Great Staughton is an interesting little village - or rather two
little villages. It starts with a small huddle of old houses -
including a small manor, centred around a fine old church beside a
river. Once you cross the river you find yourself heading into a
longer straight section of village, a "ribbon" development
known as Staughton Highway.
 Great Staughton Church, seen from the far side of the river |
The Church in Great Staughton itself is, however, well worth
looking at - and not just because - unusually in these parts, it
has the more traditional square tower. No, the reason is that
Great Staughton Church has a historical importance of its own. For it was here, in 1646, that the Puritan Reverend John Gaule preached against the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, and started the nationwide revulsion of feeling that led to the ending of the witch trials in Great Britain. |
Gaule also wrote an influential pamphlet on the subject, entitled
Select Cases of Conscience towards Witches and Witchcraft
- which was an exposé of Hopkins' dubious methods of torturing
and tricking confessions of witchcraft out of his victims. Gaule went
so far as to hint that Hopkins himself was a witch.
Anyway, from Great Staughton I drove on to the ribbon development of
Staughton Highway. Most villages that follow this pattern tend to be
modern development, but Staughton Highway is a much older
establishment - although very clearly linked with Great Staughton. The
latter has the church, and the former has the inn.
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It was here that I found what I had been hoping to find in
Little Staughton, a proper coaching inn. If you look at the
entrance, you can see the arch leading through to the courtyard
where the coaches would once have drawn up. The thing that always surprises me, is how small these gateways
appear. As you can see from the photo, the gateway is very little
wider than a modern car. |
 The White Hart in Staughton Highway |
After this, I drove up to explore the town of Kimbolton. In my
memory, there were reasons why Kimbolton was something of a problem
within the novel, and as soon as I drove past the wall of Kimbolton
Castle and pulled into the main street, I saw what those reasons were.
The first thing that one cannot avoid noticing is the gates of
Kimbolton Castle which are at the head of the main street..
 Gates of Kimbolton Castle, Kimbolton |
These gates were designed by John Vanburgh - and they are
enormous! The gatehouse complex is roughly the same size as the
gatehouse he also designed (in association with Nicholas
Hawksmoor) at Blenheim; it is astonishing that anyone staying in
the town would fail to remark on the gates - let alone the castle
that lies behind them. Yet in Sprig Muslin, the
house is mentioned casually in passing. The gatehouse - and the
Castle - were certainly there when Sir Gareth and Amanda passed;
Vanburgh's dates are 1664 - 1726. |
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In case you are interested, this is the frontage of Kimbolton
Castle, usually hidden from the road. Obviously, the Castle has
changed since Katherine of Aragon died there - being rebuilt by
Vanburgh a century and a half later. But this is the same Castle
that would have existed in the days of Sprig Muslin. The castle is now Kimbolton School. You can find out more about
it, and see more pictures, by visiting the
Kimbolton
School site on the web. |
 The Front of Kimbolton Castle photo from Kimbolton School site |
However, it was not just the fact that this enormous house on the
doorstep - as it were - of the inn that caused problems. In addition,
there was not just one inn, but two in the main street. In the novel,
it says:
There was only one posting-house in Kimbolton, and that a small
and old-fashioned building. It did not hold much promise of any
extraordinary degree of comfort, but it possessed one feature which
instantly recommended it to Sir Gareth. As he drew up before it, and
ran a critical eye over it, he saw that its windows were all small
casements.
In addition this posting inn is called The White Lion.
These details fitted with neither of the inns in Kimbolton, despite
the fact that both appear to be of sufficient antiquity to have
existed in Regency times.
 The Saddle, Kimbolton |
The smaller one is The Saddle. This could have
been a small coaching inn originally, and the name was certainly
connected with horses! Yet I wondered if it gained its name
because it was a favoured haunt of the grooms (and possibly hunt
workers) from the Castle. With the town so very close, it was
possible that they chose to drink there rather than in the Castle. |
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The other inn is larger - The New Sun Inn. This
could perhaps more plausibly have been a posting house with horses
for hire - the large windows on the left could have been the
original archway that would have led to the courtyard. Once again,
the windows (casements) seem a little large for the description -
but they may well have been smaller in Regency times, when Pitt's
notorious "window tax" dictated that windows were kept
as small as possible! |
 The New Sun Inn, Kimbolton |
So, all in all, it was possible that The New Sun Inn
was the same as The White Lion - but I must admit that
by now I was feeling discouraged. So few things seemed to fit with
Sprig Muslin that I was seriously beginning to wonder
if Georgette Heyer had taken the whole thing out of a gazetteer.
It was in this mood that I set out for my last halt - Bythorne ...
and there my luck changed.
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