STORY TELLING AND MUSIC
DARK TALES AND STRANGE SOUNDS V
Another Unsettling Event at Copped Hall
Date & Time
Saturday 29 March 2025
Gates will open at 6.00pm for a 7.00pm start. The event will conclude at 9pm.
Cost
£22.00 per person. The event is unsuitable for children.
Location
The event will take place in the Mansion on the Ground and First Floors. Main storytelling and performances will be in the upstairs Saloon and State Hall and other rooms.
Access to the First Floor is currently via staircases only. Those with mobility impairments interested in attending should contact the Box Office (details below) to assess the suitability of this event before booking a ticket.
Description
Looking back to the 17th century, we’ll meet a character from a Restoration Comedy written at Copped Hall by Thomas Shadwell, who later became Poet Laureate. Julia Stallard will introduce us to the legendary Mrs Termagant. Not an easy woman…
Healthcare in former times was challenging; this time, Dark Tales will be looking at 18th century dentistry as well as the grim story of eye-surgeon Chevalier John Taylor. John Conyers, who built Copped Hall in the 1750s, knew composer George Frederick Handel, one of Taylor’s unfortunate patients.
We’ll also have our usual ghost stories, and Sinister Masterplan (Laura Sampson, storyteller, and Sam Enthoven, Thereminist) will be reciting The Whispering Wall by H. D. Everett. It's about a haunted mansion where there’s a wall with a mysterious voice, reputed to tell you where you're going to die!
In 16th century, Essex was notorious for its Witch Trials. Agnes Waterhouse was accused of murder by witchcraft, for which she would be executed if she was found guilty. We’ll bring you the details of this grim story.
Also appearing will be storyteller Minne Wilkinson, and Robin the Fog with more of his extraordinary live tape-loops.
Following her remarkable live underwater sounds from the North Pond at Copped Hall last November, sound artist Karina Townsend will be adding ultrasonic bat sounds from the same location. Her hi-tech electronics will make these incredible noises audible to us mere humans.
And we’ll be finding out why men of the Essex marshes boasted of having up to five-and-twenty wives!
The Copped Hall Bar will be open and a roaring log fire will warm you in the ground floor Servants’ Hall.
Event Querries?
Please contact the Box Office on 07749 397932 for any questions you have with connection with this event.
Buy Tickets
Tickets can be purchased on line:
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/coppedhallevents
or by clicking the logo below. View the event, pay and print your tickets.
Both debit and credit cards may be used.
If you are having problems with buying tickets via Ticketsource, please contact our Box Office on 07749 397932 or email the Box Office on:

Playwright Thomas Shadwell who wrote whilst at Copped Hall