Sherlockian Sojourns - Special #14: 'The Great Wyrley Outrages'

Having spent the weekend at Brett Con 2026, on the Monday morning I caught a train from Manchester Piccadilly to Stafford, changing onto a train to Rugeley Trent Valley, then a third train to Landywood. This brought me to Great Wyrley, a village in South Staffordshire which is associated with a miscarriage of justice in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle became involved, which has been the subject of many books and dramatisations.

It was a twenty minute walk to my first stop, St Mark's Church, the stone parish church of Great Wyrley, in early English style. Its vicarage and an adjacent school were built in 1845 to designs by the architect Thomas Johnson of Lichfield and consecrated on Tuesday 22^nd  July 1845 by John Lonsdale, Bishop of Lichfield.

     

In late 1875, it became known for having the first South Asian vicar of any Church of England parish, Shapurji Edalji, who had married a white Englishwoman, Charlotte Stuart, a vicar’s daughter from Shropshire. He obtained the position though the previous incumbent, his wife's uncle, who arranged it as a wedding present. 'Livings' were scarce, conferred valuable emoluments and were much sought after. The arrival of a mixed-race couple in an English country village in the 19th century was a rare occurrence, but it appears the Edaljis were warmly welcomed. If there was resentment and racist feelings towards them, it would not bubble up until they were well established in the community. Soon after moving in, the couple’s first child, George was born, followed by two other children, Horace and Maude, all of them born in Staffordshire.

In 1888, a series of vicious anonymous letters falsely accusing the Reverend Edalji of an assortment of sexual crimes and threatening murder to anyone who served this “black master” began arriving at the vicarage. Others were sent to the homes of members of the village council and prominent local clergymen. An orchestrated campaign of harassment directed against the Edaljis began. Abusive graffiti was daubed on the walls of their garden, animal excrement smeared on outbuildings, and windows of the vicarage broken. The local police investigated, but, evidently under direction of the Chief Constable of Staffordshire, Captain Anson, not with much enthusiasm. The campaign of abuse continued until 1895 when it stopped completely. Calm once again descended on Great Wyrley.

During the vilification, George had been working diligently. He was solitary and wore thick glasses to correct severe myopia which gave him a peculiar, owlish appearance. He was also highly intelligent. George did well at school and, after attending college, became a solicitor, winning prizes from the Birmingham Law Society. Yet despite his success, even in his late 20s, George Edalji continued to live with his parents. He had no friends, no girl he was sweet on. His only hobby was taking long, lonely walks in the countryside, often as darkness was falling. At night he slept in the same bedroom as his father, who, it was said, locked the door before switching out the light. That George was not your average villager was undeniable. His outsider status was to have grave consequences.

On 1^st February 1903, eight years after the last poison pen letter about the Edalji’s had been sent, a horse was cruelly maimed at a farm in Great Wyrley. Over the next six months, more animals were attacked and injured with a bladed weapon. When the attacks began, anonymous letters started to arrive once more. Purporting to be from the gang carrying out the attacks, the letters named George Edalji as a leading member. The police, led by Captain Anson, needed no second invitation. They began compiling evidence against George Edalji and trailing him as he went about Great Wyrley.

Despite the suspicion that surrounded him, George Edalji continued to go on his walks. On 18^th August, a wounded pony was found just half a mile from the scene of the first attack.

The police arrested the vicar’s son and then tried to find evidence that connected him to the crime. A set of old cut throat razors uncovered in the bedroom he shared with his father (the “blood” on them was later revealed to be rust), an overcoat covered in what they believed to be horse hairs (they were likely just loose threads), and a set of footprints police claimed led from the scene of the crime to the vicarage were enough for the constabulary to make a case.

George Edalji stood trial for the attack on the pit pony. The evidence was circumstantial, but his oddness—and likely his colour—counted against him, and he was convicted and sentenced to seven years with hard labour. There was an immediate outcry; 10,000 people signed a petition protesting the verdict, but the sentence was upheld.

A model prisoner, George Edalji was paroled in 1906, but the conviction hung over him and he continued to campaign to clear his name. This is where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle came in. It did not take Sir Arthur long to see the flaw in the police case. Watching George reading the newspaper, Sir Arthur observed how close to his face he held it, and how he altered the angle constantly as he read. He concluded that no man whose eyesight was as bad as George Edalji’s was could have crept around in the pitch dark, clambering over fences, vaulting streams, attacking livestock, and all the while avoiding the policemen who were tailing him.

Sir Arthur travelled to Great Wyrley and spent eight months compiling evidence. He clashed with Captain Anson who remained convinced that Edalji was guilty, despite the fact animal maiming around the village had continued while George was in prison.

