Ghost
Pity Poor Bradford
A ghost begged mercy, and a town was spared.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- A stone manor house with a medieval tower
- Legend from
- Civil War tradition (1643)
- Best time
- Autumn
- Tone
- Eerie
A woman tugged the earl's bedcover at night: 'Pity poor Bradford!' And he spared the town.
Bolling Hall is a historic house in Bradford, now a museum. In June 1643, during the Civil War, Bradford was under siege, and the Royalist commander William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle, spent the night at Bolling Hall. The BBC calls what followed Bradford's most famous ghost story. The Telegraph & Argus says the Earl claimed he was woken by a woman tugging at his bed cover and begging him to 'Pity poor Bradford', and this is believed to have changed his mind about devastating the town. The museum is said to have at least 20 ghosts, including a Lady in White and a Figure in Black.