Please join Misty Urban for the facts about the Monmouthshire Canal and the Cefn Flight, the setting for her novel The Knight Falls First.
Something that drew me to 1799 Newport, Wales, for the setting of my books Viscount Overboard and its sequel, The Knight Falls First, were the enormous changes overtaking the area at that time. With the coal being mined in the Black Mountains, tiny Newport was on the cusp of huge growth. Construction of the Monmouthshire Canal, completed in 1798, allowed the mountains to disgorge their iron, limestone, and coal to the Severn River, where it could be shipped out to fuel the engines of the Industrial Revolution.
There were two arms to the Monmouthshire Canal. The main line reached from Pontnewynydd to Newport, and the second line connected Malpas and Crumlin. The Crumlin arm was 11 miles long and contained 32 locks. Locks 8 through 21, clustered around Rogerstone, required a remarkable feat of engineering: this sequence of 14 locks raised the water level 50 meters (160 feet) over a span of just 740 meters (800 yards). If that doesn’t sound like much, try climbing 16 flights of stairs in just half a mile!
The 14 Locks was one of the steepest rises in the Britain canal system, and one of the most complex designs. Rather than a staircase, in which the locks share gates, Thomas Dadford Junior engineered a flight with embanked ponds, pounds (ponds between locks), sluices, and weirs to control the water supply. It was named the Cefn Flight, and the Crumlin arm was so busy throughout the 19th century they installed gas lighting so boats could travel at night.
Restoration of locks 17-21 has made the canal an attractive destination for leisure activities as well as historical buffs, which is why I made it a picnic site for my hero and heroine of The Knight Falls First. If you, like Anne and Hew, would like to visit, the Canal Centre maintained by the MBAC Trust offers gifts, tea, and tours of this scenic, and now protected, ancient monument. I’m told it’s a pleasant walk, but some parts are steep, so you might prefer to take the cruise!
About the Book
Anne Sutton has the beauty and breeding to make a gentleman’s wife, but not the dowry. When her parents offer her to the vile Calvin Vaughn, Anne does something a gentleman’s daughter would never do: she decides to ruin herself. And the best means at hand is Calvin’s prodigal older brother, Hew, lately returned from war.
Hewitt Vaughn is either the hero of Acre or under a cloud of disgrace—he’s yet to find out which. He’s home to recover from his wounds and take charge of the family estates; stealing his brother’s fiancée is decidedly not a way to redeem himself. But when the lovely, desperate Anne entreats Hew’s help, how can he, as a man of honor, deny her?
When Anne’s plan spectacularly backfires, the only solution is a forced marriage—to each other. But as she makes a home in Newport, Anne wonders if Hewitt Vaughn is the smartest mistake she ever made. And Anne might be the future he never dreamed he could have, but to win her, Hew has to persuade her he would have chosen her anyway—and he’ll have to defeat the dangerous enemy who wants to take everything from them, including one another.
For purchase or FREE with Kindle Unlimited. https://www.amazon.com/Knight-Falls-First-Ladies-Likely-ebook/dp/B0F6Q3PG8B/
An Excerpt
“Enter.”
The portal opened to reveal a figure in white standing on the threshold, like an angel come to conduct him to heaven.
Hew blinked to clear his head. He was sleeping. Or mad.
“You mustn’t be here.” His voice rasped, barely able to form words. Just like in dreams, especially the ones where he was tied again to the ladder, the fire falling on his back, the cleansing and consuming pain.
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her with a firm click. Her eyes flared, as if she were startled at the conventional sound. She raked that wide-eyed gaze around the room, looking anywhere but at him.
There wasn’t much to look at. The dark paneling on the walls. The desk with his papers and the chair where he sat to pry off his boots. The empty fireplace with its painted screen, the tall double wardrobe, the nightstand where his candle danced as it caught a gust of air from the open window, where the draperies rustled and whispered like gossips at a ball. The hangings on the bed swayed, the medallions with their birds and foliage fluttering across the thick brocade, the canopy crowning the four-posted frame as if he were a king or an emperor.
Hew stared back, jolted by the blaze of blue in her eyes as her gaze lighted at last on him.
“You’re alone,” she whispered.
“Which is why you should not be here.”
He ought to rise to face her, but his breeches were on the other side of the room, damn it. She was draped in a dressing gown, loose and ruffled, and still wore her hair in its arrangement of pinned-up curls. One or two had fallen loose to dangle over her shoulders. Silk slippers encased her tiny feet.
“Anne,” he said hoarsely. “You must leave. You can’t be found here. You’d be ruined.”
She pressed the door behind her as if to ensure it shut tightly. “That is why I came.”
About the Author
Misty Urban is a medieval scholar, freelance editor, and college professor who writes stories about misbehaving women who find adventure and romance. Her Ladies Least Likely series of historical romances, set in Georgian Britain and beyond, feature headstrong heroines who set out to carve themselves a place in the world and find soul-searing love along the way. Misty lived for several years inside assorted books and academic institutions, and now lives in the Midwest in a little town on a big river. She loves to hear from readers and give away free stories through her newsletter and on her website, http://www.mistyurban.com