The chair, which is situated below the gothic window, was bought by the local parishioners as a memorial to the Reverend .G.R.Jackson, M.A., 1891-1931. Follows, is the true story about the return of the chair after it had been stolen ten months earlier.
The true tale of the Chair's return:
Our story begins on Christmas Eve with a strange visitor to the Vicarage.
On receiving no answer the stranger decided that the Vicar must be preparing for Christmas in the church. He wrote a name and phone number on a scrap of paper, pushed it through the letterbox and set off to look for the missing clergyman. Walking up the drive to the church, the mysterious visitor met a lady placing flowers on a grave. He asked if she knew the whereabouts of the Vicar as he had an important message to pass on. The woman responded cautiously not wishing to reveal that the Vicarage was, in fact empty and suggested that she should pass the message on. She was amazed as the stranger told her of a scheme that would secure the return of the valuable 15th Century chair stole the previous February. He explained that the Vicar should ring a certain number and ask for ‘ Mr Smith’ and further directions would be then given. The woman noted the details as the man sped away in his car.
Although she thought the whole thing was probably an elaborate hoax, the information was passed to the church-warden at New Hartley. From there the police were informed with the result that two burly policemen paid a visit and made a strange request.
They had complied with the strange visitor’s request and made the phone call, asking for the mysterious Mr Smith who was quite happy to believe that the policeman in question was in fact the vicar. Now the meeting had been arranged and clerical collars and cassocks would be needed to complete the deception. Dusk fell early as the three o’clock appointment approached. The Police Inspector, dressed in cassock and collar and clutching a bible, waited inside the church door while his colleagues took up position around the grounds. Just after three o’clock a white van drew up and a man got out and began struggling to lift the heavy chair out of the back while his mind settled on the £200 he had negotiated for the return of the object.
The chair was in a dreadful condition. Ten months sharing an allotment shed with rabbits had taken its toll. The top carved head was missing and the rest was ingrained with dirt while the seat was scarred with a watermark where someone had stood a bucket on it.
Eventually the man managed to get the chair back into the church and eagerly confronted the ’Vicar’ to claim his reward. Sadly for him the reward was rather less than he had hoped for and he was marched off to a waiting police car.
Postscript.
The chair was restored and back in its rightful place in the sanctuary of the Parish Church. The villain was ordered to pay £176 compensation.
Bishops Chair
