A Hideous Bed

The village of Colnbrook is in the County of Buckinghamshire. Not so much a village now because it is located very close to Heathrow Airport.

It was here, in 1825, that the first Cox’s Orange Pippin apple was grown by a brewer named Richard Cox. This delicious apple is still considered to be one of the very best there is.

However, Colnbrook has claim to a very sinister tale. It is home to the  delightful public house called “The Ostrich” which is the third oldest pub in England.

 

I do not know the actual age of this building but it is said that King John stayed here on his way to sign the Magna Carta in the year 1215. Another illustrious guest was Queen Elizabeth 1. Dick Turpin is also thought have visited but many pubs lay claim to him. It is possible but, of course, there are no records to prove Turpin’s visit.

I write of the Jarmans, a husband and wife who were the landlords at some time during the seventeenth century. These were people you would not wish to meet although many hapless souls did, to their cost. Thomas Jarman had an eye for money and did not care just how he got it.

He designed an ingenious bed. This bed was nailed to the trap door in the wooden floor above the kitchen. When a guest arrived wishing to stop for the night or longer, he would size them up, trying to guess at their wealth and whether they were worth what he had in mind. If he considered them prosperous he would show the unfortunate person to the very comfortable Blue Room, the room that housed what was to become , the infamous bed.

When the guest was safely and deeply asleep, Jarman and his not so charming wife would unbolt the trap door, the bed would tip up and the unfortunate guest was then plunged into a vat of boiling water that had been set up on the stove below, bubbling away in readiness. The body would later be disposed of in the river. All the guest’s clothes and possessions including his horse would then be sold and the profits fell into their grasping hands.

Their downfall was inevitable. One of the victims had been a certain Thomas Cole and somebody recognised his horse which had escaped. The animal was drinking from the brook which ran through the village. Questions where asked. Where was Thomas Cole? The Jarmans gave evasive answers. People realised that he would not have just gone leaving his horse behind him. Under questioning the Jarmans broke and confessed to his murder but not only to his murder. They were responsible for the appalling fate of some sixty others!

They went to the gallows for their crimes and one can feel no pity for such evil, wicked and greedy people.  It is said that Colnbrook derives from Colebrook, the place where Thomas Cole’s horse was found.

There is a replica of the notorious bed in The Ostrich today and it is also said that this is the most haunted pub in the land. Much poltergeist activity takes place here, bangings and rappings, articles being moved etc. Not surprising when you think how many poor souls met such a dreadful end at the hands of this unscrupulous and foul pair.

Tags: Colnbrook, Ostrich, Jarman, Bed, Cole, Murder