BleakChesneyWold

            ' Peppermint Billy  William Brown and the Tollgate Murders of 1856'    By Joanne Vigor Mungovin                                                                          A few months ago,t he Leicester Museum service website announced : On July 14, 2023, The Guildhall in Leicester will recreate the trial of William 'Peppermint Billy' Brown - 167 years to the day after he was convicted of the murder of Edward and James Woodcock in Melton Mowbray. Peppermint Billy was the last man publicly hanged in Leicester in 1856. His conviction has always been questioned and shrouded in mystery. In order to make this event more memorable, we have found descendants of the witnesses to read the words of their ancestors during the trial. The trial is then recreated with a defence and prosecution, witnesses and the actual court transcript, in order to provide the most accurate account possible. A jury of twelve people will be sworn in, and after all the evidence has been given

                           Can  Chesney Wold Be Located    ?                                                      Haunted House by John Atkinson Grimshaw ( Public Domain courtesy of Wiki Gallery )   Dickens ninth novel 'Bleak House' appeared in installments from March 1852 until 1853.  A major theme concerns the legendary Jarndyce v Jarndyce case featured in the Chancery court : A  dreary legal dispute regarding a will which drags on year after year, effectively destroying the lives of potential benefactors, Predictably, once the case is settled, it is discovered that all the money held in the estate has been devoured by legal fees. The chapters set in the area surrounding the Chancery are claustrophobic and dark. 'Bleak House' also contains some of  Dickens's most harrowing depiction of slum dwelling via the 'Tom All Alone's' . Yet the early 1850's could also be portrayed as quite a confident and dynamic era .The dramatic rise of the railways, the u

                                      A Sceptical View of  Victorian Spiritualism                                                                                  So far historian and fiction writer  Linda Stratmann has written six novels featuring an unusual lead character, Mina Scarletti. Mina is in her 20's, particularly small with a curved spine due to scoliosis. Living in her mother's home- and from an upper middle class background, in Brighton.  The first novel opens in 1871,Mina writes children's stories and has some horror fiction published under an assumed name. Throughout the series, Mina's main role is to expose fake mediums and associated charlatans, whilst still maintaining her position within her family and respectable society. Her brother Richard is a charmer, enjoys the pleasures of life, and unable to settle in any employment. The colourful characters he attracts, along with those from the theatrical world, are a welcome counterweight to the more seemly