The Camp of Refuge

Reeds, ditches and uncertain ground make a young novice's passage through the Lincolnshire fens an exercise in concealment. Travelling between Crowland and Spalding after the battle of Hastings, he watches a Norman stronghold and tries to avoid discovery. Charles MacFarlane sets his historical novel among the waterways, abbeys and defended houses surrounding the Isle of Ely. Lord Hereward and resistance to Norman rule give the tale its wider conflict.

Questions of allegiance become practical when Elfric gathers bowmen for Hereward. Some men doubt whether exchanging one set of rulers for another will change their lives as serfs. Their debate turns on language, customary protections and the right to rest from work. These concerns give the adventure a view of ordinary obligations alongside military preparations. Readers drawn to medieval fiction can explore how local terrain, shared loyalties and disputes over authority shape the gathering of a fighting force.