Westerfield Manor

Chapter 3

        The next morning over breakfast the girls discussed their plans for the morning.
"The McKinnons live about two kilometres back towards Watson's Creek," Laura explained, "We could walk there in twenty minutes. If their family has lived here for five generations then their great great great grandparents would have been here in 1908. Did I get that right?" Laura counted the 'greats' on her fingers.

Jane gave them a bemused look. "I don't know why you girls are so enthusiastic to find out about an old house which has been gone for over a hundred years, but I suppose it's giving you something to do. I could drive you there if you like, and you can walk home when you're finished."

"No thanks, we can walk there, can't we?" Laura looked at her friends who both nodded.

Soon they were walking down dusty Cameron Road. 

As Shannon and Laura chatted to each other, Grace walked silently a couple of metres behind. She couldn't be completely sure but she had a strong feeling that they weren't far from the site of the old manor. It had been around here somewhere, she thought. She looked around for a sign of an old driveway leading off the road into the paddocks, but there was nothing.

Mrs Emily McKinnon, a short woman with grey hair and sparkling blue eyes, was delighted to see her neighbour and her two friends and invited them in for lemonade and cake.

"So what brings you to visit us today?" she asked as she set down glasses and plates at the table where the girls were sitting.

"Westerfield Manor," Laura replied.

"Westerfield Manor?" she said in a slightly hushed voice as if it was a revered name, "Why would you want to know about that?"

"Um, we're doing some research on the history of this area for a school assignment," Shannon said.

Mrs McKinnon paused thoughtfully before answering. "George" she called in a loud voice, "We have visitors."

An elderly man shuffled into the dining room from the back of the house. "Why hello there," he said in a friendly voice to the girls.

"George, you remember Laura from just up the road at 'Green Hills', and these are her two friends Shannon and Grace. They want to know about Westerfield Manor. You know more about it than me. They're doing a school assignment."

Mr McKinnon's smile vanished from his face, and he looked serious as he sat down at the table. "That man, Keirnan I think his name was, came here about ten years ago asking all sorts of questions about the local area for his book including Westerfield Manor. We're the only family left in this area with ancestors who were here back then when....." he trailed off with a sad look on his face, "Terrible thing," he muttered, "terrible tragedy. All those people."

"We've read Keirnan's book, Mr McKinnon," Laura said, "but there isn't a lot of information. Maybe you can tell us, where exactly was the manor? Was it around here anywhere?"

"As I told Keirnan, nobody knows exactly." The old man leaned forwards and spoke in a low voice. " I'll tell you two very strange things about the Westerfield Manor tragedy. My grandfather told me this. He heard it from his grandfather. I didn't tell Keirnan this so it never made it into his book. As you would have read, nine adults and two children were unable to escape the fire that night. The next day the police and firemen found the bodies of the nine adults, but they never found the children's bodies. Even though the fire was very intense they still found the remains of the adults, but not the children."

"Maybe they escaped," Grace ventured.

"If they did, what happened to them? The whole area was searched but they weren't found, so it was assumed they perished in the fire. The three people who escaped told the police they were sure Elizabeth and Michael were in the upstairs bedrooms when the lightning hit the house."

There was a few seconds silence as the girls digested what McKinnon had told them.

"So what was the other strange thing, Mr McKinnon?" Laura asked.

"It's the reason why I can't tell you exactly where the manor stood. It's a mystery. Keirnan said he checked with the Lands Office and with the local council. Strangely neither of them can find records of the property 'Westerfield'. All Keirnan could find was a couple of old newspaper stories which are rather vague about the location of the manor, just saying it was in Reilly's Lane which is another mystery because there is no Reilly's Lane anywhere around here. Anyone who lived here back then is long dead of course. So to this day no one knows where the manor was actually located."

McKinnon looked at the disappointed faces of the girls, then he chuckled and added, "But I have my own theory. I'll be back in a minute." He disappeared into the back of the house.

By the time he returned a few minutes later the girls were munching on chocolate cake.

"Here we go," he said, spreading a large map out on the table. He used a pencil as a pointer. "Here's Watson's Creek, here's our property, and there's yours, Laura next to ours. My theory is that the Westerfield holding, as they called it back then, covered all of both our properties, and another four properties over here and here, six in all."

The girls poured over the map with interest. "But what about Reilly's Lane, Mr McKinnon?" Grace asked, "Do you know which one of these roads it might have been?"

"That's something I'm not sure of, but I think it might be this road here which comes off our own road, Cameron Road about a mile and a half from here back towards Watson's Creek. It's called Dry Gully Road."
"Have you ever tried looking for the manor?" Shannon asked, "Like maybe there are some ruins left, or brick foundations or something?"

"Yes he has," called out Mrs McKinnon from the kitchen, "Ever since that author came around asking questions George has become obsessed with finding that old place, but without any success I might add."

"Sadly she's right," McKinnon said, "I've been up and down these roads, and explored possible sites on our property and the neighbours' properties but I think the remains of the building must have been completely demolished including the foundations. Unless..." he paused for a moment, "Unless another house was built right over the top of it."

"Like maybe our house?" Laura suggested excitedly.

"It's possible, but there's no real way to know for sure. However I do have one more thing to show you." He got up and walked to the bookshelf where he pulled out an old dusty book which he carefully opened and withdrew a small black and white photograph. "I never showed this to Keirnan because he would have 'borrowed' it to copy for his book and I probably would never have seen it again. It's too valuable to lend to anyone."

He placed the photograph on the table. "This, girls, was passed down through our family over five generations. It's the only known photograph of Westerfield Manor."

Where was the old manor?
Will the girls track it down?
Read on, but please vote first :)