The strange tail of the Chalvey Stabmonk

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Imported historical comment — Joe Buckland — 2021-01-12 12:09:35

Interesting article. My grandfather who lived in Chalvey until he emigrated in his thirties had a manuscript titled Memoir of a Stabmonk. It was several pages of elegant dip-pen handwriting on faded brown paper sheets which were crumbling at the edges. It must have been written some time in the 19th Century and had previously belonged to his grandfather. I don't know if he knew the writer W Lovejoy (I think it was) who described details of his life as a Stabmonk. I last saw the memoir in the 1990s when I typed it out but I've long since lost my typed copy. From what I remember of it, the Stabmonks didn’t seem to be connected with witchcraft or religion but it was more like a criminal organisation. I've put as much as I can remember below but there are probably more than a few misrememberings.

According to the memoir, the public Stabmonk ceremony was a show of bravado that demonstrated to all that the Stabmonks were untouchable. Nothing was said about the origin of the plaster effigy. Despite the public ceremony, the Stabmonks were a secret organisation and locals had to be careful as loose talk could bring punishment. To become a member you had to belong to a Chalvey family and was only open to men. It numbered around 30 members. When Lovejoy came of age he was initiated which involved being cut on the hand and swearing an oath. Stabmonks generally didn’t work for a living in the normal sense and their income mainly came from vice. They profited from brothels in Chalvey which once catered for stagecoach passengers staying at the Salt Hill inns, but although this source had mostly dried up, other lucrative custom came down from Eton and Windsor. Arranging wagered sports such as cock fights and bare knuckle boxing was another source of money. Much of the clientele came from middle and upper classes and the Stabmonks went to great pains to make sure that their customers could come and enjoy the pleasures of Chalvey without fear of being robbed or assaulted. The Stabmonks had their own enforcers consisting of their toughest individuals. They were known as the Black Shadows from their practice of prowling the outer roads at night to catch footpads or others that were threats to their activities. The Black Shadows were usually armed with a cudgel, blade or pistol. They met in a room in Ragstone Road and had a captain who was known by his first name preceded by Black. Lovejoy mentioned that during his youth, the captain was Black Albert. The Black Shadows could be brutal in their enforcement. Local offenders were occasionally found floating face-down in the river Chalve. Undesirable visitors to the village were sometimes left tied to a tree in the marshes. Getting free from their bindings was the least of their worries as a step in the wrong direction could result in sinking into bottomless mud. The captain of the Black Shadows was answerable to the leader of the Stabmonks who was known as the Stabbot. There were some other special ranks but I can't remember what they were. The Stabmonks had their own way of speaking about their activities and used terms like stealing someone's shadow and giving the black feather. A stabmonk who became a Black Shadow was said to have taken up the black.

The memoir contained much more detail than I have given. I don’t know what happened to it in the end. After my grandfather died in the late 1997 it was wasn’t found among his things which is a great shame. Perhaps he decided to dispose of it or it got accidentally thrown away. If it does come to light again I'll send some scans.

Original comment #694

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Imported historical comment — Punk Dylan — 2021-01-31 19:20:11

I will relate here that I was summoned to a ceremony on Montem Mound in 2020, due to my aquaintance with local historians, and the ascribed significance of the date. The naming of Ragstone Road, Chalvey in 1964, on my birth certificate seemed to qualify me for some kind of initiation. Being a long term fanatic of celtic historical matters, my patronage of reinactments, making of real chariots and coracles and standing stones, for museum, sculpture parks and use in the real world, this offered up significant interest to me. My legacy on this subject is known to a handful of people, and it is my intention to reclaim the stone sculpture from the dead museum of hidden secrets and breathe life into the stories relayed on this page.
I can further confirm the importance of the involvement of police in the above story and must relay to the reader that an exactly syncronised occurence happened for us in 2020, except the police quickly assumed that we were the "arsing about" and walked off as we continued to fight for the right to get wet in the stream first. Clearly none of the satbmonks known to me are known as criminals, but the celebrations of Dionysus and Sabazio seem very familiar.

Original comment #699

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Imported historical comment — Shirley M Fawkes — 2022-04-15 01:42:01

I’m an old Chalvey (pronounced ‘charvee’) resident, born just off Church Street on Chaddle Hill. It was known that
a certain Diana 'D', who lived in the area, was on pretty good terms with the monks.

Original comment #1140

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Imported historical comment — Mick Brent — 2022-07-26 20:08:39

I was born in Chalvey Grove in 1948 and my paternal grandparents had lived in Chalvey most of their lives. They met while working on Spackman's Farm - granddad as a labourer and my nan as a scullery maid. As a child, I was told that anyone born in the Chalvey Grove area had the right to call themselves a stabmonk. We lived in a cottage right at the bottom of Chalvey Grove (no 273) right by the brook and I spent much of my early childhood wandering the fields and playing in the brook.

Original comment #1599

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Imported historical comment — Nigel Marsh — 2022-11-05 10:21:37

In reply to historical comment #1599.

I wonder if my great uncles son was aware of the stabmonks ?

Ernest Robert Kirtland was born about 1900, in Windsor, Berkshire, the child of Ernest and Annie.

When Ernest Robert Kirtland was born in 1899 in Windsor, Berkshire, his father, Ernest, was 23 and his mother, Annie, was 19.
In May 1921 he was charged for speeding at Barnspool Bridge in Eaton, he was stated to live at Oxford Road, Windsor.
He married Eleanor Alice Dann in 1923 in Eton, Buckinghamshire. They had two children during their marriage. He died on 9 January 1949 in Eton, Buckinghamshire, at the age of 50.

It seems that in 1922 Elanors father who lived in Park Street Slough had something to do with the organisation of soup kitchens
http://www.sloughhistoryonline.org.uk/asset_arena/image/original/sl/ol/sl-ol-slough_observer11021922201704-e-00-000.jpg

When he died in March 1949 in Eton, Buckinghamshire, at the age of 49 his address was 1 Montem lane Chalvey.

Original comment #1911

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Imported historical comment — Derek Nomes — 2022-11-08 15:57:43

In reply to historical comment #1911.

Soup Kitchens.. now there's something from the past! Er..

Original comment #1925