Country and County: Somerset

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A39 Highwayman

Reputedly the ghost of a highway man named Thomas Pocock haunts the A39 around Ashcott. According to Laura Linham in her article published in Somerset Live [6 October 2017]. ‘If you live in Ashcott,...

Sham Castle

The Sham Castle at Bathampton is a Grade II listed building dating from 1762. It was built for the entrepreneur and philanthropist, Ralph Allen (Born 1693 – Died 29 June 1764), who perhaps haunts it still. The following extract is taken from an article by David Brandon and Alan Brooke which was published in The Guardian on 31 October 2009.

St Audries Black Dog

In ‘Unexplained Phenomena: A Rough Guide Special’ (2000) by John Michell, Bob Rickard and Robert J M Rickard, refer to a Black Dog that is thought to have haunted the road between St Audries and Perry Farm. They quoted their source as the Somerset Volume of County Folklore. The Dog is thought to have been witnessed by two people in 1960 shortly before their deaths.

Monkton Heathfield Ghost (1923)

The following article entitled ‘Lively Christmas “Ghost”’ was published in the Dundee Courier on Monday 24 December 1923. ‘Occupants Driven From Their New Home. Owner Struck On The Neck With Orange.

A38 Big Cat (2001)

On Wednesday, 22 August, 2001 the BBC News website published the following article entitled ‘Lioness’ spotted by motorists’

Motorists at a Somerset petrol station raised the alarm when they spotted a "big cat" in an adjoining field.

Freezing Hill, Bath

Landsdown Hill, Tog Hill and Freezing Hill were the site of the English Civil War Battle of Lansdowne (Lansdown), which was fought on 5 July 1643. The Parliamentarian force under Sir William Waller (Born C 1597 – Died 19 September 1668) was forced to retreat by the Royalist troops led by Lord Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton (Born March 1596 – Died September 1652).

8 Gay Street, Bath

The author and diarist Hester Lynch Piozzi (née Salusbury, surname of first marriage Thrale) (Born 1741 – Died 1821) who was a friend of Dr. Samuel Johnson (Born 18 September 1709 – Died 13 December 1784), lived at 8 Gay Street in Bath. I have come across a reference* to two haunt like experiences relating to the house, but I cannot comment on the validity of them.

Dandy of Gay Street

Designed in 1735 by John Wood, the Elder, (Born 1704 – Died 23 May 1754), Gay Street links The Circus with Queen Square. On 22 August 2001, the Daily Sport reported that the apparition of a well-dressed 17th Century Regency dandy, had been sighted by several American tourists on Gay Street in Bath. They went on to suggest that the ghost only appears to men.

Bathampton Down & The Battle of Badon Hill

It is thought by some that Bathampton Down and it’s Iron Age hillfort, Bathampton Camp, may have been the location for the early 6th century legendary Siege or Battle of Badon Hill (also known as the Battle of Badon or the Battle of Mount Badon), in which King Arthur’s Britons halted the advance of the Saxons into Britain.