Stainmore has had its share of national importance, including fierce conflicts, Romans, Vikings, Normans, English and Scots all fought over this stretch of land.
'The Plains of Heaven', however, leaves aside battles and invasions, the stuff of more traditional history books. It tells the unrecorded story of the people of Stainmore, of their working lives and of the quiet changes which have affected them. The result is a compelling essay in popular history...
The text is accompanied by an array of photographs, mostly from the early part of the 20th century, making the book an attractive visual document. Amongst the photographs are scenes of harvesting at South Stainmore during the First World War, of miners at Borrowdale, and a sheep clipping at Barras in 1916.
'The Plains of Heaven' will appeal to a broad range of interests. Certainly anyone with a passion for the Vale of Eden should buy this book. Cumberland & Westmorland Herald.
Dawn Robertson was born at Kings Meaburn, and educated at Appleby Grammar School and Sussex University. She worked at Newcastle University before returning to Cumbria where she was a journalist for the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald.
Over the years she has written several books and, for the last ten years has run Hayloft Publishing Ltd. The Plains of Heaven was originally published as part of a research project at Lancaster University and has long been out of print. She was first inspired to find out about the history of Stainmore after checking in several historical reference books, and finding the only reference to the parish was the Romans arrived around 66AD - something must have happened since then, she thought, and so the research began.
