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Aftermath of the Death of Squire Watts
as related in "The Hanslope Park Tragedy" by Edward French, publ. 1968
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| (Transcribed from a copy of the original held by Hanslope & District Historical Society) |
| Pages 65-6.... My grief-stricken aunt lived on at Hanslope in sorrow and loneliness. ............................. Such was the intensity of her distress that the doctors believed it was only her continuous weeping which saved her reason. ............................ Shortly after the disaster, she arranged with the Buckinghamshire County Council for the road between Hanslope village and the Park to be diverted so as to avoid the spot where the Squire was murdered. Her object in doing this is not altogether clear. At the time, it was thought that she intended to have a monument erected in memory of her husband on the actual site of the crime, and on that account it would be necessary to divert the road. But, whether this has been her original intention or not, the fact remains that no monument marks the tragic spot. It occurred to me that my aunt's idea might perhaps have been to cut off that part of the road so that she would not be reminded of the terrible happening and of her own ghastly experience every time she went to and from the village. This view seems unlikely, however, in face of information quite recently received. It appears that my aunt made a pilgrimage to the spot every day for weeks after the atrocity; so that, far from wanting to avoid the place, it seems she was unable to keep away from it. At all events, whatever her object may have been, the diversion of the road was carried out by the County Council at her expense, and the site of the murder became obliterated in the course of time by the growth of vegetation. |