wire mill both of thick and fine drawn kinds'. The value of the Company was put at £200,000 with a profit of £8,000 annually (in today's money approximately £400 million and £16 million profit annually). At his zenith, he employed 800 workers plus out-workers- an immense workforce for the time
5. The History of Redlands
The History of Redlands can be regarded as an almost finished project for whilst there is more which can be written about I shall be concentrating for the foreseeable future on Wiltshire History and some other specific projects
Redlands is an area on the Southern Hill ridge of Reading in Berkshire. This history is at present proceeding as a website and contains over thirty subjects on various aspects of this area from the Middle Age until the early twentieth century. It brings in some aspects of some of the areas which directly neighbour Redlands because of manorial and other associations, such as: Maiden Erleigh; Whitely; Whiteknights; Erleigh St.Peters.
to find out more about this major undertaking, please go to :
6. Lyonesse
Across Europe are tales of sunken lands and vanished races. Atlantis as a genre is real enough: rising sea levels over 10,000 years ago wiped out many thriving communities (e.g. the North Sea Plains),and possibly even civilisations. One such is Lyonesse. Once entirely shrouded in mythology Stephen Cox unravels the geological,and historical l reality of the fabled land now represented as remnants by the Isles of Scilly, but once a large land in the Atlantic. The Sea Kings, King Arthur, Mark of Cornwall, Tristram, Atlantean colony- all have their part in this revelation.
7. The Battle of Lansdown
Civil War battle fought on the south Cotswold Hills overlooking Bath.
8. North Wiltshire Sketches
This project is foremost in my schedule of writing at the present time (2013). I have decided that the area covered is that which is bounded by: Melksham/Devizes/Avebury/Royal Wooton Bassett/Malmesbury/Corsham. (although it is possible I may sneak over the border into South Glos to encompass Marshfield!)
Some are based on personal knowledge, visits and experience over the years. Others via research of records, old histories etc. With regards to Studley village itself I hope to have the privilege to talk in depth with some of the oldest residents (in their nineties) who can provide fascinating glimpses of village life and history from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries.
1. The Wesleyan Chapel Studley. 2. The Wilsaetas (Saxon Tribe).
3. Battle of Chippenham 1643. 4. Derry Hill Church.
5. Bowood House Architecture. 6. Celtic Tribes.
7. Cherhill White Horse. 8. Fox Talbot.
9. St.Dunstan. 10. Calne Broadcloth.
11. Lacock Abbey. 12. Local Notables.
13. Saxon Calne 14. Medieval Calne
15. Medieval Chippenham. 16. Alfred at Chippenham.
17. Arthur 18. Saxon Conquest.
19. The Domesday Book 20.Stanley Abbey.
21. Priory of Kington St.Michael. 22. Royal Forests.
23. The Moonrakers. 24. Joseph Priestley
25. Little Zoar Baptist Chapel. 26. Maud Heath’s Causeway.
27. The Burning of Reginald de Cobham 28.The Ridgeway.
29. Silbury Hill 30. The Sanctuary.
31. Avebury. 32. West Kennet Long Barrow
33. Sandy Lane Providence Chapel. 34. The Wilts and Berks Canal.
35. Martha Marshman & William Wiltshire 36. Bowood Estate Brief History
37. The Viking Battle of Chippenham 38. Alexander Keiller
39. The Avenue 40. The Marqueesate of Lansdowne
41. Bradenstoke Priory 42. Studley Economic History1643-1999
43. The Holy Well Biddestone 44. The Dumbpost
45. Bremhill 46. Battle of Roundway Down 1643
47. Siege of Devizes 1643 48. Spas & Mineral Springs
49. Bradford on Avon Abbey. 50. The Wars of Stephen & Matilda.
51. Devizes Castle. 52. The Lansdowne Monument
53. Gabriel Goldney. 54. Pinhills
55. Studley Manor 56. The Temple of Cunomaglus
57. The Lysley Arms 58. The Golden Gate
59. Local Place Name History
Notes:
(i) Items in italic & ochre have been completed.
(ii) More subjects to be added.
iii) website has not been published yet.