A Coaching Inn's Dark Secret

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The Ostrich is the third of Colnbrook’s surviving coaching inns, and was the first to be built. It continues to operate as a public house to this day. Originally opening in 1106 and called The Hospice. Its history was what you would expect of a coaching inn, until the 17th century when it was run by John Jarman and his wife. If a suitably rich traveller arrived, they would be given an inner bedroom and in the night a trapdoor would be operated tipping the sleeping victim into a cauldron of boiling water. The scheme finally came undone when one victim’s horse was found wandering the streets and a search for the missing traveller found his body in a lake. Jarman was discovered hiding in Windsor forest after the arrest of his wife. They confessed to 60 murders and were both hanged. It will be no surprise to learn that the pub is haunted!