Nicholas Size - Books

Books

Interested in the heritage of the area, Nicholas joined the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society in 1927. Intrigued by the possible connection between Buttermere and the Norse landowner Bueth, mentioned in official documents relating to Cumberland at the time of the Norman conquest in the early 12th century, he produced a booklet, "The Epic of Buttermere" portraying the secluded valley as a stronghold of resistance to the invaders, and site of a supposed "Battle of Rannerdale Knotts". This was so successful that in 1929 he wrote an expanded and illustrated novella version, "The Secret Valley". This too was a great success, and in 1930 Frederick Warne, publisher of the Beatrix Potter books produced a new edition.

Encouraged by Sir Hugh Walpole, whose own Lakeland historical novels were very popular at the time, in 1932 Size tackled another local Norse story, the supposed origin of the elegant cross at Gosforth. This had first appeared in the novella "The Story of Shelagh, Olaf Cuaran's Daughter", by local historian C.A. Parker, but Size's book "Shelagh of Eskdale" expanded on what Parker had written, to produce a short novel uniform with the second edition of "Secret Valley," again published by Warne. Finally, about a year later, Warne published "Ola the Russian", a longer novel in which the setting was broadened to include the whole Norse world, fictionalising the life of Olaf Trygvesson.

Size did write one other book, "The Haunted Moor," which recounted the legendary stories of the various strange features on Ilkley Moor near Bradford. This was only available in the local area (but it did contain an advertisement for the Victoria Hotel).