In the Assembly Rooms of the King’s Arms Hotel on Thursday afternoon, Mr W. J. Bolam conducted a sale of property, chief among which was that part of the Corporation Estate known as the Corporation Academy, situated between High Street and Bankhill. There had numerous enquiries made regarding this property prior to the sale, and judging from the very large attendance present when the sale opened, there was great interest in the town in regard to its final destination.
BRO 0426-355 Hide Hill, showing the King’s Arms Hotel, Berwick-upon-Tweed
When bids were invited they came readily and the price mounted rapidly. Some of those present at the close of the sale were very much surprised to learn that Mr J. I. cairns had become the owner, as he was seen to leave after bidding up to £2,100, but he secured the lot at £3,150, Mr Hugh Percy, solicitor, having taken up the bidding on his behalf. Mr Cairns also became the owner of the condemned dwelling at 30 Golden Square, which abuts to the rear on the Academy premises, Mr Nelson, Berwick, bidding for it on his behalf.
The conditions of sale were read by the Town Clerk, Mr D. S. Twigg, after which Mr Bolam invited questions upon any point arising in the conditions.
Mr P. M. Henderson – Are we clearly to understand this property comes under Schedule 4?
The Town Clerk – We have the full consent of the various Government Departments who have approved the sale, and so far as I know that is all the consent that is necessary to sell.
Proceeding to sell the property, Mr Bolam said it was a somewhat sad occasion to be met to take part in the selling of the old Academy. The Academy had played an important part in the history of the town. Its pupils had gone to all parts of the world, and generally they had done well wherever they had gone. Circumstances however had arisen which had caused the school to be closed, and much though they might regret selling the old school they could not help it. Times had changed from those of the old days and they found they could not afford to run the school. That was the reason it was being offered. It was a beautiful site, probably the finest site ever offered in Berwick. There are no limitations to its development, and it would indeed make a splendid site for a hotel. A gentleman in the room, he knew, was going to bid for it for that purpose. The area of the site was over 2,000 square yards, and he specially drew the attention of prospective purchasers to the fact that the last plans prepared for the New Bridge showed the road being brought out only a little way below this property. A great many strangers had been making enquiries about the property and he hoped Berwickers would not forget their old fighting spirit, and by bidding keep the strangers out, and secure the site for some local industry. One point which he wished to make clear was that the windows of Bankhill Church Hall which overlooked the playground were only allowed to do so under agreement and they could be closed at the will of the owner.
BRO 1613-44, showing Bank Hill Church
The Bankhill entrance which the Corporation had been paying 1s per year for had now been redeemed, and the purchaser of the property would get uninterrupted passage to Bankhill free. The only thing the site needed was a side entrance, and the lot he would offer later in Golden square would afford an entrance of 30 feet in width. In regard to the reserve price the Corporation was in the hands of the Ministry of Health, who had fixed it. No doubt their reserve would be reached, but he wished to make it clear that they could not deal with anyone after the sale if the reserve was not reached. If they could not effect a sale they must go back to the Ministry for further consent to reduce the reserve price.
THE BIDDING
Offers being invited the lot was started at £1,000, and by bids of £100 it rose rapidly to £3,000, when the ardour of bidders began to cool. At £3,100 bids of £50 were taken, and at £3,150 the hammer fell to Mr Hugh Percy, solicitor, Alnwick, who was bidding for Mr J. I. Cairns.
The freehold premises at 30 Golden square, which were closed by the local Authority as unfit for habitation in 1914 and ordered to be demolished in 1915 ( the latter order however having never been enforced) were then offered. Starting at the modest sum of £5 the price rose to 350, when Mr Jas. Nelson, Berwick, bidding on behalf of Mr Cairns, got the fall of the hammer.
