The History of Rectory Farm Barns, Islip & The Unsolved Murder of an Infant (1907, Oxfordshire)

Lying approximately 30 metres north of Rectory Farmhouse in the village of Islip are three barns known as 'Rectory Farm Barns', which date back to around the middle of the 18th century.

In November 1907, an inquest was held in one of the barns, concerning the death of a male child whose body had been discovered lying in a ditch.

Edwin Wise, a labourer of Islip, was driving a horse and cart between Islip and Frog's Nest Farm (Bletchington), and when he was approximately halfway between the two, he happened to look down into the ditch at the side of the road, and noticed a parcel wrapped in brown paper, tied up with string. The ditch was filled with around a foot of water. 

Mr Wise retrieved the parcel from the ditch, and opened it; inside, he found some white cloth. When he felt the cloth, he recoiled in horror... He could distinctly feel tiny fingers beneath it! He quickly laid it back in a dry section of the ditch, covered it with grass and trimmings from the hedge, before continuing on his journey. Upon his return to Islip later that day, Wise went to see the village constable, and told him about his grim discovery.

P.C Mouldern went to the spot that Wise had indicated, and carefully unwrapped the parcel, revealing the body of a fully-developed male child. He could see no signs of violence upon the poor baby's body, although it was already in a state of decomposition. He carried the body to the nearby Red Lion Inn, calling a doctor in preparation for the post-mortem, which was then carried out in the Rectory Barns. 

The autopsy revealed that the child was around 4 days old at the time of its sad demise, and that there was evidence to suggest that it had not been properly attended at birth. There were no signs to indicate that the baby had drowned in the ditch, but in the absence of any other definitive cause of death, and no one coming forward to claim the poor little mite, the jury returned a verdict of 'found drowned'.

(Photograph courtesy of British Listed Buildings).

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