Projects > Lord Harborough's Curve> Synopsis

This incredible true story remained untold until discovered in the diary of Robert Sherard, 6th Earl of Harborough, one hundred and forty years after his death.

When the Midland Railway Company, tried to force a vital link through the Earl's country home, at Stapleford Park, there seemed very little anyone could do to stop them.

However, they were not dealing with an ordinary person. Robert was a nobleman with all the arrogance of his class, who believed he was above the law, both human and divine. If not insane, he was certainly unpredictable.

Robert bought an old naval warship, hired a crew of buccaneers and sailed to Russia, where he acquired a huge bear to act as a deterrent against the railway navvies. Ready to face his enemy, he returned to England and arranged for the huge beast, the ship's cannon and crew to be transported to his Estate, ironically by railway!

Mustering every available horse, from pit ponies, plough and canal horses to hunters and carriage horses, Robert formed them into a mounted troop. They were trained by retired cavalry officers from the local hunt, who also opposed the railway.

All the weaponry and armour from the old Hall were distributed amongst the Estate workers, butlers and gardeners as well as the Earl's local allies, to form a well armed and loyal infantry.

In a four-year war that followed, there were many bloody battles between the defenders of the Estate and the railwaymen, with heavy casualties on both sides. Against all odds, Robert also fought a determined campaign in the Courts and the Houses of Parliament and defeated the might of the great industrial barons, forcing the railway to make a diversion around the Estate, in a huge bend known as "Lord Harborough's Curve".

Although Robert won the war, in an unfortunate twist of fate, he lost the family's Estates and the only woman he ever loved. He died a ruined man with a broken heart, yet left a fascinating record of his life preserved in a vault, that has been described as one of the greatest stories of love and tragedy, ever recorded.