The most famous legends in Hertfordshire
Alban, Britain's First MartyrSt Albans · FamousA Roman Briton hides a fleeing priest, then gives himself up in the priest's cloak. On the hill where he dies, a spring bursts from the ground, and stranger things follow.
England's Oldest Pub?St Albans · FamousAn eight-sided timber pub claims to have been serving since 793. Drinkers are still told about the monks' secret tunnels under the cellar.
Jack o' Legs, Giant ArcherWeston · FamousA Robin Hood giant robs the rich and torments the cheating bakers of Baldock, until they blind him and fetch a noose. His last wish: to be buried wherever his final arrow lands.
Peter the Wild BoyNorthchurch · FamousFound running wild in a German forest, Peter became a sensation at the royal court, then lived quietly here. Someone still leaves flowers on his grave, and no one knows who.
The Coffin in the RaftersStevenage · FamousA Stevenage grocer was so afraid of body snatchers that his will banned burial in the ground. His brother obeyed, and found somewhere else for the coffin.
The Haunted Great BedWare · FamousA bed so vast several couples could share it, Shakespeare mentions it, and its maker's ghost doesn't want you sleeping in it. Guests who tried woke bruised.
The Long Marston DuckingLong Marston · FamousIn 1751, long after witchcraft stopped being a crime, a mob comes for an elderly couple accused of bewitching calves. What happened at the village pond shocked the nation.
The Pelham Dragon SlayerBrent Pelham · FamousA giant lord of the manor kills a dragon with a spear down its throat. The furious Devil swears to claim him, buried inside the church or out. So how did Shonks escape him?
The Queen's OakHatfield · FamousA princess under watch sits reading beneath an old oak when riders arrive from London with news that will change her life, and England's.
The Templar CaveRoyston · FamousWorkmen lift a millstone in the market and find a shaft into a secret chalk chamber covered in medieval carvings. Who carved them, and why, is still argued over.
The Wicked LadyMarkyate · FamousA noblewoman losing her fortune dresses as a man and robs travellers by night. One hold-up goes wrong, and her ghost has never left. Her story became a 1945 film.
The Witch of WalkernWalkern · FamousA poor old woman is called a witch over dying cattle, then blamed for a servant girl's fits. In 1712 she stands trial for her life, in one of England's last witch trials.
Customs you can still see
Ghosts 17
- The Haunted Great BedWare · FreeA bed so vast several couples could share it, Shakespeare mentions it, and its maker's ghost doesn't want you sleeping in it. Guests who tried woke bruised.
- Datchworth's Whipping PostDatchworth · FreeAn old whipping post, iron cuffs still attached, stands on the green of what claims to be Hertfordshire's most haunted village. The last flogging here was in 1665.
- Jenny Spinner's WarningKnebworth · Pay to get inIn a Gothic mansion, a young woman sits at a spinning wheel no one else can see. The family dreads the sound, because when Jenny spins, someone is about to die.
- Lord Capel's Headless WalkWatford · FreeBeheaded in 1649, a Royalist lord asks for his heart to be laid at the king's feet. It never arrives, and his ghost is said to walk the park looking for it.
- Mary Anne's November WalkAbbots Langley · FreeA servant dies in 1914, some say through cruelty. The vicarage fire never works again, and each November she is said to walk to her grave.
- Nell Gwynne's Grey LadyLondon Colney (Shenley parish) · PrivateCharles II's mistress Nell Gwynne is said to have stayed by the moat here. Visitors were told for years that a grey lady still walks the hall.
- Old Sis of CodicoteCodicote · FreeA farmer swore he'd never leave his land, and he didn't. His ghost fed the horses and kissed the maids, until one girl said no.
- Old Thundridge TowerThundridge / Cold Christmas · FreeA lone church tower stands at the end of a lane near a hamlet called Cold Christmas. It's said to be one of the most haunted places in the county.
- The Ghost Monk of MinsdenPreston / Langley (near Hitchin) · FreeA lone ruined chapel in the fields, a historian who swore to haunt it after death, and a 1907 photograph of a robed figure. They say the monk returns at Halloween.
- The Headless Cavalier's RideHitchin · FreeIn 1648 a wounded Cavalier hides in a hollow elm while his sweetheart watches from a window. He's found. Every 15 June, they say, he rides again, without his head.
- The Headless PedlarBygrave · FreeA pedlar walking home from the fair is murdered and thrown down a well, without his head. Soon travellers start meeting him on the dark road.
- The Headless White HorseWoolmer Green / Datchworth · FreeHorses and dogs refuse to go down this lane. A headless white horse is said to haunt it, though no one agrees whose ghosts it carries.
- The Nomansland RiderWheathampstead / Sandridge · FreeThe Wicked Lady's last hold-up was on this common, and it was a trap. After dark, a rider in black is still said to gallop across it.
