Loremen Podcast - Loremen S6Ep11 - Bedfordshire Highwaymen with Weird in the Wade

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

Nat Doig of Weird in the Wade (BBC Sounds) joins the Loreboys to (stand and) deliver the tales of some Bedfordshire highwaymen with absolutely superb names. Hold your ghost horses! The names are not that rude. But if you wouldn't want to look them up on your work computer. This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor Join the Lorefolk at patreon.com/loremenpod ko-fi.com/loremen Check the sweet, sweet merch here... https://www.teepublic.com/stores/loremen-podcast?ref_id=24631 @loremenpod youtube.com/loremenpodcast www.instagram.com/loremenpod www.facebook.com/loremenpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Mob Ladd, new series now streaming on Paramount+. want where we want them. Mobland, new series now streaming on Paramount+. Welcome to Lawmen, a podcast about local legends and obscure curiosities from days of yore. I'm James Shakespeare. And I'm Alistair Beckett King. Alistair, we've got a guest today from Weird in the Wade, it's Nat Doig. Yes! I don't know how to say the title of this because I think it's...

Just tell me, James. Just rip off the band-aid slash plaster. It's the rudest name since Scratching Funny of Cock Lane. It's Galloping Dick, The Highwayman. I predict it might not be called that by the time you have to type it into the title box. Yes, it's the Bedfordshire Highwayman. I predict it might not be called that by the time you have to type it into the title box. Yes, it's the Bedfordshire Highwayman. No, that's good. This is not as good.

It is. Less rude. It is. Alistair. Hello there, James. You're whistling. Oh, yeah, I said whistling. Can we start again?

I'm whistling. Hello there, James. Hello there, James. Hello there, James. Hello there, James. Hello there, James. Hello there, James. Hello there, James. Hello there, James. Hello there, James. Hello there, James. You're whistling. Oh yeah, I said whistling. Can we start again? I'm whistling.

Hello there, James. Are you whispering? Are you? Wait, James, are you doing that little skit thing that we do that isn't in any way becoming tiresome at this point? No. When we have a guest. Yes.

I drop it, I mean, seconds in really nowadays. I find it hard to maintain. I don't have the vocal strength to whistle for that long. I'm not a young man. Whistling is a... So you keep saying whistling. We were talking about whistling before we recorded and it's got in your head. Okay. I'll explain very quickly why I keep saying whistling to save Joe having to edit out every time I say whistling when I mean a different word. I got a whittling kit for my birthday. Yes. That should be enough information.

No further explanation needed. And I keep calling it a whistling kit. And that has confused James. Yes. Even though you can't have a whistling kit, obviously, you don't need one. It's a whistle. A whistling kit is simply a whistle. Whereas a whittling kit is a small knife for a cool guy. I'm going to sit on a porch, I'm going to make wood smaller.

You need to whittle a whistle. Whittle a whistle. Whittle yourself a whisper about whittling a whistle. Could Walter whittle a whisper? Ah, I can't even say it. Can't even say it, my own tongue twister. Talking is hard. Forget this intro, James.

We have, I think perhaps perhaps our most patient guest yet. Yes. If any of this has made the edit, you all know how patient is today's deputy guest law person. It's Nat Doig from Weird in the Wade. Hello, Nat. Welcome, Nat. Hello.

Hello. Thank you for having me. Where do you stand on the whittling versus whistling debate? I am going to stick to this as a theme so that it has to make the edit. Yes. I like whittling and I find it very difficult to whistle. Really? Give us your best whistle.

I can do in-y whistles but not out-y whistles if you know what I mean. Oh, like in severance. Like in severance. Like in severance. That's an in-y. Is that an in severance. That's an in-e. Is that an in-e? That's an out-e for me. I don't know if I could even in-e. I'm going to just prove that I can whistle first. Just to be clear, you are supposed to use your mouth, James. This is James's belly button. That is, that's the only in I can do.

The sound of a little ghost. It sounds like the wind whispering its way through some trees. The sound of some very low budget wind. Yeah, that is bad. Very small tree. It's like the wind through a bonsai tree that's haunted. It's just someone opened a door near a bonsai. Oh, spooky.

Right. Okay. That's what I'm practicing tomorrow then. Any whistling? Anyway, well, thanks Matt. How are you doing? Good. Thank you. So, Weird in the Wade is a folklore slash ghost slash all sorts of spookiness podcast, isn't it? Based in the Bedfordshire town of Biggleswade? That is correct. Yes.

Biggleswade in Bedfordshire and yeah, surrounding area. Oh, nice. I do know a little Alistair of the Biggleswade area. Oh, bit of name drop for James. You know about Biggleswade area. Oh, bit of name drop for James. You know about Biggleswade? I've never been. I've been to the most hauntedest pub there. Wow.

