Haunted Britain

Product Information

As well as housing many common criminals it was also the place where the leaders of the 1916 uprising were detained. Many were also executed within its grim walls, and a plaque in the gaols courtyard remembers those patriotic men who bravely and defiantly faced the firing squads, in the cold early morning hours of May 1916. Wherever he went, the tools of his trade went with him and he was always sketching the people and events that he came across. Bingham, however, had taken her cattle and horses leaving her without any means of livelihood from her lands. Two female spirits are said to haunt the halls, the Blue Lady and the White Lady . The White Lady is believed to be the spirit of the beautiful Margaret Pomeroy, who fell in love with the same man as her sister, Lady Eleanor. Eleanor was so jealous that she imprisoned Margaret in the castle’s dungeons and it’s thought that Margaret still haunts the dungeons to this day. What is even more remarkable is, that despite the fact some of these people died 500 years ago, they have not crumbled into dust, but have been preserved, like mummies, their flesh the texture of tanned leather.

The men of the Denanaans wished to wage war on Lir, but Bodb Dearg was anxious that his reign would be a peaceful one, and so dissuaded them. Stationed at the castle was another soldier called Timothy Lavery who bore an uncanny resemblance to Robert Rainey. Before Jennings died he was able to tell his brother what had happened, although he insisted that Lavery had been his assailant. Over the centuries these houses came to be seen as symbols of subjugation and, with the rising tide of Irish nationalism that swept the country in the early 20th century, they became prime targets as the people rose up to free themselves from the yoke of English oppression. A muddy climb along a rough path brings you to the exposed summit of Tops Hill where stands the truly enchanting stone circle of Beltany, a name derived from ‘Baal Tinne,’ the Fire of Baal, which suggests that the pagan practice of sun worship was once carried out at this lovely spot.

9. Buckland Abbey, Devon

Its interior of dark, creaking corridors and atmospheric rooms, crammed with an eclectic mix of tapestries, suits of armour, dusty old books, stuffed animals and family portraits, has a decided otherworldly feel, and it comes as little surprise to learn that this truly mysterious castle, which for over two hundred years has been home to the Durdin-Robertson family, is haunted. W.B. Yeats described Moore’s face as looking like it had been carved out of a turnip. Henry Arthur Jones said that he resembled "a boiled ghost." To Oliver St John Gogarty he was simply "that egregious ass," whilst James Stephens labelled him, "the famous novelist that everybody talks about and nobody reads." Tales of the mighty warrior, Lugh of the Long Hand, who came here to lead the mystical Tuatha De Danann into battle against their enemies the evil Fomorians. Local legend tells how Richard "Burnchapel" Whaley, a member of one of the areas richest families, had joined the society and had revelled in the debauched rituals.

There can be little doubt, however, that people came here to venerate the deity Baal, the great Sun God and ruler of nature. These celebrations were always carried out on a hilltop so as to ensure a view of the rising sun at the exact moment that it began its climb into the firmament. Tradition holds that the principle ceremonies were held on June 21st, on which day the lawgivers lit sacred fires at the centre of the circle that symbolised the sun, whilst the surrounding stones depicted the stars. But the shadow of grief fell once more upon the household when Aobh died giving birth to twin boys, whom the distraught widower named Fiachra and Conn.So saying, she reined her horses and sped off to the palace of her foster-father, where she attempted to cover her treachery by informing him that the reason she had arrived alone, was that Lir mistrusted Bodb and was convinced that his children would be in danger if he allowed them to accompany her. And here, perched on the edge of Europe - or as they saw it the edge of eternity - those long ago monks and hermits could seek their God in a raw, ecstatic encounter with stone, wind, sea and sky. Having been dragged to safety by his friends, he revealed that he had seen the ghost of a pale-faced boy with large luminous eyes, dressed in brown, who was clasping his hands to his throat as if strangling himself. Morgan concluded that the boy had committed suicide in that room. The philosopher Edmund Burke was christened here and the funeral of Home Rule leader Charles Stewart Parnell took place here.