- The Paupers' CartDatchworth · FreeWalk this unlit lane at night and you may hear something rushing up behind you: the cart that once carried paupers to the burial pit.
- The Phantom Bowls MatchHitchin · FreeTwo 18th-century clergymen loved their game of bowls behind the Sun Inn so much that death didn't stop them. Listen for the click of the woods.
- The Moat LadyMuch Hadham · PrivateOn Valentine's Eve a drowned woman rises from the moat, and before morning someone dies. She won't stop until her bones are found.
- The Trout-Poisoned MonksBraughing / Standon · FreeFive monks poach trout that aren't theirs, and die of poisoning. As if that weren't enough, they must return to the spot every five years.
The Devil 5
- The Blind Fiddler of AnsteyAnstey · FreeFull of drink, a blind fiddler and his dog set off down a tunnel where the Devil waits. The village follows his music across the fields, until halfway, it stops.
- The Devil's Six ClodsStevenage · FreeBored, the Devil sits by the Great North Road pelting travellers with clods of earth. He misses every time, and you can still see where his six clods landed.
- The Wizard of AldburyHastoe (Tring) · FreeA wizard sells his soul for the secret of making gold, until one night he and his castle vanish. On this ancient earthwork you can still hear chains rattle.
- Twelve Laps to SatanStevenage · FreeRun twelve times round a certain tomb in this churchyard and you'll raise the Devil, but which tomb? A black dog with fiery eyes is said to keep watch.
- Marford John's DevilWheathampstead · FreeWalking home from the pub along a vast ancient ditch, Marford John feels something behind him and swears aloud. That was his mistake.
Witches 7
- The Long Marston DuckingLong Marston · FreeIn 1751, long after witchcraft stopped being a crime, a mob comes for an elderly couple accused of bewitching calves. What happened at the village pond shocked the nation.
- The Witch of WalkernWalkern · FreeA poor old woman is called a witch over dying cattle, then blamed for a servant girl's fits. In 1712 she stands trial for her life, in one of England's last witch trials.
- The Hartfordshire WonderWare · FreeIn 1669 a girl falls into raging fits and eats nothing for months, while toads and mice gather round her bed. Her neighbours are sure who's to blame.
- The Royston WitchesRoyston · FreeA 1606 pamphlet tells of a mother and daughter hanged for witchcraft: a collapsing cradle, a chest of bones, two spirits. But did they ever exist?
- The Witch Under PuddingstoneAldenham · FreeIn 1662 a woman suspected of witchcraft goes into the grave with something heavy on her coffin. The villagers wanted to be very sure she stayed there.
- The Witch of AshridgeLittle Gaddesden · FreeIn Witchcraft Bottom lived a woman said to have strange powers. Tell her off and your axe might stay stuck in the tree.
- The Witch's Last RestHertingfordbury · FreeCondemned as a witch, pardoned by the queen, Jane Wenham spent her last quiet years in this village. Here's how her story ended.
Beasts 2
- The Gibbet's Black DogGubblecote (Tring Rural) · PrivateWhere a murderer was hanged in chains in 1751, travellers later met something else at the roadside: a huge black dog with blazing eyes.
- Bovingdon's Church GrimBovingdon · FreeThe first soul buried in this churchyard must guard it forever, and here the guardian is said to take the form of a huge black dog with fiery eyes.
Giants 2
- Jack o' Legs, Giant ArcherWeston · FreeA Robin Hood giant robs the rich and torments the cheating bakers of Baldock, until they blind him and fetch a noose. His last wish: to be buried wherever his final arrow lands.
- The Eastwick Stone GiantEastwick · FreeA stone knight in chain mail lies in a tiny village church. The villagers have their own explanation for who he really was.
Heroes and kings 3
- The Pelham Dragon SlayerBrent Pelham · FreeA giant lord of the manor kills a dragon with a spear down its throat. The furious Devil swears to claim him, buried inside the church or out. So how did Shonks escape him?
- The Queen's OakHatfield · Pay to get inA princess under watch sits reading beneath an old oak when riders arrive from London with news that will change her life, and England's.
- Offa's Lost PalaceOffley · FreeOffa, the great Saxon king of Mercia, is said to have built a palace here. The village name may still carry his memory.
Outlaws 3
- The Wicked LadyMarkyate · PrivateA noblewoman losing her fortune dresses as a man and robs travellers by night. One hold-up goes wrong, and her ghost has never left. Her story became a 1945 film.
- Snooks, the Last HighwaymanHemel Hempstead (Boxmoor / Bourne End) · FreeIn 1801 a highwayman robs a post boy of the mail on the open moor. A broken saddle gives him away, and his grave is still there, where it all happened.
- The Pie-Man's PostTewin / Bramfield / Datchworth · FreeA friendly pie-seller hears which traders have made money at market. After dark, he goes after them. A post on the verge marks how it ended.