In fact. What's it called? The Golden Pheasant. Is that right? Yes, the Golden Pheasant. The most haunted pub. Yes. There is a ghostly singer who doesn't whistle, but sings, and a

headless lady who I'm guessing can't whistle either. Well, depending on, you could pop it into the end of the pipe. You could pop a whistle into, get a penny whistle, pop it into the end of the windpipe. Yeah. Let her do her thing. Express yourself. But it would undermine, if she's got quite a sad message, which I imagine a headless lady would have, if it's like a swanny whistle, that would undermine.

Yeah. And if she grew angry, she might just end up shooting it out into a customer. Penny whistle through the neck, death by swanee. Is when you blow across the top of a bottle, is that, does that count as whistling? Cause you could do that to her. You could have a whole host of headless ghosts and play. Of different sizes. That's true because normally child ghosts are actually quite sad and they make you think, but in this case when you arrange them in panpipe form, just a lot of fun.

Everyone feels a lot better. If you've got a full octave of headless ghosts. And also, actually, fun fact for the for the eagle-memoried amongst the listeners. The people that I know that live in Biggleswade and also the guy I know, his brother lives in Potten just down the road. They are the Harding brothers, who are the people that saw or rather heard the snuffling beast of Lidstone. Wow. And they also solved others mysteries. So that's doubly good.

Yes. But they never solved the mystery of the snuffling beast. No one can. Cause it isn't a thing. There is a badger. But there was a beast actually on the loose recently around the Pottern area, I believe. I messaged you toot sweets Nat.

You did. It's the Pottern Puma is what they've called it over the years. It's been seen on and off since about the 1960s, but I did send you a picture from a newspaper clipping, didn't I, from the 1990s? Yes. And it basically, it turns out it's a slightly shaved Alsatian. Yeah. There were some bad haircuts back in the nineties. Does it have a little sort of curly fringe?

It did. And they even like shaved its tail so that they had the little pom pom on the end that a lion has. It looked so upset. The owners claimed they did it because he got very hot in the summer and not at all because you know, the whole town was like in feverish excitement about this pot and puma. Those naughty owners.

Ever so cheeky. But Nat, why did we bring you here today? Highwaymen I believe. Some exciting stories about highwaymen who may or may not have traveled through Pickles Wade. Perfect. Oh, weird around the Wade. Weird around the country, some of these highway men.

There are highway women, but unfortunately, I'm not covering the highway women today. It is just I've got a few highway men to tell you about. So should I kick off with my, my favorite one? I think now he's now become my favorite highway man and he, he's called galloping dick. Let's just pause and look for that guy on the internet. Make sure you spell it correctly and have a safe search on. I did have some issues when I was dictating some of this into my word processor and it didn't like his name and it kept using asterisks for it. But I mean, he's just called Richard Ferguson. It seems to be a thing, nicknames for highwaymen and some of them that I've come across are

great. I'm hopefully get the time to tell you about Shock Oliver because he definitely went to Biggleswade. Shock Oliver, great name, yeah. So, shall I tell you about Galloping Dick? Yes, please. So, he was born Richard Ferguson, nowhere near Bedfordshire. He was actually born in Herefordshire and apparently his father was a butler to a rich gentleman and this is in the mid 18th century.

As a kid, apparently this is according to the London Illustrated News, as a kid, Richard Ferguson's father was away a lot with his gentleman that he was butlering for. And so Richard hung out with a gang of, and I quote, local teenage pranksters. Oh, no. They probably had their own YouTube channel. Yeah.

Were they the original, I was going to say the original Dirty Sanchez, but that isn't even the original format of TV prankster. Were they original jacquard? I thought you were going to say original prankster, a la the offspring. Were they pretty fly brackets for a white guy? Apparently that's where he got some of his ideas for sort of breaking the law. He did get a job working in a stables and apparently he was very good with horses, which I think helps us understand why he ended up getting that name galloping dick because he

galloped around on a horse. But he was sacked from his first job working in a stables by the mistress of the house because she caught him in a compromising position with another young female servant. Okay. I thought you were going to say with a horse and then I thought we might have understood the rest of it. Yeah, both of us were hugely relieved. The listener can't see James and my face, but we were going like, with the horse. No way. That's not galloping. What are you doing in there? Nay means nay.

So he spent his 20s working as something that was called a postilion. I've weirdly heard, I know that man, that is Alistair. Do you know what that is? No, I've definitely heard the word. I would guess it's like a postman with a sword. No. I thought maybe a postman on a stallion. I believe it is the person on a horse and carriage.

