A “haunted” murder stone put in place in memory of a Papplewick teenager has a tragic story behind it after the 17-year-old was beaten to death by Charles Rotherham more than 200 years ago.
Largely forgotten in the undergrowth on the A60 Nottingham Road near Harlow Wood, this simple stone was erected in 1819 by the shocked residents in response to the murder of 17-year-old Elizabeth “Bessie” Sheppard.
Elizabeth lived in the rural village of Papplewick. She was walking along the Nottingham Road travelling to Mansfield looking for work. Its possible that she intended staying there until she found a job or possibly had just enjoyed herself there, but either way she stayed overnight.
Being successful in finding a job, the following morning she started the long walk home, past Harlow Wood. At the bottom of the hill near the bend in the road she disturbed a man who was sleeping under a hedge at the side of the road. He had been drinking in the nearby Hutt public house.Without any warning the man hit the poor girl on the left side of her head knocking Bessie senseless and sending her spinning to the ground. Finding no money on the girl, he untied her shoes and also stole her yellow umbrella that she was carrying.
After throwing the body into the ditch by the roadside, he returned to the Hutt, where he failed to sell his stolen goods. He then continued to head south towards Nottingham, stopping at the Seven Mile Inn to try and sell the shoes. Being unsuccessful, The killer continued on to the Three Crowns Inn at Redhill, where he did manage to sell the shoes and also left without the umbrella.
The man was later identified as one Charles Rotherham, a 33-year-old scissor grinder from Sheffield.
Sheppard’s body was found by some quarrymen who were travelling along past the spot. They also found the murder weapon which was a blood stained hedge stake.
The body was taken to Sutton for an inquest that lasted two days.
Bessie was then buried in Papplewick Churchyard.
After leaving such a clear trail, the police and the public knew who to look for and Constable Benjamin Barnes duly arrested Charles Rotherham. near Loughborough. The officer had to fend off an angry crowd who wanted to impose their own justice. Constable Barnes took Charles Rotherham back to the scene of the crime where he admitted everything, but the motive to this day is still unclear. Bessie Sheppard was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It was said at the trial that Charles Rotherham had spent eight years in the army, which probably included many years of the fighting against Napoleon and France. He could possibly have also been at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. His time in the army may have dulled his sense of decency, which today would have been diagnosed with PTSD.
Rotherham was found guilty of murder and on Monday, July 28, 1817 there was a public execution by hanging in Nottingham. A penny dreadful was produced telling the whole story in much more detail and you can find a copy in the Mansfield Museum.
It was a man by the name of Anthony Buckles who started a collection to raise money to pay for the memorial stone and site the monument that we see today on Nottingham Road.
In 1960 the road was widened and the stone moved slightly, and another more permanent inscription added to the opposite side.
Ghostly sightings
There have been numerous stories about the ghost of Bessie Sheppard in the vicinity of the monument. Motorists have stopped to give a lift to a girl who then disappeared.
Bessie is also said to appear every time the stone is disturbed. The A60 Nottingham Road was widened in the 1930s and the stone was moved back several feet. An eerie figure was seen loitering around the spot where the stone used to be for a number of days afterward. Similar sightings were reported 20 years later after the stone was hit by a car.
The ghost of Sheppard was also seen many times by staff on the wards of the old Harlow Wood hospital, which is now closed.
In 1988 the police were called to Bessie Sheppard’s grave in Papplewick because vandals had removed the gravestone. To publicise the incident police officers and a photographer visited the stone on the A60. monument. Whilst they were there being photographed touching the stone, one of the officers had a revelation and immediately returned to Papplewick and located the missing gravestone buried in vegetation 200 feet away from the grave and returned to its original site. The headstone was later removed to keep the location of the grave secret.
