Mark Branagan
CUSTOMERS at a smart pub restaurant are wining and dining, never dreaming that behind the wall are the ruins of the Victorian mansion which produced one of the strangest chapters in the story of Jack the Ripper – Yorkshire bloodhounds in Whitechapel.
Whitbread took over the Scalby Manor in Burniston Road, Scarborough, more than a decade ago and the inside looks like any other Brewers Fayre inn.
But only a fake wall separates the pub from what remains of Scalby Manor and the stone-built kennels where once bayed the bloodhounds that were sent to London to hunt for Jack the Ripper.
Soon the kennels will be consigned to history along with the surrounding stables – casualties of a scheme to build a new hotel on to the existing pub restaurant.
However, the brewers want to incorporate the best surviving features of the building into the design and explain to customers the astonishing story of Scarborough's connection to the murders in Whitechapel.
Long before the site became a hotel it was a stately home called Wyndyate, built in 1885 for Edwin Brough, who bred bloodhounds. It was only in the latter part of the 19th century that the police began training their own dogs. Before this they had borrowed hounds from private citizens.
Sir Charles Warren, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police at the time of the White-chapel Murders in 1888, was being slated over his handling of the investigation and at his wits' end.
Knowing Mr Brough was a breeder, Sir Charles requested a couple of his trained bloodhounds, Barnaby and Burgho, be brought to London to see if they could follow the scent of a man in the busy capital.
Trials were carried out in Regent's Park in October when despite the frost the hounds stayed on the trail of a young man, who had been given a 15-minute start, for nearly a mile.
That night in Hyde Park the bloodhounds hunted on the leash in the dark, to prepare them for the streets of Whitechapel and were again successful.The next day Sir Charles himself twice acted as the hunted man and was so impressed that Mr Brough felt able to return to Scarborough, leaving the hounds in the care of a London breeder.
But by the time the body of the Ripper's next victim, Mary Jane Kelly, was found, it was daylight. The streets were crowded with people, and the trail cold.
Eventually Barnaby was returned to Scarborough and Mr Brough became concerned for the well-being of his animal in London, Burgho. He decided to take it back – largely due to the refusal of the Metropolitan Police to buy it.
The newspapers ridiculed Sir Charles and his bloodhound theory. But he is now credited as having helped lay the foundations of the police dog section, although bloodhounds, despite having the best noses, were regarded as too gentle for the job, which went to the German shepherd.
Wyndyate was a private house until 1939, when it became a guest house. From 1957 until 1987 a local family ran it as The Scalby Manor Hotel. It then became derelict and run down, until Whitbread's bought it in 1995.
For years the crumbling kennels and stables have been hidden away behind the heavy black gates under an archway at the side of the pub. General manager Chris Geeson said the aim now was to give a flavour of the historic surroundings but in a modern hotel environment.
Assistant manager Graeme Hamilton said: "Having such an interesting history gives the place great character and what we want to do now is get hold of some old photographs for a display."
mark.branagan@ypn.co.uk