And isn't it like the driver's mate or is it the actual driver? Oh, the person who's hanging off the pole at the back. No, it's the guy. Yes, you're right. It's the carriage. Definitely. He's a he's on the carriage, but he's riding a horse. So rather than sitting on, you know, that little platform with the reins, he actually

rides the carriage on the like first horse at the front. So I didn't know what it was. I just knew it was vaguely carriage related. Yeah, apparently something to do with ceremonial stuff. And, you know, I think now if you go to like the Lord Mayor's parade, you'll see postilions on. Yeah. So that was what he liked doing that.

He liked being a postilion. He's a horse guy, really, isn't he? He's a horse guy. Yes. But he was always being dismissed for either drunkenness, idleness, gambling or womanizing. So he was left, you know, going from job to job. But then he had a stroke of luck, which was also sad because his father died and left him £57. And I looked that up, that's about 9,000 quid today.

That's that's all right, isn't it? I mean, I mean, bad that his father died. Hmm. But nine grand, that's nothing to sniff at. He seemed to be quite happy that he'd got this nine grand. And he used the money, it says, to live his life as a gentleman rake. No, that isn't enough money to live as a gentleman rake. Or any gardening tool.

Yeah, absolutely not. You could, you could attend a few hoedowns. I was going to make a joke about the hoes' progress, but actually that is the kind of thing Hogarth would have done. It is. That's very meta. So anyway, he pretended really to live the life of a gentleman rake and he drank in places that highwaymen and other criminals hung out. And then he met a lovely lady called Nancy and he lied to her.

He told her that he was a gentleman and she fell for it. It never goes well for Nancy. So I can't think of a single Nancy in history or fiction who turns out well. Poor Nancy. Yeah, she believed him and she thought he was a cut above the other criminals and nerdy whales that she socialized with. But Richard stood, soon ended up in debt from living beyond his means and taking Nancy to the theater, it seems.

And he was forced to go back working on the horses for a gentleman. When will people learn not to go to the theater? But I realized why I know postil postillion by the way. It is, my postillion has been struck by lightning is like a weirdly famous phrase. Because it sort of shows up as like a nonsense term. And in 1932, someone found it in a sort of like English translation book. And it was like, it starts with the useful phrase, our postilion has been struck by lightning.

Oh, so is that one of the things that soldiers would learn if they were coming to the UK? Yeah. And in fact, Dirk Bogard's... Sort of duolingo kind of phrase. Yeah. And Dirk Bogard's first autobiography is called A Postilien's Drop by Lightning.

Oh. And he again heard it out of an English-French phrasebook. So we used to learn, you know, can you show me the way to the swimming pool? Mm. And they were learning. Je voudrais acheter un discothèque, s'il vous plaît. Mon postilien zest, pur do. So, the legend says that Richard was out one night with his new master. He was probably riding postillian on the back roads around London.

Ducking to avoid lightnings, yes. When they were robbed. But Richard recognized that high woman. Nice. That robbed them. And it was a guy called Jerry Abishaw. And he was one of Nancy's friends. Now this had pros and cons for Richard because on the plus side, Abishaw bribed Richard to not dob him in.

So Richard got some more money and of course he likes the money. So he was paid to be robbed? Kind of, yeah. It was like, okay, I won't say anything, I won't top you in. And he ended up getting some of the money that was robbed. But the downside was that this led to Nancy finding out that he wasn't a gentleman after all. And so she dumped him.

Oh, oh. Well, that's good for Nancy. She's getting out of it. Hopefully she's getting out of this business. She finds a real rake. So he, Richard then obviously he lost his job working for the, the, the gentleman, as he always does. He's like, what did I do?

What did I do? Oh yeah, The bribery. Yeah. I extorted the guy that robbed you. And the stuff with the horse. Was that okay? I was in a struggle at learning once. So Richard then got a job working in an inn and he had a side hustle while he was working at the inn that he would provide tips to Abishaw about guests who were

staying at the inn and what journeys they were going to be making. So they became potential marks for Abishur to rob. I'm not sure this guy has ever had a mane hustle. It seems to be all side hustle with him. It's like sometimes when as a vegetarian in a pub, I'll just get two sides because there isn't a mane that I can have. Pastillianing is almost by definition a side hustle because you're just, you're on the side and you've got to, you've got to hustle the horse. As you can imagine, he soon lost his job at the inn. They probably found out that everyone that stayed there got robbed.

What was it? What? Oh, the crimes, yeah. So he soon lost his job. And so instead he decided to join Abishaw on the road and he became a fully fledged highwayman and this is when they gave him the nickname galloping dick because of his excellent skills with a horse. He was the first one to think of riding the horse fast and the other highwaymen were getting

caught all the time and he was like guys what if we do this? And they were like, ah, he's a genius. Yeah. Cause police horses gonna make it much easier. Were limited to canter, weren't they? Yeah. And there's the time they had to get the flashing light out and screw it onto the horse's head and that slowed them down. That would look good. And upset and confused the horses. Yeah, but it did look cool. But the policeman had to make the sirens sound by voice.

