![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
STONEGROUND GHOST TALES by EB Swain
Feb. 23rd, 2014 10:37 pmThis book from 1912 is a decent selection of ghost stories. It's in a similar vein to M.R. James' historic ghost stories, though does not measure up to that high standard. The photograph story that starts this volume is particularly reminiscent of James' THE MEZZOTINT (first published 1904), and in fact the book is dedicated to James. (The similarity is more homage and basic plot - I don't think Swain's a plagiarist.)
The truth is that what grabbed me about this book is information on what French prisoners of war from the Napoleonic era did in England. There's a reference to French handicrafts out of bone and a place called Frenchman's meadow.
The few who have made further acquaintance with Stoneground have soon learned to distinguish between the permanent and the accidental features of the place, and have been astonished by nothing so much as by the unexpected evidence of French influence. Amongst the household treasures of the old inhabitants are invariably found French knick-knacks: there are pieces of French furniture in what is called “the room” of many houses. A certain ten-acre field is called the “Frenchman’s meadow.” Upon the voters’ lists hanging at the church door are to be found French names, often corrupted; and boys who run about the streets can be heard shrieking to each other such names as Bunnum, Dangibow, Planchey, and so on.
Mr. Batchel himself is possessed of many curious little articles of French handiwork—boxes deftly covered with split straws, arranged ingeniously in patterns; models of the guillotine, built of carved meat-bones, and various other pieces of handiwork, amongst them an accurate road-map of the country between Stoneground and Yarmouth, drawn upon a fly-leaf torn from some book, and bearing upon the other side the name of Jules Richepin. The latter had been picked up, according to a pencilled-note written across one corner, by a shepherd, in the year 1811.
The explanation of this French influence is simple enough. Within five miles of Stoneground a large barracks had been erected for the custody of French prisoners during the war with Bonaparte. Many thousands were confined there during the years 1808-14. The prisoners were allowed to sell what articles they could make in the barracks; and many of them, upon their release, settled in the neighbourhood, where their descendants remain.
This anecdote is fascinating and consistent with the book THE DEPOT FOR PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS HUNTINGDONSHIRE 1796 TO 1816, by Thomas James Walker, which was published 1913 (a year after this book) and included various primary sources in the index. Here's a picture from that book for an object that French prisoners made out of animal bone boiled down from their rations:
Other than this historical note which grabbed my attention, there is not much to say about this book. The ghost stories are adequate ghost stories, but they are not very noteworthy, memorable, or good. This is a volume that may appeal if you enjoy ghost stories from this era.
The truth is that what grabbed me about this book is information on what French prisoners of war from the Napoleonic era did in England. There's a reference to French handicrafts out of bone and a place called Frenchman's meadow.
The few who have made further acquaintance with Stoneground have soon learned to distinguish between the permanent and the accidental features of the place, and have been astonished by nothing so much as by the unexpected evidence of French influence. Amongst the household treasures of the old inhabitants are invariably found French knick-knacks: there are pieces of French furniture in what is called “the room” of many houses. A certain ten-acre field is called the “Frenchman’s meadow.” Upon the voters’ lists hanging at the church door are to be found French names, often corrupted; and boys who run about the streets can be heard shrieking to each other such names as Bunnum, Dangibow, Planchey, and so on.
Mr. Batchel himself is possessed of many curious little articles of French handiwork—boxes deftly covered with split straws, arranged ingeniously in patterns; models of the guillotine, built of carved meat-bones, and various other pieces of handiwork, amongst them an accurate road-map of the country between Stoneground and Yarmouth, drawn upon a fly-leaf torn from some book, and bearing upon the other side the name of Jules Richepin. The latter had been picked up, according to a pencilled-note written across one corner, by a shepherd, in the year 1811.
The explanation of this French influence is simple enough. Within five miles of Stoneground a large barracks had been erected for the custody of French prisoners during the war with Bonaparte. Many thousands were confined there during the years 1808-14. The prisoners were allowed to sell what articles they could make in the barracks; and many of them, upon their release, settled in the neighbourhood, where their descendants remain.
This anecdote is fascinating and consistent with the book THE DEPOT FOR PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS HUNTINGDONSHIRE 1796 TO 1816, by Thomas James Walker, which was published 1913 (a year after this book) and included various primary sources in the index. Here's a picture from that book for an object that French prisoners made out of animal bone boiled down from their rations:
Other than this historical note which grabbed my attention, there is not much to say about this book. The ghost stories are adequate ghost stories, but they are not very noteworthy, memorable, or good. This is a volume that may appeal if you enjoy ghost stories from this era.
