I had read of something called the Gumphus which reputedly
used to frequent this 550 year old building overlooking Exeter
Cathedral. Knowing of the stories of ghosts in many of the other
buildings in the Cathedral Close, I was naturally a little curious
(even nervous?) when I had to work late on Halloween night. Not that
I am superstitious of course! But still.........
Well there was nothing to report when I left the dark building on that dark night, with streets filled with people dressed up as goblins and witches. Still I hoped that I would unearth an interesting tale someday, which I would then publish on the internet.
The fact that I have used the expression "....and all that gumph" should have warned me, but I hadn't made the connection. Imagine my disappointment then, whilst I was doing research for these web pages to discover the following:
"The garderobes required clearing out from time to time, rather like a particularly unsalubrious cesspit, and in the records of the Vicars Choral one finds payment for "cleaning the common gumphus" (e.g. in the accounts for the year 1463). "Gumphus" is a hitherto unrecorded word. It was one of the many synonyms which people have coined for the sanitary arrangements at different times, and seems to derive from the dialect word "gumph" meaning a bad smell. The smell indeed in the ground floor rooms must have been pretty intolerable. Possibly there was some competition for the upper chambers." - W G Hoskins.
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