Sir Arthur concluded that the police findings were wrong, and that the most likely culprit was Royden Sharp, a former sailor who worked for the village butcher. His findings were published in two articles in the London Daily Telegraph in January 1908, and subsequently serialised around the world. Along with pressure from senior lawyers, it was enough to earn George Edalji a pardon in May 1908.

While Sharp would never be arrested for the crimes, a full 26 years later Enoch Knowles from nearby Wednesbury would be convicted of writing the abusive letters that had targeted the Edalji family. By then, Reverend Shapurji Edalji was dead. He passed away at the vicarage in 1918, having served as the vicar of Great Wyrley for 42 years, and is buried in the churchyard.

     

 

George would continue to work as a solicitor, living with his sister just outside London until his death in 1953.

Having visited the Church and Vicarage, I set out in search of the farms where the horse maiming had taken place. Records were unclear as to the exact location, save that it was close to an abandoned colliery. I therefore made my way to Hazel Lane, which ran through farmland and was close to the former No. 3 Colliery, taking photos of the current farmland.

    

 

Retracing my steps, I made my way back to the Station, passing Great Wyrley Community Library, which was having a book sale. To my delight, one of the books for sale was ‘The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji and the Case of the Foreigner in the English Village’ by Shrabani Basu, an account of the ‘Great Wyrley Outrages’ and Edalji’s eventual pardon. 

 

Book purchased, I caught a train into Birmingham, then another home.

Sherlockian Sojourns # 88: As Seen on Screen 25 - Northern England ‘Granada Sherlock Holmes’ Filming Locations (2)

Introduction

It was time for another mega sojourn. To celebrate 40 years since the first transmission of Granada’s ‘The Return of Sherlock Holmes’, which picked up after Reichenbach with Edward Hardwicke replacing David Burke as Watson, the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast were holding another Brett Con, this time at the show’s base, Manchester. (I attended the first Brett Con in 2024, which helpfully for me was in Guildford). As part of the festivities, there was to be a Location Tour and a visit to the country house used in ‘The Dancing Men’ with the cast and crew of the episode. I therefore decided to spend the week leading up to the event, visiting other Granada locations in the general area.

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Day 1: Monday

Having spent the weekend with a friend in Nottinghamshire, I was able to catch an early train from Newark Northgate Station to York Station (a journey of around 45 minutes). The present York station was built during the 1870s after it had become clear that the old station, which could not facilitate through traffic due to its positioning, was a hindrance to long distance express services. It was built to be expansive and well-furnished from the onset, complete with a distinctive curved train shed. Upon its opening on 25^th June 1877, it was the largest railway station in the world, possessing thirteen platforms along with various amenities, including a dedicated hotel.

The station appears early on in the film ‘The Seven Percent Solution’ (1976), being the station from which Holmes and Watson travel to the Continent.   [The station’s overbridge also appears in ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ (2001) as the bridge at Kings’ Cross where Hagrid gives Harry his Hogwarts Express ticket].

     

It was then a short walk to the National Railway Museum, where I made my way to the Great Hall where SECR D Class 4-4-0 No. 737, designed by H S Wainwright, built at Ashford in 1901, and withdrawn in 1956, was on display. This locomotive (along with LNWR ‘Precedent’ 2-4-0 No. 790 Hardwicke which is currently housed in the NRM’s sister museum, ‘Locomotion’ in Shildon, County Durham) appeared in the station scene in ‘The Seven Percent Solution’. (It also appeared in 'Chariots of Fire' (1981))  The museum also features a replica of ‘The Rocket’, ‘The Mallard’, and Queen Victoria’s Saloon Car.

     

  

Having spent the afternoon in central York and having dropped off my luggage at my guest house for the next three days, I made my way to York Castle Museum, which includes ‘Kirkgate’, a Victorian Street, as well as an original Hansom Cab parked on the street (Joseph Hansom having been born in York). The Cab which was built at John Marston’s coachworks in Birmingham has a Sherlockian connection as it was last used by the students of Watson’s literary agent, Arthur Conan Doyle’s alma mater, Stonyhurst College in Clitheroe. 

   

     

  

Returning to my accommodation, I prepared for another day’s location spotting.

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 Day 2: Tuesday

Catching the 09:14 train from York, I was arriving at Knaresborough Station just over twenty minutes later. I then got a cab to my destination, Allerton Castle, built by the premier Baron of England, Lord Mowbray, Segrave and Stourton in the 1840. It appeared in Granada's 'The Sign of Four' as the home of Major Sholto (Robin Hunter), Pondicherry Lodge, in the episode’s opening scenes, in Thaddeus Sholto (Ronald Lacey)’s tale of the treasure, and is also where Bartholomew Sholto (also Ronald Lacey) is found dead. Both exteriors and interiors appear in the episode. I therefore paid for entry and walked round, comparing my screenshots with the various rooms, managing to identify all but one, which may have been a studio set. 