Saints and holy places 6
- Alban, Britain's First MartyrSt Albans · FreeA Roman Briton hides a fleeing priest, then gives himself up in the priest's cloak. On the hill where he dies, a spring bursts from the ground, and stranger things follow.
- Finding AmphibalusRedbourn · FreeIn 1178 Britain's first martyr appears to a local man at night and leads him across the fields to a secret grave.
- St Faith's Floating OfferingsHexton · FreePilgrims once threw gifts into a holy well: if your offering floated, your wish was granted. The man who destroyed the well thought the priests were cheating.
- St Osyth's Eye WellBishop's Stortford · FreeA holy well said to cure sore eyes once stood here by the river mill. Then it vanished into a tinsmith's back yard.
- The Horse Saint's BlessingSt Ippolyts · FreeRiders once led their horses up the church aisle to a saint's shrine at the altar, to be blessed. The tradition is back, and you're invited.
- The Nymphs' WellBerkhamsted · FreeVillagers once danced by moonlight around this spring, worshipping water nymphs, until a bishop arrived to stop them. What it became next made it famous.
Customs 6
- Old Man's DayBraughing · FreeIn 1571 pallbearers slip on wet leaves and drop a young farmer's coffin. Then knocking comes from inside. The village still marks the day every 2 October.
- The Hexton Pole BattleHexton · FreeEvery spring the women of Hexton pulled an ash pole downhill against the men on an ancient burial mound. The losers had a rough time of it.
- Going a-ThomasingHarpenden · FreeEvery 21 December, elderly widows went from big house to big house with a simple rhyme, and rarely left empty-handed.
- The Graveley GrindersGraveley · FreeCourting a Graveley girl from outside the parish was a risky business. Get caught and the village lads would take you to the blacksmith's.
- The Heirs' OaksBayford / Hertingfordbury · FreeEach time an heir was born, the squire planted an acorn with a stone beside it, so each boy grew up alongside his own oak.
- The Mad Dog CharmBarkway · FreeWhen rabies terrified the countryside, Barkway had its own cure: a Latin spell written on cheese rind. Feeding it to the dog was the hard part.
Curses 2
- Beware the CastleSt Albans · FreeA soothsayer warns the Duke of Somerset to beware castles, so he keeps away from them. Then, in the 1455 battle in St Albans, he takes refuge in an inn.
- The Tree-Split TombTewin · FreeOn her deathbed, Lady Anne scoffed at the afterlife: if there was one, trees would burst her tomb apart. Go and look at her tomb today.
Mysteries 13
- England's Oldest Pub?St Albans · FreeAn eight-sided timber pub claims to have been serving since 793. Drinkers are still told about the monks' secret tunnels under the cellar.
- Peter the Wild BoyNorthchurch · FreeFound running wild in a German forest, Peter became a sensation at the royal court, then lived quietly here. Someone still leaves flowers on his grave, and no one knows who.
- The Coffin in the RaftersStevenage · FreeA Stevenage grocer was so afraid of body snatchers that his will banned burial in the ground. His brother obeyed, and found somewhere else for the coffin.
- The Templar CaveRoyston · Pay to get inWorkmen lift a millstone in the market and find a shaft into a secret chalk chamber covered in medieval carvings. Who carved them, and why, is still argued over.
- Parted by the ChurchAyot St Lawrence · FreeA Georgian lord tears down a church that spoils his view and builds a temple in the fields instead. Then he decides exactly where he and his wife will lie.
- Spring-heeled Jack at BusheyBushey Heath · FreeLondon's leaping, red-eyed bogeyman, Spring-heeled Jack, heads out to the suburbs, and Bushey's young men go hunting him with sticks.
- The Alchemist of LilleyLilley · FreeIn the 1820s a mysterious stranger turns a village house into a fortress, with bellows working day and night. Locals whisper that he's found the secret of gold.
- The Breeding StoneStandon · FreeCountry people believed this kind of stone was alive, growing in the fields and giving birth to pebbles. This one has wandered round the village too.
- The Fig Tree TombWatford · FreeA man who denied any afterlife asks for something to be buried with him, as a test. Years later, a fig tree forces his tomb lid open.
- The Rector's Escape HatchEssendon · FreeA rector terrified of waking up in his coffin plans ahead: a tomb with a door, the key, a loaf and some wine. Then the village waits.
- The Sopwell WeddingSt Albans · FreeDid Henry VIII secretly marry Anne Boleyn among these ruins by the river? Local people have insisted so for 300 years.
- The War-Warning StreamBerkhamsted / Bourne End · FreeA chalk stream that only flows in certain years. When it ran, people feared one thing was coming: war.
- The Womer Woe-WaterRedbourn · FreeA brook that only appears now and then. Medieval people feared it, because when the Womer ran, famine, plague or battle followed.