Folklore of Northamptonshire by Peter Hill

Author:Peter Hill
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780752499871
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

Haunt Hill House, Weldon.

It could be possible that the house was built on a piece of ground known as ‘the haunted hill’ – but villagers have not been able to ascertain the origin. It was built by Humphrey Frisby between 1636-1643 when he married Elizabeth Grumbold, uniting two foremost families of local stonemasons. However, there are various legends connected with the building and the bloodstains, one of which tells of strange noises often being heard often after dark, and a white figure frequently seen flitting around the house about midnight, supposedly of a nun who was once murdered there. In another legend, told by Annie Beaver, who spent her long life in the village, a white-haired, long bearded man lived in the house. One night during a deep sleep, he was awoken by the sound of a cockerel crowing eerily. Lifting his head from the pillow he saw a ghostly snow-white cock perched on the bottom of his bed looking at him. He had heard the story of the cockerel many times before, but did not believe in such superstitious things. Instead he wondered how it had got into his bedroom and jumping out of bed, made to grab the bird, arms outstretched, but it flew off soundlessly around the room, down the stairs. He gave full pursuit, then:

At last he got his hands on it and held it up in triumph thinking it would make a nice dinner the next day, wrung its neck, tied a string round its legs and hung it up on the ceiling beam. Next morning a small pool of blood had formed on floor beneath it. Getting soap, scrubbing brush and bowl of water, he started to clean it up but he was never able to remove it.

A more amusing tale about the house originates from more recent times. In the 1930s a group of boys decided to spend the night there, taking turns on shift throughout the night to see if anything happened. According to Arthur Cunnington who was present, they took a flask of cold tea, and some bread and jam, and told stories to pass the time, to prepare them for the coming ordeal:

All went well until the middle of the night when there was a sudden fluttering sound in the room, at which everyone panicked and rushed out. Talking to a gardener the next day, he took us back in. He looked around and then came out to us, shaking his head, laughing – and told us what the noise was. A starling had got stuck in the chimney!

One of the most supernatural places in the county was Boughton Green, a kilometre outside the present village. It was long considered dangerous to pass by the churchyard of the now derelict St John the Baptist on Christmas Eve. In 1875, a young and single local famer, William Parker took the risk of walking back home alone, after a convivial evening with friends at a pub in Moulton. No sooner had he

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