Kingsley Ross Hill was born in Mount Pleasant Hospital, near the city of Swansea, in Glamorganshire, South Wales.
Kingsley grew up in the small village of Pennard on the Gower Peninsula. He started writing poetry when he was twelve years old, and dreamed of becoming a writer through his experiences and exploration of Gower. Kingsley says that growing up in Gower caressed his soul deeply and inspired him to become a writer. The Gower Peninsula was the first place in all of Britain to be given the status of “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.’’
Steeped in the history of its prehistoric peoples, and ancient bone caves, Kingsley went metal detecting with his father and brother, and found many rare artifacts and relics of the past. Each treasure he found told another story.
Kingsley recalls that those early voices of discovery, were the first calls within his heart to become a writer.
As boys, Kingsley along with his brother Fraser and their friends, played games of “Fighting Knights,’’ and “Capture the Princess,’’ amidst the ruins of Pennard Castle.
Kingsley and his friends made wooden swords and spears, which they cut from the branches of trees in the nearby woods. They used dustbin lids for shields, as they threw spears at one another, and then fenced with their swords until they broke or their opponent became injured and surrendered. The victors reward was to capture the pretty girls that lived on their street, and take them to the Castle Room to become a Princess.
Kingsley said that Pennard Castle was never just a ruin to him, but a real live castle, that told him stories from its crumbling walls.
One day while metal detecting near the grounds of the castle, Kingsley and his dad, found an ancient sword! As it was Kingsley who located the sword and dug it up, his father allowed him to keep the sword.
I remember the day I climbed the highest wall of the castle, Kingsley said, and I swung my sword at my enemies taunting them to fight! They are invisible enemies, lost in the sands of time, my father told me. But I could feel every one of them, and I stood tall and swung my sword against them and shouted, “I am Kingsley Hill, a Knight of Gower!” They turned and ran, disappearing over a distant hill. It was on that day when I was twelve, that I picked up a pen and wrote my first poem.
Kingsley Hill’s classic Autobiography, “Cave Days’’ was inspired by real life events that he lived out on the Gower Peninsula, giving birth to what is now the “Gower Peninsula Adventure Series’’, which consists presently of five books with others to follow.
Most recently in June 2022, Kingsley released a two book non fiction series, titled Jerry The Magpie, and The Further adventures of Jerry The Magpie. This is the story of his great boyhood friend, Jerry Magpie who flew into his life at a dark time bringing laughter and light! “Jerry Magpie changed my life forever.”
Kingsley is also writing a fictional adventure series for the Tween and early Teen audience. The Mermaids Of Mumbles is due to be released in June 2023. The series was inspired by a recent visit by Kingsley and his wife Janais, to Gower, and their tour of the Scottish Highlands and the Isle of Skye.
Kingsley presently lives with his wife and family, and their dogs Dawlish and Chudleigh, in the beautiful Creston Valley in British Columbia, Canada.
Kingsley Ross Hill 