This episode Mike and Will grab their torches and disappear up ‘The Tudor Chimney’ by A.N.L. Munby. But what is that shape moving up above? Meh, it’s probably nothing.

Thanks to Debbie Wedge for providing the readings for this episode!

In this episode, we also mention Will’s new project DarkOxfordshire.co.uk, which explores the darker side of Oxfordshire’s history, including ghosts, legends, murders and mayhem!

Story notes:

• The Tudor Chimney by A.N.L. Munby (Archive.org)
  Contrary to what we say in the episode, this story can in fact be read online for free! Thanks to Zach Forn for sharing the link with us.
• The Alabaster Hand by A.N.L. Munby (Sundial Press)
  Munby’s only volume of ghost stories is currently out of print and consequently rather hard to get hold of unless you have very deep pockets. However, Sundial Press are due to publish an affordably priced paperback to follow their recent hardback edition very soon.
• A.N.L. Munby book collector, academic and ghost story writer (jot101.com)
  This article republishes an article written in tribute to Munby that was published in 1975, a year after Munby’s death, and contains some entertaining details about his life and personality.
• The story location (Google Maps)
  In the story, Munby describes the location of the hall as being located between Lambourn and Wantage. The villages of Letcombe Bassett and Letcombe Regis seem likely candidates. Other locations that may have provided inspiration include Crowsley Park and Lambourn Place (check out those chimneys!)

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Ahoy there listeners!  Be grabbin’ yer nautical gear for a  cruise on the high seas of Leicestershire, with LTC Rolt and his story Bosworth Summit Pound.  (Enough.  It’s set on a canal – ed) What terrors might await us on England’s peaceful inland waterways? And just who digs a canal tunnel under an ancient graveyard anyway?

Story notes

• Thank you to our reader this week Tony Walker: you must check out his Classic Ghost Stories podcast and episode on this story.  If you’d like to know more about his podcast, make sure you listen through to the end of our show for an exclusive trailer from Tony!
• Tom Rolt built Spitfires during WW2, and in 1944 had his first book ‘Narrow Boat’ published. It was a big success, and through it he made connections with the people with whom he would form the Inland Waterways Association, an organisation dedicated to preserving Britain’s canals and other waterways. He was actually expelled from this in 1951 after falling out with founding member (and fellow author of supernatural fiction) Robert Aickman (see this amusing plaque, which suggests the enmity lingered after both their deaths!).
• Rolt’s one volume of ghost stories ‘Sleep No More’ was published in 1948.  Mike Ashley wrote of this, “Rolt had a formidable knowledge of the byways, waterways and railways of Britain which made Sleep No More (1948) a most unique volume of the supernatural”. Ashley adds that of  MR James’s imitators, “Malden, Munby and Rolt achieve the most success in blending James’s techniques with their own narratives… Because of his ability to utilise original surroundings, L.T.C. Rolt’s stories are perhaps the most refreshing.”
• In another essay worth reading, Kai Roberts wrotes that “Rolt succeeds because the industrial setting he evokes is one about which he is passionate and knowledgeable.”

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This episode Will and Mike hitch up their cassocks, pack their prayer books and head to ‘Southshire’ to open ‘A Room in a Rectory’ by Sir Andrew Caldecott!

Big thanks to Kirsty who provided the readings for this episode, and to Garry Platt who provided the photo that accompanies this episode. You can see more of Garry’s photos at his Instagram account.

Show notes:

• Sir Andrew Caldecott (wikipedia)
  You can find out about Caldecott’s life and exalted career in the Colonial Office at his wikipedia page.
• ‘Not Exactly Ghosts’ (Project Gutenberg Australia)
  While Caldecott’s stories are not quite out of copyright in most countries, you can still read the volume of ghost stories that ‘A Room in a Rectory’ comes from in its entirety online at Project Gutenberg Australia.
• St Michael defeating Satan (wikipedia)
  If you are trying to visualise the stained glass window that features in this story, head over to this wikipedia page where you can see a number of artistic interpretations of this very scene.
• Hymns Ancient and Modern (37mb PDF)
  This story features a crackingly devilish inversion of a hymn from the hymn book ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’. You can read the original version in this PDF, hymn number 335.

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