On August 26, 1726 it was reported in the Taunton Journal that ‘They write from North Bradley, near Trowbridge in Wiltshire, that there was lately found there (hid in a coffer or large box) the body of the Widow Crabb, an ancient woman of that place, who had been bed ridden for several years.’
‘The reason for the body’s being thus conceal’d and the manner of the discovery was a follows: The old woman holding a copyhold estate of about £30 per annum, during the widowhood of the lands of Sir Philip Parker, Bart, he wrote a letter to his steward, ordering him to enquire after her welfare; whereupon he went to her house to pay her a visit and desiring to speak with her, was told she was in bed, and was not willing to be seen. The Gentleman reply’d, it was his master’s express order that he should see her, and therefore would admit of no denial: Accordingly he went upstairs and searched all the beds, but could not find her, whereupon he desir’d her sister to shew him where she lay; who bidding him look into the cutler at the stairs head, he there found a strange prospect of the old woman, who lay double with her flesh all wasted away; and she is supposed to have been dead a considerable time. But upon the coroners inquest, her two kinsmen deposed, that she died in April last and being ask’d, why did they not bury her, they said, they lov’d her too well. Nevertheless, ’tis generally believ’d that the share’s going from the family after her decease, was the true reason of their concealing the body, in order to keep their possession. ’
Original transcript by Paul Mansfield. You can find more extracts from Somerset Newspapers on his website at http://www.paulhyb.homecall.co.uk/
