Phil Rickman: The Fabric of Sin

Merrily took a breath, picked up the urn, kept her voice fairly low. She commended to God the souls of Fuchsia Mary Linden and Felix Barlow and, in her head, in a second of silence, Mary Roberts Linden, sleeping in the herb garden.

She cleared her throat. The marks on her alb were like smuts on a spectator backing away from the flames into the shadow of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Or maybe the smears on a doormat.

Do this .

‘We also commend to God’s keeping the soul of Jacques de Molay.’

She looked up briefly and saw Jane’s eyes widening, didn’t look at other eyes.

‘… knowing he died in pain and persecution. We pray to God to … forgive him and bring him eternal light and peace. May the peace of God which passes all understanding be with him now and in this place.’

At some point, the door blew open, the dog stirred and whimpered and the wind came in from the White Rocks.

THE MYSTERIES of Garway and Garway Hill are many. Not all of them made it into this book, and of the ones that did, not quite all, as you may have noticed, were solved. Which is the way of things. I couldn’t find anyone who could even suggest why the dovecote has 666 chambers … although there has to be a reason . And it is on private land, by the way, so you need permission to visit it. The church and its enigmas, however, are fully accessible.

M. R. James’s line about causing offence at Garway is accurate. Many thanks to Rosemary Pardoe, editor of the indispensable Ghosts and Scholars website devoted to Jamesian matters, for being patient with Jane … and me.

Sue Rice, local historian, and her mum, Doreen Ruck, natural dowser, introduced us to the magic of Garway, and Sue’s advice and help throughout has been invaluable. John and Sue Hughes showed us the tower and Church House which, although it served as the Templar commandery and has a priest’s hole in the region of the inglenook, is not the Master House. Thanks also to Elaine Goddard, Vicar of Garway and neighbouring parishes (see, I did leave the church alone) and Audrey Tapper, author of the definitive guide to Garway mysteries, Knights Templar and Hospitaller in Herefordshire (Logaston Press). Listening to John Ward, dowser and Egyptologist, in Garway Church was enlightening on possibilities relating to the Mappa Mundi, the Masons and hidden things. I gather he’s working on a book – look out for it.

Owain Glyndwr: Everything about him in this book could well be true. Thanks to Alex Gibbon, author of the fascinating The Mystery of Jack of Kent and the Fate of Owain Glyndwr , and John Scudamore, of Kentchurch Court.

The Duchy of Cornwall: like Merrily, I’ve never met the Man, but his land steward, David Curtis, was hugely helpful. Thanks also to Amanda Foster, of the Buckingham Palace press office and Mike Whitefield, Duchy-approved conservation builder, who described some of the problems facing Felix Barlow.

Exorcism: Peter Brooks provided crucial eleventh-hour assistance to Merrily as well as background information on other aspects of the investigation. Liz Jump, now curing souls in M. R. James’s birthplace, also described first-hand experience.

Hay-on-Wye bookseller and esotericist Tracy Thursfield came up with some crucial ideas and was always ready to talk them through, between customers, whenever I staggered disconsolately into Addyman Annex, and she and Ian Jardin lent me a couple of significant books.

From the ever-obliging British Society of Dowsers, thanks again to Richard Bartholomew, Ced Jackson, Helen Lamb and John Moss.

Watching the ingenious Gruff Rhys setting up his Candylion gig (the most wondrously whimsical album of 2007, by the way) showed me exactly what Lol was up against touring solo. This surely can’t go on.

Thanks also to Prof. Bernard Knight (forensic pathology), Jodie Lewis (archaeology), Simon Small (spirituality), Mari Roberts (film awards), Mark Owen and Terry Smith (Templars), journalists Nicola Goodwin and Dave Howard (background and crucial contacts) and Mark Worthing (teeth).

Oh … and not forgetting the Rennoldsons of Geordieland.

Bibliography also includes: The Knights Templar by Helen Nicholson (Sutton), The Knights Templar Revealed by Butler and Dafoe, The Dragon and the Green Man by Paul Broadhurst (Mythos), M. R. James, an informal portrait by Michael Cox (Oxford), Herefordshire, the Welsh Connection , by Colin Lewis (Carreg Gwalch), National Redeemer: Owain Glyndwr in Welsh Tradition by Elissa R Henken (Cornell), The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln (Cape), Beyond the Brotherhood by Martin Short (Grafton), Historic Harewood by Heather Hurley (Ross-on-Wye civic society) and Darker than the Deepest Sea – the Search for Nick Drake by Trevor Dann (Portrait).

Thanks, as ever, to Carol ‘I don’t buy this bit’ Rickman for intensive editing, inspiration in the darkest hours and making me get it right even at the expense of several eighteen-hour days, my agent Andrew Hewson, the almost paranormally laid-back Nic Cheetham for extending the deadline well beyond injury time, virtually feeding it page by page to ace copy-editor Nick Austin. And Krys and Geoff Boswell and Jack for maintaining the website www.philrickman.co.uk against all odds.