The gang's success was largely due to their local popularity - the Robin Hood element of defending ordinary people against their distant and oppressive landlords carries a strong resonance in the light of the Brexit vote. Myers knows his area inside out, and the book is full of atmospheric descriptions and brilliant writing. The coiners profited by clipping coins and forging fake money, operating from well defended bases on the moors above the Calder Valley. The gang's success was largely due to their local popularity An impressive recreation of West Yorkshire in the late eighteenth century, this historical novel tells the tale of the rise and fall of the Cragg Vale Coiners and their leader "King David" Hartley. Here is a rarely-told alternative history of the North.moreĪn impressive recreation of West Yorkshire in the late eighteenth century, this historical novel tells the tale of the rise and fall of the Cragg Vale Coiners and their leader "King David" Hartley. With the industrial age set to change the face of England forever, the fate of his empire is under threat.įorensically assembled from historical accounts and legal documents, The Gallows Pole is a true story of resistance that combines poetry, landscape, crime and historical fiction, whose themes continue to resonate. When excise officer William Deighton vows to bring down the Coiners and one of their own becomes turncoat, Hartley’s empire begins to crumble. He is also prone to self-delusion and strange visions of mythical creatures. They are the Cragg Vale Coiners and their business is ‘clipping’ – the forging of coins, a treasonous offence punishable by death.Ī charismatic leader, Hartley cares for the poor and uses violence and intimidation against his opponents. From his remote moorland home, David Hartley assembles a gang of weavers and land-workers to embark upon a criminal enterprise that will capsize the economy and become the biggest fraud in British history. Stag-headed men dancing at on the moor at midnight, nostrils flared and steam rising.”Īn England divided. They are the Cragg Vale Coiners and their busine “I saw them. Stag-headed men dancing at on the moor at midnight, nostrils flared and steam rising.” An England divided.
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