Ghost
Lady Blanche
An arrow meant for a knight found her instead.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Huge Norman stone keep above the Medway
- Legend from
- Local ghost lore, later than the 1264 siege
- Tone
- Eerie
An arrow glanced off one man's armour and found Lady Blanche instead. She still walks the battlements of Rochester's keep.
Rochester Castle's great Norman keep was besieged by Simon de Montfort's forces in 1264. The story says that during the fighting, Lady Blanche de Warenne was on the walls when an archer aimed at a knight defending the castle. The arrow glanced off his armour and struck her in the heart. Her ghost, a white lady, is said to walk the battlements. A second castle legend claims Charles Dickens, who loved Rochester and wanted to be buried here, has been seen in the moat area. ASSAP, a paranormal research society, reports a vigil there and witness accounts.