Old Sun Inn, Newport. Unsolved Mysteries Isle of Wight
Holyrood Street Hell House
THE OLD SUN INN building is one of Newport’s most picturesque, with white and black timber work and diamond leaded windows. It is also one of the island's most notoriously haunted houses.
Isle of Wight ghost expert and investigator Gay Baldwin in her excellent Ghosts of the Isle of Wight series chronicled a history of the Holyrood hauntings. Described the mysterious macabre objects recovered from its hidden room.
Frightened householders related experiences of terrifying noises of furniture moving in the empty attic; and surprising physical assaults to the face. Always a sense of being watched by someone invisible.
A curious collection of objects was found during renovation in the 1970's after this old inn closed doors to the public.
Its new owner discovered a sealed room boarded up and wallpapered over.
Behind the chimney he found a bag of old shoes and a heavily blo.dstained night-gown decorated with Broderie Anglaise needlework. The only other artefacts in the room were a soldier's pillbox hat and a small leather shoe.
To everyone's surprise, the shoe provided a dark tale of a double homicide in the building. A tale that takes us back two centuries.
Story from a Shoe
The shoe was offered into the hands of an Isle of Wight psychic medium for a psychometric reading. During the course of a year a narrative emerged related by its previous owner-wearer, a 13-years-old orphaned French serving girl named Francesca.
She shared the story of her tragedy.
Purchased by the landlord for 3 crowns, set to work as skivvy and serving-wench she lived in the attic. Disturbed most nights by the animal fighting blood sport entertainment she watched through the floorboard gaps.
The psychic medium related how child Francesca suffered a serious assault by a prominent town personage; the owner of a printing business.
Francesca fell pregnant as a result; months later suffered a miscarriage with serious and fatal complications.
But before she passed, when asked, she gasped the name of her abuser.
Newport Horror Story
The story continued, took a tone darker. The printer's close friends feared repercussions if news of this was noticed in Newport, they visited her with extreme prejudice in mind, hastened her end and deposited body in a well in the yard.
Worse followed. They found a useful idiot scapegoat, Ralph the stable boy, for whom Francesca felt affection.
A thug named Pigman h.nged him in the building, partied with his minion gang while Ralph passed, then heaved his corpse into the well with Francesca.
The psychic medium felt confident after relating this story Francesca was free from suffering her beyond-the-grave trauma; and cleared Ralph's name.
The young couple, and the building now were at peace.
Poltergeist Problems Still a Problem
Benedicts Wine Merchant and Delicatessen rented the property. Weeks later, its manageress felt someone watching, someone invisible.
Other residents complained of the same, and worse. A visitor suffered a sharp slap in the face. Gay Baldwin continued with an update on the ongoing issues.
'Shelves of glasses crashed onto the floor,' said the Benedicts manageress reporting the latest fright among the glassery and foodstuffs. Staff quit terrified.
A visiting psychic medium from the mainland agreed to help, asked her personal spirit guides to coral the disruptive entities haunting the building; encourage them to leave.
After that event a witness experienced Francesca and Ralph exit, quite literally the doomed couple's energy waves passed through her as she stood in the exit doorway. The house was cleared of its haunting.
Not quite. Someone supernatural remained, causing trouble. "Odd noises and footsteps still could be heard," confirmed the manageress of the wine merchant.
Were the bodies still in the well the problem?
A Brief History of the Sun
Number 28 is an old house, probably built during a period of boom in Newport. The town population doubled between 1550 and 1650. Its wealth increased from key industries of leather, brewing and biscuit-making.
The town quay upgraded from mud to pavement, as traders sailed from Cowes to provision the fleets of ships in the Solent supplying the Navy and new burgeoning colonies in America. Big money to be made by entrepreneurs like Sir William Hopkins who is first named as resident owner of number 28.
Some suspect it was of such high standard, King Charles I elected to stay in its rooms during the Treaty of Newport.
No one knows when it became a public house but it remained a high-standard hostelry. In 1790 royalty stayed here again. "By its neatness and good accommodation," the Duke of Gloucester and son Prince William slept in its well-appointed haunted rooms.
The building was used for high society events. In 1790 Sir William Heathcote and Mr Chute held a grand supper and ball there. In 1819 and 1820 society events were held in the assembly rooms over the pub.
The Bloodied Gown Mystery
No exact date is given for the double homicide. "More than two centuries ago," said ghost investigator Baldwin, from the 1990s.
County Records office has a list of publicans that date back 200 years that might offer clues to focus the facts and locate Francesca's incident report to a real-time nightmare scenario.
Newport census records confirm a prominent person in the printing trade lived close by at that time. William Yelf.
Alehouse licenses on the Isle of Wight county archives date from 1766 to 1819.
