THE HIGHWAYMAN OF OSSETT, THE RED LION INN.
The Red Lion is allegedly one of the oldest inns in Ossett, it is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a traveller or highwayman who hanged himself in one of the bedrooms. Blind Jack of Knaresborough surveyed parts of the highway which dates as far back as the 1700s. It used to sit on the Dewsbury/Wakefield road, which was once part of the Wakefield/Halifax turnpike or toll road. The road is roman in origin.
Robert Chappell (1795-1864), Ossett Highwayman
Born in Ossett in 1795, Robert Chappell became notorious as a thief and highwayman. It was said that his crimes were more numerous than those of Dick Turpin, but not as serious. Unlike Turpin, Chappell didn't murder anyone, but it was said that in local Petty and Quarter Sessions his name was as familiar as a household word and that conviction had followed conviction almost as soon as he had been released from the prison gates.
In 1835, he was saved from transportation to Australia and instead given six months hard labour in Wakefield's House of Correction.
The House of Correction was established in the 1590s by George Saville as a place of detention and not punishment. The original site was at Northgate, Wakefield.
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