Why a Booktrail?
The ancient kingdom of Elmet is the source of so much history….
Elmet
What you need to know before your trail
Daniel is heading north. He is looking for someone. The simplicity of his early life with Daddy and Cathy has turned sour and fearful. They lived apart in the house that Daddy built for them with his bare hands. They foraged and hunted. When they were younger, Daniel and Cathy had gone to school. But they were not like the other children then, and they were even less like them now.
Sometimes Daddy disappeared, and would return with a rage in his eyes. But when he was at home he was at peace. He told them that the little copse in Elmet was theirs alone. But that wasn’t true. Local men, greedy and watchful, began to circle like vultures. All the while, the terrible violence in Daddy grew.
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Elmet
Doncaster is the the geographic heart of the ancient kingdom from which the novel takes its name. The Celtic kingdom of Elmet was also the inspiration for Ted Hughes and his cycle of poems Remains of Elmet
This land now is a seemingly isolated spot where John and his familt live in a self built house in a copse, deep in the heart of an ancient forest. they live an ancient and medieval life style- they hunt and gather, forage and find not forgetting the farming. They live and work under old values and the children start to see how they differ from others:
“He wanted to strengthen us against the dark things in the world. The more we knew of it, the better we would be prepared. And yet there was nothing of the world in our lives, only stories of it.”
Nearby however runs the East Coat main line – the only sign really of civilization.
There are other modern signs of Yorkshire – the rich homely food and the dialect where the ends of words are swallowed as eagerly as the rich Yorkshire food described throughout.
The Kingdom of Elmet
was one of a number of small independent kingdoms to emerge at the end of the Roman period. It was located in what is now the current day West Riding of Yorkshire. At the height of its powers, it’s believed to have extended from the Humber in the north, across to the Pennine foothills in the west, with its southern border reaching to the banks of the River Sheaf (Sheaf means boundary) and the River Don. Sheaf is also the word from which Sheffield derives its name.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Elmet
Destination: Yorkshire Author/Guide: Fiona Mozley Departure Time: 2000s
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