The death of Mr Edward Willoby, which took place at the residence of his sister, Mrs Anderson, Dunbar, at the week-end, removes one of the few old “standards” of Berwick, and also the last of the male line of a family which has been resident in the town since the sixteenth century. Mr Willoby’s health has been steadily failing since the death of his sister last April. He sometime ago disposed of the furnishings of the house in Ravensdowne and went to live with his widowed sister to whom he was very much attached. The end was not altogether unexpected by his more intimate friends.
AN OLD BERWICK FAMILY
Mr Willoby was the second son of the late Mr Edward Willoby, solicitor and Clerk to the Borough and County Magistrates, Guardians and Rural District Council, who died in 1893. His great grandfather was Borough Treasurer in 1763 and Town Clerk in 17765 and 1800, his grandfather, Mr William Willoby, succeeded to the post. Mr Willoby’s mother was a Miss Jane Gray prior to her marriage and he had one brother William, who died in 1885, and two sisters, Miss W. Willoby, who died last year, Mrs Anderson, who still survives. A tablet to this branch of the family was erected in Berwick Parish Church in November last.
Berwick Parish Church (c) John Box
Mr Willoby’s forebears having been Freemen, he, as a boy, attended the Corporation Academy and in after life always maintained a kindly interest in it. He was made a Freeman of the town in July 1866, and from that date was never non-resident until recently.
The Corporation Academy, now The Leaping Salmon public house, Berwick upon Tweed. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
AS ESTATE AGENT
Mr Willoby did not follow the legal profession of his forefathers, but set out on his own as an estate agent soon to cultivate an extensive business. He acted as local estate agent for the Duke of Northumberland and had supervision of the Magdalene Fields. Many will remember how at intervals he used to ride round the fields on horseback examining the fences. He was a great horseman and in connection with his business he used to make long journeys into Northumberland in the saddle. He had charge of the Coupland estate owned by the Culley family and was well-known in Glendale by the tenantry. For long too he has acted for the Askew family, when their estate was more extensive than now, and in the North Northumberland. Mr Askew and he were close friends. He never aspired to municipal honours or anything likely to take his mind off his business and that, no doubt, was the secret of his success as an agent.
A SPORTSMAN
From his earliest boyhood Mr Willoby was keen on sport. He had no particular fancy but if anything he had leanings towards rowing and fox hunting. He was one of the original committee of the Berwick Amateur Rowing Club in 1869 and an active member at the time when William Grey, Thomas Darling, and others trained on occasion late and early and could beat all comers at the regattas. Mr Willoby was most successful rowing in pairs. His brother William, who was also a good oarsman, was a member of the club at this time and between the two of them they won many prizes.
Berwick Rowing Club Boat House. BRO 0426-440
Readers who can take their memory back over twenty years will remember how keenly Mr Willoby followed the Northumberland and Berwickshire Hunt. If a meet was within riding distance of Berwick, he attended it in blue coat and white buckskin breeches. To see Mr Willoby coming up Hide Hill to his stables at the top of Woolmarket after the hunt, the horse tired and mudstained was as familiar a sight twenty years ago, as the old King’s Arms bus. He liked a gallop in the afternoons of summer days out by the Murton and Unthanks way.
Copsay Hall, I am told, was just over one hundred years ago as picturesque a dwelling as one could see in the district, and was enclosed in a finely wooded glen at the foot of Copsay Hill, hard by the turnpike road leading from Lowick to Kyloe. It was a low ramified building; the walls were of extraordinary thickness- especially the east and west gables- and the roofs were covered with heather. The proprietor- or perhaps, more correctly speaking, the proprietrix- was a well-to-do lady named Catherine Copsay. Her husband was the heir of the Heddon family of Forest House, who adopted the name of Copsay on his marriage with Catherine of Copsay, as that lady was familiarly called. He was a madcap, who devoted most of his time to such pursuits as hunting, badger-baiting, cocking, dog-fighting, and card playing, and as well known in the district by the appellation of Hair-brained Dick.
LOWICK Ref: BRO 0515-163
The Copsays were devoted adherents to the Old Creed, and Catherine of Copsay was no less ardent in her support of that faith than her predecessors had been; whilst the Heddons espoused the Protestant Faith. A feud had existed between the two families for over three hundred years; therefore much surprise was expressed at the union of the House of Copsay with the neighbouring House of Heddon.
