Ghost Trails of the Lake District and Cumbria

Kristen

Carlisle and the North

Blenkinsopp Castle

Blenkinsopp Castle may just be a dishonest place to start. The famous old castle is undoubtedly in Northumberland although its postcode - Greenhead - makes it Cumbria. But Blenkinsopp is too good to miss so we will go by postcode.

It was originally a 13th century medieval fortified manor house, founded by Randolph de Blenkinsopp. In the late 19th century, the castle was incorporated in a Victorian Gothic style mansion, founded by Lord Joicey of Etal. It was destroyed by a great fire in 1954.

One Bryan de Blenkinsopp was reportedly teased about his marriage plans and said, ‘Never, never shall that be until I meet with a lady possessed of a chest of gold heavier than ten of my strongest men can carry into my castle’.

He then left, returning after several years with a wife in tow and a box of gold that took twelve men to carry it. Sir Bryan was still not happy, as his wife had hidden the box. Once again he left.

It is said that his wife was inconsolable. She fell to weeping and wailing. She sent people to look for him and when they failed she set out herself. Neither the Lord nor his Lady were ever seen - alive - again.

The lady, however, was apparently unable to rest easy in her grave and the claim is that she doomed to wander the old castle until the gold is found. Of course the flaw in this story is that the lady, ghost or not, has been unable to indicate the hidey hole of the stash.

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During the eighteenth century the parents of a young boy were aroused one night by his screaming, ‘The White Lady, the White Lady !’ covering his eyes with his hands. ‘She is gone’, he added, ‘but she looked so angry at me because I wouldn’t go with her. She said she would make me a very rich man. When I said I was afraid to go, she tried to carry me off, and then I shrieked and frightened her away’.

Although the parents managed to soothe the child, the same thing happened on three consecutive nights. Why is it always three in cautionary tales and Irish jokes?

Following these fearful dreams the child was removed from the castle and no more was heard of the spectre.

But, around a century later, a lady arrived in a nearby village and reported a dream of buried treasure. Following a visit to Blenkinsopp Castle, she identified it as the place in her dream. Nothing was found and a succession of impoverished owners left the site in ruins.

Then, so the story goes, a neighbouring farmer decided to clear out the vaults to over winter his cattle in them. A small doorway was found and a volunteer was suitably bribed to go through it. Some versions of the story have him seeing a mound of gold in the corner of the room. Then his candle became extinguished and the made his escape. The doorway was subsequently blocked up. There is nothing of record to suggest that the gold was removed.

Gilsland

Gilsland is about as isolated as it is possible to be in England and yet it has always been scene of much activity. There are remains of Bronze and Iron Age forts and some few lumps of stone that remain from the foundations of Hadrian’s Wall. This is an area of high ground with large tranches of forestry.

During the so-called Dark Ages the area was associated with the origins of two quasi-historical figures - St Patrick and King Arthur. Until the 12th century it came within the Kingdom of Stratchclyde before falling under the rule of the Norman King, Henry II.

Triermain Castle was probably built around 1340, when a licence to crenellate was granted to Roland Vaux. He used stone from Hadrian’s Wall. By the end of the 16th century the castle was in ruins and the estate was forfeit to the crown. The tower was demolished at the end of the 17th century, and most of the stonework collapsed a few years after, with the stone being used in adjacent farm buildings. It was a case of the further recycling of Hadrian’s Wall.

It had been Hubert Vaux - Roland’s older brother - who had received the Barony of Gilsland from Henry II. Hubert had a reputation for dark deeds which included the ‘accidental’ deaths of several of his rivals. It is said that this dark deeds were assisted by the dark arts by his henchman, Robin Goodfellow. I had always assumed that this character, shrouded by the mists of time, was entirely mythical and it was something of a surprise to find some flesh and bones to share some of his mystical characteristics.

Goodfellow is said to be the prototype for Shakespeare’s Puck. The name is sometimes also translated as Hobgoblin in northern culture. He was more than a little mischievous. A little enlightenment from A Midsummer Night’s Dream may help :

‘That shrewd and knavish sprite 
call’d Robin Goodfellow: are not you he
that frights the maidens of the villagery ;
skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern
 and bootless make the breathless housewife churn;
 and sometime make the drink to bear no barm;
 mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,
you do their work, and they shall have good luck:
are not you he?’

Robin Goodfellow is a bit like Robin Hood. The character is connected to many locations and most of the stories associated with him were not recorded until the age of the Tudors. We can therefore assume an oral tradition rather than an historical one. One recurring theme is that of Goodfellow as a seer, or visionary who can tell the future. Again there is more than a little doubt here. As with Nostradamus the predictions may have been recast several times and even adjusted when they proved to be false. Nevertheless, these are the best known :

‘In 1586 she who would take crown shall come by sea’.

In that year, following her defeat at Langside, Mary Queen of Scots escaped by sea and landed near Workington. She was subsequently taken ‘in protective custody’ to Carlisle.

‘ In 1745 the Wolf shall come to Newcastle to feed upon the Scot’s fold’.

