A case I investigated recently found me in a corner of South Somerset. The story of Theophilus
Broom, or more specifically his skull, is one I've heard mentioned a number of times over the years.
This is because I grew up a short distance from where the events which surround this story began
to unfold almost 350 years ago. In the village of Chilton Cantelo stands the Church of St. James.
The tower here was built in the 15th century and parts of the church are dated earlier than
that. But in 1864 it was restored under the eye of architect Arthur Blomfield and Reverend Goodford,
who was to church's pastor at the time. Reverend Goodford and his family also built part of Chilton
Cantelo House, which later became Chilton Cantelo School, and more recently, The Park School.
The building stands a short distance southwest of the church. In a crypt beneath this church lies the
headless skeleton of Theophilus Broome. Originally from Warwickshire, Broome moved to Somerset either
during or after the English Civil War. Some say that he was wounded in a battle between Roundheads
and Cavaliers on Babylon Hill on the outskirts of nearby Yeovil, but found the strength to make
the seven mile journey to his sister’s house in Chilton Cantelo before succoming to his injuries.
But the Battle of Babylon Hill, as it’s known, took place in 1642, twenty eight years before
Broome’s death. This doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved in the battle, but it does favour the
other version of the story that says he fled his hometown due to the civil unrest and spent the
rest of his years in the Somerset village. Either way, Broome died here at Higher Farm, then known
as Higher Chilton Farm on the 18th of August 1670. He was 69 years old. On his deathbed he made one
request to his sister and her husband. He asked that they remove his head and keep it away from
his body, above ground, and within the walls of their home which stands opposite the church.
The reasons behind his last wishes are more acceptable once understood. Broome had been a Royalist or
Cavalier during the English Civil war, but later converted to the Parlimentarians, also known as
the Roundheads, after he became disillusioned by the Monarchy because of the way they brutalised
and humiliated their prisoners. Oliver Cromwell, a fellow Roundhead, had famously been put to rest
at Westminster Abbey in 1658, only to be dug up by rival Cavaliers in 1661, taken to the famous
Tyburn Gallows, hung in chains and then beheaded for his opposition of the Monarchy and his role
in the beheading of King Charles I. Cromwell’s head was then put on display at the end of a
stake outside Westminster Hall. It’s said that Theophilus Broome feared the Cavaliers would
track him down and subject his body to the same treatment as Cromwell’s, so therefore made the
request for his head to be removed. For some time there seems to have been doubt over whether the
skull truly belonged to Broome, but during the aforementioned 18th century restoration of the
church, his crypt was opened and his skeleton was found to be missing the skull, strongly suggesting
that the story was true. Following the death of Broome’s sister, there have been a number
of attempts at reburying the skull or simply removing it from the farm by subsequent owners.
But according to John Collinson, who was the first person to put the story to paper in his 1791 book
The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, it made “horrid noises portentive of
sad displeasure” if removed. It was these noises that earned it the name ‘the screaming skull’.
Poltergeist activity, once the skull is removed, has also been mentioned, and one man is said to
have died after being hit by a falling roof slate from the church whilst he tried to bury the relic.
The last time the skull was removed from the walls of the farmouse was as long ago as the 1770’s,
when a sexton or groundsman of the church, who believed he was doing the right thing,
attempted to finally deposit Broome’s skull to the ground. The story goes that his spade broke in two
whilst carrying out the burial. He saw this as a bad omen and returned the skull to the farmhouse.
John Collinson’s 1791 book refers to this event as the probable final attempt at burying the
skull and that it had happened 20 years before he wrote about it. But interestingly, author Peter Underwood
stated in 1985 that the sexon’s attempted burial happened in the 1860s, 70 years or more after
Collinson’s book was published. Now, far be it from me to question the great Peter Underwood,
but the dates don’t match. It could be possible that the authors were referring to two separate,
but uncannily similar events, or maybe accurate information just wasn’t readily available in
1985. Underwood also wrote that since the last attempted burial, there have been occassions
when the skull was mishandled or treated with disrespect. He wrote that in 1826, Higher Chilton
Farm underwent structural alterations, and the workmen took it in turns drink their beer from
Broome’s skull. Following this, nothing out of the ordinary was reported, suggesting that only
removal or attempted burial of the skull could cause paranormal phenomena. However, In 1977
two reporters entered the building and handled the skull, making jokes about it and questioning
the authenticity of the legend. When the men set off to return to London, one of them was injured
in a car crash and the other was badly burned after dropping a lit match into the fold of his
trouser leg. Underwood states that both men blamed their misfortune on their foolishness for handling
and mocking Broome’s skull, but a more sinister version of events was given by author Richard
Pidgley. He stated that the reporter involved in the road accident was actually killed.
It’s worth mentioning that Pidgely also said that he saw the grave of Broome in the
churchyard before holding a seanse with friends beside it. But Broome’s remains lie beneath the
church itself and not within the grounds of the churchyard. So, as with most stories of its kind,
this one has various sub plots which seem to have been added over the years. But unlike
some other folklore tales and legends, the basic facts were well recorded, and for the most part,
are accepted as truth. One theory that occurred to me during the making of this video, assuming the
stories of a screaming skull and unusual events are true, was that it may even have been Broome’s
sister who was causing the strange activity whenever the skull was tampered with. She was,
of course, the first keeper of her brother’s skull and may have desperately wanted to keep
her promise to him. However, I will specify again that this is an entirely personal proposal and
not one I have heard anywhere else. To this day Broome's head sits within a wall-mounted
wooden cabinet at Higher Farm, opposite the church where the rest of his remains still
lie. I was lucky enough to meet with the church’s warden and owner of Higher Farm, Mr. Kerton. At 77 years of age,
he has lived in the farmouse since his birth and has been the keeper of Theophilus Broome’s skull
for most of his life. Mr. Kerton let me into the church and showed me the location of Broome’s
crypt. Broome’s headless remains lie beneath this spot, in this unkept northernmost corner of the building.
When I asked Mr. Kerton about the legends that surround the skull, he wholeheartedly
denied that the skull made screaming noises and disliked the popular screaming skull stories.
He also said that the story of the falling church roof slate having killed a man was not true.
He did say, however, that he believed that the skull watched over himself and his wife, and admitted
that there had been strange occurances in the household whenever the skull was disturbed,
but he wouldn’t say any more than that. Interestingly, Peter Underwood quoted a Mrs.
Kerton for his 1985 book Ghosts of Somerset, and according to his writings, she upheld the claim
that all attempts at burying the skull resulted in the manifestation of “horrible noises”. Mr. Kerton
and his wife were understandably reluctant to let me video inside their home, and told
me they had been inundated with similar requests over the years, and were tired of would-be ghost
hunters knocking on their door. However, they were kind enough to let me in to take one photograph…
This is the skull of Theophilus Broome as it appears today.