A bridge and a monocle

The River Petterill
(Part 17)

The Petterill is now heading towards Carlisle and this is the bridge where the village road of Plumpton crosses it. Plumpton is a small village with old and more recent buildings along one road. 

This is the bridge but, although it is rather a nice bridge and one can just see to the right of the picture where a tributary stream joins the river, there are only so many pictures of bridges I can get away with.

So . . .

Percy Toplis
'Eighty years ago on a lovely summer evening beside a peaceful country churchyard in the village of Plumpton near Penrith in Cumbria, 23 year-old Derbyshire man Percy Toplis was shot dead in a hail of police bullets.'

Well that’s one version of a fascinating story about a supposed army deserter who sparked a massive manhunt after he had allegedly murdered a taxi driver. He was on the run and came down from the Scottish Highlands, where he had been in hiding, and arrived in Cumbria. It was on this spot on the A6 at Plumpton that he was confronted by police and shot dead.

His story was written about and featured in a 1986 BBC drama, which Gordon remembers. The story is complicated and shrouded in mystery; no one really knows what happened. There are even questions as to whether he actually committed any of the crimes he was accused of. Interesting that Paul McGann, who played Toplis in the BBC production, did some investigating and came to the conclusion that Toplis was largely innocent.

Anyway, Penrith Civic Society decided the story was worth commemorating with this plaque, which can be found on a wall near the church on the A6. Apparently his monocle is in Penrith Museum – I will investigate one day!!