The Dutch Doll of Finedon was a wooden doll, originally housed at the Girls Charity School in Finedon, Northamptonshire. It was relocated to the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Finedon [1] after the school moved in 1961. [2] It was supposedly named for its similarity to the Dutch national costume, which likely resembled the uniforms worm by the girls who attended the school but "Dutch doll" was a common term for peg wooden dolls. In 1981, the doll was stolen from the church, much to the chagrin of locals, with no progress made in its recovery after investigation by local police. [3]
At the Girls Charity School, founded in 1712, the doll was mounted over the door, where it may have been attached to a mechanism causing it to move when the door was opened. [3] It was believed that the doll had the supernatural ability to walk around, which led to legends about the doll's feet being chopped off. It is known that the doll was used as a threatened punishment whereby a child would be locked in a cellar with it. [2]
The doll is carved from wood, 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) high, depicted in a blue dress, holding a bible in one hand and a scroll in the other which reads "Read Ye The Scriptures" jOHN V. 39". [4] [5]
The mysterious nature of the doll's disappearance and the widespread belief in the legends held by the locals of the time, both children and adults alike, has been the subject of at least one novel. [1] [6]
Coles County is a county in Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,863. Its county seat is Charleston, which is also the home of Eastern Illinois University.
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Richard Keith Robert Coles is an English writer, radio presenter and Church of England clergyman who was the vicar of Finedon in Northamptonshire from 2011 to 2022. He first came to prominence as the multi-instrumentalist who partnered Jimmy Somerville in the 1980s band the Communards. They achieved three UK top ten hits, including the No. 1 record and best-selling single of 1986, a dance version of "Don't Leave Me This Way".
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