General:
"Free Henry Marten" in the picture relates
to Chepstow. Henry Marten was one of the men who
signed the death warrant of King Charles I. He
was imprisoned at Chepstow Castle (later named
the Marten Tower after him) until his death in
1680. He did however, have private rooms on the
first floor which give the impression that he
was not kept too badly!
The flower here is lilly of the valley - the only
flower I could find that had any relationship
to a valley (Chepstow being at the southern entrance
to the famous Wye Valley). The birthday cake with
ten candles illustrates the text and the rats
are from the tunnel in the picture. The only other
pictures are of a group of crystals and a horseshoe.
Stuart Crystal, manufacturers of fine lead crystal-ware
have a well known workshop in Chepstow and there
is a race-course in the town. |
Key:
The roman numeral is IV (4) and the only other
number in the picture is the number 44. This is
the excursion number which told the railway staff
where the train was going and at what time. Word
number 44 in the text is "ghost" - put
this in position 4 in the "key" message. |