Museum loses bid on items linked to Red Barn murder

A museum that has a display dedicated to a 19th Century murder has lost a bid to buy letters and other items linked to the case.

Moyse's Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, has a collection of artefacts from the Red Barn Murder including two books covered in the skin of murderer William Corder.

Corder fatally shot his lover Maria Marten at the Red Barn in Polstead, Suffolk, in 1827, and was convicted and hanged a year later.

The museum bid for a collection of Corder's letters and defence speech being auctioned on Thursday, but missed out after the lot was sold for £12,700 - more than twice its estimate.

The items were auctioned by Reeman Dansie in Colchester, Essex, with an estimated price of between £4,000 and £6,000.

Moyse's Hall Museum said it went to auction with "more than double the high-end of the estimate" but did not have enough to win the bidding war, as the final price, including premium, was £16,510.

In a post on social media, the museum said it believed the price would have continued to rise if it had bid further.

The museum congratulated the winner of the auction and said it would welcome any future partnerships.

The Red Barn murder, as it came to be known, centred on the relationship of Marten and Corder, who had planned to elope in 1827.

The couple, aged 24 and 22, arranged to meet at the Red Barn, on the Corder's family farm between Ipswich and Sudbury, before running away to Ipswich to marry.

But they never made it to the county town, and neither was seen for months.

Corder was discovered hiding outside London and Marten had been buried at the lovers' rendezvous after being shot in the neck.

Corder was arrested and whilst in prison in Bury St Edmunds he received letters from his mother and sister, which were included among the items in the lot that was sold on Thursday.

As was his lengthy defence speech, which was written from the confines of prison.

Daniel Wright, the associate director at Reeman Dansie, said there had been "considerable internet bidding before a battle between two phone bidders".

He added he was unable to name the winner but that they were based in the UK.

"The value is considerably higher than when the lot previous appeared at auction, the huge level of interest speaks volumes of the enduring legacy of this grisly murder, which will be 200 years old next year," Wright said.

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