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Just in case Hector Cole, the skilful blacksmith featured in the iron age section of Neil's book, gets to read this, it would be good if he could let me know whether he had a relative named Annie Elizabeth Cole born in Kington Langley in 1862, as she was my late father's mother. (Dad being quite old when they had me, and he being next to youngest of her 10 born in Devon.)
When visiting Derry Hill on the trail of ancestors in 2007, I chatted to a lady in Bowood about the Cole family, and I'm sure she said that Hector worked there once, and I ought to go and talk with him in Chippenham.
(He and his daughter made the decorative railings of the central bridge in town.) I didn't get time to do that, unfortunately.
So it was a surprise when Warren (my eldest) was telling me about a visit to a medieval type fair [in the west Midlands in 2010?] where he bought arrowheads from Hector, and mentioned how their eyes seemed to lock a bit longer than expected... he had a funny feeling about this that he couldn't explain. (Warren didn't know about the possible family link then.) It crossed my mind, since, that my son may resemble one of the Coles that Hector is familiar with!
Sorry if this is a bit off-topic.
I've got great respect for the craftsmen who make these ancient weapons and tools, and also for the man who lives the Mesolithic lifestyle in the series. (That's John Lord, and it's his son Will who made the longbow, and the arrows.) It must be very satisfying for Lord Snr. to have a son who follows in his footsteps; I know I felt very proud when I saw the beautiful arrows Warren had spent weeks crafting.
Hopefully someone else will have some interesting opinions on the book to add to this thread. Naturally, everyone has their own ideas depending on their life experience. I left school with 6 O levels in the early '60s, and hated history, only getting the bug when I'd passed 50. With what was virtually my first car, travelled solo all over Britain in early 2000s, looking at megalithic sites, so can picture a lot of the places Neil describes in this book. Meg Portal was a wonderful resource for those travels, and am now hoping to pay back in kind.
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