Listen to the track:
The Girl in the Red Room
A folk storytelling song based on local tradition, the memories of Minnie Baggett, from Langdon Court in Wembury. Villagers long spoke of a young woman said to have died in the Red Room on the second floor, and of her walking the landing at night to a west-facing room marked by a sun dial below the window. The song reflects on who she may have been, and whether the story is memory, myth, or something in between.
On the west side of Langdon Court
Where the long drive bends to stone
There’s a second floor they spoke of
When the house was still well known
They called it simply the red room
Shut behind an oaken door
No name left in the window glass
No mark upon the floor
They said a young one ended there
With golden hair undone
A whispered blade, a broken breath
Before her time was run
And some still say she walks the landing
Climbs the narrow stair at night
To the west room by the window
Where the sun dial marks the hour
Who was she in the red room glow
What was her given name
Was there sorrow in those walls
Or only story turned to flame
Does the shadow on the dial
Shift because the years are long
Or do old folk keep her walking
So the tale lives on
That window faces westward still
Across the gravel sweep
Where evening lays a band of gold
And settles it to sleep
They speak of treasure in the walls
Of riches sealed in stone
But no one ever speaks of her
Or claims her as their own
And some still say she walks at dusk
When every footstep fades
Up the stair and to the west room
Where the sun dial turns to shade
Who was she in Langdon Court
Before the tale began
Was she daughter, wife or stranger
Lost beyond our span
If time is cut in dial and stone
Why is her name unknown
Only whispers in the fading dusk
And a house that stands alone