Yeah, but it did look cool. But the policeman had to make the sirens sound by voice. Abishaw eventually got caught in 1795, but galloping Dick escaped. And as you've explained, it's because he could gallop. Really fast. Yeah, really fast. So he escaped and he continued to rob on the road without Abishaw. And he gathered some new accomplices around them and they included his sidekick Hooker. That was his nickname, Hooker. road without Abishaw and he gathered some new accomplices around them and they included

his sidekick hooker. That was his nickname hooker. His actual name was John Slate, but I haven't, I don't know why he was given the nickname hooker, but somebody speculated that it might be because he'd been a butcher and he had like a big, big butcher's hook. And who, oh, oh, Or maybe he was very handsome and it was Cockney rhyman slang that he was a bit of a looker. Yeah. So yes, he's got a friend called Hooker or a accomplice, should I say, but there's a, there's a few of them.

It's not just Hooker. He's also got an accomplice called Valentine Middleton, but my favorite. Nice. My favorite. I like Valentine Middleton. I mean, you let them take you out on a date, wouldn't I? I would. That's a cool name.

You don't get many Valentine's now. No. Anyway, Valentine Middleton, lovely name. Not as, not my favorite. Cause my favorite name is James Gherkins. Lovely. Jimmy the Waller. For American listeners, I think that's James Dill Pickles.

Yes. And for Cockneys, it's Jimmy the Wall-E. Oh, have a Wall-E with your fish and chips. Yes. The one thing London's got right. By the way, I'm sorry for another potentially pointless aside. I know why Wall-E's are called Wall-E's. The gherkins that you get with

fish and chips? Alistair Willis Walli, the pickled gherkin, yes. Will Barron Because they, the concept of them was brought over by Jewish immigrants who also kept them pickled with pickled olives, and the olives got the nickname Walli, and just because the gherkins were in the same jars and things of that, they just got the same nickname of Wallally. And I believe that is why to this day, you can still order a Wally. That's my litmus test for a decent fish and chip shop. If they know what I'm talking about, when I say can I have a Wally? And I know I don't make many friends.

This is why I love this podcast. We've got fish and chip law. The chip law. Chip master. Is this another video game? Yeah, possibly another idea for a video game there. Chip Hunter, Wally Hunter. You won't get far with that small wooden fork, Chip Hunter. In March 1799, the gang robbed, so this will be Gerkins, Valentine, Hooker and Ganapin Dick. They robbed William Morris Esquire. Not that William Morris, I think it's too early.

Not the famous wallpaper guy. Hamster Teach. Not cigarettes, no. And it seems that they were caught because they were convicted of robbing this William Morris that isn't that William Morris. But they must have escaped because they're arrested again on the 9th of September. And this time it's Galloping Dick and his two accomplices, Hooker and Valentine, that are caught. And they're caught by two Bow Street runners called Swain and Hawke. And I bet they've got one of those blue flashing lights on their horses.

I'm sure the listener is aware of the Bow Street runners, the four runners, I suppose, to London's police service. Is that right? Yeah, that's it. They were before the Metropolitan Police was formed. So they were the sort of first. I think there was around that time, I think people said, what if instead of Night Watchmen just hitting people on the head, we tried to solve crimes? And I'm not saying it's changed

completely, but the idea at least was there that maybe they could investigate and solve crimes. I think they were known as the runners because there was quite a lot of comedy around them being a bit like the later Keystone Cops in that idea that these Bow Street runners were just running around chasing after criminals. And whistling. Mmm. Yeah.

I'm no criminal mastermind, but what I would have done is not commit a crime on Bow Street. Anyway, these two Bow Street runners called Swainain and Hawk, they accused Galloping Dick and his gang of, and this is a quote, committing diverse highway robberies, particularly in Kent and Surrey. And apparently they even robbed the same bloke, John Kingham, twice on Wimbledon Hill. No, no. You've already done no, no. You've already done me mate.

Yeah. Robbed me once, shame on you. Robbed me twice. That is two crimes now. Yeah. And he was also able to identify them because he'd seen them twice. So he got a really good look at them. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. You're making it easier for yourself to be caught. Well, it's Robbed me once, shame on you. Robbed me twice, shame on me. Because I was lying the first time. did have some more money, actually. Galloping Dick was arrested in a pub. He was sitting in the kitchen having a drink and he immediately gave himself up when the

Swain and Hawke, the Bow Street runners burst in. So he surrenders, but Hooker puts up a fight and he tries to fire a pistol at the police, but it doesn't go off. Yeah, you've got an 18th century gun. Lads, they work about one in 10 times and the bullet comes out at about three miles an hour. It's basically coming out at walking speed. It's like the Matrix.

