The Heyday of the Highwayman

The heyday of famous highwaymen was in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It is thus more likely that, if he existed, Parson Darby was hanged in 1741, or even 1641, rather than in 1841. Highwaymen were very active in our area since both main highways, the Great West Road, to Bath and Bristol, and the Great Southwest Road, running through Yateley parish to Salisbury and Exeter, passed over barren heaths, and provided rich pickings from isolated

travellers.

Many famous highwaymen are therefore associated with this area:

• Captain Philip Stafford, born in Newbury in 1622, was tried at Reading Assizes in 1649 and hung. He operated at Maidenhead Thicket;
• Captain Zachary Howard, hung at Maidstone Gaol in 1652, operated on Bagshot Heath;
• John Cottingham (Mulled Jack), hung at Smithželd Rounds on 1 April 1659, operated on Hounslow Heath;
• Claude Duval (b.1643 the Squire of the Dames) operated on Hounslow Heath and Windsor Forest and was hanged at Tyburn on 21 Jan 1670;
• Walter Parkhurst, John White (the Fowler) and John Williams (the Matchet) operated at Maidenhead and Colnbrook and hung together on 15 April 1674;
• William Davis (the Golden Farmer) was executed on 20 Dec 1690 in London and his body was brought to hang in chains outside his home in Bagshot;
• Thomas Sympson (Old Mob), hung at Tyburn on 12 Sep 1691, operated around here as well as in the West Country.

Claude Duval and Thomas Sympson were said to have worked with the Golden Farmer. All of them operated over a very wide territory. All of those listed above could have held up travellers crossing the Hartfordbridge Flats. Of course only when a highwaymen was caught are there records of who held up which coaches.

A word of caution must be expressed about all the "facts" listed above. If there are grave doubts about the Parson Darby Myth, then there is likely to be questions about whether any of the above is historical fact. A recent article in the new on-line edition of the Dictionary of National Biography states that the Golden Farmer was not William Davis. There goes another of our icons...

Back to the Parson Darby Myth