Windmill, Somersham

History of The Windmill

According to John Bell, Cambridgeshire Crime, part of the home of Thomas Savage is now the Windmill public house.

Thomas Savage was born in Somersham in 1802. His family were poor; they had been given a rug by the Bishop of Bristol in 1823. In May 1824 three young men, Savage, Cook and Wood, were in a pub in Somersham discussing setting fire to a building in the village. In the end Cook and Savage went off to pursue the idea; Cook brought matches and Savage set light to Martin Wellman’s barn. As a result about 20 houses burned down or were damaged.  They stole goods belonging to the draper and then boasted of how much and where they had put it.

Unsurprisingly, they were arrested and Cook and Wood turned’King’s Evidence’ on Savage. At the age of 22 Savage was convicted and hung on the gallows in Huntingdon.

He was interred in the grounds of Somersham Parish Church 19th December 1824. He was the last man in Cambridgeshire to be executed for arson in 1824.

Some believe that his ghost now haunts his former home, pat of the Windmill pub.