Superhero films are more popular than ever before, but stories of masked vigilantes go back decades. Baroness Orczy’s stories about The Scarlet Pimpernel, first published in 1905, were the first to utilise the struggle of a hero’s secret identity, and ten years later, in the wake of their popularity, Russell Thorndike published Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh.
The story goes that while on tour with his sister, the actress Sybil Thorndike, a murder took place outside their hotel. The body of the unfortunate man lay there all night, and to distract themselves from the corpse outside their window, Russell and Sybil told stories to each other, and came up with the character of Dr Syn.
Perhaps understandably, given the context behind his inception, the Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is a rather darker figure than Orczy’s Pimpernel. By day Syn is the vicar of the town of Dymchurch, but by night he is the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, the masked and mysterious leader of the local smuggler gang. The novels are episodic tales of his adventures outwitting the law, but they also follow Syn’s descent into darkness as he becomes increasingly bloodthirsty, revealing the true Jekyll and Hyde-like conflict lurking behind his Robin Hood exterior.
Thorndike wrote seven novels about Christopher Syn; the first to be published is chronologically the last of the series, and shows the character’s ultimate, inescapable fate. Syn’s bloody history is revealed: far from being a simple country vicar, he was once the ruthless pirate Captain Clegg, and at the end his dark deeds catch up with him when he is murdered by a former crew member whom he left for dead in his previous life.
The story of Dr Syn has been adapted for the screen several times, perhaps most famously by Disney as part of their Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color TV series in 1963. Titled The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, it was broadcast in three parts, with Patrick McGoohan (of Columbo, The Prisoner, and Braveheart fame) playing the lead role of Dr Syn. St Clement’s Church in Old Romney was used as a filming location for Dr Syn’s parish church. St Clement’s was in a state of disrepair as previous renovations had to be halted when funds ran out, and Disney actually paid for the repairs to be completed so that the church would be in a fit state for filming.
The Scarecrow lives on in Dymchurch with the Day of Syn, a bi-annual event themed around smuggling and the characters from Thorndike’s stories. The first Day of Syn took place in 1964, when the Parochial Church Council of St Peters and St Paul needed money for a new church roof. They decided to throw a pageant and fete to raise funds, and with Thorndike giving his blessing to the name, the Day of Syn has been going strong ever since, now with living history re-enactments, scarecrow competitions, and live music and dancing. The event usually takes place over the August bank holiday, and although sadly it was delayed due to lockdown restrictions, it is hoped the Scarecrow will ride again in 2022.