The Poplars, Deddington

There is an early mention of the house formerly known as Poplars having been haunted. This is included on the website just a piece of historical interest and to add to the geographical mapping of reported activity, old and young.

“In old Dr. Appletree’s* day said Mr. Thomas Deeley, carrier, to me, “I’ve heard tell there was a ghost at the Poplars and they got the parson in to lay it.”

The following description of the building now known as Castle End is taken from ‘A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 11’ (1983). ‘Blount’s Farm, known in the 19th century as the Green, then the Poplars, and in the mid 20th century as Castle End, stands alone at the east end of the town, close to the castle. The house comprises a long front portion in two builds, with a central gabled porch dated 1647, and at the rear a passage, staircase, and service wings. The range south of the entrance porch, though rebuilt in the later 18th century, incorporates a late-medieval hall, and the original doorway of c. 1500 presumably gave access to a screens passage. The northern range, presumably built by Thomas Higgins to replace an earlier service bay, is consistent with the date on the porch and includes an unusually large and lofty hall and parlour lit by tall ovolo-mullioned windows. There are chambers on the first and second floors, the latter lit by large dormers. There are late 18th-century additions at the rear.’

*John Appletree, 18th century Apothecary