SB Cox Histories

The subjects on which I write are:

History; Philosophy; Folklore; Freemasonry; Ancient European religions; Mythology; Spirituality; Ancient Sites; Nature & Gardening.

I am engaged in three main projects at the moment. These are books dealing with the following:

1.Memoirs of 1950's Rural West Country

Growing up in a village (on the edge of a small town between Bath and Bristol) in the valley beneath the southern final sweep of the Cotswold Hills provides a rich ground for humour, nostalgia, social commentary, social history, anecdote and much more. Approximately half a century have passed since those unspoilt, carefree, traditional days of childhood (1950-1960) and it seems a whole world away. I go back to my native area every week for a day. Much has changed but some things endure- usually as snippets among a newer material and mass produced landscape.

In late 2009 I started writing on these matters. So far around two dozen stories of various aspects of life then have been commenced, and add to each as and when memories pop up from deep in the recesses of my little grey cells. Several have now been completed and these are:

I. Warmley House.

II. Secret of the Middle Playground.

III. Holy Day Holidays

IV. Old Tom and His Horse

V. Going Upstream

VI. Adventures of the Brook

VII. Warmley Church

VIII. Joan The Egg

IX. The Tump

x. Our Road

xi. Barr's Court

Other Subjects in progress are:

10) Village Characters; 11) Grimsbury Farm; 12) Neptunes Statue; 13)The Strange Stone;14) Fog and Moon; 15) Going Upstream; 16) Hay Harvest; 17)The School Play; 18) Whitsun Parade; 19) The Horizon. 20) Coronation Day 21) Mr. Deavin; 2) Colliery Castle; 23) Bonfire Night; 24) The Old Dram Road; 25) Rodway Common; 26) The Swimming Baths; 27) The Horizon; 28) The Art Expedition. 29) Coronation Street Party; 30) The Coal Shaft; 31) The Common. 32) Dams and Dangerous Water.

It is envisaged that each of these stories will be published. They have potential for great public appeal. They hold nostalgia for those of the appropriate age, fascination for those of a younger age. They are a record of people and places, times and society which are unique and would otherwise be lost.

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2. The Siege of Reading 1643

The first siege of the English Civil War (sometimes called the British Civil War) of 1642-1649. The town at the time was holding out for the King (though as in the rest of the country loyalties were divided). The besieging Parliamentary army was led by Lord Essex, with 16,000 infantry, 3000 cavalry and a train of siege cannon. Despite a rescue attempt by Prince Rupert and King Charles, the town fell to the Parliamentary cause. The town suffered by heavy taxes and requisitions from both sides and its thriving wool trade never recovered.

The Chapters are:

1. Introduction. 2. Divided Loyalties. 3.Reading in the Early 17th.Century. 4.The Religious and Political Divide. 5. Ship Money. 6. Reading's Strategic Position. 7. Reading Enters The War. 8. The Pre Siege Occupations of 1642-43. 9. Siege Warfare. 10. How Other Siege Cities Fared. 11. Composition of 17th. Century Armies. 12. Essex and Aston as Commanders. 13. The Scene is Set. 14. The Assault on Reading. 15. Reading's Fortifications. 16. Disease 17. Attempted Rescue. 18. Surrender. 19.Aftermath. 20. The Court Martial of Fielding. 21. Financial Ruin. 22. Conclusion.

The Appendices are:

1. Notes . 2. Terms of Surrender. 3. Notable Reading Families. 4.Notable Buildings . 5. Biography of Essex. 6. Biography of Aston. 7. Biography of Prince Rupert. 8. Biography of John Hampden. 9. Biography of Sir Philip Skippon. 10. Biography of Sir Jacob Astley. 11. Biography of Lord Ruthven. 12. Timeline : 1625-1643. 13. Other Battles of 1643. 14. The Act of Supremacy 1534. 15. King James & Divine Right. 16. The Nineteen Propositions. 17. Williams Lilly's Astroloigical War Charts For Reading. 18. Regiments Involved in the Siege. 19. The Conflict at Reading of 1644. 20. Bibliography. 21. Index

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3 The Battle of Dyrham 577 AD

This book deals with what is something of a watershed in the history of England and Wales: the battle between Ceawlin of the West Saxons (Wessex) and the three Celtic kings of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester which set the seal on the Saxon-Angle ascendancy over England and broke forever the land connection between Wales and the West British.

Chapters:

The provisional chapters so far in progress are:

1. Introduction. 2. Britain Without Rome. 3. The British Respite 493-550. 4. Consolidation of the Saxon Settlement. 5. Saxon Alliances and Advance. 6. Ceawlin 7. The Battle. 8. Sixth Century West British Kingdoms. 9. End of the Celtic West. 10. Aftermath.

Appendixes

The Appendixes so far are:

1. Notes. 2. Wansdyke. 3. Timeline. 4. Anglo-Saxon Tribes & Clans. 5. Caer Baddan (Bath). 6. Caer Ceri (Corinium). 7. Caer Gloui. 8. Bibliography.

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other books in the pipeline are:

4. Elias Ashmole

Antiquarian, botanist, alchemist of the Carolingian period he was a Founder member of the Royal Society in November 1660 and avid collector of rare and arcane books and manuscripts: it was this collection which he bequethed to Oxford University and became the world renowned "Ashmolean Museum" today. Ashmole was a Royalist during the Cvil War but he father-in -law was a Roundead officer. Ashmole's diaries states that he was a Freemason and he and his father-in-law were in the same lodge in 1646 at the height of the Civil War. His notes are among the first record of the existence of speculative Freemasonry in the modern world. Under the Restoration of Charles II his career dramatrically flourished.

5. The History of Warmley House

In South Gloucestershire in the village of Warmley lies a grand Georgian house once the home of one William Champion (1709-1789). It was the centre of one of the oldest industriall sites in Britoian and was where the commercial production of zinc and brass was piopneerd in the British Isles..By 1754 Champion had '15 copper furnaces, 12 brass furnaces, 4 spelter or zinc furnaces, a battery mill, rolling mills for making plates, rolling and cutting mills for wire, and a wire mill both of thick and fine drawn kinds'. The value of the Company was put at £200,000 with a profit of £8,000 annually (in today's money approximately £400 million and £16 million profit annually). At his zenith, he employed 800 workers plus out-workers- an immense workforce for the time

Stephen B. Cox has spent many years (1972-1993) as an artist (a painter and sculptor, also holding many one-man exhibitions across the UK).

Always interested in history the last two decades has seen writing predominate. He is a writer of many books and theses and nearly 2000 articles/essays (on subjects such as history, folklore, freemasonry, heritage, ancient sites, spirituality, ancient religions, philosophy, and tradition).

He has also built up a unique library of several thousand books and manuscripts related to these matters (to which many publishers and individuals have donated books).

He has developed a garden of spirituality and meditation and nature harmony; and to teaching and helping people to enable lives of harmony, spirituality, tolerance and peace along the lines of his 'guides for spiritual living'.