They can easily like shoo out of the way if you want a contemporary movie reference. Don't use guns, not because they're dangerous, but because they're extremely unreliable in those days. Do you think people didn't care then? People just loved having most of their hand and face blown off in the middle of a fight. They loved that. It added a frisson. So they found four pistols at the scene.

And again, I think this is a theme throughout the Highwaymen stuff that I've been reading about is that they carried like four or five guns because they just don't go off. So they'll find one, quickly have to get another gun out. Hold on one second. Right. Okay. This is it. Okay. The first one might be dangerous, but what could be safer than holding four extremely unreliable loaded guns. Now I feel secure. So Hooker's taken off to Kingston and he's tried for the Wimpleton robberies alongside our favourite Valentine Middleton and they're found innocent by the jury. I don't think we realise how handsome Valentine Middleton must be. He's like a young James

Shakespeare. The prosecution, they had a trick up their sleeve and they were like, no, no, you can't let them go. We've got more charges. We've got a new charge. And so they're then immediately charged and tried for being, and I love this, this is the quote of an actual crime. They were being feloniously at large in the kingdom. Ooh, feloniously at large. That's got a hip hop feel to it. In the kingdom. It sounds like a C there was one of the sequels though, isn't it?

So Alex kid in miracle world, feloniously at large in the kingdom. It apparently meant that he they'd escaped from Australia. They'd been sent. They've been transported over to Australia and they had run away from Australia back to Britain before their term was up. Oh right. So they just weren't even allowed. That's it. That's what I accused you of being not in Australia. It is a tough one to argue against. You have to be like, are you what? I'm as surprised as you are, mate. What? So Galloping Dick was not tried at the same time as them.

They sent him up to Aylesbury Assizes. I know you like the word Assizes. Assizes. Assizes. We do and we know how to pronounce it. We get it right every time. I can only do it in the internet voiceman, the pronunciation voiceman. Assizes.

So yes, they went to the Assizes and in March 1800, he was sentenced to death for highway robbery by a Judge Gross. And his accomplices then at this point were different men that we've not met so far. I have no idea who they were or why they were with him, but they were John Cantrell and Stephen Molyneux and they were all tried and executed on the 2nd of April. So actually not, not long after we're recording this. Yeah. 1800 alongside James Gherkins.

They got old Jamie Gherkins. They got Jamie Gherks. And I don't like the sound of that Cantrell. I don't know about you, James, but that is a very shady character. By the sounds of him. What was the other one? Stephen or Hearn? Mollin U.

Oh, Stephen Mollin U. I was going to say that. Not the magician from ITV. Yeah, magician. I just feel like, I think the quality of his gang's names went sharply downhill and that might have been why he got busted. Yeah. But I guess at least old Jimmy Gerks was still around, Jimmy the Wally.

Yeah. And actually, I don't think Mullinue actually got executed because he was up the next month in front of Judge Gross again for purging himself during the trial of Galloping Dick. Sorry, purging himself or purging himself? Yes. I think you said purging himself, which I would hope is vomit. Because if not, that's even worse. I meant perjuring. Okay.

I can see why people were upset. Either way. You might have done both. I mean, first one, then the other. So, but that was not the end of galloping Dick, nor his skill with horses. So they executed him, but Phantom Horses' Hooves began to be heard. And this was from a poem that was written, Clippity Cloppity, Clippity Cloppity. Oh, spooky.

Phantom Horses' Hooves were heard along the roads of Bedfordshire from Woburn to Millbrook and all the way along to Gamblingay in Cambridgeshire. Basically the old Oxford to Cambridge road disembodied galloping horses' hooves kept travellers and residents along there. How did they know it was? I have, I don't know, they just knew. It's very big of the horse to do the haunting on behalf of the guy who was executed. Presumably they didn't execute the horses that were involved in his crimes. Maybe they did in those days.

Hold that thought about the horse. So in Millbrook in particular. That's the sound of two men holding their thoughts. Oh. In Millbrook in particular, Galloping Dick's phantom steed has been heard clattering along the streets, which reminds me that I once told a friend that Galloping Dick had a sidekick called Clattering Fanny and she believed me. I stole that fantastic name from my friend Liz, who listens to your podcast all the time. And Liz uses it as a fantastic Scottish insult. I mean, somebody needs to write the book about galloping Dick and clattering Fanny. Yeah, that's brilliant. She was a great release. It's going to be very hard to market that.

