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England's ghostly trails ...

Fancy roaming with the restless ghosts of England? Some people take trips that give them the creeps ... literally. Ghostly trails in England are some of the best to be found, and no wonder, with such a grisly history laced with witches and warlocks, martyrs and murderers, hillocks and hangings, kings and killers. Unreal's managing editor, Mike Sullivan provides some clues as to where to find England's most sociable ghosts in this digest.

OLD WIVES TALES ... or are there threads of truth in these unexplained sightings? It's hard to know, but if you have a passion for history – morbid history, at that – finding your way among the ghostly trails of England can be a fascinating experience.

Just being in places where momentous deeds have taken place, both good and evil, adds a spine-tingling element to your travels.

There are established ghost walks in most major towns of England, and some may be a trifle ridiculous and touristy. Others, however, are genuinely creepy.

To get to these small towns, there are few alternatives other than a car. Apart from the transport, it's good to be able to get back to your safe, warm car and turn the heater up to stop yourself shaking from the ... er, cold.

Cambridgeshire

If there is such a village as a nice place to be hanged, then WARBOYS in Cambridgeshire is probably it. Warboys is, in fact, where the last hanging of a witch (at least, an alleged witch) in England took place.

The clock tower in the heart of this lovely village has a gabled roof and a stunning weathercock on top. The 13th century church has a wonderful tower and the spire is one worth seeing. It would be easy to see, too, from where the gallows once rested.

WISBECH is a town worth walking through. Some say the ghosts already do, and that's why it has a regular ghostly trail walk named Ghosts, Legends and Folklore operated by Polly Howat (Tel: 01945 870421). Contact Polly Howat to visit famous local haunts and hear stories of ghosts, witches and cursed monks that will make your skin crawl. Those who study such paranormal activity say the tales of extraordinary phenomena in Wisbech are among the best you will find – or hope not to.

In later years, Wisbech has become better known as the birthplace of Thomas Clarkson and his brother John, who were important figures in the abolition of slavery. The Clarkson Memorial tower in the town is 68ft high and dates from 1881.

Cheshire

CHESTER probably has quite a population of ghosts, if its history is anything to go by. It is England's most complete walled city, founded by the Romans 2000 years ago as a major garrison during their occupation of Britain.

Deeds both foul and fair have dominated Chester ever since. Relics abound with archaeological digs still going on. The Roman amphitheatre is the largest in the country.

A must is to take a walk through the Roman graveyard at Grosvenor Museum, which has many other Roman artefacts. Those interested in the ghosts of Rome will try the Dewa Roman Experience, located off Bridge St (Tel: 01244 343407). It is a Roman Fortress built almost 2000 years ago and it now lies under the beautiful bustling city. There are shop fronts displaying their wares – even a sleeping centurion. It is a fascinating tour and wonderful to witness some of the Roman, Saxon and Medieval remains.

But the best ghosly action in Chester somes, naturally, at night: the Ghosthunter Trail. This is a terrifying night-time journey around the eerie haunts of Chester's mysterious past. The cost is under £30 for about 1.5 hours of fun and chills.

The Rows at The Cross is a picturesque corner of Chester, the township renowned for its black-and-white houses. However, Chester is also renowned for its grey world of ghosts and spirits and has some of the creepiest walks in England.

You may think you are seeing a ghost when you witness the Roman Legionary Wall Patrol. Patrols occur in June to September on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 11.30am and 2.30pm (Tel: 01244 324324). Walk the Fortress of Dewa with a real life Roman soldier in full battle dress. This interesting walk into history takes about an hour, and you will receive a Diploma of Military Service signed by the Emperor!

Kent

BIDDENDEN is a place where congenital misfortune has paid off. The sign on the village green depicts the two sisters known as the `Biddenden Maids' who were born in the 16th century. They were said to have been Siamese twins, joined at the hip and shoulder.

Eliza and Mary Chilkhurst lived like this for their entire 34 years. Even though gruesome stories abounded about them, they were actually great benefactors for the area. The Biddenden Maids left 20 acres of land to provide bread and cheese for the poor of the village. The tradition of handing out bread on Easter Monday in their honour is still carried out.

