Show menu

The Minchinhampton Highwayman

Thanks! Share it with your friends!

You disliked this video. Thanks for the feedback!

Added by
97 Views
[You might need to turn up the volume for this one. Recording levels were reduced because of the LOUD bits in this story!]

As so often with folklore, there are many versions of this story. The village of Minchinhampton, near Stroud in Gloucestershire (England), is a lovely old place with twisty streets and buildings of Cotswold stone. There are ancient earthworks across the "common", and you really must drive slowly because cattle roam unfenced.
I genuinely was told this version of the story in the pub in Minchinhampton. And I've heard completely different tales in which Tom Long was a postman [mailman]; or the post was left at the crossroads by the sign known as Tom Long's Post; or Tom was hanged from Tom Long's Post..!?! Take your pick!
A couple of years ago I looked at a cottage to rent in a side street of Minchinhampton: small, dark, full of character (!) - and with a deathtrap cellar which must have been perfect for hiding smuggled goods, in the old days: there was a *huge* empty space underneath the place and I couldn't be comfortable with the idea of it...
As for the smells of cooking and coffee: well, there is (or was) another pub out on the common and it's quite likely that it was the source. Probably.

As always, my thanks to Robert Perry for video and editing, and great tea. I can only progress this part of my #LegacyProject because of his support.
Category
Highway Men
Commenting disabled.

Up Next