The Discontinued Path of Ashcroft Labyrinth

Ashcroft Labyrinth, constructed in 1880 by the shipping magnate Mr. Silas Ashcroft, was a center of complex, international commerce, serving as the inland hub for his entire transport network. The house, named for its confusing internal layout, was surprisingly abandoned in late 1889 after Ashcroft’s sudden, unannounced sale of his shipping interests. The ensuing Discontinued documentation of the household’s final operations has baffled researchers. The key professional figure in this period was the Manor groundskeeper, Mr. Arthur Fench, whose role went beyond gardening to include managing the logistics of the estate’s high-traffic service gates. Fench’s essential records—the garden maps, the keys, the gate records, and the detailed soil invoices—are either missing or physically contradictory, suggesting a massive, Unresolved cover-up of the final months of operation, particularly concerning the movement of goods, tracked by the now Discontinued paperwork.

The Unresolved Gate Records

The duties of the Manor groundskeeper required him to maintain meticulous gate records to control access to the service yard, where all important deliveries, tracked by delivery bills, were processed. The discovery of the abruptly terminated gate records book is highly significant. The final three entries—all marked “EXIT – EMPTY”—are terse and lack the detail of prior entries, suggesting a hurried or even coerced logging of vehicles leaving the property. This sudden cessation of recording, while the house was still technically occupied, points directly to a crucial, Unresolved period. Furthermore, the complete absence of the garden maps and soil invoices—documents essential for the groundskeeper’s primary, non-logistical role—suggests that Fench’s entire professional archive was swept clean, leaving only the key-ring and the final, contradictory gate records to prove the logistics were suddenly and permanently Discontinued.

The Discontinued Invoices