IGHTHAM MOTE, near Sevenoaks is 'home' to Dame Dorothy Selby, a restless soul. She warned Lord Monteagle not to attend Parliament on November 5, 1605. Her whispered words led to the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. Guy Fawkes had her imprisoned in a concealed room where she later died. Visit the village, not far from London, to walk in the trail of this ghost who saved lives, but suffered for it.

PLUCKLEY is possibly the best-known haunted village in England. There are some 14 restless spirits, according to local legend.

Included is a Cavalier murdered by the Roundheads. A gypsy woman who fell asleep while smoking her pipe and burned to death. A highwayman caught and pinned to a tree. A brickmaker who fell into his claypit and smothered. The others, you'll have to catch for yourself.

Leicestershire

LEICESTER is one of the few towns in England that can trace its development and growth from Iron Age settlement to modern industrial city. At the heart of this 2000 year history is Castle Park, an area of gardens, churches, riverside walks, fine buildings, ancient walls and gateways, interesting shops and museums, an area where the city's long and colourful past can be explored and enjoyed. They say that some from that past still do!

Leicester has ghost walks to help you discover the past first-hand. There is the Designer Thrill Walk to keep up your spirits and the annual December Christmas Ghost Walks (Tel: 0116 265 0555). Be there on October 30 and 31 for special ghost walks and Designer Thrill Walks are available September, November and December.

Norfolk

BROOKE is a place said to be babbling with ghosts. No wonder they keep coming back, as it is a charming little village. Brooke's Post Office has bow windows matched to an equally charming butcher shop, newsagent, farm shop and two grocery shops which serve this little village lying either side of the Norwich to Bungay road. The attractive meres in the centre are home to a rare fungus. A wood in the village has the haunting name 'Shrieking Woman Grove', and the ghost of a lady is said to walk at the back of Brooke Lodge.

Northants

NORTHAMPTON is a busy place, both in this world and the next. A Cromwellian soldier and murder victims are among the residents of haunted locations here. You can find out details from the tourist Visitors Centre at Mr Grant's House, 10 St Giles Square (Tel: 01604 22677).

Maybe the ghosts come to see the world's largest collection of shoes and boots at the Central Museum? Discover Northampton's boot and shoe heritage, reflecting the reputation as Britain's premier shoemaking town.

Or perhaps it is in sympathy with Thomas a Becket, who has Becket's Park named after him here. It commemorates the escape of Thomas a Becket from his trial at Northampton Castle in the mid 1600s.

Castle Mound is all that remains of the second most important royal centre in the kingdom in the 12th and 13th centuries. Part of the fortified walls of the town, the castle was the site of the trial of Thomas a Beckett. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built here in 11 by the Earl of Northhampton, Simon de Senlis, who did so to mark his safe return from the Crusades in the 1100s. Some say the souls came with him .. . and stayed.

ROTHWELL, on the A6, 4m northwest of Kettering, has nothing to do with the town of similar name, Roswell, of UFO crash fame in the US. It has its own tales of the bizarre to live up to. 

Holy Trinity Church, Squire's Hill, is an inspiring 13th century church with an awesome secret. Its Bone Crypt contains the remains of some 1500 people and is an eerie, chilling sight to behold in such a majestic building.

An eerie and captivating building associated with the Bone Crypt is Rushton Triangular Lodge (at Rushton 2m northeast, Tel: 01536 710761). Through this extraordinary building, architecture is used to express religious beliefs.

It was built by Sir Thomas Tresham, a devout Catholic in 1593, who also built Lyveden. The lodge symbolises the Holy Trinity, playing on the number three with three sides, three floors and trefoil windows. Reputed to be the meeting place of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. It is difficult today to understand the full meaning but the building is nevertheless quite beautiful.

Nottinghamshire

NOTTINGHAM has spirits of a literary kind roaming its streets, playing host to the tales and trails of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Nottingham Castle exists, of course (Tel: 01602 483504, admission free weekdays), and there is the exhibit The Tales of Robin Hood on Maid Marion Way (Tel: 01602 483284) which has an admission charge. Playing on the whole legend is The Sheriff's Lodge in Canal St (Tel: 01602 240088) at which you can even hire costumes purportedly of the era.

