All this week we are proud to present you our very own ‘Haunted Guildford’ series from in-house blogger Charli Aisha Harris where spine-chilling stories of haunted folk and places in Guildford are recounted for your displeasure! Learn a little bit more about Guildford’s darker past with spectres, royalty, celebrity and of course plenty of death to share with you. Thought that Guildford was a sleepy market town…? Well think again as we uncover some of the scarier stories from our town’s history.
Tunsgate Arch in Guildford High Street is one of our town’s most regal features. The enormous columns stand tall and proud over the cobbled High Street and its almost Grecian appearance whispers of the centuries of Guildford’s history that the arch has borne witness to.
This dark and terrifying story begins in 1684 with the birth of Christopher Slaughterford. Slaughterford worked hard to gain good prospects and lived with his aunt in Shalford, when he began to court Jane Young after he reached manhood. Miss Young was simply a poor servant girl, but she was considered a fine catch due to her sweet nature and gentle beauty and the two seemed set for a life of happiness. But of course, it was not meant to be.
On October 5, 1708, Slaughterford and Young were walking together through Loseley Park, a perfectly normal activity for a sweet young couple at the time. Slaughterford returned home that evening, but Jane Young did not. People jokingly asked Slaughterford if he had killed her, but the jokes became earnest accusations when, after days had gone past, Miss Young was still nowhere to be seen. Slaughterford proclaimed his innocence, and even took himself before two justices of the peace to clear his name. They sent him home and told him to wait for Miss Young there.
In early November, 1708, Jane Young was finally found. She was lying face down in a sandpit in Loseley Park; her body was severely decomposed, but it was determined that she had been beaten badly and strangled. Of course Christopher Slaughterford was tried for her murder, though he was found innocent and acquitted.
Slaughterford returned to Guildford and began to rebuild his life, and this would prove to be his downfall. Jane Young’s family, though poor, had worked and saved until they finally had enough money for a second trial, a private prosecution by appeal. This time, Slaughterford was found guilty and sentenced to hang by the neck until dead.
Though many urged him to confess, this seemed only to strengthen Slaughterford’s resolve that he had done nothing wrong, he had not killed Jane Young.
On Sunday July 9, gallows were erected in the yard of the Three Tuns, now Tunsgate Arch and Slaughterford was escorted there on the back of a cart. He ascended the gallows, and part of his final deposition read as follows:
Being brought here to die… I thought myself obliged to let the world know… that I know nothing of the death of Jane Young, nor how she came by her death – directly or indirectly. However I freely forgive all my enemies and pray to God to give them a due sense of their errors and in due time to bring the truth to light.
Before the executioner had a chance to remove the ladder and send him to his death, Slaughterford jumped, killing himself before he could be executed. The audience would have no doubt believed this to be the end of the affair.
Two nights later on July 11, Roger Valler, one of Slaughterford’s chief accusers was making his way home which was in close proximity to the spot where Slaughterford had been hanged. Valler, all of a sudden, felt a great chill down the back of his neck, and the terrified man turned to find a truly ungodly sight before him. There stood the spirit of Christopher Slaughterford, holding a flaming torch in one hand with the cut rope around his neck billowing in a non-existent breeze. Slaughterford cried out “Vengeance! Vengeance!” and Valler ran for his life. He was pursued by Slaughterford all the way to his house, whereupon the spectre vanished in a burst of flames as soon as a delirious Valler crossed the threshold of his home.
At the same time as Valler’s awful experience, Christopher Slaughterford was seen again, this time by his former servant, Joseph Lee. Lee was walking along the bottom of the High Street when he saw Slaughterford’s ghost. This time Slaughterford carried a sword and lamented: “Oh cruel Joseph!” three times before vanishing down the Shambles.
The old adage about bad things coming in threes is leant some weight by Christopher Slaughterford appearing for a third time that same night, this last time to his aunt as she was milking the cow. She described her nephew as appearing as solid and real as he had done in real life. He did not speak, he simply pointed to the rope around his neck, tears in his eyes.
Was it a miscarriage of justice? Or was Slaughterford truly the cruel murderer who robbed Miss Young of her short life? We may never know. But what we do know is that the reports of ghostly goings on and strange apparitions in Tunsgate Arch have continued over the centuries. Many report feeling a cold breeze down their neck, much as Valler did. Others report eerie whispers of “Vengeance!” And some even tell of hearing a strange creaking, perhaps like the creaking that a rope would make while a body slowly swung from the gallows. When the moon is high and the air is still, who would be brave enough to chance coming upon this vengeful spirit? And who knows if Slaughterford still seeks to repay the wrongs done to him?
Charli Aisha Harris
With special thanks to Philip Hutchinson, author of Haunted Guildford