Banquo Manor

Banquo Manor was a manor situated in the south east of England.

Location
The village of Three Sisters was a mile from the manor, as was the local station, forming a triangle. Little Applecombe was 20 miles away when heading down the road from Three Sisters.

Manor and grounds
Banquo Manor was build around the latter half of the 18th century. It was stone fronted with a conservatory of glass at the side. The drawing room was square and large, it had a fireplace against the wall and the door was made of strong wood. Both the drawing room and the conservatory had French windows leading into the grounds. After Harries' experiment the conservatory was substantially damaged.

The top floor had rooms for the scullery and kitchen maids; these rooms were poorly furnished and cold. The next floor down had rooms for the household maids, the cook and the undercooks; these rooms were better furnished than those on the top floor.

A generator in the cellar supplied the manor's electricity. There was a room under the stairs that was used for storage; Cuthbert Simpson later used this as his quarters. A shotgun was kept in the manor.

The manor was made from orange-tinted stone from local quarries; it was very rectangular and the front door was flanked by four pillars supporting an arch. It was small in comparison to other manors with tall narrow windows surrounded by white stone; this same stone was used on the Tudor-style battlements that crowned the manor.

The grounds of Banquo Manor included a large hill, one of the largest in the area. It overlooked Three Sisters. George Wallace wanted a cave build on the hillside where he could sit and look at the view. A shack stood nearby containing explosives used in the making of the cave.

Name
The Manor was named after Banquo, a character from the play Macbeth. A plaque featuring a speech from the play hung in the drawing room; a second one hung in the study but was removed. (EDA: The Banquo Legacy)

History
Robert Dodds inherited a significant amount of money from his aunt; with this he commissioned the building of the manor by the Adam’s brothers. He fancied himself as an actor; his favourite performance was in Macbeth as Banquo, hence the manor's name.

It was rumoured that Dodds killed his aunt to establish a legacy. This was untrue as he was in Italy at the time.

Dodds' was murdered by his cousin, Pamela while practising his role as Banquo. Pamela had recently escaped from a lunatic asylum. She stabbed him in the master bedroom and then drank his blood. It was said she killed him in revenge for him having supposedly killed her grandmother (, his aunt).

In 1898, George Wallace was the owner; he lived in the manor with his wife, Elizabeth Wallace. Richard Harries was invited to use the conservatory as a laboratory for his experiments into brainwaves. Harries took over the master bedroom. Harries dismissed all the staff apart from Cuthbert Simpson, the butler and Beryl Green, a maid with whom George had an affair.

Dr Friedlander and Fitz Kreiner came to assist in the experiments. John Hopkinson also came as a witness. Gordon Seavers was expected but, unknown to the residents (bar Hopkinson) he had supposedly committed suicide.

Harries' experiment consisted of him sharing the thoughts of his sister, Catherine Harries. He set up the experiment and, as all the guests watched, began. The machine overloaded, Harries was killed and his body fell into the fiery wreck of his equipment. Hopkinson managed to free Catherine from the machine, saving her. The local police were sent for and Sergeant Baker and Inspector Ian Stratford arrived to investigate.

Friedlander was made the prime suspect after he disappeared. Ian, Baker and Fitz followed his footprints through the grounds and came across his body in Wallace's cave on the hillside.

The body of Harries was stolen, but later found returned. Beryl was attacked and killed after she found evidence that Harries had been blackmailing George and Gordon. George and Elizabeth were killed in their bedroom. Realising the killer was still upstairs, Stratford, Baker and John began searching. (EDA: The Banquo Legacy)