It makes sense that ghosts are a hot topic in Nottingham, with a distinguished list of famous people having graced its ramparts over the centuries such as Lord Byron, Jesse Boot, Graham Greene, Thomas Humber, Little John, D.H. Lawrence, Harry Wheatcroft and it is also home to the Salvation Army. If that isn't enough spice for a spirited town, remember, this is also where HP Sauce comes from.

A highlight is sure to be the Ghost Walk from Nottingham Castle Gatehouse, which gathers on Saturdays at 7pm and includes a visit to the centre of the sandstone caves under the city. It is in these caves that a mysterious little girl can often be seen, although the story behind her appearances remains a mystery.

Contact Nottingham Information Centre: 1-4 Smithy Row (Tel: 0115 947 1661) or County Hall (West Bridgford), Loughborough Rd (Tel: 0115 977 3558).

Suffolk

THE TINY village of ACTON has a morbid claim to fame. It is here that 17-year-old Catherine Foster poisoned her husband in 1846. She became the last woman hanged publicly in Bury St Edmunds. The village pump adjoins three thatched terrace cottages and on the end wall of the last cottage is a picture of her. Does her troubled spirit still wander the village? There's only one way to find out ...

ICKLINGHAM's church of St James, in the centre of this tiny village, harbours a ghostly tale that is guaranteed to make your skin crawl. Even if it doesn't, the thrill of having the locals tell it to you at the local 'Plough Inn' – and they will – makes the trip to Icklingham worthwhile. After all, how often can you tuck into a meal in a village mentioned in the Domesday Book?

Sussex East

TALES of heroism and bloody death abound in BATTLE, where the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066. The Battle of Hastings 1066 is probably the best known date in English History, as it marks the site of the victory of William the Conqueror.

Battle Abbey was built by William the Conqueror in thanks for his victory over King Harold. Legend has it that the high altar marks the spot where Harold died from an arrow through his eye. It is said that to this day Harold's gruesome soul wanders through the site as though in search of his Norman enemy.

Make sure you visit the 14th century Gatehouse which contains an exhibition, that brings alive the wealth of this monument's history. There is a good view of the battlefield from the terrace.

Information Centre: 88 High St (Tel: 01424 773 721).

Sussex West

THE RUINS of Bramber Castle in BRAMBER are all that remains of the home of William de Braose. Because he signed the Magna Carta he became an enemy of the King. The family were imprisoned at Windsor, where they starved to death. It is said that here you can hear the echoes of the once happy family – and the eerie cries of the four murdered children.

West Midlands

IN BERKSWELL, the Stocks have five leg holes. Legend has it that there was once an old character in the village with just one leg, who was constantly in trouble with a couple of his pals, so the stocks were designed for them. Is that the cries of the men you hear in the wind ... or is someone pulling your leg?

Warwickshire

Warwick Castle, not far from Stratford-on-Avon, is one of the most resplendent castles in Europe. It attracts many visitors, including, it is said, a headless knight, a wandering woman in a nightgown, and the apparition of an old man who strolls through castle walls.

Wiltshire

Littlecote House, between Hungerford and Ramsbury is said to be one of England's most haunted homes – with 20 ghosts. `Wild Darrell', the 16th century owner, who threw his illegitimate baby into a fire, was killed years later when he fell from his horse. The horse, it is said, reared up when frightened by the `pale shape' of a baby. Many visitors claim to have seen Wild Darrell, at the stile where he met his fate.

At AVEBURY, near Swindon, there is a bizarre Stone Circle. When there is a full moon, it is said that small figures dance among the stones re-enacting their pagan rituals. And nearby, the Tudor manor house is haunted by a White Lady, said to be forever grieving for her lover killed in the Civil War.

 

ends

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London's Spy Trail

London is such a popular travel destination, it is hard to believe it has any travel secrets left to give up. Wrong. Any aficionado of spy stories knows that when it comes to tales of espionage, all trails lead to London. Here is an introduction to discovering the secret world of London, in fact and fiction. To follow up 'on the spot', search Movie and Literary locations in the London area using UNreal Britain’s URP Explorer.

LONDON – Bond lives here. James Bond. Some people think they've even named a street after him …

CasinoRoyalecoverSo does ‘The Saint’ Simon Templar, John Le Carre’s George Smiley, Len Deighton’s Harry Palmer, Sapper’s Bulldog Drummond, British Television’s The Avengers and countless heroes and anti-heroes of espionage created by other authors including Ian Fleming, Frederick Forsythe, Robert Ludlum, John Buchan, Stella Rimington, Eric Ambler, Leslie Charteris and John Gardner. Even Agatha Christie has a delve.

