New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-29
HAUNTED GLENS AND HOUSES
AN OLD WARWICK MURDER.
GANERsLIE HEATH AND BLACKLow HILL |
CLoPToN AND ITS TRADITIoNs-BURIED |



FROM sTArr CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
Warwick, England, July Gone night about
fifty years ago brutal murder was done, at a
lonely place on the highroad between Warwick
and Stratford-upon-Avon. The next morning the
murdered man was found lying by the road
side, his head much mangled, resting in small
hole in the bank The assassins, two in number,
were shortly aftcrward discovered, and they were
hanged at Warwick for their crime. From that
day to this the hole wherein the dead mans
head reposcd remains unchanged. No matter how
often il may be filed up whether by the wash OF
heavy rains, or by stones and leaves that boys
may happen to cast into it as they pass, 1t is soon
found to be again empty. No one takes care of
IT, No one knows whether or by whom, it is
guarded. Fill it at nightfal and you will find
it empty in the morning That is the local be-
lief and affirmation. The place is haunted This
spot is about two miles out Of Stratford, and
not distant from the gates of Charlotte Park.
looked at this hole, one bright day in June ana
saw that IL was empty. Nature, II Is thought
by the poets, abhors completely with the conceal
ments Of crime, and brands with her curse the
places that are linked with the shedding OF
blood. You will recall that strong line IN ION
Hoods poem Of Eugene Aram"-" For mighty
wind had swept the place, and still the corse was
bare
There arc many haunted spots in Warwick
shire. The benighted peasant never fingers on
Ganersie IIeath-for there, at midnight, dismal
bells have been heard TO toll from Blacklow Hill,
the place where Sir Piers Gaveston, the corrupt,
handsome, foreign favoritc OF hlng Ed
ward the Second. was beheaded by
order Of the grim barons whom he
had insulted and opposed. The Earl of War
wick led them. whom Gaveston had been wont TO
call The Black Dog of Arden. This was long
ago. Everybody knows the old historic inc dent but
no one can so completely realize it as when stand
ing on the place The scene of the execution is
marked by simple cross, bearing this inscription:
In the hollow of this rock beheaded on
the first day Of July, 1912, by Barons lawless
as himself, Piers Gaveston. Earl Of Cornwall, In
life and death memorable instance of misrule'
No doubt the birds were singing and the great
green branches of the trees waving in the
summer wind on that fatal day, just as they are
this moment Gavoston was a man OF great
beauty and talent, and only twenty-nlne years Old
II was q melancholy sacrifice, and horrible In all
the circumstances that attended it. No wonder
that doleful thoughts and blood-curdling sounds
should come to such as walk there in the lonely
hours Of the night
Another haunted place is Clopton-haunted GER
tainly with memories, if not with ghosts. In the
reirn of Henry VII this was the of Sir
Hugh Clopton, Lord Mayor of London, he who
built the great bridge over the Avon-across
which. many time, William Shakespeare must
have ridden, on his way TO Oxford and the capital
The dust of Sir Hugh Clopton rests now in STRAIT
ford Church, and his old mansion has passed
through many hands. In our time it
is the residence of its present own
or. Sir Arthur Hodgson, Mayor of
Stratford by whom it purchased in / 81. Sir
Arthurs term of office as Mayor will expire this
fall and Stratford will lose one Of the best Mayors
it has ever had, and temporarily will lose his
presence also--for once he was sheep-farmer IN
Australia and very fond of the independent
and happy life of one, and now he
intends to cross the world again and
visit his large possessions at the antpo-
des. 1t lately was my privilege to see Clopton.
under the guidance of its lord, and a most charm
ing and impressive old house it is full Of quaint
objects and fraught with singular associations.
They show you there, among many fine paintings.
the portrait of a wild-eyed lady with thin figure.
delicate features long light hair, and sensitive
countenance, who, in the far-oH Tudor time
drowned herself in dismal black well. back of
the mansion of the many victims, doubtless OF
unhappy love. And they show you the portrait OF
still another Clopton GIRL Of ancient times who
is thought TO have been accidentally buried alive
because when it CHANGED that the family tomb was
opened, a few days after after her lnterment, the
CORPSE was found to be turned in its coffin
and to present indications that the wretched vic
tim of premature burial had in her agonized
frenzy gnawed upon her own flesh
IT. was the blood-stained corridor of Clopton,
however, that most impressed my imagination
This is at the top of the house, and access TO 1t
Is gained by a wnding-stalr, of oak boards, uncar-
pcted. solid. simple, and consonant therefore with
the old times and manners that IL represents
Many years ago a man was murdered in little
bedroom near the top Of this staircase, and his
body was dragged along the corridor, to be Sc
creted thin dark stain, seemingly streak OF
blood runs from the door of that bedroom, in
the direction of the stairhead, and this is deep
ly imprinted in the wood that II cannot
be removed. Opening from this corridor
opposite to the murder-room, is an oddly shaped
APARTMENT which once. in the remote days of a
Catholic occupant, must have been used as an
oratory or private chapel Three years ago Il $3.50
the walls Of this chamber were committed TO the
tender mercics Of paper-hanger who presently
discovered on them various inscriptions in black
letter. and who fortunately mentioned his dscov-
cries before they were obliteratcd. Mr.. Richard
Savage the antiquary and Librarian of the Shake
speare Birthplace, was thereupon called in TO OK
anime them and by him they were restored. The
effect of these little patches of lettering-isles of
significance in barren sea Of wallpaper enclosing
them round about-is that Of extreme slngularity.
Most Of them are sentences from the Bible. All
of them are Gevout. One of them presents the
solemn Injunction Whether you be sleeping or
whether you wake. Remember Christ Jesus who
died for your sake CloLton has a long and vari-
GUS history One of the most significant facts
IN its record is the fact that for about ten months
in the year sos, it was occupied by Ambrose
Rokewood, of Goldman Hall, Suffolk. the breeder
of race-horses, whom Robert Catesby brought into
the great and CHASTITY Gunpowder Plot in the reign
of James the First. Hither came Sir Everard
Digby and Tom and Robert Winter and the
specious Jesuit Father Garnet, chief hatcher OF
IL al