Previous to the union, and greatly against the wish of the Heddons, Richard Heddon espoused the Faith of Rome; he also gave up his wild habits and severed his associations with his hair-brained companions. However, after his marriage, he gradually cast aside his regard for religion and resumed his wild pursuits in a more wanton manner, and soon again he drew around himself a coterie of profligates. His wife was deeply grieved, for she saw to her sorrow the evil influence those wanton habits were having upon her young step-brother. Leonard, whose home was also at Copsay Hall, but all remonstrations they laughed to scorn. Such then was the course Richard Copsay pursued for ten years after his marriage, when an incident occurred which entirely changed the trend of his afterlife.
Before proceedings further, I must explain the tragic occurrence that caused the feud of long-standing between the two families, for on the affair hangs the sequel to my narrative. Sometime about the beginning of the sixteenth century the heir of Copsay was known in the district as Black Ralph of Copsay. He was a tall, tithe, dark-complexioned youth of a very amiable disposition, and had long sought the hand and heart of a daughter of the House of Hetton; but he had a rival in the person of the heir of Heddon, who was very wroth when the heir of Copsay became the affianced husband of the Beauty of Hetton, as the damsel was called. One night, at a party at Kyloe, the heir of Heddon evinced his displeasure at the presence of Black Ralph, high words were exchanged, and the rival lovers would have come to blows but for the timely intervention of some friends. Frustrated of his revenge, the heir of Heddon used some ugly threats, and on receiving a hint from the host left the party. Black Ralph left shortly after midnight; and, as was his custom on such occasions, he made to enter his home by a subterranean passage that entered the house underneath the east gable. When he had come to the small-arched chamber in the gable he was treacherously attacked and stabbed with a dagger, his assailant making his escape. In the morning a retainer heard a moaning sound proceeding from the secret chamber in the gable; quickly removing a panel in the wainscoting he entered the chamber and found his young master lying in a pool of blood. He called for assistance, and Black Ralph was got into the room and laid on a couch. The injured man only survived the removal a few minutes, and the only words he faintly uttered were: “Henry of Heddon.” The dastardly acct was not proved on the heir of Heddon, but he made a confession on his death-bed four years after he had committed the act, and all intercourse between the two families then ceased.
OS Map 1 INCH 1st Edition SHEET 4
Like many other houses belonging to that period, Copsay Hall was said to have its haunted chamber and ghost. The ghost was said to be the disembodied spirit of Black Ralph of Copsay, which nightly entered the subterranean passage shortly after midnight and moaned in the secret chamber. Those nightly wanderings of spirit had continued down to the time when Ralph, the grandfather of Catherine, made some alterations at Copsay Hall, and had the subterranean passage and secret chamber securely closed up. From that time the spirit had neither been heard nor seen, and the good people of Copsay had long concluded that the spectre had been banished from the place, but that they had deceived themselves the following will show:-
One Saturday afternoon in August, and just a few days after the tenth anniversary of his marriage, Richard Copsay entertained a number of his associates to an exhibition of badger-baiting, dog and cock fighting in the cockpit a short distance down the glen from Copsay Hall. A motley gathering of the leading fanciers from the neighbouring villages had brought their dogs and cocks to take part in the afternoon’s programme. Among the house party at Copsay Hall was a Roman Catholic priest, a cousin to Catherine of Copsay, who was officiating pro tem at the Chapel of Our Lady and St. Cuthbert. Father Brock was nown to be keen on such sport, and was appointed judge of the combats. Before a start was made with the events, and at intervals during the proceedings, the retainers of the host went round the gathering with flagons of home brewed ale, and soon the “crow of the victor” was drowned with the boisterous revelry around the cockpit.