Listed from 1766 Christian Sheath is named as landlord of the Sun. 1769 James Sheath to 1785. Mary Sheath takes over in 1786, but only for that year. In 1787 William Gibbs is listed landlord until 1796, then Robert Hackett 1808 to 1819.
There is no way to assess how any of these people might manage the situation of two corpses in their well; or which of them hid the bloodied gown behind the chimney.
The room itself was hidden behind boards and wallpaper. Renovator Mr Grant also discovered a soldier's Pillbox hat, of British Army issue from the 1860s.
The heavily bl.od-stained gown was found in a hole behind the chimney inside a dusty bundle of rags that contained a collection of old mismatching shoes. The night-gown material was prettily decorated with Broderie Anglaise; needlework style fashionable between 1840 and 1880.
Taken together these clues suggest a time-period of mid to late 1800s when the room was wallpapered over. Why seal the room? No one knows.
A hat, a bunch of shoes and a bl.odied night gown.
Silent evidence to most Newport residents, but in the hands of a psychic who could read their memories, and engage with the departed spirit to whom the shoe and gown belonged. These were crucial recorders of a sort, like an aircraft 'Black Box'.
Exploring the haunted Isle of Wight
Bodies in the Well
Gay Baldwin related the sad conclusion to Francesca's and Ralph's story of doom.
Creeped out by the find, Mr Grant burned the night gown and called in the Fire and Rescue services to explore the well.
Their Team Leader shook head at the objective of searching its depths. 33 feet deep water; old stone lining. Health and safety a priority any exploration or recovery mission was deemed too dangerous. The well was filled with rubble.
No bodies ever were recovered. The only proof of Francesca and Ralph's homicide happened at all is gifted by her shoe.
Will Ralph & Francesca Ever Be Freed?
Will we ever know if the unlucky lovers are down there.
Water quality tests would have given some indication.
There are no reports of public health events associated with water quality at that time; no cases of biological contamination relating to the Sun Inn.
The presence of putrefaction from decomposing bodies would have been reported to senior management in such a high-class establishment.
Decomposition releases chemicals like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. Water turbid and discolored due to the breakdown of body tissues and the release of organic materials. The water would be unsafe to drink; and likely permanently contaminated.
Mains water supply is roughly dated to the mid 1800s. The Sun Inn probably was hooked up early to a good supply. But its well in the yard still was a primary water outlet, and essential fire-risk management priority in a close community of timbered buildings and open flame lighting.
A corpse-contaminated well in the middle of Newport's top-class hostelry would cause a stink in all sorts of ways, not the least of which would be a legal investigation to determine the cause of death and whether foul play was involved.
All cause of death was mandatory reporting from 1837.
There is no such public health event reported during the 1800s. Which means Ralph and Francesca probably are not in the well.
So who is the cause of all the supernatural trouble, if they genuinely have gone?
The Problem with Being Psychic
The accused is trapped by this story, as much as its ghosts.
Owner of a print works in the street, and resident at number 24 from 1816 William Yelf and his preacher brother Robert, both Wesleyans must be considered prime suspects in Francesca's unsolved murder mystery.
Neither is directly named by the psychic but fit the profile and location facts. Both local, successful prominent personages in the town. Robert established schools and preached the word of God. William produced posters and pamphlets.
Did one of the Yelf brothers commit that crime?
The problem with being psychic is certainty.
Ghosts do speak and share memories; and those who value this source of information mostly assume what is said is correct. Spirits must be truthful. The dead do not lie, like the living.
How can we be sure of that?
The only certainties are facts. What is important is how close the testimony fits those facts.
The Gown, the Shoes and the Pillbox Hat
Who wore that hat is anyone's guess; so too its story of how it ended up in the sealed room.
Who wore the gown, saved and hid it? Francesca? Maybe. Why was a 13-years old serving skivvy wearing an expensive high-fashion item of nightwear?
Why hide it behind the chimney, and not burn it or dispose of it is an important forensic question. Fear of discovery?
Perhaps it meant something; maybe it was hidden evidence.
Paranormalists guess the shoes were token objects, like amulets placed around the house to ward off the undead and evil spirits. That sizeable collection suggests a lot of people tried this in the haunted hell house on Holyrood Street.
Island Ghost hunter Margo Williams visited the property during the 1990s.
Since then it is fair to say the Andrew Ross Hair Salon has remained in business longer than anyone else. Maybe the poltergeist problem now is more manageable.
And maybe clues to a different version of number 28's story of the blo.dstained gown can be found among the ghosts she encountered haunting the old Sun Inn.
Holyrood Street hauntings with Margo Williams.
Thank you for your company on this short tour of Isle of Wight mysteries and haunting. If you would like to know more about Margo Williams' investigations in Newport and other royals and rogues, read this book. Now available from Amazon.
