History & Haunting of: Hare and Hounds, Gallows Hill, Arreton,Isle of Wight ,England,U.K Michal Morey is dead. For chopping off his grandsons head. He is hung on Arreton Down. For rooks and ravens to peck down....... By bert > Local folklore would have us believe that a local man murdered his grandson in a nearby cottage and then set fire to the building in order to hide the evidence. He was later captured in a nearby cave and hung on the Michal Morey downs photo below. The gibbet was constructed on top of the ancient burial mound where he was left to decompose then buried in the mound. Those amongst you brave enough should visit the mound at midnight, circling it twelve times before calling Michael Morey three times, after which his ghost should appear. The true story is far more gruesome as he lured the boy to a local wood where he cut off his head with a billhook, then hacked off his arms and legs before stuffing the remains into some old saddle bags and concealing them in the undergrowth. themodernantiquarian/ Michal Morey was a woodcutter who lived at Sullens, near Downend on the Isle of Wight. He was executed in Winchester and gibbeted on the Isle of Wight in 1737 for the murder of his orphaned grandson, James Dove, who was in the care of Morey and his wife Beth. It is said that, in order to destroy evidence of Doves murder, he burnt his cottage. The road is now known as Burnthouse Lane and the woods as Burnthouse Woods. Moreys restless spirit can also be seen, roaming Gallows Hill, carrying a large axe... James Dove, aged 14, went missing shortly after coming into a small legacy and was last seen going to the woods with his grandfather. Michal Morey absconded for several days and a warrant was issued for his arrest.He was apprehended towards the end of July 1736 and held in Winchester awaiting trial. Three months later, the dismembered and decomposed remains of James Dove were found in the woods. They were in two leather bags, together with a billhook and bloodied gloves. Identification was made from the victims clothes. Morey was tried at Winchester Assize in March 1737. The evidence was circumstantial. Morey, being inarticulate and taciturn by nature, pleaded not guilty and presented a poor defence. He was sentenced to death and hanged an hour after the trial at Winchester public gallows. His body was then taken to the scene of his crime and hung in chains from a gibbet erected in his home parish of Arreton. The gibbet-post now forms a prominent roof beam, over 22 feet in length, in the original tap room of the nearby Hare and Hounds tavern, with the date 1737 carved on it. Beneath, in a glass box, is exhibited a skull said to have been unearthed in 1933 and formerly supposed to be that of Morey. Research has subsequently identified it as belonging to a Bronze Age woman who died in her late teens,as stated on an accompanying notice.en.wikipedia.org Isle of Wight County Press, April 29, 1933 > While excavating yesterday (Friday) on the top of Arreton Down, at the spot known as Micah Morey’s Hump, a workman named Charles Reynolds, of newport, unearthed a human skull and other remains, thought to be leg bones, at a depth of about two feet. The remains, which were in a good state of preservation, were carefully collected and placed in a sack. The hump, or mound, which is situated near what is known locally as Micah Morey’s cave, is about 30 feet in circumference, and rises some seven feet above ground level. Reynolds and another man, named Burt, were digging the mound to prepare for the erection of masts for the new short-wave transmitting station to be established there and operated by Messrs. Sherratt and Son, of Newport and Cowes. The finding of human remains at this spot naturally gives rise to the question whether they may be those of Micah Morey, a grim figure in Island history, who is supposed to have been gibbeted at the spot for the murder of his grandson. Briefly, the story of Micah Morey, familiar to succeeding generations of Islanders, is that he lived along with his grandson at the place now known as Burnt House, so named, it is said, because Morey set fire to his cottage to efface his foul deed. The grandson was possessed of an inheritance which the old man so coveted that he cut off the boy’s head with a hatchet. He eluded capture for many days by hiding in a cave on Arreton Down, but was eventually taken by soldiers, and was hanged and gibbeted at the spot since known as Micah Morey’s Hump. An old writer gives the date of the tragedy as about 1730. Examination of the skull will no doubt prove if its age corresponds with this period. A skeleton found near the spot in 1878 was at the time claimed to be that of the old murderer, but archaeologists expressed the opinion that it was of far greater antiquity. … Isle of Wight County Press, April 29, 1933 The cave is a weird place, where many years ago Michael Morey, fleeing from justice after murdering his grandson, took refuge and for a time lived on turnips. He was, however, caught and hanged on a gallows erected on the down and buried under a mound surmounting the cave, some 30 feet from the ground in the side of the chalk pit. jsbookreader.blogspot.co.uk/ Photo 1 by Chris Allen geograph.org.uk/photo/1849605 Photo 2 Michael Mooreys Hump posted by A R Cane View from the top looking West. The soporific sunset belies the barrows somewhat ugly history. Photo 3Arreton Downs by RingPaw Large lone barrow to the south of the Newport-Brading road, a short distance from the Hare & Hounds PH. Labelled Gallows Hill on the map, site of the last hanging on the Isle of Wight. megalithic.co.uk/
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 14:28:42 +0000
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