The New Murrey and Blue blog

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It struck me this evening that there is something in another book that might be of interest to members of the Richard III Society although it is not the usual history book. The book is called HAUNTED EAST ANGLIA by Joan Forman (1919-circa 2000). My copy was published in Norwich by Jarrold Colour Publications, in 1985. but it was originally published by Robert Hale in 1974 and Fontana in 1976 and 1977.

As the title suggests it is about ghost hunting in East Anglia which the author takes to include Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Suffolk, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and Northamptonshire. As a Yank I don’t know if this is the traditional listing or not. In the Northamptonshire chapter on page 125-127 in my Jerrold copy is the experience of Mr. and Mrs. John Priest at Fotheringhay Church in Northamptonshire “some years ago.” (The following is a quotation):

“The castle has its own story and its ghosts, but John Priest’s tale concerns the church at Fotheringhay…[the church]…owed the greater part of its construction….to the patronage of Edmund Plantagenet, surnamed Langley [sic!], fifth son of Edward III. In turn his son Edward, Duke of York added to the church, but died at Agincourt on Friday, 25 October 1415. His body was brought back to Fotheringhay and buried in the choir of the church…Richard, the maligned and much-slandered Richard [III], was born at the nearby castle and must sometimes have attended services there. Tradition asserts that as a young boy he followed his father’s body to its interment at Fotheringhay Church. But the echoes the church carries are of the earlier Planagenets, and to catch these we must return to the story of Mr and Mrs John Priest. Some years ago the Priests set out on a walk from Oundle to Fotheringhay, being particularly fond of the old village. They passed the towering grass mound which is all that remains of the castle and went on to the church. It was a still hot day, the village wrapped in the silence of high summer. They turned into the driveway leading to the church, when, to their astonishment they heard music coming from within the building. It was not even of the kind normally associated with the contemporary church service, but was the sound of drums and trumpets. Mrs. Priest remarked to her husband that there must be a concert in progress and they should enter quietly. As they opened the church door the music ceased. They rested awhile in the cool of the interior then returned home. Some time later Mrs. Priest’s sister and brother-in-law visited them. [The Priests took them on a tour of the area ending at Fotheringhay Church where the sister accidentally left her handbag behind so the two men drove by car to the church to retrieve it] A cleaner at the church told the men that the police superintendent had left with the bag only a few moments earlier and they might overtake him as he was on foot. This they did and gave the officer a lift back to Oundle. En route he remarked that he rarely walked to Fotheringhay, but on this occasion had wanted to investigate the strange music which people claimed to have heard there. It appeared that his own police sergeant was one of the people who had experienced the phenomenon. I asked John Priest about the music, seeking to discover if it were associated with Mary, Queen of Scots. [The author was very interested in Mary, Queen of Scots] His answer was in the negative. It was not, he thought, of Tudor type but was harsher, more primitive. He associated it with the Agincourt period of Fotheringhay. What commemoration was this, I wonder, that it should last so long in time? Edward, Duke of York, son of Edmund de Langley and grandson of Edward III, died at Agincourt and was buried in Fotheringhay Church. With what celebrations? With drums and trumpets, perhaps?”

The author does not mention the re-burial of Richard, 3rd Duke of York and his teenage son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, in Fotheringhay Church around fifty years later which might also share similar music. I hope you find this entertaining if not interesting. Best wishes.

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