The Gallows Pole in Around the World in 80 Books

Mar 11, 2020 Tony rated it liked it

Shelves: novels, crime, historical-fiction, setting-england

The Yorkshire moors of the late 18th-century are the atmospheric setting for this imagining of the life of David Hartley, a real-life Yorkshireman who was hung for being the leader of a large gang involved in the forging of coins. These were the "Turvin Clippers" (aka "Cragg Vale Coiners") so-called because the enterprise involved taking shears and "clipping" the edges of coins, and then melting down the collected pieces and minting new forgeries. Naturally, the royal authorities frowned on this The Yorkshire moors of the late 18th-century are the atmospheric setting for this imagining of the life of David Hartley, a real-life Yorkshireman who was hung for being the leader of a large gang involved in the forging of coins. These were the "Turvin Clippers" (aka "Cragg Vale Coiners") so-called because the enterprise involved taking shears and "clipping" the edges of coins, and then melting down the collected pieces and minting new forgeries. Naturally, the royal authorities frowned on this debasing of the coin (not to mention the effect on the local economy), and the local exciseman sets out to crush the gang.

The book starts with the gang already operating, and David Hartley established as the "King of the Coiners", seeking to expand the scale of operations. Those involved were farmers, weavers, laborers, and others who eked out a subsistence living. From very early on the reader knows that Hartley is imprisoned, as there are brief interludes between chapters written by him from jail in a phonetic dialect. The story of the gang and their pursuit by the law is not particularly gripping -- what makes the book somewhat special is the mix of the writing style and the author's ability to create a complete sense of place.

Most historical fiction does a fine job of drawing the reader into a different time and place, but this one sucks the reader into a harsh and grim landscape, coupled with a harsh social structure. Industrialization is coming, threatening both the literal landscape (with mills, roads and canals), and the traditional ways of life. One could cast this as a story of noble resistance to the monarchy or capitalism, but there's very little nobility to be found among the gang, who threaten, rape, and kill those who refuse to participate. It's viscerally told story, shorn of all romance, and filled with nastiness. The story's conclusion is more or less foregone, and the reader is left without much plot to cling to other than waiting to see who is going to be a traitor and how that will all play out.
The book's stylized form and various tics (for example, several times names of people are listed in a kind of recitation) make for prose that borders on portentous. It often reads like it's meant to be orated rather than read, which makes it both fresh and exhausting at the same time. I could have done with about 100 fewer pages of it, all told. However, readers with an interest in that part of England, or in unusually atmospheric prose should give this a try. ...more

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