| Murder Mystery |
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A few tales about Sevenoaks inhabitants - both real and ghostly!
The Seal Chart Murder The story of the murder of Mrs. Luard in 1908 is one of the most intriguing unsolved murders this century. It is made all the more fascinating by the memories and theories of the descendants of people who knew both the victim and the chief suspect, and who heard the shots ringing out on that fateful day in August. This is the story in brief. On the afternoon of Monday, 24th. August, 1908, Major-General Charles Luard and his wife Caroline left their home at Ightham Knoll for a walk with their dog. General Luard wanted to collect his golf clubs from the clubhouse at Godden Green. They went through private woods belonging to their neighbours on the Frankfield estate, passing en route a secluded summer-house which they and their neighbours often used. At the time the summer-house was empty and locked. Before they reached the end of the wood, Mrs. Luard decided to retrace her steps home as she was expecting a guest to tea. The couple parted at a wicket gate on the path. General Luard took the dog and proceeded out of the woods and on, by road and footpath, to the clubhouse. He was seen by witnesses on his way there. Having collected his clubs, he returned home via the main road instead of going back through the woods. Arriving home he found the guest, Mrs. Stewart, waiting to have tea, but no sign of his wife. After tea, he went back along the woodland path that he and his wife had taken earlier, and found Mrs. Luard lying dead on the veranda of the summer-house. She had been shot in the head and three rings and a small purse had been stolen. The murder caused a national sensation, and although the local police called in Scotland Yard, the murderer was never caught. With no swift resolution to the case, rumour and accusation soon focussed on the general and, despite his alibi that he had been walking to the clubhouse at the time established for his wife's shooting (3.15 p.m.), he began receiving anonymous letters accusing him of the murder. The general went to stay with friends, and a few weeks after his wife was shot, on the very day he was due to travel to Southampton to meet his son returning from South Africa, General Luard threw himself in front of a train on the railway line at Teston. The inquest verdict on Mrs. Luard was 'murder by person or persons unknown' and that on General Luard 'suicide while temporarily insane'. The murder was never solved and the police files have been destroyed. The General and Mrs. Luard are both buried in Ightham churchyard. Ghosts at Timberden, near Shoreham A horrifying ghost has been seen at Mr. Howard's house at Timberden near Shoreham. The owner awoke one night to see a lady in a black dress. There suddenly appeared the ghostly head of an old man, his face blood red. It gently rocked backwards and forwards until it reached the window. Another night he awoke to see a headless body dressed in a red coat with a ruff. This also drifted slowly to the window where it remained for several minutes. The ghost is that of a previous owner, a seventeenth century clown who went mad and hanged himself from the window with piano wire - hence the ghost's severed head. The 'black lady' who appears with him is believed to be his mourning widow. The Ghost of the Duchess of Cumberland, Knole The famous ghost of the Duchess of Cumberland, Lady Anne Clifford, the unfortunate wife of Richard Sackville, is said to walk the dark avenue of chestnut and oak trees to the north of Knole Gate House. The area she walks was named Duchess Walk after her ghost was seen there several times, always on windy moonless nights. Lady Anne married the 'black sheep' of the family, the third Earl who plunged into the splendour and vanity of court-life and subsequently bankrupted himself. The ghost of a 'Black Knight' is said to roam the older quarters at Knole whenever a misfortune is about to befall Knole. The Knight may also be seen riding silently on horseback among the leafy shadows. The Ghost of Lady Frederick Campbell, Combe Bank, Sundridge Combe Bank School, Sundridge, is situated within 350 acres of parkland. It was here that Lady Ferres petitioned her husband for divorce and the steward of the estate was asked to give evidence in the petition. The Countess was seen to be distraught, however when her husband, the Earl of Ferres, was subsequently arrested for the murder of the Steward. He was to be hanged at Tyburn although he hoped it might be Tower Hill where his ancestor, Queen Elizabeth's Earl of Essex, had been executed. "I think it hard," he said, "that I must die at the place appointed for the execution of common felons". He put on a brave show, however, dressing himself in his wedding clothes and being transported to the place of execution in a carriage drawn by six horses and accompanied by a company of grenadiers, a sheriff in another carriage 'plentifully decked with ribbons', a troop of horses and, bringing up the rear, a mourning coach and horses. As the procession advanced along its route, he chatted with the enormous crowd that had gathered to watch the flamboyant affair. He ruefully acknowledged the irony of the situation. To draw such a crowd for such an occasion, he said, was ten times worse than death itself, but he supposed they never saw a lord hanged before, and were unlikely to see another. Before he died, however, he cursed his wife and wished that she should experience a death more painful than his own. She subsequently married Lord Frederick Campbell and eventually died a very tortuous death being burned in a fire in the tower of Combe Bank. All that was found of her in the ruins was the bone of one thumb which was buried at Combe Bank. The ghost of Lady Frederick Campbell is said to still haunt the ground of the estate. The Witch of Pilgrims' Way, Sevenoaks During the excavation of the Sevenoaks bypass, a gruesome discovery was made at the crossroads of the Pilgrims Way and old London Road. It was the skeleton of a girl with a wooden stake driven through her rib-cage. Impalement through the heart and burial at a crossroads (a favoured haunt of devils) was medieval church procedure for any person considered to be a witch. William the Cavalier The ghost of an English Civil War Cavalier named William is said to haunt the Chequers in Watery Lane, Kemsing. He was hung from a beam in the barn, now part of the pub, after overhearing two Roundhead Officers discussing battle plans. The Biggin Hill Airman A ghostly airman in full WW2 flying gear has been seen at the crossroads by the Spinning Wheel restaurant in Biggin Hill, trying to thumb a lift back to the Battle of Britain airfield. Local folklore says he crashed his plane over the ridge at Tatsfield and sometimes, early in the mornings, the sound of his Merlin engine can be heard, even though the sky is clear. |
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