In 1522 the Louthes, who were at the time, one of the major landowners of Sawtry, had a dispute with their neighbours, the Skeltons who were tenant farmers, renting the adjoining farmland. The owners of the property that the Skeltons were renting were Sawtry Abbey. This was a dispute over some land adjoining the Louthes property of Woodfield Farm. The Louthes believed that this parcel of land belonged to them and Edmund Louthe, who was in charge of managing his father Thomas's land holdings, took it for themselves as part of their land.  The Skeltons complained to Sawtry Abbey and the monks from the Abbey visited the Louthes. It was a well known fact in the village that the Louthes had a reputation for not getting on well with people and would not take kindly to complaints about them. The monks from Sawtry Abbey visited them to talk about the issue. Several hours after the monks visit, Edmund Louthe was found by his sons Thomas and John, mortally wounded, lying in one of the fields of the disputed property with stab wounds to his chest, consistent with a large knife or a small sword. Although the stab wounds missed the major organs they still proved to be fatal as infection set in and he died a lingering painful death three weeks later. The mystery began when the monks were visited and questioned. They were adamant that he was still alive when they left and that was also corroborated when several people saw Edmund Louthe alive and well shortly after the monks left. The suspects therefore were the Skeltons, however the father and son maintained their innocence accusing the monks of the murder. They were arrested and sent to trial. After being found guilty the father was hanged and the son drowned. Many years later Edmund Louthe's second son, John Louthe became the Archdeacon of Nottingham and wrote a letter to author John Foxe entitled The Reminiscences of John Louthe, Archdeacon of Nottingham. John Foxe sent it for inclusion

in his Book of Martyrs. In his piece John Louthe accuses the monks of Sawtry Abbey of instigating the murder of his father, although he was never able to prove it and no monks were ever found to be guilty of playing any part in the murder. Another theory that was that the eldest son of Edmund, Thomas Louthe who had a hot temper, killed his father during a very heated argument about his will and used the argument with the Skeltons and the monks to deflect from his guilt, this too was never proved. It remains a mystery to this day. The Louthes never returned the disputed land to Sawtry Abbey and years later in 1539 Sawtry Abbey was dissloved by order of Thomas Cromwell on behalf of King Henry VIII. A local historian, John Chance wrote a booklet about it entiled "Murder at Woodfield Farm" which can be found in Sawtry History Society Archive. Link to Main Feature on The Louthes of Sawtry

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