As the nights draw in and Halloween approaches, it seems the
perfect opportunity for a few spooky stories and terrifying tales about the
ghosts we are said to roam amongst us in West Malling.
In a town as ancient as
West Malling, with its rich history and medieval buildings, it’s no surprise to
find reports of ghostly sightings and frightening phenomena. Whether you take
them seriously or simply see them as a bit of fun in the lead up to Halloween is
entirely up to you.
The town of West Malling grew around Malling Abbey, now St.Mary’s Abbey, which was established by Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester around
1090.
Despite the fact that the abbey has largely been occupied by Benedictine
nuns, a surprisingly large number of West Malling ghosts appear to be monks. In
the abbey itself the ghost of a monk was seen by a cleaner, walking towards her
on a different level from the floor she was cleaning. He actually knocked over
her bucket of water as he reached her and she ran away in terror.
In a sixteenth-century hall that was built on the site of
ancient Abbey buildings, and is now Frank’s Mussel Bar, a ghostly monk has been
seen sitting upstairs at a writing desk. The same ghost has been seen on
several occasions walking across the bedroom of the building next door. Another
ghostly monk has been seen further along the High Street, in the upstairs wine
bar of the building that was Mackenzines and we believe is soon to be The
Hungry Guest. The owner was just closing the bar at night when the apparition materialised
and walked across the room. It was later discovered that the fireplace in the
wine bar was once part of the Abbey buildings.
As well as monks there are also a couple of nuns reported to
be haunting West Malling. A cleaner at the library was frightened off when she
saw the ghost of a nun in the back room, who was thought to be linked to the
former leper hospital in King Street. At the former Brewery Tap on Swan Street
many of the staff reported seeing a beautiful nun who would appear in the rooms
that needed to be cleaned and then disappear through the wall. An oppressive
presence was also often felt next door in Abbey Brewery Cottage, in the room
which shared a wall with the Brewery Tap.
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| Douces Manor |
Some buildings in West Malling are thought to be haunted by
multiple ghosts and Douces Manor is one such example. The ghost of Miss Savage,
whose family used to live at the Manor, is often reported to be seen looking
out of a bay window at the garden. She turns to look at anyone who enters the
room. Another fair-haired apparition, who describes herself as the Merry Widow
of Mereworth has been known to wake up and even speak to visitors to the Manor.
Finally the ghost of a World War Two pilot is thought to haunt the cellar,
known during the war as The Twitch Inn.
Douces Manor isn’t the only place where sightings of ghostly
World War Two airmen have been reported. During the Great Warbirds Airshow that
took place in 1982 on the former RAF West Malling Airfield (now Kings Hill)
many visitors reported seeing apparitions of wartime planes and their crews
around the runway and hangars, almost as if the show had stimulated their
appearance. During the filming of the television series ‘We’ll Meet Again’ in
the same location, the director asked for two airmen and a WAAF who were
looking into the engine compartment of a jeep to be moved out of shot, but as
they were approached they vanished.
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| St Leonard's Tower viewed from the west © English Heritage |
We tend to think of ghostly apparitions as frightening and
malevolent, and there is a very old tale of a beckoning figure leaning out of the
window of St. Leonard’s Tower, who is thought to bring disaster to those who
see him, but there are also some very friendly and helpful ghosts around the
town. In Lucknow, a listed building on the High Street, the ghost of a former
housemaid is said to haunt the bedrooms, and to turn down the beds on a regular
basis. Similarly, the Farmhouse Pub, formerly The Bear Inn, is thought to be
haunted by a former potman who still moves ghostly barrels around the cellar.
There are so many other ghost stories connected to West
Malling, it’s impossible to relate them all here, but hopefully this spooky
selection has got you in the mood for Halloween. Whether it’s ghostly knights
riding down the Offham Road, spooky revellers dancing at the former Assembly
Rooms on the High Street, or the ghost of the original Mr Baldock appearing at
the shop counter, the many ghostly tales and legends of this town are just
another part of its charm and heritage.
The accounts in this post are taken
from Ghosts of West Malling by
Margaret Gadd which is available from West Malling Library.
Happy Halloween 2013!
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