Just returned from hols and catching up with all my 300 emails!! But have the following on the Spracklings from a little booklet "The Church of Saint Laurence the Martyr in Thanet" by Eva B. Pilcher - many years old and I guess long out of print. 'The Anonymous Skeleton' Almost all buildings of medieval derivation have a history of some horrific deed or deeds amongst their traditions, and the Church of St. Laurence is no exception. The district of Ellington, now part of the town of Ramsgate, was originally only a small hamlet to the east of the Church, and the site of a gentleman's residence 'Ellington House', which for two centuries prior to 1480 had been in the possession of a family of the same name. It passed in 1558 to a family of the name of SPRACKLING or SPRAKELING and it is ADAM of this ilk who figured in the hideous murder now recounted. During the 1888 restorations of the Church near the N.W. pier of the Tower was discovered the skeleton of a man between 6 and 7ft. in height buried only 18 inches beneath the surface and in a position that was then just a clear space between the pews; there is no entry of his funeral in the Burial Register of the period, although that of his wife is duly recorded. To explain this mysterious gentleman we must refer to a 'tract' (pamphlet) published in 1653 by "one who lives near the Place where the said Murther was committed" ......... and published for the "warning and good of all", which tells in fearsome and gory detail how the said Adam Sprackling mutilated and finally killed his pious and gently wife, together with six of his dogs. He was arrested, tried, found guilty and 'hanged in his cloak', then taken by night to St. Laurence Church where he was buried near his wife, apparently without benefit of clergy or any rite of internment. It has never been proven that this skeleton was indeed Adam Sprackling the murderer, but in view of such facts as are known in all probability it was. For some time after this terrible deed, weird noises were heard in the vicinity of Ellington House which gave rise to the rumours of the 'Ellington Ghost', and the Rev. Matthew Bookey, the then incumbent of St. Laurence, tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to exorcise it. It was not until a later owner's time that these so-called supernatural noises were found to be made by the horses in the farm stables, much amplified by the acoustics of the cellars and other subterranean passages hewn out of the chalk below, probably dug as a cache for the hiding of booty, smuggling being very prevalent at the time. In 1892 the family then owning the land conveyed it to the Burough of Ramsgate for the purpose of a Public Park, and the house and the adjacent buildings were pulled down. Ironically, children now play happily and their parents take their ease in the sun on the very spot upon which this ghastly deed was once perpetrated. It is only a few minutes walk from our ancient Church, and with its flowers and trees is well worth a visit." A ghostly tale and told in such quaint language but I though it was worth passing on. Shame the park no longer has its lovely flower beds that I remember as a child but that's progress and cost cutting for you! I believe I may have an article with more embellishment on the murder but I am still in the turmoil of unpacking and giving the impression that I have taken in washing, so it will have to wait a while. Mo in Yorkshire