In October 1931 Miss Rosina Strudwick, a milliner and ladies outfitter, was having some work done to the front of her shop, The Hat Box, on the corner of Cheap Street and King Street.
The building is often described as the oldest in Frome and had been a butchers, grocers and travel agents before being gutted and absorbed into the Café La Strada in 2000.
As the workmen removed some plaster from a corner wall they discovered an ancient window frame concealed in its depths and as they took away more of the covering, they were shocked to find the righthand section of a human jaw bone with four teeth still in excellent condition and a human hip bone! Also amongst the rubble were two coins from the reign of George I (1714-1727).
Were the bones from an ancient murder? Part of some superstitious rite? Possibly, but the most likely explanation is that the remains were washed out from nearby St. John’s churchyard when its walls collapsed in 1799 and ‘numbers of dead bodies rolled forth’ ? We will never know the truth.
Miss Strudwick was to have an eventful year. Once her new plate glass windows had been installed, they were subject to repeated attacks by being scratched and smeared with grease and candle wax. Blinds were also slashed. Things became so bad that Miss Strudwick and her landlord took to concealing themselves in the shop at night, waiting to catch the culprit. Eventually they caught a Mr. Vincent in the act. Harry Vincent was a fellow trader, who ran a jewellers shop at the other end of Cheap St!
Despite being caught red handed, Vincent denied everything, claiming that the grease came from a candle he was using to look for rats! He was convicted and fined £1 plus £1 and 1 shilling in compensation. He never explained his actions and continued to trade on the street for many years.
Mick Davis & David Lassman
