Blenheim Palace
The house is said to be haunted by the ghost of a Roundhead, a soldier fighting on the side of Cromwell during the English Civil war. He appears sitting near to the fire in one of the bedrooms.
The site of Fair Rosamund’s Bower was also thought to have been where the palace gardens are now. This was the house said to have been built by Henry II for his mistress, who in legend took her own life.
Directions: The palace is in Lower Park Southeast of Woodstock, a sacred well (Fair Rosamund’s Well) lies nearby.
Blenheim Palace Roundhead ghost
Why should Blenheim Palace be haunted by a Roundhead soldier, I wonder? The Palace was only built in the early 1700s and didn’t exist at the time of the Civil War. Woodstock Manor did but was elesewhere on the estate.
Not that surprised, a lot of
Not that surprised, a lot of ghost folklore clashes with historical fact. I will have a check through some sources and see if I can find the earliest account of the story
Those Roundhead ghosts…
Yes, Roundhead ghosts seem to be quite common even where they shouldn’t be.
I remember visiting a location in Ireland (don’t ask the name because I do not remember) where I was told that a ghost, pacing the corridors and reading a small Bible was often seen. People I spoke to were adamant it was a Roundhead, probably making penance for the atrocities inflicted upon the Irish during the Commonwealth. Problem is the place dated to Victorian days…