This story first appeared in the Sunday Times in May 1974. It’s another one of the stories which makes you wonder who’s really running the universe!
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During WWI, Arthur Butterworth from Yorkshire was stationed at an army camp on the grounds of Taverham Hall, near Norwich. He’d ordered a secondhand book on music from a London bookseller and when the parcel arrived, he opened it while standing at the window in his hut. A postcard fell out of the book, apparently placed there by the previous owner. The card had been written on August 4, 1913. Butterworth turned it over to see the picture. The photograph was exactly what he could see from his window – Taversham Hall.
Army camps during the war were signified only by a post code, not a name, so the bookseller couldn’t have known where the book was being sent, which makes it unlikely that the seller just slipped the postcard into the book.
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Another level to this story is that as I was writing it up to post on August 4, I realized that August 4 is the date on the postcard.
I Googled Taverham Hall and discovered that it’s a British preparatory and nursery school. From their website:
“Augustin Sotherton, from Ludham, was offered the three thousand acre estate in 1623. It remained within the family for three hundred years, and the Revd. John Nathaniel Micklethwait, a retired parson, inherited the estate through the female side of the family in about 1850. He decided to demolish the existing substantial hall and engaged an architect, David Brandon, to design a country house of stature befitting a Norfolk gentleman. Today’s hall is a typical example of the time with its high Tudor chimneys, stone mullioned windows and gables. Brandon’s drawings also displayed a substantial tower, but fortunately good sense prevailed and the tower was never built.”
“During the war the army moved in and evidence of their presence can still be seen today with soldiers names scratched into the brickwork and bullet holes in the weather vanes. After the war the school returned to the hall and prospered under the headship of John Peel. Since then it has taken on charitable trust status, grown considerably and is now fully co-educational with modern facilities.”
UPDATE
Gypsywoman had an odd experience with the house on the postcard – or, rather, with one that looked just like it. Here’s her comment. Her photo is below her comment:
After i read your story and sent the comment, my curiosity got the better of me so i pulled up a photo of the building across from my place – and posted it just now, along with a little blurp – while i can see now that they are not so totally similar, in that fleeting moment, i was taken back to the building here – in any event, another little fun oddity is that the name of the building here is the PARSON-THORNE MANSION – and i noticed that the building in your story was at one point purchased by a retired PARSON –
I can see the resemblance with gypsywoman's photo,there is definitely shared "essence" between the two buildings … her's being a smaller twin.
Reminds me of a dream I had about 20 years ago, involving identical twin boys (except one was about a head shorter than the other) who wore victorian style clothing and were speaking/acting in unison. It was so impactive I remember it still… and it seems that today, has far more meaning.
wow! well, certainly, more than mere congratulations are due you both – what a journey for you – and for those of us who have come to so admire you and your life's work and pleasure – very well done, indeed! namaste' jenean
Today marks six months since we started the blog! We're enjoying. In that time, we wrote the proposal for our book on synchronicity, sold it, gathered many stories for the book – including ones from contributors here – and wrote the book. Now we're fine-tuning, and looking ahead to its publication, hopefully some time next year.
Rob & Trish
That was fascinating. The postcard with the view? Amazing.
after i read your story and sent the comment, my curiosity got the better of me so i pulled up a photo of the building across from my place – and posted it just now, along with a little blurp – while i can see now that they are not so totally similar, in that fleeting moment, i was taken back to the building here – in any event, another little fun oddity is that the name of the building here is the PARSON-THORNE MANSION – and i noticed that the building in your story was at one point purchased by a retired PARSON –
How funny that it would so strongly resemble a building near you!
what an absolutely incredible story!!! and even more surprising is that when i first clicked on the post, i was shocked to see the photo because it is SO much like a 1600-1700 building that sat across from my little place on the lake in downtown milford – i mean, the first thing i thought was, "there's a photo of the house across the street!" – during the several years i lived there, from my kitchen window, i would gaze across at this beautiful structure and wonder of the past lives there, trying to picture the people living there, going about their daily lives – anyway, a real shock to see this photo – i literally thought for a moment it was the house across the street – great story, as usual!!!