I'd say we're not going to be in the kids book section. But yes, his hooves, the Phantom hooves were heard and it was claimed that the reason he was haunting, he and his horse were haunting Millbrook was that at one time Galloping Dick had lived in a sand pit in the vicinity. It's a toddler. You're right in there, Dick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I live here.

With the little spade and the book. Yeah, yeah. With the little bucket and spade. I live in a small sand pit. I'm sorry if you don't. I'm sorry if you find that a strange place to live. But I live here. You're not going to fit in that castle, mate.

Good day. Good day to you. You can't going to fit in that castle, mate. Good day. Good day to you. You can't slam the door on a sandcastle. I'm crossing this very small moat. Leave me alone! An Englishman's very small home is his very small castle. Goodbye. The same tales, however, claim that Dick was not hanged in Aylesbury,

but that his skill with horses ran out in Millbrook when he was tossed from his horse into a pond and drowned. Is this the end of Galloping Dick? Well, it seems to have multiple endings. Some say he was hanged in Aylesbury. I've seen newspaper reports saying that's true. But in Millbrook... Yeah, you can't trust the newspapers.

I think he probably fell in a pond. Or just moved into a sand pit. Yeah, you can't trust the newspapers. I think he probably fell in a pond. In Millbrook you fell in a pond. Or just moved into a sand pit. Yeah, it's like when people move out of London, you just cut them out of your lives. He's just, he's a sand pit guy now. He never comes to hang out with the lads. He becomes the Samoyed. It's a Five Children and It reference.

Very good Five Children and It reference. His ghostly horse was a terrifying residents of Millbrook regularly until in 1922, it became quite a problem that people were hearing Galloping Dick's horse in Millbrook. I don't know why in 1922, but it was, but there was a lot of poetry written about him at that time as well. So I did say to you about hold your thought about the horses. So galloping Dick doesn't seem to just haunt Bedfordshire, he's also supposed to haunt Cranford in Middlesex and Cranford in Middlesex had long been

troubled by a spectral horse and this was blamed on galloping Dick. And then on the 5th of July 1941 a local newspaper reported that an allotment holder in the course of trenching operations, I'm guessing this is because it was the war, has unearthed a complete skeleton of a horse including the shoes. Yeah and as this area is close to the Great Bath Road and was once part of the notorious Hounslow Heath, it is just possible that this steed in life belonged to a highwayman. And because they already had stories about Galloping Dick haunting that part of the road,

was that Galloping Dick's horse that they dug up? Is it unusual to bury a horse wearing shoes? It's not like going to bed wearing shoes, you just wouldn't do it. Do they take the shoes off to be reused if a horse has died? Do they bury horses? Do many horses get a bury? They bury horses, don't they? Is that a title for something? Is that because they like, was it like stolen for a joyride? And that's the sort of equivalent of having a burnt out car is that you bury the horse. But then you would have found it up on bricks with the shoes gone.

And a little sticker saying police aware. The Bow Street one, Bow Street runners aware. A yellow sign saying, were you here two nights ago? Actually, I'm guessing that probably is why it was seen as unusual that the shoes were still on the horse was that they probably were, you know, worth something. They could just be melted back down, couldn't they? And made into more horseshoes. Although I do understand that you can also melt the entire horse down quite usefully. Quite famously, it's a very meltable property, a dead horse with the shoes on. Let's get melty, you might say. Also, I'm imagining this happening in a sandpit. And it was quite a startled toddler that found.

Stop crying, toddler. It's time for you to make some money. Would you like to hear the poem that was written or at least part of the poem? I want to know how clippity clopping, it's got a rhyme with like a town name or something, surely. Anyway, yes, yes, I suppose in a way. Okay. It was written by a Mr. Adcock. That's all I know. And it was, it was in, it was printed in the graphic newspaper.

I'm so sorry. So the poem of galloping Dick ad cock, and this is in a graphic newspaper. You have to hope Mr. Adcock wasn't selling advertising space because it might have been unclear exactly what he was offering. I don't know if we're going to have to bleep this poem. So this is the poem that got bleeped by my software. Across the Heathclad height, galloping Dick, the highwayman, came riding through the night.

Well back where the roadway straggles, Twixed Oxford and Wickham Vale. The coachman cursed, and his lordship cursed, and the lady's cheek was pale. But what care I? Sang Galloping Dick, his pockets heavy with gems, as his grey mare swung him up to the woods above the glittering Thames. Never a gentleman of the road was so brave and suave and quick, as the rogue they hanged at Aylesbury. Galloping Dick, they hanged the last of the highway men, and yet when the night winds sigh, you'll hear the sound of clattering hoofs and a horseman gallops by.

