My Writing
Here you’ll find extracts from my novel, my articles and my poetry.
Edgecumbe’s Escape
The legend of the Chapel in the Woods at Cotehele in Cornwall — see my blog post — is such a cracking story I thought it would be a good writing exercise to see how it might work as a piece of fiction.
This is very much a first draft but, who knows, one day it may become part of something bigger.
Joan raised a delicate hand, her fingers trembling a little, as she checked the ornate silver pin that held her wimple in place. As she glanced up, she noticed the rooks circling high over the tall trees beyond the courtyard walls, their wings standing out as black ticks against the muted sky. Disturbed from their peaceful roosts, the birds’ shrill cries echoed through the damp autumn air. But it was not the rooks’ raucous chorus that had made Joan leave the comforting warmth of the crackling fire in the hall. Riders had thundered up to her gate, hooves …
Rosemary Griggs - A Devonian Time Traveller
This short article expands on my biography.
A Devonian Timetraveller
I must have been very young when I first crept into my grandparents’ front room and secretly borrowed a volume from the mahogany bookcase. I grew up on an isolated farm and I didn’t see many other children. But I wasn’t really lonely. Characters from the books I read became my friends. I made up stories about the adventures I shared with them.
An inspirational teacher at my first school fostered and encouraged my passion for reading and introduced me to history. A career in the Civil Service followed. My passion for the past has never faded. …
Roberda Arrives at Dartington Hall
An excerpt from 'The Dartington Bride'.After their glittering wedding in the Queen's Chapel at Greenwich her husband, Gawen, left for France while Roberda remained at the royal court. At last Roberda arrives at Dartington Hall in Devon to be re-united with her husband.
Chapter Eleven
Mistress of Dartington Hall
Spring 1572
My mouth fell open and I froze on the threshold, letting my eyes drink in the splendour of Dartington Hall. A soaring forest of carved oak beams supported the huge span of the roof high above my head. I slowly let out my breath as I watched the banners fluttering gently from the beams and took in the stone corbels, each with an angel bearing the arms of some great knight on a painted shield. Wispy tendrils of smoke rose from a fire smouldering in a fireplace even larger than …
Betrothal
An excerpt from 'The Dartington Bride'.Sir Arthur Champernowne arrives in Ducey, but he comes alone
Spring 1571
In the month of May, as nodding bluebells carpeted our orchards, Sir Arthur Champernowne came to Ducey. He came alone.
I waited on the doorstep behind my parents as the red-faced Englishman dismounted and swaggered between the ranks of the soldiers Alain du Bois had drilled into a guard of honour.
‘But where is his son?’ I faltered, my voice no more than a breath. ‘Where is Gawen Champernowne? Where is the man I am to wed? The man I must serve till the end of my days?’
‘Hush,’ Maman hissed.
‘But, Maman! Can’t he even find the …
The Madre de Deus — a scene that didn’t find its way into the final version of a Woman of Noble Wit
The Madre de Deus – a scene that didn’t find its way into the final version of a Woman of Noble Wit
When I wrote A Woman of Noble Wit I was determined to tell her story, not his. But I found that in the later stages of Katherine’s life her famous boys were taking over far too much of the action. So I decided to end the main narrative on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, with a short “afterward”. That meant I had to leave out quite a few scenes, including this one.
It is September 1592 and we find Katherine Raleigh, now a widow in her seventies, dozing in the garden behind her house close by the Place Gate, near Exeter Cathedral.
Katherine woke with a start. She hauled herself into a more comfortable position on the wooden bench and drew a deep breath of apple-scented air into her lungs. As she surveyed the trees growing along the red-stone walls, boughs weighed down with rosy fruit, a satisfied smile spread slowly across her face. For an instant she felt young again, as if the lines and wrinkles that …