I’ve long had a fascination with gravestones. It’s the stories of those who lie there which fascinate me. I always wondered who they were, what were their lives like, what happened to them. It is no wonder then that I became a historian though I view it as a collector of people’s stories. I came […]
Leicestershire
The Cursed Shoes of Papillon Hall
Market Harborough, like many places, has its share of ghosts and haunted buildings. However, this post concerns a haunted building just outside Market Harborough. Papillon Hall used to stand on the way to Lubenham and was built around 1624 by David Papillon. The Papillon family originated from France. David along with his mother and two […]
Market Harborough
Market Harborough was a ‘new’ town created in the 12th century and lies about halfway between Leicester and Northampton. According to Nicholls, Market Harborough was first mentioned in 1170; it was mentioned again in a Pipe Roll of 1199 relating to a payment from the manors of “Buggeden and haug”. The town had a main road running […]
Agnes Bowkers’ Cat
I love the weird and wonderful and this story is definitely that. I have taken most of the information from, Agnes Bowker’s Cat; Travesties and Transgressions in Tudor and Stuart England, by David Cressy. Agnes Bowker, aged 27, daughter of Henry Bowker of Market Harborough, appeared before the archdeacon’s court on 22 January 1569 and […]
Plague!
Oh Lord save us! A great pestilence is upon us. Reports reached London in 1347 of a terrifying and incurable disease which was spreading from the East. It reached England in 1348 and is thought to have killed millions of people. There are three different types of plague; bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic. The most common […]
7th Leicesters at Dinner April 1915
I love days like today. You look out of the one window and there is a beautiful blue sky and sunshine; you look out of another window and see a dark and stormy sky heading straight for you. When it arrives, it brings torrential downpours, thunder, lightning and even hail and then it’s gone and […]
Richard III
Richard was in Nottingham when he heard Henry Tudor was on his way through Wales. Richard set out to meet him and arrived in Leicester where he stayed at a local inn due to Leicester Castle being in a state of decay. The inn was originally called the White Boar but after Richard’s defeat the […]
The October Fair
Market Harborough used to hold an annual fair in October. The Fair would begin on 18th October, the eve of St Dionysius, and last for nine days. It was something which was looked forward to for months. The town would be packed with people and stalls selling produce. Farmer’s waggons would bring in people from […]
William Bryan
One of the interesting headstones which survive in St Mary in Arden’s graveyards is this one: Sacred To the Memory of William Bryan Late of Spode in the Parish Of Clun County of Salop Who died Suddenly In Harborough The 31st Day of July 1832 In the 42nd Year of his Age And was Buried […]
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Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook was born in Melbourne, Derbyshire, in 1808, the son of John Cook and Elizabeth Perkins. He was only four years old when his father died in 1812 and later that year, his mother married James Smithard. When his step-father died in 1818, Thomas was taken out of school to supplement the family’s income […]