The Cake - Summer 2022

LOCAL HISTORY
darkened room with a foul odour, just as
they heard Sir Richard and his groundsman
returning, carrying the body of a beautiful,
dead woman.
The men tried to get the corpse up some
steps but her hand caught in the turret
window frame. Sir Richard, frustrated that he
couldn’t free it, took out his knife and cut it
off! It landed in the lap of Mary’s dress, as she
hid below stairs.
When the men had gone, the girls realising
the room had more bodies than the one they
had just witnessed, fled back to Cranbrook.
(Rumour has it that the actual window
bleeds on the anniversary of this woman’s
death, and there is a secret tunnel from the
castle to Cranbrook that took Bloody Baker’s
carriage underground into town!)
Back in the safety of her fine house in the
High Street, Mary decided to lay a trap. She
would throw a dinner party for the great and
good in the town; Sir Richard was at the top of
the guest list.
Days later, they arrived and much beer,
wine, food and merriment was made all
evening until Sir Richard asked her why he
hadn’t seen her for so long?
She replied that she had actually visited
him just days earlier, only to find a room
full of corpses of local missing girls! Sir
Richard laughed and demanded proof of
her outrageous accusation. Only then was
the hand brought out, still wearing the
engagement ring that had been given to the
deceased girl by one of the other guests!
Sir Richard, realising his peril, jumped
for his sword, but not quickly enough. The
servants and gentlemen drew their knives
and swords and forced “Bloody Baker” to
the cell above the entrance to St Dunstan’s
Church (still there), thereby stopping
his reign of terror: “So perish the deeds
of Bloody Baker! So perish the Lord of
Sissinghurst!”
SIDE NOTE
The other Sir Richard Baker of Sissinghurst
Castle (born 1488) was a very important
man. He became Chancellor of the
Exchequer, not only to King Henry VIII, but
also to King Edward VI then briefly Lady Jane Grey and
finally Queen Mary. It was he who rounded up protestants for execution by “Bloody Mary” right up
until her death. It was while on his way to Cranbrook that a messenger rode up to inform him of
the Queen’s death. At that very spot, he turned his soldiers round to return to Sissinghurst Castle
without their intended prisoners. That place is still caller Baker’s Cross, after that very event.
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The Cake • Summer 2022 23