Interview with Mark Vine, author of 'The Crabchurch Conspiracy'

The Crabchurch Conspiracy 1645- The

True Story of Dorset’s Bloodiest Secret.

                      

 I  first met Mark Vine- author of ‘The Crabchurch Conspiracy’ - in the late 1970s  Delighted to got hold of the kindle version,  complete with an introduction by Professor Ronald Hutton.

In 1645, several royalist plotters within the twin towns of Weymouth and Melcombe on the Dorset coast conspired to deliver the ports back into the control of King Charles 1. It has been suggested that he needed a safe south coast port at which to land a huge French army which he hoped would deliver a decisive blow and end the resistance of the Parliamentarians whom he had been fighting for almost three years.

The conspirator’s plans were almost successful, but their intended victim, Colonel William Sydenham, commander of the Parliamentary garrison and MP for Melcombe, managed to get most of his force into that town, though he lost a much loved and respected brother and fellow soldier, Francis, in the initial assault. Soon, a two-week-long internecine bombardment was taking place between the factions.

From http://crabchurch.co.uk/synopsis.html

               The book is excellent : ‘The Crabchurch Conspiracy’ connects incredible details of the 1645 fighting in Dorset  with the wider course of the War. Courage is acknowledged, so is the heartbreaking aspects of civil war such as Prince Maurice’s attack on Dorchester in 1643 and the ferocious  fighting at Abbotsbury House in 1644.  There are no attempts to lecture the reader or to draw some great meaning from history.

Also some of the individuals connected to the incident seemed to have been so important. William Sydenham MP, became a close adviser to Oliver Cromwell, and played a crucial role in ending his son  Richard Cromwell’s farcical regime and paying the way for the Restoration. His brother Thomas Sydenham became a skilled physician .So did Doctor Richard Wiseman, a staunch Royalist opposing the Sydenhams.

To start with an obvious question - How did your interest in   the Sydenham Family come about?

My interest in the English Civil War started back in 1976 when a work colleague went on a civil war reenactment and came back full of what a fantastic time he'd had. He persuaded me to go on the next one and from that moment on, I was hooked !

At first it was more about an us and them scenario in that .. we were Parliamentarians and 'they' were Royalists ! The 'battles' themselves in those early days were quite brutal affairs. There wasn't really a thing called health and safety and quite serious injuries were commonplace. Trampled by horses, discharged muskets temporarily blinding people. One woman even got shot when a newbie left his metal ramrod in his musket and in an effort to keep up with the orders, fired it and the projectile went right through a camp follower and out the other side without touching a single vital organ !

But the following year, myself and a few friends decided to start our own 'regiment' and the ECWS (editor's note-English Civil War Society) High Command gave us a choice of three units to choose from. The only one from Dorset was Colonel William Sydenham's Regiment of Foot and so that is who we chose to portray.

I found a fairly rare book in Poole Library locked away in a cabinet and once I managed to get my hands on it, I slowly began to realise that the said Sydenham, was not only an extraordinary soldier and strategist, but he had four brothers who were equally as interesting. In fact their whole story reads something like a Hollywood blockbuster. They quite literally all stared death in the face (two of the brothers, Francis and John, actually dying in battle, the former in Weymouth, the latter in Scotland. The third brother was to become the celebrated physician, Doctor Thomas Sydenham, himself twice wounded in battle and who has been described as the English Hippocrates.

Their story is one of honour, plots, unbelievable valour and .. revenge. Their own Mother was murdered on her own doorstep in the act of denying a Royalist raiding party access to her home and the second son, Francis chased her murderer with just sixty of his best men "double-pistoled" all the way from Poole to Dorchester (23 miles) before turning to his men and saying "Give the dragoons no quarter and stick close to me, for I shall now avenge my mother's innocent blood,or die in this place"

Francis then fought his way through the cavaliers until he reached the murderer, upon which, he proceeded to blow his brains out.

That true story is typical of the brothers Sydenham. So how could I not read on ? And once I did, I realised that I had uncovered one hell of a story which had been all but forgotten, even in their native Dorset.

Whatever happened to The Sydenham Society ?

I assume you mean the Sydenham Society of London,which was a kind of appreciation society for Dr Thomas Sydenham ?

I think it just naturally died a death over time,but not before they had left a very nice commemorative plaque to him in St James' Church, Pall Mall.

And how did the book come about ? I gather ‘The Crabchurch Conspiracy’ was originally self-published and then has been reprinted ?

Yes it was. Not much more than a large pamphlet at that stage really. But upon moving to Weymouth where so much of their story played out, including the end game where five hundred people lost their lives, I just knew that it had to be given a bigger platform and so decided to try and make it into a proper book. 

What has the impact been of the book on the history of Dorset  ( example) Have local Council and history societies in Weymouth  taken an interest in ‘The Crabchurch Conspiracy?

For about the first fifteen years of living here, I couldn't really make much headway, especially with the council who back then, were entirely living in a 'bucket and spade' mentality and didn't really want to think in any other way. But I persevered and with the final metamorphosis of the book being published, some of those in the council began to take an interest. 

Move forward ten years and we have the annual Crabchurch weekend, absolutely illuminated by the likes of Historians Professor Ronald Hutton, John Rees and Novelist Kit Berry, plus a small but superb band of actors and re-enactors who bring all those characters to life each year. And of course, with the unique talents of the internationally renowned Celtic Rockers, The Dolmen making an album of the Sydenham story, there was no looking back. 

Do you think that the Crabchurch Conspiracy itself and the lives of the Sydenham’s have been underplayed due to the Restoration and the fact that they were ultimately on the losing side?