Not to forget former British SAS soldiers Andy McNab and Chris Ryan, who cannot resist including London in spy action plots they now devise as thriller writers.

Those who follow such things closely know that James Bond – agent 007, British Secret Service, licenced to kill, and thrill – actually lives in the charming suburb of Chelsea, in a small, comfortable flat in a tree-lined square ‘off the King’s Road’.

Simon Templar, the Saint – though not strictly an intelligence operates, but certainly in ‘the business’ – has an apartment in Piccadilly, not far from The Ritz. Seeing he was 32 years of age in 1936, if he still inhabits his flat, he’s sitting on a fortune as a centenarian plus 15 years and counting.

One of the many models for Ian Fleming’s James Bond, Bulldog Drummond, also happened to live and operate in London’s West End.

Original Cinema Quad Poster - Movie Film Posters John le Carre, ever the stickler for realism, even goes so far as to name George Smiley’s address from his ‘business card’ in the novel The Spy Who Came In from the Cold: Mr George Smiley, 9 Bywater Street, Chelsea.


WHERE IT ALL SECRETLY BEGAN

It is all part of a rich fictional pageant of secret adventure staged in London. Through London, beneath its royal veneer, runs an undercurrent of mystery. This city, where intelligence became a formal occupation in the late 1800s, has long been the inspiration and setting for tales of heroism, derring-do and dark deeds.

World War I was the galvanising event for modern espionage. It was in this conflict that communications, counter-surveillance and secret codes came to the fore. The cypher became an art form and concealment systems and equipment for the modern espionage professional developed.

The nomenclatures MI5 and MI6 (the MI standing for Military Intelligence) came into being and has stuck ever since, even when the post-war official names became so much more alluring: Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and British Security Service (MI5).

London was one of the main focuses of espionage and, when Jules Silber took a job in the Office of Postal Censorship in London in 1915 and began passing on unreleased information to Germany via the US, he demonstrated how vital an inside agent could be. Silber was never caught, by the way, but later outed himself in an autobiographical book, The Invisible Weapons in 1932.


I SPY FACT OR FICTION

These spy rings and how they functioned are presented factually in the book by H Keith Melton, The Ultimate Spy Book (published by Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 1996). Both spy history and explanations of spy craft make this a fascinating read, but shhhh, you may have to keep some of these techniques to yourself.

Ian Fleming with Sean Connery.

If you prefer a more fictionalised approach to the birth of espionage in London, try John Gardiner’s book, The Secret Generations – with large parts of it deliciously set in London. A former Royal Marine commando, Gardiner, of course, was the author chosen by Ian Fleming Publications Trust to continue the James Bond book series after Fleming’s death, penning 14 new Bond novels and adaptations of two Bond movie screenplays.

Probably the world’s best-known espionage author of certainly the world’s best-known agent – Bond, James Bond – Ian Fleming himself worked for Royal Naval Intelligence during World War II, and was thought to still be in the business as he travelled the world working as a newspaper and news bureau correspondent in later years.

 

In fact, many of the characters he developed for the Bond novels were borrowed from people he met in those times, notably the British Secret Service operative Dikko Henderson from You Only Live Twice, who was fashioned after his journalist friend, Australian Richard Hughes, based in Hong Kong.

It is this experience that gives Fleming’s fantastic tales large shots of realism.

According to Fleming, who ought to know, James Bond’s office is in a rather mysterious grey building near Regent’s Park, northern London. His ‘firm’ goes under the alias of Universal Exports.

Presumably Bond worked from this office until the Secret Service moved to a more accommodating modern new-build premises on the River Thames in 1995, at 85 Albert Bank, Vauxhall, on the opposite bank from Westminster.

M takes Bond to dinner at his club, Blade’s, located at Park Place, off St James’s Street. Blades is most likely an amalgam of several clubs Fleming himself frequented, particularly Boodle’s, Portland Club, White’s and Brooks’s. In fact, there is an entire chapter on this club in Moonraker in which we learn the heightened culinary awareness of Bond (and in this respect, he is quite like his creator).

