The Charlesworth Mystery

Sir,

In reply to your enquiry about “Violet’s Leap”, I can only retell the tale as my mother tells it whenever we pass this corner —for as long as I can remember.

It seems that Violet and her mother had been up to no good in St. Asaph living it up on credit—Violet was to marry some fictitious wealthy suitor. When life became too hot, the accident was staged to simulate Violet’s death. (At this point, my mother’s description of the police chase along the coast road, ending in the discovery of Violet’s car in the sea, always sounds like a good bit of James Bond.) The mystery raged for some time, for although the police were sure that her body could not have been washed away, the only method of escape was up the sheer cliff-face. Eventually she was caught and sent to prison—most unfair, according to my mother, for it was Violet’s mother that was the real villain of the piece.

How much the tale has been embroidered during the intervening 60 years I can only guess at—my mother has a romantic nature —but she does confirm the date of 1910 as about right.

Hatfield Bill Tagg