Sawston Hall Ghosts
The ghosts of Queen Mary Tudor, Mary I, and A Lady in Gray are said to haunt this 16th century home in Cambridgeshire, England.
Mary Tudor lived from 1516 – 1558 and was the daughter of Henry the VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Because her parents divorced. She was forced to declare herself illegitimate and renounced the Catholic Church. She was later absolved by the Pope. In 1553, Mary became involved in a struggle for the throne of England.
Henry VI, Henry the VIII’ son by his third wife Jane Seymour, was dying of tuberculosis, and was persuaded by John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, to confer the crown on Dudley’s daughter. In law, Lady Jane Gray, who was Henry the VIII’s grand niece.
The people, however, rallied behind Mary Tudor.
The Duke attempted to imprison Mary. She fled, and on the night of July 7th 1553 she was taken in and hidden in the Salston Hall Manor by the occupants, a family named Huddleston. At dawn on July 8th, Northumberland’s men approached the house and Mary escaped disguised as a milk maid. In revenge, the men burned the house down.
Lady Jane Gray was Queen of England for but nine days when Mary Tudor was crowned Queen and Lady Jane Gray was imprisoned and then beheaded.
In gratitude to the Huddlestons, Mary, who was later called Bloody Mary, for her persecution of the Protestants, rebuilt Sawston Hall. A portrait of her still hangs in the Great Hall. Her ghost is seen gliding serenely through the house and moving at great speed.
The second Haunting Specter, The Lady in Gray appears in the Tapestry room, where she knocks three times at the door and then floats across the room.
legend has it that Mary slept in the tapestry room, It is unlikely though that the four poster bed there did survive the fire. However, those who have spent the night in Mary’s room report being disturbed by phantoms and sounds of rapping at the door and someone fiddling with the latch. Nocturnal tappings also have been reported in a bedroom nearby. Sounds of a spinet and a girl laughing have also drifted through the house. Those are just some of the disembodied spirits associated with Sawston Manor.
“During World War II Sawston was occupied by the U.S. Air Force, who used the House as an operations base (the air raid shelter built by the American military remains in the grounds). In 1982 the Huddleston family sold the Sawston Estate, after which the House became a language school, a purpose it served until the early 21st century. In 2004 Sawston was sold and returned to use as a private residence (the Estate was listed for sale in March 2001 and again, in “Country Life,” July 4, 2002, for £3.4 million). Again for sale in 2013.
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