Oh yeah, and that was clattering hooves you'll hear. Clattering hooves. He actually spelt it hoofs. Hooves, oh good. I don't know if that was the sort of 1920, as I said it was 1922 didn't I? In the graphic newspaper. Roofs, people say roofs don't, these days? I've always said roofs. And so ends our tale of Galloping Dick. I haven't heard any recent stories of the hooves clattering through Bedfordshire. I think the last time it was reported was

sometime in the 1960s in Millbrook. What a fantastic, chilling tale. Thank you. Thank you, Nat, for bringing us that tale of danger, crime, and a guy with an interest in horses. We just don't know. We just don't know what happened. It was a long time ago. It was a different time. It was a different time. That was brilliant. Thank you very much, Nat. So, Alice, are you going to score us?

I think I will. Yes. Yes, I'd love to. What's your first category? Yeah, first category, supernatural. Supernatural. Well, it could be higher. We've got Horses Hooved, which are attributed somewhat doubtfully to Galloping Dick because he was famous for galloping. But I'm not sure, were there that many pedestrian high women? I suppose there must have been a few people who... Foot pads, yes. Foot pads. They're more dangerous as well, as discussed, because a foot pad can't get away I suppose there must have been a few people who... foot pads, yes. Foot pads.

They're more dangerous as well as disgust because a foot pad can't get away as quick, so they need to really incapacitate you. Oh yes, of course. You're absolutely right. So if anything, Gallopin' Dick was doing them a favor. I don't know how that scores us highly in supernatural though. In fact, it doesn't. Thank you for checking.

Segways, I suppose. Those e-scooters would all have been preferable to a pedestrian thief. None of this quite explains what... Okay, the Ghost surely gets some points for breadth because the road we're talking about is quite long, stretching between Oxford and Cambridge. I kind of sympathize because a lot of posh people are going to be on that road. And I feel like, you know, take their pouches of monies.

Rob them twice. Rob them twice if you want. Jimmy Kingham. I think it's a two for Supernatural. I was going to say one for each of the hoofs, which suggests a level of equine knowledge that is quite accurate for what I possess. Wait a minute. One per hoof. Two out of five.

Wait, hold on. I believe it went clippity cloppity, not clippity cloppity cloppity cloppity. Or is it p'tee? Is that the back horses of clip clop? Maybe you can't hear it because half of it's in the sand pit. No, I think that's fair for Supernatural. It's not that, not that scary. It was very exciting, Atel, but not that scary. But here's one that I'm hoping is going to score higher, and that's the category of names. I was going to do a finger guns, pew pew pew pew, sound effect, because it's such a high

score, but then I remembered that it would be more like click click click click, ah, bang, oh, my face and body. Your fingers backfired. It's, it's five out of five for names. Nigel Cucumber. You've got Ian Filth. You've got Dangerous Bill. Unforgettable names, every one of them. What was Valentine's surname again? Middleton. Valentine Middleton.

I'm, my name is Valentine Middleton and I'm here to rob you. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. I'm running away Mr. Valentine Middleton. Oh, don't chase me. Yeah. Jimmy the Gherkin.

And then Jimmy Gherkins. Slams up and ruins it. Jimmy Gherkins, the sexiest of themkin. And then Jimmy Gherkins lands up and ruins it. Jimmy Gherkins, the sexiest of them all. And the hooker, the hooker, the looker. Hooker the looker. Yeah, he's Cockney rhyming slang for being attractive. Great names. Is it not Cockney rhyming slang?

Nah, but Butcher's Hook is a look. That's why Butcher's is to have a look. Yes, it is the solidest five out of five I have handed over in many an episode. So next category, postillian struck by lightning. Yeah. Great sound effects. Thank you, James. Yeah. I enjoy sound effects and I also enjoy a confusing sentence. I don't want to say something completely out of character, but I've been looking through sample books for Victorian typefaces, where people would print

samples of, you know, here's the fonts you can have from our font. They didn't call them fonts in those days. Here are the different typefaces you can have from if you order them. And what they don't do, they're not fools. This is a business. They're not running a charity. They don't give you all the letters of the alphabet because then you could just photocopy it on a Victorian photocopier and you could have the letters. They give you sample sentences, but they're careful not to use, look at my amazing Sphinx made of quartz or whatever it is, or the lazy fox jumping over a brown dog. I don't know.

I'm not doing these perfectly. They're careful not to do sentences that include every letter in the alphabet. So they just do meaningless phrases. And my postilion has been struck by lightning, struck me as being one of those meaningless phrases because I was looking through one recently and it had one of the sentences in a beautifully ornate font was just unfortunate windy declamations. Well, we've all had that. Yeah, it can happen.

