A PLAQUE on the outside of the Burghley Arms stating that Queen Elizabeth I slept here would be a boost to our tourist trade and although this may seem an implausible claim, the tale was widely believed in Bourne a mere 70 years ago. 

The basis of the story stems from the town’s connection with William Cecil who was born here in 1520 when the hostelry was a private house and home to his parents, Richard and Jane Cecil. He studied classics at Cambridge University and entered Parliament in 1543, subsequently becoming an illustrious English statesman, trusted chief adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, a pillar of state through three reigns and for forty years was the main architect of the successful policies of the Elizabethan era, earning a reputation as a master of renaissance statecraft whose talents as a diplomat, politician and administrator won him high office and a peerage.

He was created the 1st Baron Burghley in 1571 and the following year he became a Knight of the Garter and Lord High Treasurer, an office he held until his death. 

Although he chose to live in Stamford, building himself the stately home we know today as Burghley House, he never forgot his home town and during his lifetime, financed the construction of our first town hall which was subsequently demolished to make way for the present building in 1821. 

He died in London on 5th August 1598 at the age of 77 and is buried in an impressive marble and alabaster tomb in St Martin's Church at Stamford. There is no memorial to William Cecil in Bourne apart from the tiny plaque on the front of the Burghley Arms. Several other locations around the town bear the family names including the Burghley Centre, Burghley Street and Burghley Court, together with Exeter Street, Close, Court, Gardens and Row. 

But until recent years, a story persisted that during his time in state office, he did visit Bourne bringing with him the Queen whom he served so loyally and this event was actually commemorated during a grand pageant to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the founding of the abbey by Baldwin Fitzgilbert in 1138 which was staged over a period of two days in the summer of 1938 in the outdoor setting of the gardens adjoining the vicarage, now the Cedars retirement home in Church Walk. 

The pageant was well supported by the entire town with 200 performers, actors, choristers and instrumentalists, all wearing period dress which they had either hired at their own expense or made themselves, while the number of backstage volunteers was equally impressive with many local firms providing either materials or labour for the erection of scenery, lighting and seating around the open air stage on the lawn which was the centrepiece for the presentation. 

There were nine scenes relating to Bourne’s past, all specially written by Mrs C Pask Matthews, wife of Charles Pask Matthews, headmaster of Bourne Secondary (later Grammar) School, who also spoke the commentary. All of the material related to our history as it was then understood although much of which has since been refuted by subsequent research. 

Several of the scenes, for instance, described the life and times of Hereward the Wake although much of the material used owed more to the fictionalised account by the Victorian novelist Charles Kingsley rather than to fact but it was a theatrical occasion and the producers presented the story as they saw it at the time. 

Scene VIII portrayed a supposed visit to Bourne by Queen Elizabeth I in 1580 but the provenance for this was also flimsy because the programme stated: “Tradition says that on one of his visits to the town of his birth he persuaded his sovereign to accompany him and honour the town with her presence. The townspeople assemble to greet the Queen, the children performing two dances for her pleasure. So well do they succeed that the royal visitor, whom history tells us was also a devotee of this art, leads her court in further measure, the dances here performed are amongst those dating back to this period.” 

This scene, pictured above, was the highlight of the pageant and one that brought tremendous applause from the audience, for who cannot approve of such an endorsement of the town in which they live. Unfortunately, the royal visit is not supported by the facts and must therefore be written off as a dramatic episode as part of the entertainment.

There is no evidence that Queen Elizabeth ever visited the town and if she had, then this would have involved a three or four day journey of some 100 miles to this part of Lincolnshire before the days of the stage coach which would have involved either a gruelling ride by horseback or an even slower expedition by litter or ox cart along largely unmade roads. Furthermore, such a visit would have meant an exchange of gifts between town and crown and a mention of the event in the archives but no such record is known to exist. 

The pageant also included the presentation of another royal visit that has since proved to be apocryphal. Scene V portrayed a visit by King Edward III and Queen Philippa in 1330 with the description: “The scene brings a glimpse of the age of chivalry before our eyes: Edward III and Queen Philippa being received by the Abbot of Bourne and Sir Thomas Wake. The quiet grace and beauty of the scene must remain a pleasing memory in the minds of the audience long after the performance.” 

Unfortunately, this event is also unlikely to have actually happened especially as Thomas Wake had incurred royal displeasure at that time. Although once a man of power and influence, he had been deprived of his post as constable of the Tower of London for his part in a plot against the king’s father, Edward II, and it is therefore unlikely that he spent much time at his manor in Bourne, having also forfeited his lands and offices which were not restored until the following year.

But good stories from our past persist, despite the lack of corroborative evidence. Such is the stuff of history and, as has been said elsewhere, when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.