Books worth reading #22 - 'Hollow Places: An unusual history of Land and Legend' by Christopher Hadley

From the outset I'll say that this is a fascinating book ... but not one for the faint-hearted. This is a very deep dive into the origins of a single Hertfordshire folk legend.

As the back cover blurb says: 

'Once upon a time in a Hertfordshire field, an ancient yew tree hid a dragon hunted by a giant named Piers Shonks. Today, the dragon and its slayer are the survivors of an 800-year battle between rural legend and national record, storytellers and sceptics. In this brilliant and lyrical history, Christopher Hadley journeys from churches to tombs to manuscript margins, to explore history, memory and legend, and the magical spaces where all three meet.' 

When I say it's a deep dive, I mean really really deep. Mariana Trench deep. Hadley takes the legend and the the tomb of Piers Shonks and subjects both to microscopic forensic examination. 

The journey takes us through the socio-economic conditions that existed in Shonks' time. We are given a natural history of British dragons. We plough through acres of ancient maps and manuscripts. We even get to visit the Dorset quarry where the stone used to make the lid of Shonks' tomb was unearthed. It really is a most extraordinary piece of work - almost academic in its level of detail - but Hadley writes beautifully and it never gets dull or turgid. It feels like you're accompanying him on his journey of investigation. 

I'm really looking forward to reading his new book, which follows an ancient Roman road.