Even, even to a typographer. It's a shame that they had to immortalize it in text because they could have probably got away with it. Don't mention it. Yeah, just don't write it down. If everyone's looking at, was that you? So you'll find out when you read the sample book, not only have I, I have dealt it, smelt it and actually typeset it at 32 points. And I feel like my postulant has been struck by lightning as a meaningless

shibboleth that just tells people that you're talking nonsense. And also I thought this guy, he was struck by the lightning of crying. No, that is not acceptable. It's three out of five now because you tried too hard. D'ah! I did feel like, you know, when he sort of, he was, he was being his pastillian and then he got robbed by someone he knew and then he kind of thought, oh, I could do that.

It's like, I remember whenever I did stand up and a friend came along and were thought, oh, I could do that. It's like, I remember whenever I did stand up and a friend came along and were like, well, I could do that. Yeah. You want to be so good as a highwayman that you discourage other people from starting because there's actually too many highwaymen on the circuit as it is. Yes, exactly. And you've got highwaymen at least three times a week just to, you know, get, get a little bit better a highwayman at least three times a week just to, you know, get,

get a little bit better at highwaymaning. Yeah. And if you, if you highwayman at Edinburgh, you can lose a lot of money, but you will be a better highwayman at the end. It will make you better. Yes, exactly. It's still three out of five though, because you were too cheeky and you overreached. Damn. Okay. What have we got for the final category? Category nat. Nategory, I nearly said. What's the final nategory? It's felonious hunk.

Yes, come on. Jimmy the Walrus. This has been one of the most handsome episodes. Well, yeah, we've got so many handsome people. The obviously handsome Valentine's or Valentine? Valentine Middleton. Valentine Middleton. Valentine Middleton. Hmm. I'm sure the horse, some of the horses were quite good looking. Yeah, absolutely.

And the, and the Samoyed was good looking in its own way. Yeah, the Samoyed from Five Children and It, a very attractive puppet. And, and of course, gallopingoping dick himself who must have been fairly charming yes it did say he was suave it was he was suave yeah he could pass as a rake not that sort although if you wanted to turn that sandpit into a zen garden oh he's the perfect guy yeah it's easy to tidy up after himself i think it's five out of five for Thelonious Hunk. Yes. Perfect. Thank you very much. Now that was a wonderful score.

Thank you very much for joining us now. Thank you for telling us those wonderful Highwayman stories. Where can people hear more of your stuff weird in the Wade? Where can people find sinister in the ceremonial county of central Bedfordshire, as it might be known after this? There's a monster under my Bedfordshire. I mean, just register the Earl. That's all I'm saying. You don't have to rename the podcast. Just have a redirect. Alistair, when you say register the Earl, it doesn't sound as modern as I think you think it does. Yes, you can find Weird in the Wade anywhere where you get podcasts and it's also on the

BBC. Yeah. BBC sounds. Yeah. Very nice. BBC sounds. No, we can't be BBC sounds. It's only a good podcast on there.

Yeah. It's really, yeah. Yeah. That's really good for the anyone transcribing it, that was envious noises. Envious muttering, yes. Envious griping. You know, one for the blooming BBC, blum, blum and sounds.

Very happy for you, yeah. You're brilliant. Very good for you. Something like on BBC sounds. Wonderful. Thank you very much, Nat. That was great. Thank you very much, Nat. That was great. Thank you. It wasn't that terrifying, but it certainly was a lot of fun.

It really was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for coming on that. And thank you to the listener. Yes. Thanks for listening, listening. If you would like to listen to more then do check out patreon.com forward slash lawmen pod. There's all sorts of bonus episodes and you can join the lore folk in the lore folk discord for the very special listeners the listeners listeners of all and thank you very much Joe for editing this episode. Thank you Joe

and again thank you listeners for listening. We have already thanked the listener. I know, but I'm very ever so grateful. I like the name Weird in the Wade, but I have come up with some alternative names for your podcast now. So I just thought I'm never going to get a better chance than this. I'd like to pitch them to you. So weird in the Wade. It's very good.

It's alliterative. What about baffling in the Biggles? Have you considered that? That's quite good. All right. How about sinister in the ceremonial county of central Bedfordshire? It's long, I'll grant you, and it's not actually alliterative, but there's an assonance there, isn't there? Sinister, ceremonial, Bedfordshire, sinister.

It doesn't work written down at all, but when you say it, it sounds quite good. It does, it does. I like that. My personal favourite, and this one requires some local knowledge, But when you say it, it sounds quite good. It does. It does. I like that. My personal favorite, and this one requires some local knowledge, Biggleswade Uncommon. Yeah! Like Biggleswade Common. But you have to have heard of Biggleswade Common. And so that's my favorite because like lawmen, it requires a bit of explanation as wordplay

goes. And I think all the best podcast titles need a few minutes worth of explanation before you realize why they're actually very clever. Yes, indeed.