The shades of evening were falling ere the hypaethral festivities were brought to a close, and after the noisy fanciers had departed, the host led those of his select companions, who seemed in no hurry to depart, to the parlour, where card-playing was indulged in. The punch-bowl was passed frequently around and the spirits of the players rose and fell with the undulations of their luck. The grandfather’s clock in the hall had chimed the hour of midnight; but still the card-playing and nocturnal revelry was continued. Catherine of Copsay came from another room and reminded the party that it was Sunday morning. “Cathy.” Said her husband, “Good Father Brock is with us, and when he gives up we shall reitre.”
“I am grieved to think that such a thing is taking place in my house on a Sunday morning; and, above all.” She said, rebukingly, “that Father Brock should be so willingly acquiescing. Such conduct.” She added, as she turned to leave the room, “ is enough to bring back the spirit of Black Ralph.”
“Black Ralph, indeed,” repeated her husband with sarcasm, an then in suaver tones he added, “Cathy, I never thought that you were given to superstitious ideas, but rest assured that should that ancient relative of yours favour us with a visit, I will graciously invite him to have a hand.”
“Father Brock, do you believe in ghosts and apparitions?” one of the party asked as the cards were being re-dealt.
“I don’t.” replied the worthy father. “When apparitions are followed up they are generally the superstitious beliefs of nervous and emotional persons, who imagine such things and then brood over their fancies until they believe then to be real. Since I came here I have heard much about spirits, ghosts, hob-goblins and such like spectral appearances. Being a descendant of the House of Copsay, I have, of course, long known the legend of Black Ralph of Copsay; but three days ago I heard for the first time the stories about the Spirit of Offa frequenting Kyloe Wood, the Bogle of Bogle House, the White Lady of Fenwick Wood, the White Hare of Barmoor, the White Calf of Slainsfield, the Witches of Goswick, the Lanthorne of Ladythorne, the Phantom Carriage of Broomhouse, and the Nun of Haggerston. No further gone than Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights I walked around the Bogle House to the spot where the Bogle appears; thence through Kyloe Wood, where the Spirit of Offa is said to roam at midnight; then down to Fenwick Wood, and along the Lady’s Walk, where the spectral lady is said to glide, but never a ghost nor spirit did I hear, see or feel.”
“Nor have I ever seen aught of the White Lady of Fenwick Wood, although I have passed that way hundreds of times at all hours of the night,” said Frank Middleton.
“Rev. Cousin,” said Ricard of Copsay, “I’m proud to think that you are a strong-nerved person like myself”; and, turning to his brother-in-law, he asked him to pass the punch-bowl around so that all might fill their glasses and drink to the confusion of the spectral group Father Brock had named.
The glasses were re-filled and the host raised his glass and gave the toast – “The confusion of all spirits, ghosts, bogles and hobgoblins in the Kingdom.”
The glasses clinked, “The confusion of all spirits, ghosts, bogles and hobgoblins, “ responded the party.
“Hark!” was the general exclamation as all turned and looked in the direction where the portrait of Black Ralph hung against the east gable, from whence a peculiar knocking sound was coming.
“Can it be the Spirit of Black Ralph?” several remarked uneasily.
“The Spirit of Black Ralph; forsooth, it is only rats that have found their way from the subterranean passage and have got behind the wainscoting,” said Richard of Copsay. He went and knocked on a panel and the knocking behind suddenly ceased. “I must have this attended to or the household will soon become alarmed should those brutes continue in there.”
“I told you.” Said Father Brock, “ that such occurrences come to naught when followed up.”
The party re-seated themselves around the large round table, and ahd resumed the game when there was a crash of falling glass. All looked towards the window as a tall, dark gentlemen stepped into the room and came towards them. “ Seize the intruder!” said Richard of Copsay, as he rose to intercept him. No one, however, seemed to have the power to lay hands on the stranger, who silently regarded them for a few seconds.
“Holy Mother! It is Black Ralph!” exclaimed Father Brock, and swooned.
The candles were extinguished and the cards taken from the hands of the players. “My deal,” said the spectre and vanished.
