Haunted Prestbury

 

Prestbury lays claim to being “the most haunted village in Britain” with over twenty stories of mysterious ghosts and for those intrigued by such tales, here are just three of them.

 

One of the most well known is “The Black Abbot” whose wanderings occur traditionally on three Church festivals in the year, Easter, Christmas and All Saints Day. His walk begins in the Church, then crosses the churchyard and onto the grounds of the old Priory where he enters the grounds of a cottage which stands on the main street. Here he seems to disappear apart from the times when he enters the cottage and is sometimes heard bumping around upstairs. His route varies on occasions when he has been seen walking in the direction of the Bishop's Palace, a moated enclosure which was probably the site of the Hunting Lodge of the Bishops of Hereford. Other witnesses have seen the figure in the High Street itself. (Sourced from The Haunted Cotswolds by Bob Meredith)

 

Prestbury Church was one of those tied to Gloucester Abbey, which sent monks and novices to minister to the spiritual needs of the local villagers. The Abbey did not administer to the good folk of Prestbury for nothing – they took one tenth of all the produce of the village each year, storing the grain and other durables in the great tithe barn. One of the key duties of the monks stationed in Prestbury was to make sure that all the villagers paid their dues and to keep careful accounts for inspection by the Abbot. The house to which The Black Abbot has been reported walking towards was formerly the tithe barn (Sourced from Haunted Gloucestershire by Rupert Mathews)

 

There are two tales of ghostly riders and mysterious hoofbeats. The first is that of a Medieval Messenger, a rider to Edward IV's camp at Tewkesbury in 1471. According to tradition he was shot by a single archer. On spring mornings the hoofbeats can be heard and a faint phantom of a white horse and rider seen. Some years ago a skeleton was found with an arrow between the ribs during road works in the Shaw Green Lane area (Sourced from The Haunted Cotswolds by Bob Meredith)

 

Another unlucky Royal messenger was the man posted at Cirencester in 1643 after the siege of Gloucester had been raised. At the time Charles I was leading his reinforced army north in pursuit of the outnumbered Parliamentarian army. Prince Rupert, who commanded the Royalist Cavalry, posted men across the Cotswolds with orders to ride at top speed should they spot the Roundheads heading south-east.

 

The scout posted at Cirencester found himself right in the path of the Parliamentarian army. He galloped north as fast as he could to carry the news to Prince Rupert. His route took him through the village of Prestbury, where the local population were famously Parliamentarian in their sympathies. Spotting the approaching rider and guessing his purposes, the men of Prestbury stretched a rope across the road known as The Burgage from the inn to a house opposite. In the gathering dusk the rider did not see the obstacle, which caught him under the chin and threw him senseless to the round. The folk of Prestbury swiftly despatched the rider, hurriedly burying his body nearby. Ever since then the sounds of racing hoofbeats have been heard pounding up The Burgage, only to come to a sudden stop outside the pub.(Source – Haunted Gloucestershire by Rupert Mathews)

 

Today Prestbury features in many “Haunted Tour Guides” and details of current walking tours with regard to same can be found at the Cheltenham Tourist Information Centre