Chapter Twenty One - Cross Examination

The courtroom drama spills into the kitchen as late in the evening a travelling magistrate and an investigator pay an unexpected visit to the Llewellyn home as R.D. Blackmore turns his sharp eye on the process of cross-examination. Prosecutors accuse and the witness stumbles, as truth becomes harder to pin down. Blackmore captures both the tension and the theatre of Victorian justice, where words could twist as easily as they could reveal.We hear talk of Appledore - in North Devon - with its rich heritage of boat building, illustrating the closeness of the links and inter-connection between North Devon and the South Wales coasts, particularly interesting for listeners around Porthcawl, the sandhills of Kenfig, North and South Cornelly, Nottage and Newton, with long-ago family connections to Devon. This chapter also offers a vivid glimpse of how justice was argued and contested in the 19th century. It’s not just about right or wrong, but about how well a case can be made under pressure — something as relevant today as it was then.