THE ROMANCE OF THE RAILWAY
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Ely From The Train by Ian Scott Massie

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Original Watercolour
20" x 16" Mounted size - 15" x 11" Image size
Available: framed @ £595, unframed @ £545
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As the train passes Huntingdon a passenger may detect a chilly air emanating from the old house just to the west of the line. Hinchingbrooke House was built around the remnants of an 11th century abbey, It is said that a nun from the convent there had a love affair with a monk - a popular legend found all over the country but at Hinchingbrooke there is a twist in the telling. The nun and the monk were executed for their sinning. This pair, however, weren’t going to take death and burial lying down.​

After the Reformation, the nunnery came into the hands of Oliver Cromwell’s great grandfather and Thomas Cromwell’s nephew Richard Cromwell. Richard’s son built the house and, over the years, the abbey pretty much disappeared, but not the doomed lovers.
While altering a staircase in 1834 two skeletons were discovered by builders. One was male and one a (possibly pregnant) female - dated to around 1,000 AD. Judging from the excellent state of their teeth, and their burial in stone coffins, the two were judged to be of high status. Were they the unfortunate lovers?

Spectral sightings of the pair have included a nun who steps in front of drivers on the nearby bridge over Alconbury Brook. (A trio of ghostly crashed cars sometimes appear there, burning silently). There have also been visions of a monk with a ghostly dog, and various apparitions of nuns.

All of this activity is happening around the sixth form department of a school - the house’s function since the 1970s. It was decided to capitalise on the house’s  spooky assets and occasionally it becomes an acclaimed attraction: The Horror at Hinchingbrooke House. Be afraid, be very afraid….

How it would look on your wall

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