News from today, news from the past

We had some messages of concern this week, as a ‘for sale’ sign appeared outside Betley Court on the narrow verge by the Peace Garden wall. The Brown family can confirm that Betley Court is not up for sale, that its, in fact, one of the houses built in the old walled garden that has gone on the market. The somewhat misleading sign was erected at the end of Court Walk by the agent representing them, without us knowing. We’re not leaving our beloved Betley Court – we have so much yet to do!

Not for Sale!

As the days get longer, work on our scaffold shroud continues, and the burnt-out ruin of Beltey Court is being bandaged up like an Egyptian mummy. Many people in the village have expressed sadness that the house is disappearing under its shroud, coupled with excitement that one day ‘their’ Betley Court will return again. Warm messages like these are very much appreciated, and make the job in hand a little bit easier!

The scaffold wrapnow extends around the front of Betley Court

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I am definitely missing access to library collections during Lockdown 3.0. The Staffordshire County Records, and the William Salt Library, both in Stafford may as well be on the other side of the world, as, for the time being they are very much out of reach. Frustratingly, there was a detail on a garden plan of Betley Court, dated 1858, that I wanted to verify, and, alas I can’t go and look at the original, until we are all able to travel freely again, and our libraries, and historical collections are reopened to the public.

The British Newspaper Archive, online

By chance, another local historian, Adam Craig from the Betley Local History Society shared a brilliant online resource which has filled the library shaped hole in my life. This is the British NewspaperArchive, and for a fee (I purchased a year’s access for £80, but there are weekly and monthly deals for much less) I have unlimited access to their database of British newspaper articles, both local and national. I spent a comfortable Sunday afternoon, in front of a roaring fire at home, reading articles about Betley Court dating back over a hundred years. There were the family notices – birth, deaths and marriages, details of social occasions such as Staffordshire Hunt meets, and garden fundraisers that took place in the grounds. The articles point to a slower pace of life, when news dispersed by print, as fast as rail, or horse and cart could deliver it. These days, the news travels almost instantaneously, as shown when the news that Betley Court was ablaze was broken on Twitter, with witnesses sharing video footage of the fire from their mobile phones long before TV news crews and journalists arrived.

Excerpt from the article

One article caught my eye, because it involved an accident on the Betley Court estate, the nature of which resulted in the story reaching newspapers all over England. It happened in the first weekend of the new year in 1885, on Saturday 5^th January. The festive season must have been gripped by a cold snap, of the kind we experienced earlier this month, as the report notes that Betley Mere, the large sheet of water visible from the Court, had been frozen over for a week. It was thick enough to skate on, and evidently, the Squire at this time, Thomas F. Twemlow turned a blind eye to locals playing there. The article describes that,

“being shaded on one side by a large plantation, and on the other by hills, the ice was not very thick. Skaters had however, ventured on, and though several immersions had taken place, no serious mishap had occurred.” (1)

Three young men, along with others, travelled to Betley Mere for a day’s fun on the ice that Saturday. Henry Shaw, the son of a grocer in Betley; Frank Buckley, who lived in Wrinehill, and Peter Ranicar, a school attendance officer from Crewe had only just ventured on to the ice, no more than thirty yards from the bank, when the ice gave way plunging them into the water. Frank was lucky, and quickly rose to the surface, clambering to safety. Henry slipped under the ice and disappeared. Peter came to the surface, and tried to haul himself onto the ice. Unfortunately, the spot he emerged in was an area where the current runs, and so the ice was only about half an inch thick. Try as he might, he could not rest himself on the ice as it broke away in his grasp. A group of onlookers, including his father-in-law, Mr Wallis, watched helplessly, unable to reach him. Someone ran to the boathouse, about a mile away, to fetch a rope. By the time they returned, Peter had been struggling for half and hour, and even although the rope was thrown to him, he sank, exhausted into the freezing depths.

A picture of Betley Mere on a much more seasonable day. Photo: Duncan Richardson @sbmedia20

The rescuers got a boat onto the lake, and by cutting away the ice were able to recover the two young men’s bodies. The journey back to Crewe must have been a miserable one for Mr Wallis, bearing such sad news to his daughter and her young children. The accident caused ‘much sensation’ in Crewe, where Peter Ranicar was well-known, having been employed by the Corporation for several years. And the accident was sufficiently horrifying, it was reported outside the immediate area, as far as Gloucestershire, out to the east Midlands, to the Lake District, even as far a Edinburgh. I wonder what happened to Mrs Ranicar and ‘her several little children’, and to Frank Buckley, the young lad from Wrinehill? Did he live to a ripe old age, and relate this story to his grandchildren, or choose instead to leave such a traumatic day in the past?

The fish pond in the dingle at Betley Court, iced over during the recent cold snap. Photo: Nigel Brown

136 years later, and a long-forgotten tragedy from a small village comes to light again, all thanks to a newspaper archive!

Keep safe, all best wishes

Ladybird Su

1. Wolverhampton Express and Star, Monday 05 January 1885, extracted from British Newspaper Archive