Three Rutland Stories are retold by author Mike Nason

An amateur historian has retold three stories from the 18th and 19th Centuries in a new book.

Three Rutland Stories comprises Weldon’s Shoes, recounting the murder of a Hambleton baker as well as the culprit’s jailer, Bowland’s Gibbet, the poignant tale of a man who robbed a postboy at gunpoint in Empingham, and Captain Gardner’s Boy, which traces the history of a black child buried in Hambleton churchyard.

The stories are told by Oakham resident Mike Nason, author of The Empingham Poachers, an account of three brothers who were punished very severely for their crime.

Mike fleshes out the facts with colourful descriptions and suppositions that make the stories come alive.

Three Rutland Stories is available from Walkers Books in Stamford and Oakham, priced £7.