Caroline
The discovery; The Rickmansworth Man
I am sure you are already aware Denham Hall is currently known as The Rickmansworth Young Ladies College. It was given its charter by King George the Second in the 18th century.
It might also be of interest to know that the records show that there are two things that attracted George to his wife. One was her ‘ample physique’. There was another attraction, but for the life of me I cannot think what it was.
Anyways it was this attribute I first wrote about that attracted, nay captivated, George though it appears this attraction was not reciprocated when George took mistresses.
As a point of interest, George the Second was the last English monarch to lead his troops in battle, although I am led to believe he did not really have his heart in it.
To bring you up to speed, Denham Hall is NOT an elementary school, a comprehensive school or a state school, secondary or a grammar school but a very exclusive private boarding college for genteel young English ladies whose parents are.....Well as Tamsin so succinctly put it “whose parents are not short of a quid” although for a person who has had a lot of money spent on her education I thought she would have worded this observation slightly differently.
I should point out at present Tamsin is my second best friend. Rhonda WAS my second best friend but she without thought blotted her copybook when she criticized my new hairstyle, but she is still on my Facebook friends list. Patience is the oldest of us and is still my best friend.
It was another beautiful summer day, not a cloud in the sky. It was Friday and we were looking forward to the weekend. Breakfast was over and I headed for the library where I found Tamsin.
Cheerily I said, “Hi Tamsin. Who are you writing the card to?”
She replied, “Grant, it’s his birthday”.
Teasing her I inquired “why don’t you write ‘Run postman run’ or ‘Horsey, horsey don’t you stop. Just let your feet go clippity clop’ or something like that on the back of the envelope”.
Irritated she replied “I hardly know him. I have only met him once”.
Lowering my voice and looking over her shoulder I paused and whispered confidentially “You know ‘Run postman run’ sounds more romantic and more intimate than ‘Happy Birthday Grant’, kissy-kissy. Don’t you think?” (Makes kissing sounds).
Irately she replied “Bridgette that’s not funny”.
I had better be careful or my ranking will drop from first to second place in Tamsin’s Facebook friends’ list. At least she is not vindictive like Rhonda who deliberately unfriended me from Facebook once without even a by your leave. The bell sounded and everyone scattered.
We were looking forward to Friday afternoon because the following day was the start of the weekend but today Miss Pringle had received permission from farmer Benton to allow the girls to paint the old Flaxton Mill ….for art classes that is.
The old mill that once stood alongside the Chess River has been left high and dry after the river was re-routed. For those of you that are not acquainted with Chenies or the town of Rickmansworth for that matter, the Chess River lay not far behind the Red Lion Pub close to the Roman ruins.
To give you a roll call there was Tamsin, of course, Phaedra, Candice, Rhonda, Dakota, Elspeth, and Rebecca Tate. I was about to say ‘so was I’. We were all from Boadicea Dormitory. Unfortunately, the two Brecknockshire girls Blodwyn and Myfanwy were suffering from colds.
Oh yes, a new girl started the other day, Charlotte. I immediately put her on my friend's list but it goes without saying she is not all that high in the rankings just yet. Incidentally, we once had a racing pigeon named Charlotte. It never won any races.
After arriving at Farmer Benton’s field we arranged ourselves in pairs and prepared to get our easels and chairs from the school bus. I was paired with Tamsin which I thought might be a bad omen. Tamsin asked Briggs if he had brought any lemonade with him. Briggs had learned early to ignore Tamsin. I sometimes wondered if she has worms.
Artistic interpretations of the old mill were being painted on the girls’ easels in some really breathtaking, exotic colors.
Tamsin’s painting looked Primitif in every sense of the word. Some of the mixtures of her colours had never been seen in public before. They probably did not even have names.
The good news reached Tamsin at about midday when she heard that Briggs was erecting a fold-out table for lunch. The canteen had supplied packed sandwiches and lemonade as well as a flask of tea for Miss Pringle. The conversation over lunch was how we were spending the weekend. Some of the girls managed to go home for the weekend. Others played tennis or went to the movies at Watersmeet Cinema.
I would not be going home to Inveraray as my parents had been invited for the weekend to Ruthin Castle to stay with Colonel Carter-Brown.
After lunch Miss Pringle allowed us to wander around the Old Mill. To put you in the picture there were a number of legends about this old mill, although actually how many of them were true was another matter. It was built originally as a fortification and once sat by the river but later was converted into a water mill. In 1745 George’s troops suppressed the last Jacobite uprising led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart. It was said Prince Charles disappeared and he was thought to have escaped overseas.
I and Tamsin headed for the mill entrance and started to climb the stairs hoping to get a commanding view of the countryside from the second-floor window. The surroundings were idyllic. From way up high gazing out of the window, we observed the girls lying in the grass, reading or generally playing. All the internal mill structure had been removed and left as just a shell. On a number of occasions, a ghost was said to have been sighted around the fort and was given the name the ‘Rickmansworth Man’.
We left the mill but paused to look at the decaying water wheel. It was then that Tamsin cried out “Ooer Bridgette, I think there is something that looks like a skeleton under the water wheel”.
I answered “Is it an animal?”
“ER YUK, no it’s a real person I’m sure. Come and have a look”.
It was a human skeleton and partly covered in what appeared to be rags.
“Could it be a murder do you think? We had better tell Miss Pringle. She will have to get the police”.
We told Miss Pringle who took a closer look and immediately rang the police on her mobile phone and told us not to tell the other girls and to move away. Meanwhile Miss Pringle told the girls to pack up their easels and prepare to board the bus. When the police arrived Miss Pringle was advised to leave it in their hands.
It was a few weeks later at morning assembly Miss Sefton the headmistress told the students she had heard from the police and been informed the skeleton found at Flaxton Mill was indeed the skeleton of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. There had been DNA tests made, but most importantly, there was a gold ring found on the skeleton's finger that was engraved with the Prince Stuart’s family crest.
It was the legendary ‘Rickmansworth Man’. The prince did not flee to France but died in mysterious circumstances at the Flaxton Mill.
The Watford Observer had a field day. It also made the national news but Miss Sefton would not allow the reporters to interview the students, Bridgette Campbell and Tamsin Lacey.
She added the college was getting quite a reputation and, without mentioning names, first the Rickmansworth Chalice was found at the old roman ruins then the Rickmansworth Codex, the official Roman document of the establishment of the town of Rickmansworth was found at Raven Castle, and now the discovery at Flaxton Mill of the remains of Prince Edward Stuart or the legendary ‘Rickmansworth Man’.
Names or no names, nevertheless Bridgette Campbell and Tamsin Lacey’s names will most certainly be documented in the annals of the history of Denham Hall.
