Dorothy Turcotte

Sir Peter Mews, whose uncle was Peter Mews Bishop of Winchester - the last Warrior Bishop - built the grand manor house on the Hinton Admiral estate near Christchurch, Dorset and was the local MP from 1710 until his death in 1725.

One would expect to see some evidence of his life in the Christchurch area but this is not the case. We do not even know what he looked like. There are portraits of his wife Lydia Jarvis and his uncle but apparently none of him.

Neither is Sir Peter Mews mentioned in any guidebook about Christchurch priory church which is odd for a notable local dignitary who, according to his will, was a major benefactor to the church.

His resting place is not with the other members of the Mews family named on a memorial slab in the church but tucked away in an inaccessible crypt. Even his death is surrounded in mystery.

This book details what is known of his life, a person who seems to have led a life full of dark corners and strange affairs and find out why he has largely been forgotten or was it that the Mews family and the rest of Christchurch were only too glad to leave this part of their history in the dark?