If you start with the local detail, a surprising picture of the past can emerge. This isn't re-creating the steps of research already done or an illustrated lecture where the audience is talked at by a figure of authority. In every case, we follow a trail once we arrive and try to keep that process of discovery as alive and genuine as we can. |
That was fascinating because you can follow the escape route that the robbers took (unsuccessfully), find the place where one of them dropped dead and track down the prison where some of them ended up. It was one of the most modern jails in Europe at the time - the cells were in a circle with the governor's house in the middle. It's a housing estate now with a green in the middle. |
You can still see a fragment of the north stone wall of the house. Amazingly, the building survived until the 1930s when its great hall was turned into a car showroom. Now it's part of a modern block of luxury flats. |