After World War 2, a Colonel Haywill acquired Burpham Place, which is now the Burpham Country House Hotel and Restaurant. It had been commandeered during the war, as many large buildings were in the south of England, and was home for some of the pilots stationed at RAF Tangmere, one of the most famous of the Battle of Britain airfields. The Colonel renamed it Burpham Downs, and, after renovations, opened it as a Bed and Breakfast Hotel. It has 23 guestrooms. The kitchen area dated from the 12th century, but the main part of the building had been built at various times and it had previously been renovated to put a new front facade on it to make it look like it was all built at the same time. During the renovations they discovered an old well that had been boarded up in the front lawn. On opening the well they found the skeleton of a man in armor and the skeleton of a horse. The man had been dead 400/500 years. When they took out the center stairway they found a bricked up area. When they knocked down the bricks to open the area they found a steamer trunk with a woman's body in it. The coroner said she had been dead over 100 years.
In the early part of the century a girl completely disappeared from the village of Burpham, and though every effort was made to trace her, no clue was ever found. The girl was French and lived at the Manor House owned by Squire Goble, and was governess to his three little daughters. The Squire had a house at Chichester, which he used in the summer, coming to Burpham for the hunting season, and kept his own pack of foxhounds there. The remains of the wall of the kennels can still be seen and large elm trees, blown down about 50 years ago, contained large iron spikes where pieces of horsemeat were hung to feed the pack. The trees were known as the Rookery.
Madam Goble was fond of the attractive French girl and conversed with her in French. One September evening, soon after their return to Burpham for the hunting season, the girl said, "the children are all asleep, madam. May I go for a walk?" "Certainly" was the reply. Late that evening, when she had not returned, a search was made. Two people had seen her walking towards the Downs, but after that she was never seen again.
One cannot rule out the possibility that the Arun had not claimed another victim, as there had been many drowning accidents at this time near Burpham, the worst being when seven Arundel men from one boat were drowned. There are seven fir trees just outside the churchyard in their memory.
The mystery of the girl who disappeared was just before the arrival of Mr. Foster, the Vicar in 1845; he does allude to it in his notes. In the thatched cottage adjoining the house from where the girl walked out on that fateful night lived a family. The wife was born in the house and reared 14 children there, and lived to a great age. Every September she used to say, "Madam Goble walks," but would never say more, or why.
The Squire seemed able to do what he liked, with no one to reprimand him. On occasions he had dinner parties for men guests. When they left in the small hours on horseback the Squire would see them off and blow his hunting horn and hulloa. This would rouse the pack nearby, and the whole village. The noise was "enough to waken the dead" said the old vicar. *
I wonder if there is a connection between these two stories, and if the missing governess is the skeleton in the trunk.!!!!
Published in Volume 6, Issue 2, June 1999 of The Goble Family Newsletter.
In our #2 English Lines database there is a James Goble (1726 - 1771) who was known to be "Squire Goble."
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