12/22/1789: Justice Levi Woodbury born. The post Today in Supreme Court
History: December 22, 1789 appeared first on Reason.com.
Showing posts with label Wombourne. Show all posts
Guy Fawkes and the Headless Horseman of Wombourne
Once again Guy Fawkes Night is here. For most people in England, it is an occasion for
bonfire, fireworks and a bit of partying laced with
patriotism and love for the monarchy and religion.
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| Holbeache House near Kingswinford in the West Midlands where the Gun Powder conspirators holed up and fought is a private care home now. |
Surprisingly it was made compulsory by a royal decree the real intent of which was to remind everyone to celebrate the escape from death of a king.
It is merely the irony of life that Guy Fawkes the traitor,
not the King James I who ordered his death and the yearly remembrance, is
remembered every year in an ambiance of mirth and joy long after the King is dead and gone!
It is also paradoxical that, Guy
Fawkes was only an ammunition expert and foot soldier who joined the elite
group of 12 other conspirators who were the main culprits who are all long
since forgotten along with the king himself.
Perhaps, in a future world when
human intelligence gains control over the futility of religious fervour, Guy
Fawkes may be honoured for what he was, a soldier who stood for his convictions
and a man of character who wouldn’t give up on his colleagues even under
torture. Till then everything about him and his group’s saga will remain not
good heritage material to be remembered or protected.
However, for the local folks of
West midlands, where a lot of it happened, the gun powder plot has a lot of local
stories to talk about and pass on to the next generation.
For the village of Wombourne, which
is as old as the times of Guy Fawkes, the bogey of the Headless Horseman, still
talked about around the tables of the local pubs, is what keeps the life and
death of Guy Fawkes in memory.
If you just moved in to
Wombourne, this scary story of recent sightings
of a headless horseman on the Bridgenorth Road which passes by it, is likely to give you second thoughts on your
choice of your location. If you are not bothered about ghosts, it might just
whet your curiosity to delve in to past of this lovely medieval village in the
West Midlands.
Josephine Jasper has dug out the
story for the readers of Dudley Bugle and the story goes like this.
During the last century, Rhymer Greenshill, that wandering minstrel of the 19th Century, delved pretty deeply into most local legends, and his ballad, "The Ghost Riders" offers an explanation for the spooky happenings in the Wood, which hugs the left hand side of Bridgenorth Road as it leaves Himley Village.
A couple of miles away in the Kingswinford direction, lies Holbeache House, the scene of the last skirmish between the fellow-conspirators of Guy Fawkes and the forces of the Sheriff of Worcester.
Stephen Lyttleton, kin to the Lords of Hagley, rode hotfoot to his house at Holbeache after the plot misfired and Guy Fawkes had been captured. With him rode Sir Everard Digby, Catesby and the Winter brothers John and Robert. With a retinue of servants and a wagonload of gun-powder, they crossed the Stour, determined to put up a last stand at Holbeache.
Well-armed and provisioned to withstand a lengthy seige, they must have felt pretty secure, that is, until they discovered that their gun-powder had become wet during the fording of the Stour. Amidst the gunfire and the plunging of the panic-stricken horses, the servants used furniture from the room to build a roaring fire, around which they placed the casks of damp powder. A spark from the fire ignited the gunpowder and a tremendous explosion took place, blowing the roof off the building and killing half-a-dozen of the occupants.
Stephen Littleton and Robert Winter mounted up and managed to escape in the confusion, and were swallowed up in the dense woodland of Pensnett Chase. Lyttleton's young groom, who fought alongside his master in Holbeache House, wounded severly above the throat, managed to climb aboard one of the terror stricken horses and dash through the fire, smoke and the cordon of men-at-arms, and reach the woods, but whereas his master had raced away in the Pensnett Direction and higher ground, young Grove headed for Wombourne and into a section of fenland a mile or so from the house. He was caught there and brutally murdered by the men-at-arms.
