Mother Leakey and the Bishop: A Ghost Story

by Peter Marshall, Oxford Publishing Staff (Editor)

Halloween 1636: sightings of the ghost of an old woman begin to be reported in the small English coastal town of Minehead, and a royal commission is sent to investigate. December 1640: a disgraced Protestant bishop is hanged in the Irish capital, Dublin, after being convicted of an "unspeakable" crime.

In this remarkable piece of historical detective work, Peter Marshall sets out to uncover the intriguing links between these two seemingly unconnected events.

The result is a compelling tale of dark family secrets, of efforts to suppress them, and of the ways in which they finally come to light. It is also the story of a shocking seventeenth-century Church scandal which cast its shadow over religion and politics in Britain and Ireland for the best part of three centuries, drawing in a host of well known and not-so-well-known characters along the way, including Jonathan Swift, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Walter Scott.

A fascinating story in its own right, Mother Leakey and the Bishop is also a sparkling demonstration of how the telling of stories is central to the way we remember the past, and can become part of the fabric of history itself.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature

352 pages, Paperback

First published February 22, 2007

About the author

Peter Marshall is Professor of History at the University of Warwick, with a particular interest in the study of religious belief and practice in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England and the cultural impact of the English Reformation. He has published widely in the field, including a survey of the period, Reformation England 1480-1642, and The Catholic Priesthood and the English Reformation, also published by Oxford University Press.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a ghost story, in part. The writer tries a bit too hard to make it all interesting, but doesn't skimp on the academic references. The actual social and intellectual history of England and Ireland in 17th and 18th centuries is fascinating enough anyway, and comes out quite clearly through the example of the Leakeys and Bishop Atherton.

[Alyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

now time to do some more research on the ppl from the book

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, at times funny, picture of 17th century England. A delight to read.