Bond likes to eat lunch and reflect on things at Queen Mary’s Rose Garden, Regent’s Park. You can go there too, for free, today and try to spy that mysterious grey building Bond speaks about … take your sandwiches and Thermos and get in a few chapters of Fleming. But keep your eyes peeled for shady characters.


BEYOND BOND

Thriller writer Frederick Forsyth has created many characters in the clandestine world – and most of them either live in London or their various missions take place in the London streets where the real work gets done. Forsyth is renowned for pacing these streets of London to arrive at his meticulous accuracy – and it is said that he has been advised by ‘friends’ who are actively engaged in MI5 and MI6 intelligence work. 

The clever thing about Forsyth’s novels is how he weaves real intelligence incidents and people into works of believable fiction. For instance, in his nuclear-threat novel The Fourth Protocol, we read letters from Communist defector Kim Philby, who is assisting the USSR in staging a ‘nuclear accident’ at a US Air Force base in England, which will cause great political chaos between Britain and the US.

For those on the London spy trail, the scenes in which MI5’s ‘watchers’ are tailing suspects through the streets of London are some of the most thrilling in The Fourth Protocol. You can even read the novel in those locations and get a real feel for what the clandestine world is like.

“ … The Londoner left his Belgravia apartment every day at the same hour, walked to Hyde Park Corner, turned down Constitution Hill and across St James’s Park. That brought him to Horse Guards Parade. He went across this, traversed Whitehall and straight into the Ministry … ”

Forsyth is known to meticulously check his plots, to the point of pacing out the routes he describes, planning each scene for realistic action by going to the spot, observing, measuring and taking detailed notes. Who knows, on one of your walks around London, you may run into him?

(Forsythe’s attention to detail in The Fourth Protocol also provides one of the best descriptions of the differences between the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Security Service (MI5). The hero of the tale, John Preston, works for the Security Service’s F Branch, which investigates extremist political parties in Britain. Forsyth casually mentions locations of so much espionage-related detail, down to where British ‘listening’ and communications sites arelocated. Take a look. You can be sure that if Forsyth is right, they will be watching you too.)

For a quick fix, you can watch the movie of the same name, starring Michael Caine as Preston and a certain young fellow named Pierce Brosnan as a very convincing Soviet agent.

Caine previously played agent Harry Palmer in the movie adaptations of Len Deighton’s novels, while Brosnan certainly changed his stripes when he later joined the Bond movie franchise from Goldeneye onwards.

 

Skyfall poster


PROFESSIONALS APPROACH

Many 50-something visitors to London today will want to seek out some of the more noteworthy street scenes of the television equivalent of MI5: The Professionals. That’s right, remember Bodie and Doyle of the shadowy agency CI5?

From a time when a V6 European Ford Capri racing around London streets was the height of TV espionage action, there are innumerable places that, as you walk around, will suddenly spark your subconscious … haven’t I seen this place before?

Chances are, yes you have. Bodie and Doyle (played by Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins) managing to skid around most parts of London throughout the series’ 57 episodes produced by London Weekend Television from 1977 to 1983. There are still a few of those evocative Ford Capris getting around today as well, by the way.

A poignant place to conclude this introduction to the London Spy Trail is the headquarters of all this intrigue, the Secret Intelligence Service Headquarters on Albert Embankment, right beside Vauxhall Bridge, within visual surveillance distance of the Houses of Parliament.

How can you spot the headquart3ers of the world’s most famous secret service organisation?

For a start, we originally saw it right up there on the big screen in the Bond movie, Goldeneye. Rather cheekily at the time, when Bond returns home after a mission in Russia, we are shown directly to the building which houses his office.
Then, in Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond returns from a successful mission to find he has been duped into bringing an explosive device onto the premises which blows a hole in the front of the building for all to see …

And from that point onwards the building plays a pivotal role in further Brosnan Bond plots and on into the 21st century’s energetic exploits of Daniel Craig’s James Bond.

It is said that action set in and around that headquarters is encouraged by SIS/MI6, to give the service a recruiting edge.

So it’s the real thing.

Or is it? Would a secret intelligence organisation really be based in such a publicly recognisable building?
You might just have to snoop around London some more, and find out for yourself.

Check out UNreal Britain’s movie location URPs.


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