From the Black Death to the witchfinder trials: New novel tells the imaginary past of a real-life Bury St Edmunds house

A new book delving into the imaginary past of a Bury St Edmunds house through history has been published.

Written by former Bury and Lawshall resident Paul H Rowney, The Crown Post was released on December 1.

Paul moved to Florida in 2004 and now lives just outside Nashville with his wife, a ‘large number’ of dogs and other animals on their small farm.

However, for most of his teenage years Paul lived in the house in Whiting Street – the address of which is kept a closely guarded secret – about which The Crown Post is based.

As an adult the former Culford School pupil moved from Bury for a career in London, but returned to West Suffolk in the mid-1990s to renovate a 16th century farmhouse in Lawshall.

It was then he started to wonder about the farmhouse’s history and what those who lived there centuries ago might have experienced.

“As I came to write this book, many years later, I realised the house in Bury offered more scope and a potentially more interesting backdrop to my proposed story,” said Paul.

“What intrigued me was what life must have been like for the ordinary people who lived in these simple medieval houses and how they may have interacted with events at the time.

“While my old farmhouse in Lawshall does make a ‘cameo’ appearance in the book I have concentrated on the house in Bury for most of the story.”

The Whiting Street house was built in 1485 – before street numbers – so he does not know who actually lived there during its early days.

“I decided to create fictional characters but weave them into actual events in Bury after that date and up until 1660, when the book finishes,” said Paul.

“A lot has happened in Bury over the last 500 years, which gave me a great deal of ammunition to make the lives of my fictional residents interesting and exciting.

“For example, the year after the house was built King Henry VII visited the town soon after the end of the Wars of the Roses – so that was great place to start.”

The novel also takes in the dissolution of the monasteries, the Black Death and witchfinder trials, along with a visit from Queen Elizabeth I.

“These major events made for excellent background for the people living in the house. There’s also a hint of witchcraft and evil that hovers in the background of the book.” said Paul, 69.

It is Paul’s fourth published novel after he started writing two years ago – with the previous three being well received by readers.

He added: “If the Crown Post – named after the main supporting beam of a roof in a medieval house – is successful I will continue the story for another 250 years or so.

“There are one or two cliffhangers in the first book that need to be resolved.”

The book is available in paperback format through Amazon.

A Kindle version is in the pipeline.