Page 19 - Oundle Life August 2021

need for unsightly cables and telegraph poles.
I have passed the mill on the Oundle to Polebrook road hundreds of times and I never knew just how ground-breaking its role had been in sustainably generating electricity for the Ashton Estate. But it’s not the only ‘unusual’ aspect of Ashton I learned this week.
Records show that in 1971 the main house was reduced in height by Claud Phillimore who had made a name for himself in post-
war cash-strapped Britain by reducing the
size of country mansions to more affordable proportions. However, local folklore has it that the owners believed the top floor to be haunted and by lowering the roof they hoped to isolate the problem.
On the subject of ghostly goings-on, other local folklore suggests that the woodsheds – which were used as a dancehall during WWII – are also haunted by the ghost of an airman who watches over the woodmen at their saws. And then perhaps most famously, West Lodge is colloquially known as ‘Murder Cottage’
following an unsolved double-
murder in 1952 when a husband and wife were beaten to death with a hammer
by an unknown intruder.
If you fancy a wander over to Ashton there
are many lovely walks along the Nene and there’s a cracking local pub in The Chequered Skipper. Listen carefully as you walk though, if the breeze is gently blowing from Polebrook, you may even hear the ghostly sound of four turbo-prop engines on a WWII Boeing B-17C Flying Fortress as it taxis down the long-since disused Polebrook Airfield.
Joe Croser, first studied architecture in Oxford, and later completed postgrad research into historic buildings in Cambridge. Today he leads Oundle Architecture with a particular
focus on residential design and historic building conservation and refurbishment. www.oundlearchitecture.com
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