This village is the site of the interesting case of ‘Louisa’, or the ‘Mad Maid of the Haystack’, a young woman found living in a hayrick. Attention was first drawn to her presence by the fact that she had decorated the haystack, surrounding trees and bushes with trinkets. It emerged that the woman had initially been taken to St Peter’s Hospital, Bristol but had been so miserable that various local women, along with the poet Hannah More, raised a subscription and bought the haystack, thus allowing 'Louisa' to return there. The More sisters later arranged for her to be taken to Mr Henderson’s Asylum, Hanham. It was rumoured that Louisa was actually the illegitimate child of Emperor Francis I. More wrote the pamphlet ‘A Tale of Real Woe’ to raise money in her support. The events sparked much public interest, notably that of Queen Charlotte, and John Wesley. Louisa was later moved to St Luke’s Hospital, then Guy’s, London, where she died in 1801. More continued to contribute to her care to the end.
Ann Yearsley wrote of Louisa: Beneath this stack Louisa’s haystack rose,/ Here the fair mania bore three winter snows,/ Here long she shivered stiffening in the blast;/ The lightning round their livid horrors cast;/ The thunders roared, while rushing torrents pour,/ and add new woes to black affliction’s hour.’ From Clifton Hill, a selection.
