The Joy of Pylons
The latest book by Hastings-based author, Gareth E. Rees, has been longlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. Here he reveals why the subject matter of Unofficial Britain might chime with the experience many readers have had this past year.
A matter of weeks after I sent my publisher the first draft of Unofficial Britain: Journeys Through Unexpected Places, the Covid-19 pandemic changed the world. Suddenly, everyone was forced to stay where they were. Holidays were cancelled. Businesses closed. If people wanted to go for a walk, they had to do it in their locale.
As it happened, the subject of Unofficial Britain is the mythology and lore of everyday urban spaces, from electricity pylons, industrial estates and hospitals, to ring roads, roundabouts and flyovers. It is my view that any place can be interesting, if you look closely enough and allow your imagination to roam. My previous book, Car Park Life, explored the weird world of superstore car parks, beginning with Hastings’ Morrisons and St Leonards’ Asda, then heading out across the country. If I could find interesting things to say about those tarmac deserts, I was sure there were similar joys to be found in other everyday places.
Author Gareth Rees
PICTURE: Sara-Louise Bowrey
Magic in Mundane
To prove this, I undertook a series of trips around England, Scotland and Wales, looking for magic in mundane urban spaces that are usually neglected, dismissed or edited out of the official picture of Britain.
I discovered druidic round-abouts in Fife, fairies under a Wirral motorway, phantoms in a Bristol multi-storey car park, ghosts in a Lincolnshire council estate and the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of the M6.
One story concerns a haunted pylon on the Stocksbridge Bypass. On a moonlit night in 1987, two security guards noticed movement by the side of an access road near the steelworks and went to investigate. As they entered the muddy field, they saw children dressed in old-fashioned garb, skipping and dancing in a circle around an electricity pylon, singing Ring o’ Roses. But as they drew closer, the kids vanished. It was one of numerous spectral sightings on that bypass over the years, now considered one of Britain’s most haunted roads.
Urban legend
Another example is the ‘cat man’ lurking in a Clydeside industrial estate. He is covered in black soot and feeds on rats. Tales of his existence go back to the 1970s and there are YouTube films and photos of him by local kids, who swear that he is real. However, the authorities claim that he is an urban legend like Bigfoot or Spring Heeled Jack.
These are the first shoots of future folklore emerging from a modern Britain that may seem soulless and secular but, under the surface, is rippled
with weird undercurrents. It goes to show that you don’t need to venture to remote countryside or ancient monuments to encounter strangeness and mystery. It can also be found in an urban landscape that’s accessible to most of us, even in a lockdown.
While I was lucky to research Unofficial Britain before the virus hit these shores, I was unfortunate to have a book published just as bookshops
were forced to close. Thankfully, Zoom allowed me to reach new audiences through online talks. In the publishing industry, most of the sales are swallowed up by a tiny percentage of authors, so we have to fight hard to get our books noticed. This is why it was a thrill to get on a prestigious prize list like the RSL Ondaatje. I hope that it inspires more people to discover the unexpected wonders on their doorsteps.
• Unofficial Britain is out now in hardback. The paperback is out on July 8th.
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