The Sun Inn, Chipping

The 18th century Sun Inn is said to be haunted by the apparition of Lizzie Dean, a scullery maid that ended her own life in the attic of the pub on the day her lover married her best friend.

Lizzie died on 5th November 1835 aged twenty years. Her suicide note is believed to have said “I want to be buried at the entrance to the church so my lover and my best friend will always have to walk past my grave every time they go to church”. However, as a suicide she had to be buried in South-East corner of St Bartholomew’s Church, which, some believe is why she haunts the pub to this day.

The name of her lover is unknown, but according to local tradition he proposed to Lizzie to get her into his bed and then left her to marry her friend. Broken hearted, on the day of the wedding, whilst many of the villagers were at St Bartholomew’s she climbed into the attic of The Sun Inn and hung herself. The suicide note was said to be clasped in her hand when she was found.

Her apparition is believed to have been seen in the pub on several occasions. One account I came across describes an encounter in June 1999 when at 11.45am a man from Edinburgh having a quiet pint saw ‘a very colourful female figure with brown hair in ringlets and a dress that looked like it had been in a washing machine many times and the colours had mingled’. The girl ignored him as he called out and went through the snug bar.