Murderer at The Keep

After a customer told us we feature on the Clitheroe Ghost Walk with the brilliant Simon Entwistle, we just had to book our place to get the dirt.

It turns out that on the floor above us once lived a Henry Bertram Starr who had been acquitted of the murder of Eleanor Coulthard, a Domestic Servant in March 1896. She was found drowned in the River Ribble at Clitheroe. However, Henry, a ne'er-do-well who gambled and drank what family money he managed to earn didn't stop there. In 1903 he was tried and found guilty of the murder in Blackpool of Mary Hannah, Starr’s 27 year old wife of 9 months. He was sentenced to hanging and it was only when Clitheroe police interviewed him once more that he admitted to the first murder.

His initials can be seen carved into one of the flagstones outside the shop window and I promise it wasn't us who carved them!

We can highly recommend the walk to anyone who would like to find out some of the murkier history of Clitheroe. Click here to find out more.