An explorer has shared footage of his trip to an abandoned farmhouse in the North East that was once the site of a 'brutal' yet unresolved murder in the early 1880s. The farmhouse sits close to Blanchland on the border of Northumberland and County Durham.
The Dark History
Chris, who documents his adventures across the UK on TikTok, began a video at the building he says was once the site of a brutal murder. 'It happened on New Year's Day in 1880 when Robert Snowball went into his workshop to do some joinery... and he would never return,' he explained. Chris entered the now derelict stone farmhouse, revealing a damaged brickwork fireplace and rubble scattered across its wooden flooring.
Almost 150 years later, he added that the identity of who killed Snowball remains a mystery. 'Even in the immediate aftermath of the murder, nobody could find out who did it,' Chris continued. 'There were suspects - but nobody was brought to justice.'
The Farm's Decline
The farm remained in operation until the 1950s, but its buildings have since entered a state of disrepair. Chris said he recently spoke to someone who used to live there, who told him that 'nobody ever spoke about' what had occurred there decades earlier. 'To bring up what had happened on this windswept farm was very much a taboo subject,' Chris said of the conversation.
As for the farm's location, the explorer closed by advising that it can be found 'high on the moors' in County Durham, close to the picturesque village of Blanchland, which sits on the Northumberland border. 'The farm really is in the middle of nowhere and it has a really creepy aura,' he exclaimed. 'It's called Belmount Farm.'
The Historical Account
According to the Blanchland community website, Snowball was found dead by the housekeeper after being hit with extreme force in the back of the head with a sledgehammer. 'The following Monday - the 5th - an inquest is held at the house of PC Ferguson in Ramshaw and Robert Snowball is buried the next day in Blanchland churchyard,' the grim tale continues. 'Later on the 6th, the Snowballs' housekeeper Jane Barron is arrested and put in the police cell at Ramshaw.'
The case attracted national press attention; on January 12 The Guardian's correspondent wrote that he had been up to Belmount... 'It would be almost impossible for a stranger to find the house even in daylight, and it would be impossible for him to find it after dusk. He would lose himself in the attempt.'
The Housekeeper's Role
The account adds that on November 18, 1879, Snowball and his father, John, had taken on Barron, aged 27, as a housekeeper. 'Because old John Snowball was considered infirm and tottering, the finger of suspicion didn't even move vaguely in his direction,' the site continues. 'Jane Barron was a strapping woman of five foot six inches... possessed of broad shoulders and a deep chest. There were holes in her story as big as the hole in Robert Snowball's head: she claimed she'd seen blood dripping from the barn ceiling, but the police said it couldn't have seeped through the flooring of the workshop, and if it had, not in the place she had indicated.'
Despite all the circumstantial evidence, Jane Barron was acquitted, with no motive forthcoming. The jury's decision depended on whether they believed the old man or not, and the suggestion that some 'person unknown' who had borne a grudge against Robert Snowball had lain in wait in the barn to smash him from behind while he worked away at his joinery.