Yes, very much so. I blame also, all this Victorian pro royalist mentality which carried on through the 20th century and until quite recently, has robbed the ordinary people of England of their folk heroes. Movements like the Levellers and the Diggers for example were many years ahead of their time in their thinking, but only fairly recently has the 'great British public' been allowed to give them the respect they so richly deserve. And yes, it's been the same for The redoubtable Sydenham family.

How have the ‘Crabchurch Conspiracy ‘ weekends gone ? Will there been any more?

Well, as I mentioned, they are now firmly fixed into Weymouth's social calendar. We have the Crabchurch History Talks evening on the Friday, with the likes of Professor Hutton, which is always sold out, the re-enactors on the Saturday and Sunday and the Dolmen concert in which they play the entire Crabchurch Conspiracy album live on stage and which has become a real favourite for hard-core Crabchurch / Dolmen fans who come here especially, even from as far away as Germany and The Netherlands for it. The next Crabchurch weekend, Crabchurch 18, is on the weekend of 2nd -4th March 2018.

Would you like to say something about your work with Folk Rock band  The Dolmen relating to this book ?

The Dolmen are a completely unique set of people. Led from the front by the inimitable Taloch Jameson, singer, songwriter, guitarist, Witch, Occultist .. the man really is the single greatest undiscovered musical talent of our age and one that I am proud to call a friend. Backed by the very talented rest of the band, Josh Elliott on vocals, lead guitar and just about any other instrument you could put in his hands, Kayleigh Marchant on vocals, bass guitar flutes, whistles and Chris Jones on drums. They are joined on their big continental festival appearances by Anja Novotony on whistles, flutes and bagpipes. The Dolmen are a force of nature on and off stage and they have done so much towards bringing the Crabchurch story to life and to a bigger audience.

And the fact that they asked me to write the lyrics for the Crabchurch album, was just the ultimate honour.

I was pleased to see that ‘The Crabchurch Conspiracy got referenced in the novel ‘Traitor’s Knot’ by Cryssa Bazos. How did this come about ?

Cryssa and I were friends on Facebook and at that stage, she hadn't written Traitor's Knot, but she asked me if I'd mind her using the Crabchurch story in her book and of course,I agreed. Not that I have any particular power over it anyway, but it was very nice of her to ask.

Then, in 2016, she and a friend came over and I showed them around the remaining Crabchurch landscape of Weymouth and I could tell that her mind was working overtime as new plot lines seemed to be flooding through it. And to her eternal credit,she put in the hard, unremitting slog towards becoming a successful novelist and now, she is one. Which is where I hope to be in a year or two.

I should also mention that one of our speakers, the amazing Kit Berry, who wrote the famous Stonewylde Series of books is also working on a civil war novel which is based on Portland at the time of Crabchurch and I very much look forward to reading that.

The Diary of Preacher Peter Ince ( an eyewitness account of the  ‘Crabchurch’ fighting in Melcombe and Weymouth) was quite a find. How did you come across this? It was interesting to have your transcription included in the book.

Yes, it is wonderful in its descriptions of the fighting, though rather hard going in the descriptions of the court of enquiry. it is one of only two known original sources that I could find. the other being the journals of the royalist surgeon, Richard Wiseman. It always gives me a thrill to think that possibly the two biggest medical names of the entire 17th century, once faced each other in arms, across just a few yards of sea water and may even have been within "half a musket shot" of each other during the fighting.

A copy of Ince's diary, written at the beginning of the 20th century is situated in Weymouth library and was an invaluable aid to writing the book.

I understand that you are writing a ‘Crabchurch ‘ themed novel . How is that going ?

Yes, I don't mind admitting that I think their story is so good and so exciting, that I think it would make a fantastic film or historical action series and the easiest way to bring that about, is to have a novel of it doing the rounds. I have no illusions as to the difficulties of writing one, but so far (one and a half chapters in) I'm still in there batting as it were. It is obviously vastly different from writing a non-fiction book, but at least the story is firmly wired into my brain by now.

I am enjoying the process and realise that it is a work of years, rather than weeks, but fully intend to see it through.

Must ask who are your favourite  Civil War era poets?

To my eternal shame, I am not overly familiar with the poetry of the period, though one I always do remember and love, is A Garden, by Andrew Marvell. The verse

"When gardens only had their towers,
And all the garrisons were flowers;
When roses only arms might bear,
And men did rosy garlands wear"? 

just seems so sad, wistful and full of reflection and I discovered it soon after becoming interested in the period, so it has always been with me. 

Finally, what books would you recommend in relation to the English Civil War or seventeenth century Dorset?

The absolute bible as far as Dorset's Civil Wars study goes, is A R Bayley's The Civil War In Dorset. It is a masterpiece and leaves no detail out. Although it isn't written in strict order of events, it is still the only book one needs when going deeply into the subject matter. It is quite rare and not cheap to buy, but I was so very fortunate to be given a copy by a friend, Brian March recently, which has since saved me many trips to the library to use their copy.

I was also very fortunate to be sent an original letter signed by Colonel William Sydenham by a lovely American friend and Dolmen super-fan, Kate Brown-Gurley who saw it online and bought it for several hundred pounds without telling me and when it duly arrived unannounced one morning on my doormat, I nearly had a heart attack !

And another bonus of this wonderful gift, was that the seller hadn't realised that the other signature on there was none other than Bulstrode Whitelocke ! He and William Sydenham were virtually running the country after the 'abdication' of Richard Cromwell and so, with the kindness and dedication of friends, knowledge of the Sydenham story will hopefully be in a much better state of health in the years to come than when I first stumbled across it as a green 19 year old.

LINKS

The Crabchurch Conspiracy is available from 'Amazon UK' or try official website and go to the buy the book webpage There is also a related Crabchurch blog

'Crabchurch' CD is available from The Dolmen CDs page