We have ample evidence that Rhymer Greenshill based his ballads on actual happenings, and there is justification for believing that Gideon Grove died in this manner. Furthermore, there is no doubt about the Wombourne legend of the "Phantom Horseman" who has repeatedly been sighted within the last decade is none other than the Ghost of Gideon Grove!
If you wonder what the Headless Horseman
would see if he were to take a ride from Holbeach house, which is a private
care home now, to Wombourne along the Brigenorth Road, jump in!
The mystery of seven sacred gemstones hidden by the Gunpowder Plotters
Black Country Bugle | News | Is a local man the key to unlocking the mystery of seven sacred gemstones ;hidden by the Gunpowder Plotters?:
"Is a local man the key to unlocking the mystery of seven sacred gemstones hidden by the Gunpowder Plotters?"
Black Country Bugle | News | 17/03/2005
A couple of weeks ago, we reported on the unmasking of the so-called "Phantom Horseman" of Wombourne, who terrorised the village and surrounding areas during the fifties. While some at the time believed it to be the ghost of Gideon Grove, the young groom shot dead as he fled the aftermath of the siege at Holbeache House four hundred years ago, retired policeman John Mellor revealed that the Phantom was, in fact, a wily old character who "borrowed" horses in order to carry out petty thefts! Others jumped on the bandwagon, impersonating The Phantom, therefore hampering police investigation
Read the full story here http://goo.gl/4RFdB
Black Country Bugle | News | 17/03/2005
A couple of weeks ago, we reported on the unmasking of the so-called "Phantom Horseman" of Wombourne, who terrorised the village and surrounding areas during the fifties. While some at the time believed it to be the ghost of Gideon Grove, the young groom shot dead as he fled the aftermath of the siege at Holbeache House four hundred years ago, retired policeman John Mellor revealed that the Phantom was, in fact, a wily old character who "borrowed" horses in order to carry out petty thefts! Others jumped on the bandwagon, impersonating The Phantom, therefore hampering police investigation
Read the full story here http://goo.gl/4RFdB
The church in the Wombourne village
Not at Harvard nor at Ahamadabad
No, they don't teach you this at Harvard or Ahamadabad!
All that you need, to be a good sales person, is a good measure of knowledge of the product you are selling! The more you have it the better you will be as a sales guy. The deeper the Guru delves in to the matter, the bigger is the following. Whether it is the woman who sells fish in the market or the suave connoisseur you deal with in the diamonds section of a big name jewellery, it is the same knowledge of the product that will impress you.
All that you need, to be a good sales person, is a good measure of knowledge of the product you are selling! The more you have it the better you will be as a sales guy. The deeper the Guru delves in to the matter, the bigger is the following. Whether it is the woman who sells fish in the market or the suave connoisseur you deal with in the diamonds section of a big name jewellery, it is the same knowledge of the product that will impress you.
I had no time though to remind me of fundamentals of marketing and sales and brush up on my product knowledge. I had to say something to the devotee who had stopped in front of me before he lost his patience and moved on. I had to somehow grab his attention before he lost his curiosity.
If I simply said Here is a leaflet which tells you everything, that would have suited us both. I can have the satisfaction of having achieved something great and the stranger in front of me a feeling of having escaped a Spanish inquisition! But that is not service to God!
I had to ask a question! My customer has to come out of the shock of being way laid and start using his brain. start thinking, start pondering for an answer. So I started asking something, in fact anything to get him to talk. Like where he is coming from, is it the first time he is visiting the temple. how log before did he arrive from India, is he married yet, any thing to strike a conversation.
I hate intruding in people's privacy but I had to get them to open their ears and eyes before they opened their hearts a bit.
Surprisingly it all seems to be working like in a trance! Suddenly everone seemed interested in what I had to say, except of course some hard core visitors who had gone through it all before with someone else!
(continued on next post.....)
(Curious what this is about ? See previous post)
(Curious what this is about ? See previous post)
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