Market
Place - Guildhall Catacombs
(Written
by Wayne Anthony & Richard Felix)
Beneath Derby's Guildhall is a labyrinth of tunnels and catacombs. One
of the tunnels used to link the old police lock-up in Lock-Up Yard to
the Assize Courts which were at that time in the Guildhall. Many prisoners
have trudged along those dark, dank tunnels from the lock-up to the courts,
where they were sentenced, and then trudged back into the lock-up to be
then taken away to be executed, transported, or imprisoned.
One such person who
made the mournful journey through those tunnels was Alice Wheeldon, from
Peartree. In 1917 it was alleged that she had plotted to murder David
Lloyd George, the Prime Minister. She was arrested in Peartree Road, Derby,
taken to the lock-up and eventually tried at the Assize Courts.
People say that they still hear ghostly footsteps along those tunnels.
Perhaps it is those of Alice Wheeldon, who although imprisoned, was later
found to be innocent. The whole story was apparently fabricated by the
British Government because Alice Wheeldon was hiding Conscientious Objectors
- men who did not wish to fight as soldiers- in World War One.
She was later released from prison and lived as a recluse in Derby until
she died and was then buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in the town.
Also within the Guildhall
catacombs, the ghost of a little boy has been seen, dressed in rags. He
often wanders through the tunnels and has been seen by workmen. They shout
at him, thinking that he is trespassing, but then he disappears and although
thorough searches are undertaken, no sign of the boy can be found.
