Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Specific Location: Aylesbury Vale

Other Mysteries

Holy Cross and St Mary Church , Quainton

Dating from the 14th century, the parish church of St Mary the Virgin and Holy Cross was reputedly involved in a strange experience in the late 17th century. The incident involved Susanna (nee Brawne) (died circa 1671) and her husband Sir John Dormer of Lee Grange (died Leghorn (Livorno) 1675), who are interred in the church.

Apparitions / Hauntings / Road Ghosts

A4146 Monk, Edlesborough

A phantom monk in a black habit is said to have been witnessed by a car driver near the parish church of St Mary the Virgin as he drove through Edlesborough on the A4146 in the 1970’s.  The monk vanished when the driver stopped and shone a torch at it.

Hauntings

Slaptonbury Mill

There is a ghost legend attached to Slaptonbury Mill, of which not even ruins remain.

Apparitions / Hauntings / Road Ghosts

A4146 Crossroads, Edlesborough

The Dagnall road near Edlesborough may be haunted by a phantom black car.  In 1961 Mr Stanley Prescott from Dunstable and his wife were driving along the A4146 when, as they approached the B489 junction, Mr Prescott was forced to take his car off the road and through a hedge by an oncoming vehicle.

Hauntings

Jack the Leather, Edlesborough

Jack the Leather was a highwayman who is said to have been caught whilst hiding in the stables of Church Farm. According to tradition, soldiers noticed the lathered farm horses that Jack had been exercising each night by riding them around the farm’s spring-fed moat. He was captured and dragged to a Gibbet at either Ivinghoe Beacon, or Gallows Hill.

Dick Turpin / Hauntings / Road Ghosts / Usual Suspects

Dick Turpin, Edlesborough

On dark nights it is said that the ghost of Dick Turpin rides the road leading from the 13th century St Mary the Virgin Parish Church towards the Tring Road. Local legend says he would hide in the attic of Butler’s Manor at Northall and watch for potential coaches to hold up.

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds / Hauntings

Gallows Hill, Ivinghoe

Gallows Hill stands 615 feet above sea level and it is thought to have the remains of a Bronze Age barrow on it, bones from which were discovered in the 19th century. At one post medieval time the hill is said to have mounted a gallows from which it gets its name.  It is from this time that the story of its haunting is thought to derive from.

Ancient Sites

Ivinghoe Beacon

The National Trails Ridgeway footpath begins and ends at Ivinghoe Beacon on Beacon Hill. The remains of a late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age univallate hill fort and numerous barrows can be found here. The ramparts are 2m high in places and it is thought that the main ditch around the fort would have been 3.1 meters m wide and 2.2 meters deep.