There are many sights you can visit which are associated with the story of William Courtenay. You might want to journey to Courtenay’s (Thom’s) birthplace of St Columb in Cornwall. I have never been to that particular part of Cornwall but I am sure it is lovely and you can probably get a nice pasty and/or ice cream.

Obviously Canterbury is fascinating and you can wander the alleys there and picture where Courtenay may have strolled. If you want to see where Courtenay was imprisoned you can go to Barming (which is now fully integrated within Maidstone) and see the site of the former asylum. The buildings are still there they have just been turned into apartments. There is a little display on Courtenay in Maidstone Museum.

The villages that Courtenay inspired are West of Canterbury. There is a footpath past the Bossenden Farm where he shot and killed the Constable Nicholas Mears. You can follow a footpath into the wood and find the site of the battle which is marked on Ordinance Survey Maps with the crossed sword sign and the date 1838. Which feels odd. You can also go to the pub where Courtenay’s body was brought to the Red Lion, but alas at the minute it is closed. Nearby is also the graveyard he is buried in at Hernhill which is a charming hamlet. It also has a pub called the Red Lion which is apparently very good.

If any of this fascinating topic has interested you then why not try some of these great books and articles.

• Battle in Bossenden by PA Rogers published in 1961. This is a really readable take on the whole tale.

• The Last rising of the Agricultural Labourers by Barry Reay published in 1990 this is a really interesting book which gives you a lot of detail on the socio-economic background to the area and workers who were inspired by Courtenay.

• The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Sir William Courtenay….. by Canterburiensis published in 1838. Released in the year of the Battle of Bossenden. This gives you all the tall tales of his life with no critical evaluation of whether the facts it is giving are true or not.

• The Second Coming: Popular Millenarianism, 1780-1850 by J.F.C Harrison from 1979

• Charles Dicken’s account of the Courtenay uprising was penned for his newspaper All Year Round in the 1870s.

• Various extracts from newspaper, relating to Sir W. Courtenay