The last of the Darrell owners is connected with several scandals and the house's resident ghost story. Wild William Darrell's father had left the house to his mistress Mary Danyell, but Darrell was able to recover it when he came of age in 156. He spent lavishly, left his debts unpaid, and went to law with most of his neighbours, acquiring enemies in the process.
He had an affair with the wife of Sir Walter Hungerford, his neighbour; when Sir Walter sued for divorce, she was acquitted, and Sir Walter sent to prison. Some years later, Mother Barnes, a midwife from Great Shefford, recalled being brought blindfold in 1575 to the childbed of a lady, with a gentleman standing by who commanded her to save the life of the mother, but who (as soon as the child was born) threw the baby into the fire. Barnes did not name or indicate either Darrell or Littlecote, but his enemies quickly ascribed this murder to him.
My son, Marc, seems to be a witness to the event but how he got into the picture, I do not know!
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