Bibliography & Further Reading
To read Hilary Mantel's Reith Lecture on what it means to write historical fiction, please click here.
Primary Sources
It is possible to find copies of these six books, but not easy. Luckily, all are available print-on-demand, and can be read online as they've been scanned by Google Books. Click on the title to be taken to the online version.
The Confessions of the Countess of Strathmore
The Lives of Andrew Robinson Bowes Esq., and the Countess of Strathmore, written from Thirty-Three Years Professional Attendance, from Letters and other Well-Authenticated Documents by Doctor Jesse Foot.
The Remarkable and Curious Trial Between the Countess of Strathmore and Her Husband Andrew Robinson Stoney Bowes ... Including Mr Bower's Allegations Against the Countess for a Criminal Intercourse with George Gray ... in Answer to Her Charges Against Him of Cruelty and Adultery
The Siege of Jerusalem by Mary Eleanor Bowes. (1769) Download or Print on demand by Gale Ecco Print Editions.
The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, Volume 2, by William Fordyce. This contains an account of Eleanor's rescue, featuring the real Gabriel Thornton.
Andrew Robinson Stoney Bowes - a chapbook account by Joseph Crawhall
The Poll Book of 1780-84 made by an electoral agent of Stoney Bowes.
Biographies of Mary Eleanor Bowes
The Unhappy Countess by Ralph Arnold. Constable & Co. Ltd. (1957)
The Trampled Wife: the scandalous life of Mary Eleanor Bowes by Derek Parker. Sutton Publishing. (2006)
Wedlock: How Georgian Britain’s worst husband met his match by Wendy Moore. Weidenfeld & Nicholson. (2009)
Gibside
Gibside and the Bowes Family by Margaret Wills. The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne. (1995)
Gibside – National Trust Publications (1999)
Gibside Landscape Park – National Trust Publications (Revised 2013)
From Blakiston to Bowes: The Development of Gibside during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by Peter G.Firth of Gibside Volunteer Research Group (2012)
The Influence of Eighteenth Century Landscape Gardening on the Development of Gibside by Susan Adamson of Gibside Volunteer Research Group (2010)
Martha Helen Davidson - an account of the rescue of her sketches from a bin in Haydon Bridge!
Newcastle & Durham
The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham by William Hutchinson
Historical events: 1685 - 1782', Historical Account of Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Including the Borough of Gateshead (1827), pp. 47-65. Date accessed: 13 October 2014.
Myers Newcastle Timeline Accessed 25 October 2014
The Picture of Newcastle upon Tyne: containing a guide to the town and neighbourhood, an account of the Roman Wall and a description of the coal mines. (1807) Facsimile reprint published by E&W Books (1969)
Tynesides’s Finest: a miscellany by John Gundy. Tyne Bridge Publishing (2006)
Eighteenth-century Newcastle by P.M. Horsley. Oriel Press. (1971)
The Making of an Industrial Society: Whickham 1560-1765 by David Levine and Keith Wrightson. Clarendon Press. (1991)
Whickham Parish: its history, antiquities and industries by William Bourn (1893) Portcullis Press (1999)
Some Chapters in the History of Whickham, written and illustrated by members of the Whickham Local History Class. Edited by Helen G. Bowling, WEA tutor. (1961)
Annals of Coal Mining and the Coal Trade, Volume 1 by Robert Galloway. (1971)
Coals from Newcastle by Les Turnbull. Chapman Research Publishing. (2009)
History of the British Coal Industry, Volume 2, 1700-1830: Industrial Revolution by Michael W. Finn. Clarendon Press. (1984)
The Dark Side of the Dale: the grim, gruesome and grisly history of the Derwent Valley by Tony Kearney. Dark Dale Publications (2004)
The Old Halls and Manor Houses of Durham by Neville Whittaker. Published by Frank Graham (1975)
Lost Houses of County Durham by Peter Meadows & Edward Waterson. Published by Carter Jonas (1993)
British History
An Illustrated History of Eighteenth-century Britain 1688-1793 by Jeremy Black. Manchester University Press (1996)
Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain by Goff, Goldfinch et al for the British Library exhibition (2013)