The nymph in the river; the Heysham labyrinth; a neglected architectural genius; Lancaster’s wealth and its dark past; the importance of swans; England’s second-richest man; the street that disappeared …

I began writing ‘Letters from Lancaster’ soon after returning to live in Lancaster after fifty-six years away. I wrote them for friends who did not know the town, writing quickly, usually one a week, in the first year, to record the return of a changed person to a changed place. And I used them to begin to establish a new relationship with the town and the area. They are a mix of observation, experience, research, opinion, reminiscence and imagination. They record what a returning native, after an adult life away, was drawn to in the place of his birth.