The past fascinates me. At the age of 19 I dropped out of an engineering degree and moved to the London Institute of Archaeology. Despite no prior involvement in archaeology I gained a first class BSc and moved straight on to do a PhD.
Studying Roman pottery offered possibilities to understand more about Roman society and trade and given pot specialists are a rare breed I stood a good chance of getting a job at the end of it. My thesis was edited for publication by BAR as Upchurch and Thameside Roman Pottery.
A Radio 4 programme featuring Dr Margaret Rule inspired me to write her a cheeky letter offering to work on the newly discovered Roman wreck in the mouth of St Peter Port harbour, Guernsey. A few weeks later I started work, completing my PhD in my spare time. Working as Margaret’s research assistant proved a crash course in the realities of shipwreck archaeology and post-excavation work. It was an immense privilege for a young postgraduate working on the best preserved Roman sea-going vessel outside the Mediterranean. After three years on the project, we jointly wrote the final publication A Gallo-Roman Trading Vessel from Guernsey.
A hiatus followed until Dr Vivian Swan sent me a job advert for the Roman pottery specialist post with the York Archaeological Trust. This kept me busy for five years, working initially on pottery from the Blake Street site which was published as Roman Pottery From the Fortress. I was still writing up the Guernsey project at the time.
It became clear that York had far too many unpublished excavations to write a book about every one of them, and there would be a great deal of repetition if we did. We therefore made a proposal to English Heritage to bring together all the sites in a single synthesis. It was quite rare by that date for such projects to get funding but we did. With something like 250 sites and 200,000 pieces of pottery to consider it was a mammoth task, resulting in the book Roman Pottery from York.
The fieldwork for my PhD project gave me the setting for my debut novel, which would become Darkness Rises, the first Jeffery Flint mystery. Publication opened the possibility of returning to Guernsey and becoming a full-time writer-cum-archaeologist. I was still writing up the York volume as I was working on Byron’s Shadow which was inspired by the digs I’d been on as a student. The follow-up Shadesmoor was heavily influenced by my years in York. With the novels in full swing an opportunity arose to direct the investigation of the only known English Elizabethan shipwreck, recently discovered off Alderney. However, the project had very little money behind it so all I could do was bring together the work that had already been done. Working with marine archaeologist Mensun Bound we produced A Ship Cast Away About Alderney, whose title came from a historic document of the time.
Life then got in the way and Blood and Sandals proved to be my last full-length book for a decade. After being appointed Director of Guernsey Museum in 2006 I was principally a manager, working on exhibitions and the occasional guidebook. To support its retail effort I wrote what has proved to be the best-selling book of my career to date, The Story of Guernsey, available in both French and German and still selling well. While working on refurbishing the regimental museum of the Royal Guernsey Militia I found the inspiration for the historical novel Glint of Light on Broken Glass, which took three years to research and write.
The museum job description included me being the Honorary Curatorial Advisor to the Alderney Society and I quickly became involved in archaeological research in that island. Two decades later, together with friends and colleagues, we have shown what an amazing number of Roman, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites were crowded onto that small island. Initially we worked on a site known as the Nunnery, which we have now proven to be the best preserved Late Roman small fort in the NW Empire. A monograph detailing our discoveries will be published in 2026 as A Late Roman Fort on Alderney, Channel Islands.
Across the road from the Nunnery is an extensive Roman settlement built on top of an Iron Age cemetery. We’ve even started to find Bronze Age monuments even deeper. See the Dig Alderney Facebook page for the latest news. The adventure continues.
Archaeology Books
Reviewing the Roman pottery industries
of the North Kent Marshes
The definitive report of the excavation of the
Gallo-Roman (Romano-Celtic) trading vessel
found in St Peter Port Harbour in 1982.
The Roman pottery found at the site of a legionary barracks at 9 Blake St, York
A synthesis of research into York’s
Roman pottery up to 1998
A summary of underwater and post-excavation
work on the Alderney Elizabethan wreck prior to 2000.
An introductory guide to the history of Guernsey, from the earliest rocks to the rise of the finance industry.
Excavations at La Plaiderie (1983-85) and the
Bonded Store (1996-2005) in St Peter Port.
A Late Roman Fort on Alderney, Channel Islands. The definitive monograph of this unique historic site and its strategic position on the ancient trade routes. Published autumn 2026 by BAR Publications.
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