The Dracula connection in Purfleet

5 April 2018 · The Enquirer

Newsdesk

Bram Stoker Estate account

Estate summary

The Enquirer reports the publication of Ian Yearsley’s Dracula – The Essex Connection, a study of the novel’s Purfleet settings. Yearsley describes comparing Stoker’s fictional locations with local buildings and the village’s nineteenth-century history, including the Royal Hotel, Purfleet House and the ordnance establishment. He explains that a dismissive reference to the supposed connections prompted his research. The feature presents his argument that Stoker visited the area and used its buildings as models. Those proposed identifications are Yearsley’s interpretation: the report does not supply documentary proof of a visit by Stoker. Its value lies in recording a specific local-history argument about the novel’s English landscape.

Complete publisher feature recovered and inspected in the Internet Archive capture of 2 August 2018. Newsdesk; 5 April 2018, 12:01 UTC in the page metadata. The archived publisher page is the underlying source; this is not a new interview or an original historical newspaper scan. The book’s local identifications and suggested visit remain attributed to Yearsley.

Original source

Read the archived publisher page. Its availability and content may differ from the publisher’s current website.

Read the archived article ↗

Link checked 7 November 2026. Publisher pages open in a new tab.

Saved archive record

The title, date, source details and any Estate summary above are saved on this website, so this record remains available if the publisher’s page changes.

A full copy of this article is not currently held here. Original scans and full texts will be added where available and permitted.

The Royal Hotel, Purfleet, photographed on 12 January 2012. A place discussed in Yearsley’s argument; this modern photograph does not establish that Bram visited it.David Kemp / Geograph, via Wikimedia Commons. · LicenceCC BY-SA 2.0. Image unchanged.