      

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                

My entry even included complimentary tea and biscuits, and having gone round the house twice, I moved outside to the gardens, including a memorial garden to honour the 4,272 military personnel of the No. 6 Group Royal Canadian Air Force based at Allerton Castle during World War II.

Making my way back to the main road, I got a cab back into central Knaresborough, going around the Castle and its associated Courthouse Museum (with a Tudor courtroom), before returning to the station and my train back to York.

  

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Day 3: Wednesday

An early start the next morning, found me catching a bus just after 7am from outside the station, travelling for 1½ hours to Pickering, and one of the terminuses of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. This station is a 1930’s themed station, with a magnificent roof structure which was recently re-instated to the same design as the original, built in 1847 by G T Andrews. Picking up my ‘All Day Rover’ from the ticket office, I managed to get some breakfast utilising a voucher that I had been given for making my ticket a Donation (costing me 10% more, but getting me a voucher worth 15%).

  

I then caught the first train of the day (a Diesel locomotive) for the twenty minute trip to Levisham Station which is surrounded by the North York Moors. I was the only person to alight here, doing so because this is the station where Dr Watson (Edward Hardwicke), Dr Mortimer (Alastair Duncan) and Sir Henry Baskerville (Kristoffer Tabor) alight from their train, having arrived in Dartmoor in Granada’s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’.

    

Having taken photos, I had a brief wander around the nearby moorland, having 1½ hours until the next train. Reboarding another diesel train, I made my way to the most famous station on the line, Goathland (visited by me on a previous occasion). 

Goathland station, played the part of ‘Hogsmeade’ in the film, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’. (The rest of the films used a station built in studio). It features in two sequences in the film – firstly when framed against the North Eastern Railway footbridge the ‘Hogwarts Express’ pulls into Hogsmeade Station, and all the students then get off the train in their robes, being greeted by Hagrid, who rounds up the first-year students and leads them to the boats that will sail them over to Hogwarts; and secondly at the very end of the film when Harry says goodbye to Hagrid, who gifts him a photo album with a photo of his parents in it, then hugs him goodbye and then boards the train as it takes off to head back to London.

The filming started on 29th September 2000 (the first scenes filmed for the entire film), and production photography took place a few days later in October. They didn’t have to do much to transform this station, save cover up some Goathland wording on the benches, and most of the original features were kept.

  

 

The station also featured as Aidensfield station in the ITV programme ‘Heartbeat’, with the nearby village also featuring heavily. I managed to visit ‘Scripps Garage’, ‘The Aidensfield Arms’, ‘Aidensfield Post Office’, ‘Aidensfield Stores’, ‘Aidensfield Tea Rooms’, ‘Aidensfield Village Green’ and ‘Dr. Ferrenby’s Surgery’, all within the space of half-an-hour.  

   

              

 

I then caught another diesel train from Goathland, which waited at Grosmont Station for a long time whilst the diesel engine was removed and replaced with LMS ‘Black 5’ No. 44806 (a steam locomotive), before continuing its journey to the other end of the line, Whitby Station, whose car park was full of Filming Unit vehicles relating to filming taking place for a new Netflix version of ‘Tales of the Unexpected’.

I made my way to ‘Sherlock’s Coffee Shop’ where I had a ‘Moriarty Smoothie’ and bought four coasters with Sherlockian quotes on, before struggling to get the Bram Stoker’s bench on the East Cliff due to roads being closed due to filming.

      

The afternoon was spent in a more in-depth ‘Dracula’ book locations tour, ending in the Whitby Abbey gift shop. I then caught a bus to nearby Scarborough, where I managed to see the latest Alan Ayckbourn play at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, before returning to York. 

    

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Day 4: Friday

 

Having taken a day off to look for the Cottingley Fairies, I made my way from Bradford, my base for the night, to Manchester. Having left my luggage at Left Luggage at Manchester Piccadilly, I made my way back to Manchester Victoria, and the nearby Chetham’s Library, founded in 1653 and the oldest public library in the English-speaking world, which was the starting point for my booked ‘Granada Sherlock Holmes Location Tour’. 

   

The group was so big that it needed to be broken into two, with each group having a guide who highlighted the history, with a Podcast member moving between the groups to show which scenes the library appears in. The library stacks upstairs where my group went first appears as Professor Moriarty’s (Eric Porter) base in both ‘The Red-Headed League’ and ‘The Final Problem’.

   

We then made our way into a side-room with an alcove with a desk in it that is known for being where, in the summer of 1845, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, spent several weeks studying together, work that ultimately resulted in the writing of ‘The Communist Manifesto’. However, the same desk and alcove, also appears in 'The Priory School’ being where the Duke of Holdernesse (Alan Howard) rises from to greet Holmes (Jeremy Brett) and Watson (Edward Hardwicke).

