Ghostly goings-on for a man of vision

January 8, 2004

JESSOPP ROAD
(Colman Road)

HE WAS regarded as perhaps the greatest of all the headmasters at Norwich School ... and a man who saw ghosts.

Dr Augustus Jessopp arrived in the city back in 1859 as head of King Edward VI School, then described as a moribund, dilapidated old place with fewer than 30 pupils.

Dr Augustus Jessopp transformed King Edward VI School back in the 19th Century.

Helped by his popular wife, Margaret, he set about transforming and restoring the proud school.

The students, the teachers and the people of Norwich grew to love this rather controversial and colourful character who loved writing.

When Dr HW Saunders penned his history of the school in 1932, he said of Augustus: “With him as headmaster passed the old order of things. There was not a mean thing in him.”

And he added: “Augustus knew he was favoured beyond most men. He listened to his own voice, he allowed his tailor the privilege of clothing the best specimen in the city: his leg was not only to walk with but to gaze upon.”

He went on to describe him as a dreamer. He said he saw visions. He certainly saw ghosts and one story he told became a legendary tale.

Augustus was writing a book about Henry Walpole, the Jesuit missionary who was executed at York in 1595 and who went to stay at Mannington Hall as a guest of the Earl of Orford.

The year was 1879 and at the time Augustus was about to retire from Norwich School to the country rectory of Scarning.

The other guests had gone to bed and Augustus was left alone to take extracts from rare books from the library.

He wrote later: “As I was actually writing, I saw a large white hand within a foot of my elbow. Turning my head, there sat a figure of a somewhat large man with his back to the fire, bending slightly over the table and apparently examining the pile of books I had been at work upon.

“The man’s face was turned away from me but I saw his closely-cut reddish hair, his ear and shaved cheek, the eyebrow and the corner of his right eye.

“He was dressed in what I can only describe as a kind of ecclesiastical habit of thick corded silk, close up to the throat, and a narrow rim or edging of satin or velvet serving as a stand-up collar and fitting close to the chin ...”

Augustus went on: “I looked at my visitor for some seconds and was perfectly sure he was not a reality. A thousand thoughts came crowding in upon me, but not the least feeling of alarm or even of uneasiness: curiosity and a strong interest were uppermost.

“There he sat, and I was fascinated: afraid not of his staying, but lest he should go.

“Stopping in my writing, I lifted my left hand from the paper, stretched it out to the pile of books, and moved the top one.

“I cannot explain why I did this — my arm passed in front of the figure and it vanished. A few minutes later the figure appeared again.

“I framed a sentence to address him when I discovered that I did not dare to speak. There he sat and there I sat.

“I shut my book and threw it on the table.

“It made a slight noise as it fell; the figure vanished.”

Jessopp returned to Norwich where he told his astonishing story ... and was the talk of the city. So he wrote it all down and it was described later as one of the most intriguing accounts of a ghostly visitant ever penned.

He went on to became rector of Scarning for more than 30 years where he had more time to devote to his writing and historical studies. He died in 1914.

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