St Mary's Gate - Shire Hall

(Written by Wayne Anthony & Richard Felix)

Standing forlornly and empty upon St. Mary's Gate is Derby's former Shire Hall. It is the building where most of Derby's famous court cases took place.

The Pentrich Martyrs were tried for treason in a massive show-trial at the Shire Hall and were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered - the last time the sentence was passed in England.

However in 1665 a young woman was sentenced to a punishment even more disturbing - that of death by pressing.

The sentence was "that you be taken back to the prison whence you came to a low dungeon, into which no light can enter; that you be laid on your back on the bare floor with a cloth around your loins but elsewhere naked; that there be set upon your body a weight of iron as great as you can bear and greater….".

This was a punishment inflicted upon those who refused to answer when asked to plead guilty or not guilty.

After dying due to this unbearable punishment it was discovered that the young woman was a deaf mute. She could neither hear the question asked of her, or reply in any form.

The figure of the woman has been spotted on numerous occasions within the buildings and it seems that in the after world she has the gift of speech as her tormented moans have been heard.

A gentleman who may years ago worked within the building said, "I have absolutely no doubt that the building is haunted. I heard unexplainable noises on many occasions and was always uncomfortable during darker hours. I felt like I was being watched by something so tormented I felt a deep distress inside my heart".

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