Walking the Weirdstone: Archaeology and the Works of Alan Garner.

The books of the Cheshire author Alan Garner are steeped in folklore, mythology and archaeology. His great skill has been to create a tapestry of tales with a deep connection to the Cheshire landscape. Beginning with The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, published in 1960, most of Garner’s works are set within a few miles of Alderley Edge. Although Garner’s world of wizards, elves, mara, svarts and morthbrood is fantastical the landscapes which they inhabit is all too real. Much of that landscape has been shaped by man and, as such, there is the firm weight of archaeology behind his books. This talk will follow Dr James Wright’s attempt to walk the locations from Garner’s Weirdstone Trilogy (The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, The Moon of Gomrath and Boneland) with an especial focus on archaeological sites. It will include prehistoric burial mounds, ancient standing stones, mediaeval houses, Victorian copper mines and the seventeenth century farm which was the inspiration for Highmost Redmanhey. Interwoven within the presentation will be a consideration for Garner’s own published fieldwork and research within the world of archaeology.