David Goulden of The Dorset Paranormal Research Team reveals some ghostly tales from across the county – from a young Anglo-Saxon king murdered at Corfe Castle to a Whistling Gunner at Nothe Fort and an anxious ape at Athelhampton House.
The Ghosts of Corfe Castle
As you drive along the A351 towards Norden the magnificent ruins of Corfe Castle loom ahead. Dating back over 1000 years, Corfe Castle has been the home of kings, knights and princesses. It has also had its fair share of brutal battles and murders. And with this macabre history comes its classic ghost stories.
Edward the Martyr (962 – 978), eldest son of the Anglo-Saxon King Edgar was heir to the throne. When his father died his stepmother, Queen Elfthryth, who wanted her son Aethelred to take the throne, had Edward murdered here. There has been a well reported ghost at the castle, but there is little detail as to where and when he has been seen.
A child ghost has been encountered too. Could this be William, son of the 4th Lord of Bramber and his wife Matilda? The family were left to starve in the castle dungeons on the order of King John. There have also been sightings of a headless woman at the castle gates.
Many an avid ghost hunter has explored Corfe Castle on its well-trodden paths with daytime occurrences being more prevalent than at night. In 1973, the BBC filmed at the castle with science correspondent, James Burke who carried out an experiment to test the Stone Tape Theory. The unproven theory that the fabric of a building could retain some memory of past events and, during the right conditions, could overlay those historic moments with that of the present, like a recording. Unfortunately, any archive footage of this episode of ‘The Burke Special’ has been lost.
No new reports have been submitted to the guest book recently, although this does not mean that the castle’s ghosts have faded away. The sound of a crying child was heard by staff after hours just months ago.
nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/dorset/corfe-castle
Wimborne Minster still has many of its original buildings from its core development between the 15th and 18th century. At the heart of this market town sits the Church of St Cuthburga, also known as Wimborne Minster. This imposing structure of Saxon and Norman origin is famous for its tombs of notable historic figures and contains one of the few remaining chained libraries.
However, it is to the town’s museum, opposite the Minster, that I would like to draw your attention. Formally the Priest’s House Museum, now the Museum of East Dorset, this property dates to the 1500’s. Over the centuries it has had many families own and occupy it, and they have added, demolished, altered, and extended it to meet their needs. The Museum of East Dorset tells the story of the wider area and of this house’s previous occupants. Some of which still wish to make themselves known.
The most recent occurrences have been in the second-hand book rooms where a man has been seen surrounded by newspapers. Doors have also slammed in this area and, in 2019 during the redevelopment of the museum, children’s books which had been neatly placed on the shelves were found on the floor in piles when the staff returned to the room.
museumofeastdorset.co.uk
Poole Old Town is our next ghostly gathering point. In parts it has an almost Dickensian feel with its narrow back lanes and grand town houses. But it is the pubs that served the many sailors who came here of the centuries, where we find reports of strange happenings. These include The Lord Nelson, Jolly Sailor and The King Charles with its impressive great hall boasting many a ghost. The building dates to 1550 and has been a public house since 1770 when it was The New Inn. A landlady who believed her lover, a sailor, had died at sea, hung herself from a beam upstairs only to be found by her late arriving lover who then killed himself. Their entwined ghostly forms have been spotted at The King Charles. In fact, Poole must be a contender when it comes to the number of allegedly haunted hostelries there are in just a short walking distance.
At number 28, The Angel is a former coaching inn from the late 18th century. In the 1980s a holidaying couple remarked to the landlord about the cute the children they spotted in the upper window. There were no children that lived in or had visited The Angel that day. During my own research in 2018 I was told by a witness that her husband used to work on the door and one night after closing he, another doorman, the barman and a couple of customers saw a lady dressed in white walking toward the door. As they fumbled to unlock the door, she apparently walked straight through it. Would you stay for a lock-in?
Historic country houses, often occupied by the same family for centuries, normally come with a ghost story or two about a long dead ancestor. Athelhampton House, near Dorchester, is an impressive sight as you turn off the Athelhampton Road. Thomas Martyn built the manor in 1485 for his 160-acre deer park, and his son Sir William Martyn built the Great Hall at the heart of the property. Three generation of the Cooke family lived here until, in 2019, Giles Keating and his family became the 10th owners of this fine Tudor property.
The house and impeccably kept gardens are open to the public. Athelhampton has been used as a film location, including Sleuth, From Time To Time, Doctor Who and the cult paranormal TV show Most Haunted, who filmed their very first episode here in 2002.
On All Hallows Eve in 2019 I was lucky enough to spend some time in the house on my own. It was also the first time in many years that it was empty of its contents. It was a privilege to take in its past stripped bare before me. Although I never did encounter The Grey Lady in the Great Chamber, bear witness to the duelling swordsmen in the Great Hall or meet The Hooded Priest. Nor did I come across what must be Dorset’s most unusual ghost - known as The Martyn Ape. This was the beloved pet of one of William Martyn’s daughters. Forbidden to marry outside of the Catholic church she hid in a secret room behind the panelling in the Great Chamber. She didn’t notice the ape follow her in, and when she later emerged it was left behind and starved to death. As I twisted and turned in the same tight space, I listened for its cries, or scratches on the panelling, but there was an even eerier silence.
athelhampton.com/ghosts
Nothe Fort sits on the prominent headland overlooking Weymouth Bay and harbour. Commission in 1860, and operational in 1872, it was constructed along with The Verne Citadel and the breakwater forts. The purpose of these forts was to protect the stretch of water from Weymouth Bay to Lyme Bay from French invasion. These are part of the Palmerston forts dotted along the coastline commissioned by the Prime Minster Lord Palmerston between 1859 and 1865. Portland was an important naval base and with our fleet in decline and the French making significant investment in theirs, Palmerston bolstered our sea defences.
During the Second World War, Nothe was readied for a potential German invasion and to protect the American forces in the build-up to D-Day. During the 1950’s and 60’s it was used for military storage until it was sold to Weymouth & Portland Borough Council in the 1970’s. Thanks to the intervention of the Weymouth Civic Society in the 1980’s the near derelict fort was lovingly restored and is now a national award-winning museum.
There have been whisperers of ghosts at Nothe Fort for many years. Stories have been shared by the generations that used to scale the walls and break in to scare themselves silly at night. There is the legend of the Whistling Gunner, a young servicemen crushed by a shell that fell back on him. A child visiting Santa’s grotto one Christmas, based in shell store B9, possibly spotted him pointing into the corner and shouting, ‘Man, Man, Man’. Young children sleeping in the Victorian gun deck during one of the popular Ragged Victorian Weekends reported the sound of shuffling and footsteps around them whilst their re-enactor parents were fast asleep. Audible and visual phenomena are often reported at Nothe Fort.
nothefort.org.uk
Meet the Writer
David Goulden is a Dorset-born paranormal researcher who has been conducting rational research into local paranormal claims for almost 20 years with The Dorset Paranormal Research Team. He is a heritage advisor to Nothe Fort, Shire Hall Museum and The Museum of East Dorset as a consultant on the paranormal and manages public events and private research teams that book paranormal nights at these locations. David’s experience, critical thinking and healthy approach to the paranormal has seen him work with other teams on research projects at some of the UK’s reputedly most haunted locations.
Find out more at thedorsetparanormalresearchteam.org. Follow @davidgoulden
