Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Specific Location: Darlington

English Fairies / English Folktales / Fairies / Folklore / Folktales

Witch Cat, Staindrop

The following account of the story is extracted from‘Legends Superstitions of the County of Durham’ by William Brockie (1886). ‘Mr. Hylton Longstaffe relates that a farmer of Staindrop was one night crossing a bridge near that place, when a cat jumped out, stood before him, and looking him full in the face, said "Johnny Reed, Johnny Reed!

English Fairies / Fairies / Folklore

Myers Flat

An article in the North Echo entitled ‘How railway builders took on the fairies’ was published on Monday 16 June 2008. It concerns the building of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1823 and refers to the local belief that fairies hindered progress at Myers Flat.

Apparitions / Hauntings

Bishop’s Palace, Darlington

Built in 1970, the Town Hall now stands on the site of the old Bishop’s Palace in Darlington and there is a story associated with this older building concerning the English Civil War, the murder of a local Lady and her subsequent ghost.

Apparitions / Hauntings

Head of Steam, Darlington Railway Museum

The Darlington Railway Centre Museum is located on the original route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway which opened in 1825 as the first steam powered passenger railway and it has a reputation of being haunted.

Apparitions / Haunted Hotels / Haunted Wedding Venue / Hauntings

The Walworth Castle Hotel

Walworth Castle, near Darlington, County Durham, is a Best Western Hotel, with an extensive and complicated history. The current building is Grade 1 listed, and its medieval style was commissioned by its one time owner Thomas Jenison (died 1586), and completed circa 1600.