THIS cracking pub a stone’s throw from the river in Henley is well worth a stop if you are passing through this posh Oxfordshire enclave, however keep an eye on your drinks as you wouldn’t want to quaff a moody tipple.
Swift Half’s Pub of the Week is famed for being the runaway bolthole of Mary Blandy, an eighteenth century murderer who knocked off her old man, a wealthy lawyer, town clerk and highly respected member of the community.
She poisoned Francis Blandy with arsenic, she claimed it was a love potion that would make him approve of her relationship with an army officer and son of a Scottish nobleman.
Francis Blandy died in August 1751, and an autopsy revealed that he had been poisoned with arsenic. Mary was promptly arrested and charged with murder. Captain Cranstoun, her romantic interest, was also implicated in the crime.
Before she could be tried in court she was held under house arrest, but one day she discovered the door was left open so she went out into the town, only to be confronted by the angry townsfolk.
She hotfooted over the bridge and popped into the Little Angel, which was being run by a friend of hers, Mrs Davis.
Her tipple of choice? A slice of toast and a pint of wine apparently (yes a pint). It seems the menu has changed a bit in the 270 odd years since then, but thankfully these staples are still front and centre in one way or another.
Sadly Mary was found guilty, and both she and Cranstoun were sentenced to death. Mary’s execution took place on April 6, 1752, when she was hanged outside Oxford prison. She was one of the last people in England to be executed for poisoning.
According to Dark Oxfordshire she still haunts the pub to this day. “Reports from the 1950s mention the sound of tramping footsteps and banging doors being heard from the upstairs of the building, as well as unexplained knockings at the front door. The figure of a hysterical woman has also been seen crying on a couch.”
Drinking a pint of wine might be enough to make anyone cry on the couch though, we would assume.
