The Jane Hardy Window , Saltfleet Manor, Saltfleet, Lincolnshire

Engraved window glass, dated 1673

Few surviving objects illustrate the way history and folklore become intertwined as effectively as this remarkable engraved window from Saltfleet Manor.

Scratched into the hand-made glass are the names Robert Fox and Jane Hardy, an ornate lovers' knot and the date 1673. More than 350 years later, the inscription remains one of the manor's most intriguing historic survivals, preserving a fleeting moment in the lives of two people whose story has inspired generations of speculation.

Over the centuries, the engraved window became the foundation for a succession of local legends.

One of the earliest surviving versions of the story is preserved on an Edwardian real photographic postcard, published by Phoebus Co. (No. 55), Bradford-on-Avon, now held in the Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum collection. The postcard illustrates the window and carries the following caption beneath the photograph:

"The Window Pane, Saltfleet Manor. In the stormy days of Cromwell, a maiden and a young man were imprisoned in the room for a fortnight, and engraved their names on the glass."

This contemporary caption demonstrates that the window had already become the focus of local folklore by the early twentieth century. The tradition is difficult to reconcile with the engraved date of 1673, but it preserves an important early version of the legend and shows how the inscription was understood by an earlier generation.

By 1930, the story had evolved into a romantic tale. An article published in the Louth Standard described Robert Fox and Jane Hardy as secret lovers who married in 1673 with only Sir Hugh Willoughby aware of their union. The newspaper identified Robert as a courtier and Jane as a tapestry maid, presenting their story as one of the Manor House's enduring romantic traditions rather than a ghost story.

As the twentieth century progressed, the legend acquired darker elements. Jane was said to have been murdered within the manor by Robert Fox, leaving her spirit to haunt the old house. The strangest tale concerned a piglet that reportedly disappeared before being discovered inside a room believed to have been securely sealed. Unable to explain the mystery, local people attributed it to Jane's restless ghost. Tradition also held that the unexplained disturbances ceased after alterations were carried out to the manor during the first half of the twentieth century.

Whether these stories preserve fragments of genuine events or are entirely the product of centuries of local storytelling can no longer be determined. No contemporary documentary evidence has been identified to substantiate the alleged imprisonment, secret marriage, murder or haunting. What survives beyond question is the engraved glass itself—an authentic seventeenth-century artefact that inspired one of Lincolnshire's most enduring and fascinating manor house legends.

Final Note

More than 350 years after the names of Robert Fox and Jane Hardy were scratched into a pane of glass, they remain part of Saltfleet's story.

The inscription is real.

The manor is real.

Everything else lies somewhere between documented history and local folklore, where fact and tradition have become intertwined over the centuries.

Whether Jane Hardy was simply the heroine of a forgotten love story or the inspiration for one of Lincolnshire's most enduring ghost legends may never be known. Yet the names scratched into this fragile pane of glass continue to invite questions that history alone can no longer answer.

Photograph: Edwardian real photographic postcard published by Phoebus Co. (No. 55), Bradford-on-Avon, from the Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum collection, showing the engraved window at Saltfleet Manor with the names Robert Fox and Jane Hardy, the lovers' knot and the date 1673, together with later inscriptions added by subsequent generations.