What is fascinating about writing a blog is how people I haven’t met can easily provide me with new information.
Following on from yesterday’s blog about Charles Dickens’ visits to Shrewsbury John and Barbara Marshall said the author’s reading of A Christmas Carol on August 12, 1858, at Shrewsbury Music Hall (pictured below) was not without its problems.
He quoted from The Charles Dickens Show by Raymond Fitzsimons (published 1970): "At Shrewsbury the hall had no platform so Arthur Smith (his first tour manager) set about making one out of tables."
I posted the Marshalls a copy of my book as they couldn’t get it at Waterstones in Birmingham and this is their reply.
“Thank you very much for sending us a copy of your book. We have often stood and admired The Lion Hotel and wished that it could only relate its history to us: your book has done precisely that.
“We really felt as if we had been transported back to the days when The Lion was a busy coaching hotel. It required little effort to imagine the sights, sounds and smells of coaches arriving at a brisk pace with tired passengers eager to stretch their legs; the tense atmosphere of coaches preparing to depart and people hurriedly emerging from The Lion leaving unfinished meals as they prepared to board the coaches.
“Of course, your information on Dickens was of particular interest. We will let our imaginations take over, the next time we view those overhanging windows and the little balcony. It is a thoroughly interesting book.”
The couple added: “Many thanks for the write-up about us which you put on your blog. Unfortunately, the Dickens Fellowship meeting of August 10 was cancelled owing to the disturbances in Birmingham at that time. I will tell the members about your book and your offer to give a talk when I see them at the next meeting.”
The Marshalls concluded: “Lastly, you have stimulated us to find out more about the coaching days. On referring to a Shire book I have - Discovering Horse Drawn Carriages 3rd edition 1985 - I came across a photograph of another coach with the caption The 'Old Times' stagecoach which ran between Chester and Shrewsbury during the early 19th Century, now at Blakesley Hall, Birmingham.
“I have been informed this coach is now at the Birmingham Museums Collections Centre together with ‘The Wonder’. Could this coach have also operated from The Lion?
“The Collections Centre will have an open day for the last time this year on August 21, but I am informed that it will be open for two hours 1.30 - 3.30 pm on the last Friday of each month. For admission on these days it is necessary to ring Louise Taylor on 0121 675 2579.”
Anyone wishing to buy a signed copy of the book can email me on John@jbutterworth.plus.com
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