he had been in Africa. In Haggat, Sweeney had ferreted out the information that the man must be a Parsee by birth, or half Parsee, and that he had lived under other names than Gerontion. What had the Archvicar been hinting at, in their talk before Apollinax had come into the room? Was he suggesting an alliance? What for? Well, look at the old toad’s notes.
For a first draft, the manuscript was neat enough. Sweeney began reading languidly, but soon his interest was stirred.
OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING PHENOMENA
AT BALGRUMMO LODGING
At your direction, I have set down formally this memorandum of our recent conversations on the subject, together with certain supplementary suggestions. Permit me to recommend, my dear sir and employer, that you destroy these papers upon having committed to memory their contents: it would be awkward if such a document were produced in an action at law.
It appears improbable that more information about Balgrummo Lodging can be obtained than that which we already possess. I have made thorough search, at some harm to my constitution, of the muniments here at the Lodging, have consulted other papers of the Inchburn family, have gone over relevant materials in the chief antiquarian collections of Scotland, have obtained access to such Scottish private archives and collections as seemed likely to touch upon Balgrummo Lodging and its proprietors, and have ascertained that, except for myself, all participants in the affair of 1913 at Balgrummo Lodging either are dead or have dropped altogether from sight. Perhaps materials relating to the early history of this property, and to what occurred here during the sixteenth century, were destroyed during the Regent Morton’s sack of the Lodging. As an alchemist, the Third Laird must have kept careful records of his experiments here. Those have vanished.
I do not attempt below a systematic account of the history of the Lodging and the monastic buildings which stood upon the site earlier, nor of the actual or alleged “psychic” occurrences from medieval times until the present century. Instead, I endeavor to provide you, Master, with succinct, considered responses to your principal inquiries.
1. Access to the weem, or souterrain. Before this property was secularized and put into the possession of the Inchburns of Balgrummo, popularly it was known as Nectan’s Purgatory, or Nectan’s Weem. We are uncertain as to the character, construction, and extent of the subterranean chambers and passages beneath the buildings now known as Balgrummo’s Lodging; so it is best to refer to the whole complex as the Weem, implying an artificial cave.
It is certain that this Weem existed and was known in early medieval times. The Priory of Saint Nectan was erected above it, for at one time the Purgatory or Weem was nearly so famous a religious site as was Patrick’s Purgatory, in Ireland. Whether the Weem still exists, at least in its state before the year 1500, has not been positively determined. Certainly it has been damaged, and it may have been flooded or have collapsed.
Presumably the Weem lies, or lay, beneath the large hillock, mound, tumulus, or motte upon which the Lodging stands. (It is uncertain even whether this mount is a work of nature improved by art, or almost wholly the work of man.) The chambers and passages of the Weem may have been or still may be in part elaborate masonry structures, like undercrofts, comparable to the extant “Goblin Ha’” near Gifford. At least the earlier portion of the underground complex, however, probably is a good-sized cave. The geology of this district considered, we are not to expect such a formation as Wookey Hole, in extent; but the strata beneath the Lodging belong to those known as the “Coal Measures,” and include apparently large areas of calcareous rock from which extensive caves may have been formed through the action of carbonic acid. At some remote time, indeed, the whole of the valley known as Fettinch or
For a first draft, the manuscript was neat enough. Sweeney began reading languidly, but soon his interest was stirred.
OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING PHENOMENA
AT BALGRUMMO LODGING
At your direction, I have set down formally this memorandum of our recent conversations on the subject, together with certain supplementary suggestions. Permit me to recommend, my dear sir and employer, that you destroy these papers upon having committed to memory their contents: it would be awkward if such a document were produced in an action at law.
It appears improbable that more information about Balgrummo Lodging can be obtained than that which we already possess. I have made thorough search, at some harm to my constitution, of the muniments here at the Lodging, have consulted other papers of the Inchburn family, have gone over relevant materials in the chief antiquarian collections of Scotland, have obtained access to such Scottish private archives and collections as seemed likely to touch upon Balgrummo Lodging and its proprietors, and have ascertained that, except for myself, all participants in the affair of 1913 at Balgrummo Lodging either are dead or have dropped altogether from sight. Perhaps materials relating to the early history of this property, and to what occurred here during the sixteenth century, were destroyed during the Regent Morton’s sack of the Lodging. As an alchemist, the Third Laird must have kept careful records of his experiments here. Those have vanished.
I do not attempt below a systematic account of the history of the Lodging and the monastic buildings which stood upon the site earlier, nor of the actual or alleged “psychic” occurrences from medieval times until the present century. Instead, I endeavor to provide you, Master, with succinct, considered responses to your principal inquiries.
1. Access to the weem, or souterrain. Before this property was secularized and put into the possession of the Inchburns of Balgrummo, popularly it was known as Nectan’s Purgatory, or Nectan’s Weem. We are uncertain as to the character, construction, and extent of the subterranean chambers and passages beneath the buildings now known as Balgrummo’s Lodging; so it is best to refer to the whole complex as the Weem, implying an artificial cave.
It is certain that this Weem existed and was known in early medieval times. The Priory of Saint Nectan was erected above it, for at one time the Purgatory or Weem was nearly so famous a religious site as was Patrick’s Purgatory, in Ireland. Whether the Weem still exists, at least in its state before the year 1500, has not been positively determined. Certainly it has been damaged, and it may have been flooded or have collapsed.
Presumably the Weem lies, or lay, beneath the large hillock, mound, tumulus, or motte upon which the Lodging stands. (It is uncertain even whether this mount is a work of nature improved by art, or almost wholly the work of man.) The chambers and passages of the Weem may have been or still may be in part elaborate masonry structures, like undercrofts, comparable to the extant “Goblin Ha’” near Gifford. At least the earlier portion of the underground complex, however, probably is a good-sized cave. The geology of this district considered, we are not to expect such a formation as Wookey Hole, in extent; but the strata beneath the Lodging belong to those known as the “Coal Measures,” and include apparently large areas of calcareous rock from which extensive caves may have been formed through the action of carbonic acid. At some remote time, indeed, the whole of the valley known as Fettinch or
Similar Books
