1362 Benedictine monks build a monastery on the site which would later hold the rectory.
This is completely untrue as on 3rd. November 1938 Mr. S.H. Glanville wrote to Harry Price: "I have at last received a definitive reply from the Secretary of the Essex Archeological Society in which he says, 'There was certainly no religious house at Borley, nor is there any record of a chapel or ecclesiastical building other than the church having existed there.' So there goes the monastery and nunnery legend. Unfortunate, but there it is." This caused Price to finally abandon the monk and nun elopement legend. I am amazed that it is included in your list, although to be fair, I suppose you are covered by the qualifying statement in the introduction that "some events that are taken for gospel probably never really happened at all."
13?? A monk from the monastery elopes with a nun from the Bures nunnery, some seven miles to the southeast.
The legend of the monk and nun, which we have just destroyed above, but let us note that there never was a nunnery at nearby Bures, just as there was never an eight mile tunnel from Borley to Bures linking the two. Eight miles indeed!!!!!!
1538 Monastery abandoned and then destroyed.
There was no monastery ever there. See above.
1655-1658 Catholic priest named either Dominic or Enoch falls in love with nun. She is murdered, he is crucified.
I have no knowledge of any contemporary records to support any of these assertions. I would be happy to learn of the sources from which these alleged are taken. Any details gratefully received so that I can follow them up. [The Ghosts of Borley, Wesley Downes, p. 28.]
May 17, 1667 Marie Lairre strangled and then buried at rectory site after she leaves convent at Le Havre to marry Charles Waldegrave.
Firstly, "Marie Lairre" was a name given at a planchette seance on the 28th. October 1937, and expanded at a similar seance three days later. The unreliability of such 'spirit communications' is notorious and we must remember that all those taking part in these proceedings (including table-tilting) were familiar with the Borley haunting, including the wall writings etc. Thus I have no belief in the Marie Lairre story at all.
1730 Henrietta Waldegrave, acting as spy for the British government, murders her daughter, Arabella - a spy for the Stuarts. Both are nuns. Nicholas Waldegrave murders Henrietta.
The murders of Arabella and Henrietta I have heard before, but I would want a confirmation of this by contemporary sources before accepting it. Any help here please? (It would seem to be a dangerous occupation to be a nun at Borley!) [Downes, p. 22]
17?? Two coachmen beheaded for murder at Borley Inn.
This story is new to me. If true, it might be linked to the phantom coach seen adjacent to the rectory. Now there is a thought. Otherwise, it has nothing to do with the hauntings because we have already disposed of the fleeing monk and nun elopers. [Downes, p. 25]
1807-1819 Small rectory built by Reverend Will. Herringham or Reverend Joh. P. Herringham in 1819.
Reverend Will Herringham's rectory was not built on the site of the Bull rectory, but some yards away to the west of the Bull rectory.
18?? "Screaming girl" falls to death from window trying to escape attacker in Blue Room.
This story is new to me also. One point immediately comes to mind that if she fell from this window, she would presumably have had to fall through the glass roof over the verandah. More information please. [MHH, Price, p. 33. The Enigma of Borley Rectory, Ivan Banks, chapter 22.]
About 1885 P. Shaw Jeffrey witnesses stone throwing and "other poltergeist activity."
Mr. P. Shaw Jeffrey's experiences are unreliable as of a psychic or poltergeist origin. There were a lot of young people in residence at this time, and there was apparently some high-spirited horse play and pranks going on at these times. I cannot accept this as evidence, certainly not of definite paranormal activity anyway.
1929 Mrs. Smith writes to "Church Times" saying the house was not haunted.
This is very misleading, as the letter was actually written in 1945 although it did refer to the Smith incumbency of the years including 1929. [Correction made.]
August 17 1943 Religious items and a silver cream mug found.
You document the finding of a silver cream jug which you erroneously call a "mug," which it is not. It was not silver, but in fact silver-plated (known as Sheffield plate). [Correction made.]
July 1974
Denny Densham is referred to as Denham - the letter 's' has been omitted from his name. [Correction made.]
Sorry to have been perhaps a little too savage in my response to your kind gift [of a print-out of the Borley Legend], but I have always felt very strongly that accuracy is absolutely essential in this kind of work. Too many so-called researchers make the error of assuming and presumming things. One must not make the mistake of trying to make facts fit theories, instead of theories fitting known facts.
I always look for a natural explanation first every time, and caution against leaping to conclusions.
Sincere regards,
Tony Broughall
Kings Lynn
England