In this episode Will and Mike travel back in time to the early 18th century to examine some diabolical goings on in rural Cambridgeshire in M.R. James’s ‘The Fenstanton Witch‘.

Show notes:

• Story Locations (Monty’s World)
  This story features many real-world locations, starting in King’s College Cambridge, and following Hardman and Ashe up the Huntindon Road (now the A14) past  Lolworth and on to the church at Fenstanton.
• Alchemy! Enlightenment! Revolution!
  … Britain in the late 17th and early 18th centuries had it all.  Mike recommends two books set around Oxford and Cambridge in this period, both with a pleasing mixture of science, swashbuckling and genre fun: An Instance of the Fingerpost, by Iain Pears, and Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson.
• ‘Stories I have tried to write’ by M.R. James (A Podcast to the Curious)
  Although never published in his lifetime, James did mention this story in his essay ‘Stories I have tried to write’, published in 1929. We provided a full reading of the essay back in November 2011.
• ‘A Night in King’s College Chapel’ by M.R. James (Ghosts & Scholars)
  In this episode we mention the only other James story to be set at King’s College, another unpublished story called ‘A Night in King’s College Chapel’.
• Parker’s Piece, Cambridge (Wikipedia)
  James refers to snipe being shot in this city centre park back at the time when this story took place.
• Isaac Newton’s Catflap (Wikipedia)
  In ‘The Fenstanton Witch’ James refers to the popular myth that Sir Isaac Newton invented the cat flap whilst at King’s College Cambridge.
• The Methuen Treaty (Wikipedia)
  James drops a lot of historical details into his description of 18th Century college life. An example of this is his reference to the MEthuen Treaty with Portugal, which included trade regulations that allows wines to be imported from Portugal without tax.
• The Witch of Berkeley (Living the History)
  Thinking of turning to God when your pact with the devil turns sour? Read the story of the Witch of Berkeley first. C.S. Watkins “History and the Supernatural in Medieval England” provides expert commentary on what went wrong for her – and Hardman and Abel. Also, check out this cool illustration of the witch being carried away by a demon!
• 91st Psalm (Biblegateway.com)
  At the moment in their ritual when the demon appears, Hardman is just reading the 91st psalm.
• Sheila Hodgson (suttonelms.org.uk)
  Will first encountered this story in the form of ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’, a 1977 radio play by Sheila Hodgson that was broadcast as part of a series of plays based on the ideas mentioned by M.R. James in ‘Stories I have tried to write’.
• The 17th Century Witchcraft panic in Cambridgeshire (bbc.co.uk)
  It is likely that this story was inspired by the witchcraft hysteria which swept through western Cambridgeshire in the mid 17th century. More information of it’s victims can be found at witching.org, where you can also find an account of the trials written at the time.
• Arthur Gray aka Ingulphus (Ghosts & Scholars)
  Arthur Gray was a contemporary of M.R. James at Cambridge, where Gray was Master of Jesus College. Between 1910 and 1925 he published a number of ghost stories set at Jesus College under the pseudonym ‘Ingulphus’.

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It’s Christmas Special time again! This year Will & Mike look at the one and only M.R. James story actually set during the festive season, ‘The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance’.

This episode also features a Christmas Bonus in the form of an interview with film director Stephen Gray whose new adaptation of ‘A Haunted Doll’s House’ is available to watch online for a limited period only, starting Christmas Eve!

Our reader this week was Peter Ross and the accompanying artwork is by Alisdair Wood.

As mentioned in our interview, Stephen would like our listeners help deciding which story to film next! Please state your preference below.
Show notes

• Story notes by Rosemary Pardoe (Ghosts & Scholars)
  The ever-reliable Ghosts & Scholars website features some useful notes on the more perplexing terms used in this story.
• Punch and Judy (Wikipedia)
  For those unfamiliar with Punch and Judy shows, Wikipedia gives a good explaination of this peculiar form of traditional entertainment.
• Fuseli’s ‘The Nightmare’ (Wikipedia)
  In this story the writer compares Punch’s face to that of ‘the vampyre in Fusili’s foul sketch‘, a reference to the creature in Fuseli’s painting ‘The Nightmare’.
• Bicester, Oxfordshire (Monty’s World)
  Rosemary Pardoe tells us that in the original handwritten manuscript for this story the town called ‘B—‘ in most printed versions is actually given as ‘Bicester’. Bicester is a market town in north Oxfordshire.
• Chrishall, Essex (Monty’s World)
  The first letter in this story is addressed from ‘Great Chrishall’. There is no ‘Great Chrishall’ in the UK, but there is a ‘Chrishall’ and a ‘Great Chishill‘, both near Essex’s border with Cambridgeshire.
• Professor Bert Codman and ‘Toby’ (Punchandjudy.com)
  Mike mentions this fellow in the podcast, one of the famous Codman dynasty of Punch and Judy performers. Apparently Bert died in 1969, just two days after the death of his beloved dog Toby!
• Photos of Bicester (Facebook)
  Will took a trip to Bicester to have a look around the various locations which feature in this story. Photos from the trip can be found at our Facebook page.

The image below shows the King’s Head/Arms inn which features in this story, as it looked in 1885.

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In this episode Mike and Will head up the road to Burford to take a peek inside Speaker Lenthall’s Tomb by M.R. James!

Yes, it is another unpublished M.R. James manuscript fragment this week. The most complete version of this story is available in ‘Curious Warning: The Great Stories of M.R. James’ edited by Stephen Jones.

Show notes

• William Lenthall, 1591 – 1662 (Wikipedia)
  The real Speaker Lenthall was a politician during the English Civil War, famous for standing up for the rights of parliament before King Charles I. For more information see www.parliament.uk
• Oxford Movement (wikipedia)
  This story is set against the backdrop of the work of the Oxford Movement, also known as the ‘Tractarians’, who agitated for religious change within the Church of England in the first half of the 19th century.
• Gothic Revival (wikipedia)
  M.R. James once again uses this story to take a swipe at the followers of the gothic architectural revival, whose renovations of English churches during the 19th century resulted in the destruction of many historic church interiors.
• Burford Church (burfordchurch.org)
  The church that features in this story is St John the Baptist Church in Burford, West Oxfordshire. Check out the 360-degree view from the church tower, which gives a very nice view of the town as it looks today.
• Tanfield Tomb (burfordchurch.org)
  The tomb in this story is based on that of an ancestor of Speaker William Lenthall, Sir Lawrence Tanfield. Like the tomb in the story, it fills up most of the north choir aisle of Burford Church, and largely matches the stories description.
• Burford Priory (wikipedia)
  In the story Mr Cave and his family live in what was originally Burford Priory, now a very fancy private residence. Also see this pdf for images of the Priory as it was at the time of this story.
  Those in the UK can also watch this episode of ‘Time Team’ on 4oD in which they excavate the remains of the priory hospital beneith the front lawn! And finally, how do you link Speaker Lenthall to the phone hacking scandal? Easy!
• More photos on Facebook (facebook.com)
  To see photos taken by Will of Burford Church, the Tanfield/Lenthall tomb and of Burford Priory, head over to our Facebook page.

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