With the distant rumble of guns besieging Colchester, the bizarre religious cults and secret ordinations into the Church of England, and the presence in the area of both Parliamentary and Royalist troops, a blind man taps his way to the ancient burial site on the hill at Little Baddow to perform some mysterious ritual. The Stronghold is a story of love and spiritual longing set amidst the social chaos of the English Civil War, blending the earthly and the supernatural with dramatic consequences, as everyone seeks their own 'stronghold' in a world of danger and change. Originally published in 1926, this edition of 'The Stronghold' has been published by Papermill Books of Essex, England, in association with The Little Baddow History Centre, to mark the centenary of the arrival of its author, Jesse Berridge, as Rector of the parish. Its style reflects the time when it was written and the interests of its author: in the Essex countryside, in local history, in the mysteries of human nature, in the eccentricities of religion, and in mystical experience and the spiritual quest. www.papermillbooks.co.uk www.thehistorycentre.org.uk