This is perhaps a curious metaphor for a young British officer, James Wolfe, who had joined General Wade at Newcastle in that year in response to the Jacobite uprising. The Scots force however evaded Wolfe and Wade entirely by marching down the east, via Carlisle, and getting as far south as Derby when Bonnie Prince Charlie, abandoned his invasion. Wolfe is best remembered as the General who lost his life during the victory at Quebec in 1759. His dying words were an instruction to cut off the French retreat, not the often (but incorrectly quoted ) ‘Those French sharp shooters won’t be able to hit anything from that range.’

‘ In 1837 Alexandrina shall be as Alexander - ruler of the world.’

This was the date of the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne and the beginning perhaps of what was to become the British Empire. Alexandrina was the first given name at Queen’s baptism in 1819.

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Legend has a 15th century boy inheriting Triermain Castle was half-starved and neglected by his uncle, who finally abandoned him on a nearby moor in the middle of a snow storm. The boy’s death allowed the wicked uncle to inherit.

From time to time a ghostly six year old was later seen around the castle, shivering with cold. He was reported as entering bedrooms and waking sleepers with his icy touch and whispers of ‘cold, cold, forever more’.

Sight of the ghost is supposed to mark trouble ahead, with death to follow if the witness is touched - the area of the body touched being the primary area responsible for death.

This jolly tale story was placed in a poem by Sir Walter Scott ‘The Bridal of Triermain’.

Birdoswald

The Roman fort is promoted by English Heritage as ‘the perfect place for a family day out or as a place to stop and relax if you’re walking or cycling along Hadrian’s Wall in Cumbria.’

The countryside here is also speculated to be the final battleground of King Arthur. But again we are on shaky ground. Following the destruction of the ancient abbey, monks ‘discovered’ the bones of Arthur and Guinevere at Glastonbury in 1184 was used by King Edward I as a way of ‘reconquering’ the ancient Arthurian kingdom. In other words a random find of relics was turned into a publicity stunt which the 12th century writer. Geoffrey of Monmouth, embraced entirely. Even though Geoffrey was denounced as a phoney in his own time the story stuck.

There are only in fact three original surviving references (other than those of the fanciful Geoffrey ) to Arthur to survive within 500 years of his supposed existence in the 6th century. A Welsh author known as Nennius, (writing in about 850 ) lists the 12 great battles of Arthur. A Welsh poet, Aneirin, writes of another warrior not quite so great as Nennius’s Arthur and possibly not Arthur at all. Finally, a 12th century annalist mentions an Arthur fighting two battles - at Badon and Camlann where the warrior met is death. And that is it. There is Anglo/Roman Lucius Artorius Castus fighting back the Saxon hordes. He died in Croatia. Worse still there is no Camelot, no Lancelot, no Merlin and no table - oval or otherwise. But the myth remains more powerful than the truth. And without it where would Hollywood or the BBC begin when they wanted an irresistible Dark Ages legend?

So Birdoswald as the final battleground of King Arthur? This is as likely as a Prime Minister admitting that he and all his cabinet colleagues are total incompetents.

Askerton

There is a more plausible mystery here.

The 14th century castle was the home of the de Multons. The last of the line, Margaret, was abducted on horseback by Ranulf Dacre from Warwick Castle. Their marriage added control of this part of the world to the Dacre estates.

It is said that another young lady from the castle - known as May Marye - was murdered, following another horseback abduction, by her lover. Her ghost sometimes seeks revenge by jumping on the backs of horses and terrifying the riders. It is even reported that she engaged one rider in conversation and made him swear on his life that the subject of their discussion would never be revealed to anyone.

This may well be a case, as is frequent enough in folklore, where two similar stories bound by the same location become entwined together. It is not unlikely that Margaret is May Marye.

Margaret has been a hugely popular name from the 11th century onwards. It comes either from the Sanskrit meaning ‘daughter of light’, the Greek for ‘pearl’, or from the Latin ‘Margarita’.

Mary is perhaps the most universal of female names. It is probably of Hebrew origin and is used in many forms. Maria has even been used as a diminutive of Margaret and Margaret has many forms similar to Mary. This include Madge (coincidently also Madonna or Mary ), Maisie, Margy and Margi. Is it too difficult to believe therefore that Margaret may have become May Marye in local tradition?

Naworth

The Dacre family have long been prominent in Cumbria not least because of a great deal of savagery and scandal.

It is said that a local young lady fell pregnant by the lord of the castle. She believed that he would marry her. He told her that the fact that he had admitted that she had been pretty good in bed did not amount to a marriage proposal. Her suicide suggests that she was disappointed by this response. The ghost of the girl is still said to make occasional visits to the vicinity.

The unfortunate girl’s mother put curse on the lord. He died unpleasantly - effectively garrotted by a thorn bush into which he fell from horse. His son died in similarly nasty circumstances having been sucked into the muddy surround of a local lake.

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Another version of the story has Lord Dacre himself as the villain and the girl drowning herself after learning the true identity of her lover. The mother is again the agent of the demise of Dacre and son.

The castle had