Peak Experience

Picture of St Lawrence the Martyr Church, Rushton Spencer  Picture of Murder Stone of Thomas Meakyn at Rushton Spencer  Picture of ghost of murdered maid

 

Visit the church of St Lawrence the Martyr, to see the Murder Stone of Thomas Meakyn, who was buried alive in 1781.  

 

Young Thomas left his native village of Rushton Spencer to look after horses.  He made friends with his master’s daughter but tried to reject her advances.

 

The master discovered the friendship and that his daughter was doing the running.  Then Thomas died suddenly after a very brief illness and was quickly buried in St Michael’s churchyard in Stone.  Many people became suspicious especially since his former employer was a chemist.  But no crime could be proved.  However, a pony Thomas had cared for went to his master’s grave, began to scrape away the earth and kept returning.  This increased suspicion and a year later it was decided to have an official exhumation.  When the coffin lid was removed the body was revealed face down – it had been buried face up.

 

An official report suggested that Thomas had been buried whilst under the influence of a powerful drug that gave the appearance of death, and had been buried while he was still alive.  With no evidence the murderer was allowed to go free.

 

Thomas’s remains were taken to Rushton Spencer to be reinterred.

 

The Church of St Lawrence the Martyr is thought to be the site of a pagan temple and a hob hurst’s house. Rushton is said to be named after the ‘the hill of the spirits’.  The temple site has a small spring supposed to have been used for baptismal water when the people became Christian.  An ancient stone still stands here and another was rolled away and has now disappeared.

An unlucky servant girl was murdered by her mistress in the 1800s.  The mistress was guilty but was not tried due to a technicality.  However, justice was done as she never had any peace.  Every night the murdered girl’s ghost came to her bedside, and she never slept before cock-crow in the morning.  Twelve clergymen were asked to ‘lay’ the ghost quietly on Cloudside hill.  Henceforth it appeared only as a phantom, a dim blue light often pointed out by coachmen to night travellers.

 

Cloud is a Celtic word peculiar to North Staffordshire meaning hill or mountain.

 

Rushton Spencer is off the A523 between Macclesfield and Leek. Nearby Rudyard Lake offers watersports, nature trails, a visitor centre and café.

 

Public transport information for all locations can be found by calling Traveline on 0871 200 2233.

Direct buses from Macclesfield to Leek and Ashbourne pass through Rushton Spencer.  Sundays and Bank Holidays see links to Stockport and Derby too.  To plan your journey, visit the Staffordshire journey planner.