Ghostly goings on in Buckinghamshire.
Welcome to another Witchy Wednesday. This week I am sharing a ghostly tale from my Buckinghamshire where I was born and brought up as a child.
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| Old photos taken in and around Lane End in Buckinghamshire |
The Red Lady of Lane End.
There is a local legend that there is a ghostly spirit of a young lady wearing a deep red dress haunting the footpaths near the hamlet of Lane End. This ghost story goes way back to some report it as 1776 others a decade earlier in 1767.
It's reported in the book 'Curious Buckinghamshire' by Roger Long that Anna was a local young lady who worked as a barmaid at a alehouse in the nearby village of Wheelerend Common. She was beautiful, well liked and known for her love of wearing red dresses.
Going by my own knowledge of the area she may have worked in The Chequers. The Chequers is a 300 year old pub with history predating this and was originally called The Bricklayer Arms. Wheelers End was named after the Wheeler family a well respected and successful family who brewed beer in High Wycombe area. I will look into this in a future update......
It was at this same ale house she met the love of her life a young man who was a local labourer working at nearby Muswell farm. The couple fell in love and arrangements were made for their wedding day. Then tragedy struck! Just two weeks before their wedding day Anna suddenly became gravelly ill and died.
Shortly after her passing locals started seeing the ghostly figure of a beautiful young lady wearing a deep red or maroon velvet dress crossing the fields at Lane End. She was seen many times by different people especially during the nineteenth century. All reporting seeing a ghostly figure of a lady wearing red dress and heading over the fields. Her ghostly appearance seem to wane during the 1940's but she spotted again in the 1960' and 1960's this time in a different location climbing Hanover Hill.
Old map of Buckinghamshire showing the locations of Lane End, Wheelerend, local farmland and various Inn's.
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