Bridgnorth author tells us the grisly true tale of a death in town that made national news

Shropshire Star

Was it an accident or was it murder. We talk to an author about her new book based on real events at a Bridgnorth property.

Transcript

00:00So we're here in Bridge North at Seven House with author Emma. Emma Woodhouse.

00:05Hello Emma. Emma, this is your new book Mercy and it relates to this house here.

00:12Former warehouse, former B&B, now a private property. This house has got a

00:18story to tell I believe. It certainly has, yes. Well shall we go inside and find out

00:22more. Lead the way. Let's go. A story of death. Was it murder? Was it accidental death? We shall find out.

00:42Emma, tell us about this story then and Mercy, the title of your book, but an intriguing lady.

00:48A very intriguing lady. So Mercy Newton lived and worked in this house and in 1848

00:55there was an occurrence that made her nationally notorious. So it was December, you can imagine

01:02the river flooding, bit of a stormy, very dark night and the house was found full of smoke by the other

01:09maid that worked here. And Mercy's mother was found on the brew house steps, charred and she'd been

01:17stabbed by a fork. Her nose had been flattened and Mercy was arrested and sent to the local jail.

01:26So the plot thickens. So Mercy was like a housemate here then, yeah? So Mercy was like the housekeeper

01:33here. So Richard Dyer lived here. He was confined to his bed, very poorly man, older man and Mercy kept

01:41house here. And the family, the Dyer family had some money. Mr Dyer's brother lived at Morville Hall,

01:48is that right? Yes, so his brother John lived at Morville and Mercy had worked for John up until

01:52John's death. And he'd obviously put a good word in with his brother Richard so that when John died,

01:57Mercy came here to look after his brother. So Mercy was due to inherit some money off her mother,

02:04is that right? That's right. So she knew that her mother had £500 in the bank and her mother was

02:10only allowed to touch the interest as well. And Mercy had coveted this money all her life. She'd had

02:15some horrific arguments with her mother over the money and how her mother had kept her out of her

02:19money for too long was one of her phrases. And Mercy wanted that cash. And £500 back then,

02:26we're looking at, you know, £60,000 plus, aren't we? We are. And so her mother, Mercy's mother,

02:33her name was? Anne. So Anne did used to come to the house, didn't she, and see her daughter.

02:39And there were reports that her and her mother had a very volatile relationship. Yeah, massively

02:44volatile. So Mary the maid had watched them on occasion have a set too. And for example,

02:49on one occasion, Mercy had jumped onto her mother and forced a handkerchief down her throat.

02:54Yeah. Other people around the town knew of their kind of volatile relationship as well. So it was,

03:00it was quite well known. And Anne had actually been asked not to come to the house by Richard

03:04Dyer's nephew because of what could happen when the two fell out. So Anne did come on that night.

03:11The other maid was upstairs, she used to sleep in Mr. Dyer's room to look after him because he was a

03:18cripple and only so much he could do for himself. So just talk us through that relationship between

03:25Mercy and Mr. Dyer. I understand at one point she even had said that they'd been married.

03:32She did. So they went off to Buxton to take the water because he was so poorly. And when she came

03:38back, she did spread a rumour that he'd married her. Yeah. It was quickly found not to be true,

03:42but that was, that was one of her schemes. So yeah, so I guess what we can take from that in this story

03:50is that she wasn't afraid to try a big, you know, to bend the truth or let's, let's, let's be blunt.

03:56She wasn't afraid to lie and you know, yeah. Yeah. She was not going to accept poverty,

04:01essentially. She wanted a lifestyle. So that night there was the maid upstairs who was looking

04:10after Mr. Dyer. She'd heard a noise in the house, hadn't she? She'd heard a noise down in the kitchen

04:14and Mercy was down in the kitchen with her mother. And so Mary the maid crept down to have a bit of a

04:20listen. Didn't hear any more sort of falling out. So she went off back to bed and she was woken up in

04:27the early hours by Richard Dyer making a bit of a noise. And she looked around the room full of smoke

04:33and threw open the window, ran around to try to find Mercy, tried to find her mother, couldn't see

04:38either of them. So she ran down the street to get Richard Dyer's nephew to come and help.

04:43And then a discovery was made in the old brew house where she, can you take us to where the brew house was?

04:49This was the kitchen where Mercy and her mother spent that fated evening.

04:53And if you'd like to follow me, we'll go through to the brew house.

04:58So this is where the body was found, just through here in the brew house.

05:06So, the story continues. So, so what happened? You know, we don't know if Mercy has killed her

05:14mother. Her mother's been found dead. The body's charred. What, what do we, what do we think then?

05:21So she was, presumably she was arrested. She was arrested. She was arrested and taken to the local

05:27jail cells, which were just in the high town at the top. Yeah, which I've learned something new there.