Moving downstairs, we moved along corridors that also appear in ‘The Priory School’, exiting into a courtyard where Holmes struggles with Moriarty’s men in ‘The Final Problem’, before entering another room used as part of the School.

     

       

Exiting the library, we all walked for around twenty-five minutes into the Deansgate area of Manchester, passing Forsyth’s Music Shop where Jeremy Brett obtained his violin, until we reached Castle Street, where scenes featuring Toby following the scent of creosote in ‘The Sign of Four’ were filmed. I had previously visited this site, but it was useful to have the exact filming location confirmed, as well as which part of the nearby towpath was used in the filming.

  

It was then a short walk to a nearby alleyway with a barbers and restaurant, which was the site of the murderous attack on Holmes in ‘The Illustrious Client’. This location had only recently been identified and so was new to all attendees.

 

      

Moving back towards the centre, we made our way to Albert Hall, a Manchester music venue, whose basement was regularly used for filming, including Covent Garden Market in ‘The Blue Carbuncle’, the Women’s Liberation Meeting in ‘The Golden Pince-Nez’, and scenes in ‘The Eligible Bachelor’. Despite our tour leader banging on the door, staff vehemently refused to let us in.

    

Passing the Midland Hotel, where Brett stayed whilst filming, holding court, and Manchester Town Hall, still under repair, which appeared in multiple stories, we made our way to Sam’s Chop House, which appeared as the restaurant that Holmes was eating in prior to the attack in ‘The Illustrious Client’. The alleyway next door also appears in ‘The Bruce Partington Plans’ with a carriage being filmed driving through it.

    

This was the end of the tour, and I made haste to Manchester Piccadilly, catching a train to Cheadle Hulme, a fifteen minute journey. From here it was a twenty minute walk to Bramall Hall.  This appeared as the home of the Ferguson family in ‘The Last Vampyre’, and was used for both exterior and interior shots. Unfortunately, a large part of the outside was under repair and covered in scaffolding, but I managed to take multiple photos.

         

              

Returning to Manchester Piccadilly, I picked up my luggage and checked into my accommodation, having just enough time to change before making my way out for my evening’s entertainment, taking place at the former site of the Granada Studios.

The first point of call was the Bonded Warehouse, which previously housed the Baker Street interiors. It is now a workspace venue and nothing of the inside remains, but the outside remains as it was during filming.

   

I then made my way to the events area of ‘The Crystal Maze Experience’ that is now located on the site of the studios for a ‘Dinner on Baker Street’. As part of this, a steam fire engine used in ‘The Norwood Builder’ had been brought down from the Fireground Museum in Rochdale (but not the main one previously seen by myself at the museum) and I got a photo with three of the real firemen who appeared in the episode. A quiz led by Maze-Master, ‘Sheerluck Holmes’ saw my table ('The Six Napoleons') roundly beaten (as only I seemed to have any idea of answers), but I had a great time speaking to other Brettons, even if we didn't seem to have a member of cast or crew on our table.

   

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Day 5: Sunday

Having spent the previous day at ‘Brett Con 2026’ itself, I had opted for the second of two location coach trips to Leighton Hall, the real life setting for Ridling Thorpe Manor in ’The Dancing Men’, with a reunion of cast and crew. Waiting at the pick-up point for the 1.15pm start, the coach was late and we hit traffic coming out of Manchester. However, we still reached the Hall at around 3.15pm, sweeping down the drive familiar from the episode to the Hall which was instantly recognisable.

  

Due to two of the guests having to go early, the group photo was taken almost immediately, but not before I managed to get photos with the two guests that were due to leave soon – David Ross (Inspector Martin) & Paul Jaynes (Walker).

  

We then made our way to the Music Room for a panel with Betsy Brantley (Elsie Cubitt), Wendy Jane Walker (Saunders), Ross and Jaynes, before the episode itself was screened, after a brief recorded interview with Eugene Lipinski (Abe Slaney) who had been unable to attend.

It was then time for tea in the Conservatory, with Brantley and Walker signing and posing for photos (with pre-signed photos of Ross and Jaynes available). 

  

Having got my autographs and photos, I joined Suzie Reynolds, owner of the Hall, for a tour of all the rooms used in the filming, including one where they kept the curtains from filming after a minor china item was broken, and the ground floor window that Holmes famously climbs out of. There were also letters from Jeremy Brett and director John Bruce (the latter in ‘Dancing Men’ code) to the family on display.

             

I then moved into the gardens, finding the bench from the story (with a DM message), as well as the areas seen at the start of the episode.

      

It was then time to get back on the coach for the 80 minute trip back to Manchester. As we sped back along the M6, I mused on visiting ten Granada filming locations in five days (along with ones from ‘The Seven Percent Solution’, ‘Harry Potter’ & ‘Heartbeat’, and even a Hansom Cab that Conan Doyle may have used).