Monday 24 March 2008

Prinknash (pr Prinnidge)

I am going here
where these Benedictine monks live


The reason I am going is that this was my great-grandmother's childhood home (she of the biography I was going to write, now of the novel that I am about to begin).

It's called Prinknash (pr Prinnidge) and I'm going to meet the Abbot who will show me round the house before it reverts to a closed monastic community and the Abbey they built in 1972 becomes an old people's home. (The monastic community is shrinking, hence the changes.) When I get there I shall also remeet a woman I met as a result of my Scottish research ... a woman who is the daughter of my great-grandmother's second husband's (do keep up) chauffeur. A woman who was so full of wonderful memories of my great-grandmother and the Scottish life they led.

You could, of course, say that this visit is a MAT. You could say that all research is MATing. But just as I went to Kilmalieu to get a sense of the place where my great-grandmother lived after the Titanic sank, so I want to go to Prinknash to get a sense of the place where she lived as a child, and from where she was married. That's how I justify it anyway ... .

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't call that anything but valuable research. It looks lovely and I'm sure your conversations will turn into some incredible food for the new book!

Angela Young said...

Thanks so much for the endorsement, Verbivore ... it was thought-provoking and definite food for the book.

StuckInABook said...

Sounds wonderful! Oh, I am quite jealous. So glad your visit was fruitful in all sorts of ways.