05:32So if you're used to that car park guys, where they, they have the market, there's an old little cottage

05:37there. And, um, the back of there is some jail cells. And she was, two little cells in a little

05:42yard at the back there. And she was held there. And the people, the local people wanted to see

05:46her hanged. They all believed that she did it at the time. Yeah.

05:48Um, she was, uh, given the coroner's inquiry at the town hall. Um, and they, they discovered various

05:55things. I mean, her mother used to smoke a pipe and her mother had set herself alight twice in the

05:59past while smoking a pipe in bed. So there was enough doubt, um, there to get people talking.

06:06Um, and the jury in the end, one of the jury members was so poorly, they had to sort of cause it

06:11anyway. And she was sent off to Shrewsbury prison to await the assizes.

06:18But it's fair to say, um, the plot thickens with some, um, flammable liquid that maybe,

06:26maybe went amiss. Um, and Mercy, um, she, she lived in Bridge North all her life, did she?

06:36She did. Yeah. Yeah. So like you say, initially there was those calls for, for her to be hung.

06:43But then there was some evidence that over time, certainly a certain portion of the community,

06:50um, started perhaps to believe that she was innocent.

06:53And I think after a while people decided that she had been held for long enough

06:58and she had not been found guilty. And then a number of about 220 men of standing created a

07:03position to ask for her release.

07:06And, um, yeah, the plot thickens really. Did she ultimately get found guilty and get dragged

07:13back into that cell? Or did she live a life out in Bridge North? And you know, where did she live?

07:18Where did she return to? If you want to find out, you've got to get the book.

07:23We're not going to give it all away guys. I mean, that's, um, it's fascinating. So Emma,

07:28a little bit about yourself. This isn't your first book, is it?

07:30No, this is number four. Yeah. And, uh, the, the first two you did were fiction.

07:36Fiction, yeah. And the last one, what was, that sounds quite interesting. What was that about?

07:40So the last book, the third book, so the book before this one, is another true crime, um, novel.

07:47It's about the life of a, um, gangster called, uh, Mary Carr, who was the leader of a gang in London

07:53in the 1890s. Would that have been unusual for a lady to have been a leader of a gang?

07:58You'd think so, but there were lots of gangs. When you look into gang history,

08:02there were so many gangs, and some of them had women in them, some of them had men. She was

08:08much more successful than many women. Yeah. Um, but there were, there were plenty of women criminals

08:14in London at that point. Yeah. And what's that other book called then?

08:17So that other book is called Mary Queen of the Forty. Wow. So any plans for what you might be working

08:24on next? Yeah. So I've got a nonfiction book coming out of Pen and Sword Books in January,

08:29which is about Mary Carr, the, the Victorian gang boss. Oh, wow. Fantastic.

08:34And that's nonfiction. And I've signed a contract for two more nonfiction with them after that.

08:37Yeah. Yeah. So you're, um, you're a Shropshire girl and you now live in the town yourself,

08:43Bridge North. Um, I guess, I guess part of that draw to live and move to a town like this is,

08:50is all those stories that are just, it's just under the surface, just waiting to be,

08:56you know, brought out to the imagination again. It's got a fascinating rich history, Bridge North.

09:01Yeah. Yeah. So is there any more Bridge North, um, or Shropshire, even kind of crime stories that you,

09:08you think are there and, you know, getting lost in the bowels of time and then you want to bring

09:12back to life? So I have written another novel. I'm just going to see if it, if it gets published

09:18and it's about a lady from Much Wenlock. Wow. Is that a crime story? It is a crime story.

09:22Are we able to say, what are we talking, a murder or a fraud? We're talking about a murder, yeah.

09:28Wow. From Much Wenlock. From Much Wenlock, yeah.

09:32I'm intrigued now. I'm intrigued. I don't want to say too much about it.

09:35Yeah, of course, of course. Well, let's hope that one does come to fruition and, um, and

09:41please get in touch with us again if it does say. So Emma, we're just about to leave, um,

09:43Seven House. Formerly known as... The Watering. The Watering.

09:47And I've called it The Watering in the book because there are other houses with similar names,

09:51didn't want them to be confused. Also didn't really want people coming and staring at somebody's house.

09:56Yeah. Well, I guess we should say at this point, um, that the lovely owner, Fran, she's, um, intrigued

10:03by the story. She didn't know about it and she's well on board and fascinated herself.

10:08And she's been so welcoming and just so lovely and I can't thank her enough.

10:11Yeah. Yeah, I can't believe how lovely she's been about it all.

10:14So thank you, Fran. Thank you, Fran.

10:16Did you, do you think that Mercy was a murderer?

10:20I would prefer not to give my opinion. What I would love is for other people to give me

10:28their opinions. So if you read the book, it would be really wonderful for me if you get

10:33in touch with me on my social media. You can find me on most social media, um, platforms and,

10:38and let me know what you think.

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