THE RAILWAY CHILDREN & St Mary in the Marsh

THE RAILWAY CHILDREN

& St Mary in the Marsh

St Mary in the Marsh in snow

"A horrified expression crossed Weeks’s face. Atkins patted him on the arm. ‘Don’t worry, the train ain’t movin’ very fast by then, just a walking pace, an’ anyhow, you’re gonna stop it.’

‘B-but how?’ Weeks stammered.

‘You’re gonna run down the track, wavin’ a lantern. I’ll make sure you have one.’

Weeks relaxed enough to say: ‘Like in The Railway Children?’

Atkins frowned. ‘You what?’

‘It’s a book by Edith Nesbit.’ Atkins looked blank. ‘She’s buried at the churchyard in St Mary in the Marsh, the other side of Compass Point.’

‘Nah, still don’t get it.’

Weeks was getting quite excited. It was one of his favourite childhood reads. ‘There’s a landslip in a cutting and the children run up the track and stop the train…’

Atkins shook his head sadly. ‘Don’t mean a thing to me. You know your trouble? You read too much.’ He sighed. ‘Anyway, that’s what you do.’

‘O-kay,’ Weeks said slowly. ‘What then?’"

This is an extract from BLOOD ON  THE SHRINE where DC Weeks discovers just how far he's become embroiled with Tommy Atkins' plans to rob a mail train. The Railway children is one of my favourite films, starring the delightful Jenny Agutter and the comic actor, Bernard Cribbins.

St Mary in the Marsh from the Star Inn

The church of St Mary in the Marsh is near Dymchurch, in Kent. It is a beautiful little building that date back to 1133 and the interior is quite exquisite. Close by is The Star Inn and adjacent is a little cottage where Noel Coward lived and wrote.