Roxboro man launches book

BY HOLLIE WATSON

The fascinating history of Victor Breedon’s family estate in England is punctuated by a series of trials and tribulations – events which, to paraphrase Lord Tennyson, helped shape “the eternal landscape of the past.”

In Bere Court, the Roxboro author chronicles the fortunes and misdeeds of the many owners of the Thames estate, tracing a thousand years of British history.

Bere Court was one of two new releases launched by Ste. Anne de Bellevue’s Shoreline Press Dec. 9 at Clio’s bookstore in Plaza Pointe Claire.

“Our family owned the estate from 1670 to 1890,” said Breedon, adding, “I’m the last direct descendant.”

He sketches a vivid portrait of that world as it was.

“One of the main highlights involved the last abbot of Reading Abbey, who hid from Henry VIII’s (the king had also stayed at Bere Court) on the estate at the dissolution of the monasteries. He was dragged from the house, taken to the Tower of London, tried for treason, and hanged, drawn, and quartered. He lies buried at Bere Court. There’s a rumour that the abbot’s skull and bones were in possession of the Breedon family for years,” he recalled.

“There is also supposedly the ghost of a lady who wanders the corridors – maybe the wife of Sir John Davis, one of the owners who was part of a revolt against Queen Elizabeth.”

The other release is Growing Up in N.D.G., which features the drawings of the late artist John Collins of Dorval, who died in September at the age of 89.

Growing Up takes a fond look back at the town in the years following the Second World War, when farmland gave way to a burgeoning community. The thoughtful recollections of times past are seen through the eyes of author Russell Bain, a life-long friend of Collins.

Either book would make an ideal last-minute Christmas gift for history buffs. Both are available at Clio’s and Indigo stores (Chapter’s, Coles, Smithbooks). Bere Court can also be found at Nicholas Hoare in Westmount, Bonder in Montreal North, and Bibliophile in N.D.G. Growing Up is also on sale at Nicholas Hoare. For more information, call 514-457-5733, or visit www.shorelinepress.ca.