• Haunted House
    04/05/2009

    So many centuries - so many souls.  Torre Abbey has been the focus of many a ghost search over the years and tales of ghostly encounters continue to appear.

    The Abbey's earlierst ghost concerns the strange tale of a murdered canon.  In the late 1300s a dispute raged between the rich and influential canons and the people of the nearby village of Torre.  The Abbot, possessed with mistrust, killed a member of his own community and then tried to cover it up ... or so the story goes.  The young murdered canon appears headless on his horse at midnight when sou'westerlies blow across the surrounding meadows.

    The Abbey's most famous ghost is the Spanish Lady.  In 1588 the Spanish Armada sailed confidently into the English Channel and straight into the sights of the superior English fleet.  The 'Nuestra Senora del Rosario' was captured by Sir Francis Drake and her 397 crew held prisoner in the eponymous Spanish Barn.  The story is told that the prisoners included a young lieutenant and his fiancee.  The young woman fell ill and died whilst imprisoned.  Her sorrowing ghost haunts the barn and the parkland around it, where she can be heard sobbing for her lost love.

    The latest to join the Abbey's apparitions is the stylish and gregarious Lady Cary who is said to appear, dressed in a dazzling ballgown, being driven through the Abbey grounds in a brightly-lit horse-drawn carriage.

    Please contact on 01803 296593 or email if you would like to be contacted with details of future ghost tours.

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