The Laundry Bones ( VILLAGE TALES EP. 53 )

Ridge Farm changes to Ridge House, and the new owners plan to modernise. The Old Laundry to be partially demolished and the fireplace opened up, and what will they find? No matter how up-to-date it might appear, you can’t change its past, and you can’t make something leave, that doesn’t want to.

The death, apparently accidental, of Jean Carter’s little brother Pauly in the old laundry, followed by the family’s prompt move to Shipston, caused suspicion. When there was no evidence of Pauly’s death having being recorded, and then during the development of Ridge Farm, the Carter’s old home, the bones of a child were discovered, it appeared to be obvious what had happened. But appearances can be deceptive. 

During my enquiries about ‘imaginary friends’ I had spoken to Jean regarding hers. She called him ‘Edward’ and had said how much her Edward had hated her little brother. Rachael, our village historian, and I, wondered how much influence could an imaginary friend have, and was it enough to commit such a horrible crime. 

Our fears receded when Jean told me that she had recently visited Pauly’s grave at Leigh Delamere. Nevertheless, we made a trip to confirm its existence. We then solved the absence of an entry of Pauly’s death. When both Jean and Pauly were born, their parents were not married, so their names were recorded as Briggs, their mother’s maiden name. Also as Jean had told us, Pauly was a nickname, he was described as being ‘Poorly’ due to ‘Joseph’, his real name, being unwell for the first few years of his life. His death, Joseph Briggs, was found entered in the parish register. When Jean’s parents moved to Shipston they married, becoming Mr. and Mrs. Carter, Jean had then adopted Carter as her surname.

When Jean identified Edward her ‘imaginary friend’, in a painting that Rachael had found of ‘Edward’ the twelve year old son of the sixth Earl of Delamere, it raised more questions than it answered. Rachael and I are no strangers to the supernatural by way of stories we have heard, or evidence of ‘their' activity, but this was different. Having what was thought to be an imaginary friend for six or seven years, that turned out to be the long dead heir to the Delamere estate who went missing and who’s body was never been found, was bewildering, to say the least 

We needed to know more. Was Jean’s story true, and her imaginary friend was indeed a ghost, had she invented the story to cover her brother’s death, or was she subject to ‘fake memory syndrome’ and what she had heard, or imagined, had become confused as her own remembered experiences.

Rachael calculated that Edward would have died when Delamere Park was in decline. Delamere prosperity, like so many wealthy families, was linked to the slave trade, in particular the supply of ships for slave transportation, when that trade was prohibited in the eighteen hundreds, the estate began to suffer. The Sixth Earl, Edward’s father, had grown up during a time of plenty when the Delamere family was one of the wealthiest in the country and he had no intention of curbing his extravagances. Soon after marrying, his wife died giving birth to Edward for which his father never forgave him. The child was in equal measures indulged and mistreated, in many respects like the young Arthur in Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The child grew up both spoilt and vengeful. His profligate father was often absent and a series of governesses were employed but seldom stayed long due to either the Earl’s unwanted attentions, lack of payment, or the child’s abuse.

The Earl’s younger brother, James, could see the family’s wealth draining away and disputes led to fights until James was declared unwelcome anywhere owned by his brother, the Earl. His influence too in banking and commerce ensured that James could raise nothing for his own comfort. He travelled to Ireland where a branch of the family had prospered in wool and linen. 

At Delamere Park the Earl’s health was in severe decline when Edward, his only son, disappeared, believed to be drowned. The treatment for ‘the French Disease’, involving mercury which the Earl had been receiving for years, eventually took its toll, and he died within six months of his son’s disappearance.

During his time, in Ireland, James had become associated with an heiress to an estate in Cork. Rachael points out that while there he had no property of his own and lived on the generosity of his relatives. If he had a romantic connection with an heiress, he would need to bring a sizeable contribution to the marriage and the profligacy of his brother in England may result, when eventually he died, in nothing being left but debt. It’s a situation that had with it some urgency. The daughter of a wealthy landowner would have many suitors and it was a matter of time before someone else would be preferred.

As stated, the belief at the time was that at the age of twelve, Edward, heir to the Delamere estate, had drowned in the lake but his body was never recovered. This corroborated Jean’s story in that her ‘imaginary friend’ was the right age, older when she was seven or eight, but younger when she was fourteen. The bones found in the ‘Old Laundry’ were of a child aged ten to fourteen, but this could just be coincidence. My belief, as you by now know, is that no such thing exists, coincidence that is. 

Two other facts came to light via Rachael tracing the builders who were at Ridge House, what used to be Ridge Farm. The remains were found in what was a fireplace that had been bricked up. Rachael was told that the flue was narrow, being only about six inches in diameter, so whoever built the wall would have known they were incarcerating a body, and probably who it was. She also found out that the cause of death was a heavy blow to the head. It was not possible to determine whether the blow was accidental or malicious, but the latter seems more likely. As the result of an accident in certain circumstances, the death might need concealing to avoid the ire of the Earl, but on any part of the Delamere estate, it would require co-operation, a conspiracy. The Earl was not long for this world and James would be the sole beneficiary from his death if Edward was to die. Nothing would then stand in the way of his marriage. He could have arranged the deed with the promise of a handsome reward on his return. If the boy swam in the lake, that was as good a reason as any for his disappearance.

A service was held at Delamere church before what remained of Edward seventh Earl of Delamere was interred with other members of the Delamere family. 

The spiritual aspect of this puzzles both Rachael and myself. The presence of Edward was most strongly realised in the Old Laundry, so was that where he died? Or was he tied to where his remains were irrespective of where he might have passed over? Now that his remains have been removed, our question is what, if anything, of Edward remains at Ridge House. 

Since the Carters left Ridge Farm it has changed hands several times. Rachael examined plans that were submitted when the house was sold a few years ago. It included the partial demolition of an adjoining outbuilding, which Jean identified as the Old Laundry, the area to be incorporated with the existing kitchen into a much larger kitchen and to form a conservatory. The fireplace, where the bones were found, was to be opened and a stove installed. We have not visited the house yet but we presume that the works were carried out in accordance with the plans. Since then Ridge House has had four owners. Initially those that had the work done, an accountant from Shaftesbury, who then sold it to a retired couple after only six months and the work hardly finished. They then sold it, without moving in, to a family with two grown sons, one of whom was fatally injured when a pane of glass fell from the conservatory roof during a storm. They had been there less than a year when they sold it to an elderly couple whose husband suffered a heart attack and died. The widow moved to a home in Dorchester and Ridge house was put on the market. Rachael went to see her but said she was incoherent. She kept referring to her late husband having nightmarish visions, both day and night and found him one morning having had the attack during the night whilst he’d been trying to ‘get through a wall’, scratching and clawing at the plaster for hours. 

The current agent claims there’s something about the property that puts people off. Dogs are reluctant to enter the building, and young children cling to their mothers, pointing and staring at what we can’t see.

If anyone is interested in a recently modernised, character three bedroom residence, with ample parking near Shipston, Ridge House is still on the market. 

The details state that the property is unoccupied. This may not be true.

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Written and read by Barkley Johnson.