Haunted York
Holy Trinity Church in Micklegate has an unusually tranquil ghost dating from medieval times. Could this be the ghost of a woman who died of shock after her husband died in an accident and the plague took her child? Because of the strict quarantine laws at the time, plague victims were buried beyond the city walls. The woman was probably buried with her husband in Holy Trinity and it is thought that her phantom is searching for her child in the hope of being reunited in death. The theory of this moving story was offered and uncovered by the Reverend Baring Gould, better known for writing the text of the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers.
More about the Holy Trinity Church
One of the ghosts associated with Micklegate Bar is the young Sarah Brocklebank, daughter of Thomas, a gate keeper of Micklegate Bar. In 1797 she lost the keys to the city while playing a game on her birthday.
Nobody could find them when her father went to lock the city gate at dusk. He lost his job and the family was thrown out on the street. Thomas Brocklebank was so angry he never spoke to his daughter again.
Sarah became obsessed with finding the lost keys and spent her life searching for them. Many years later, now a frail old lady, she burst excitedly into the Lord Mayor's parlour. Suddenly, a beautiful transformation came over her. The cares and worries of all the years fell away and she looked like a young girl again. However, just as she was about to reveal where the keys had been hidden, she fell down dead, taking the secret to her grave.
Visitors to Micklegate Bar Museum today may feel a cold touch on their shoulder and see a small shadow flitting backwards and forwards, crying softly.
Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, who made the catastrophic mistake of getting on the wrong side of Queen Elizabeth I. He compounded the error by being on good terms with Mary Queen of Scots the chief rival for Elizabeth's throne. He completed his downfall when, with the Earl of Westmorland, he rebelled against Protestant Elizabeth and called for the northern Catholics to rally to his cause.
The ordinary people, however, were noticeably unwilling to become rebels and the rising collapsed. Westmorland escaped to France but Northumberland was captured. On 22nd August 1572, the Earl was marched to Parliament Street and beheaded in full view of the citizens ot York. His head was spiked on Micklegate Bar but did not remain there long. One of his retainers removed the head one night and buried it in Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate. The grisly relic was returned for a reward of ten shillings and sixpence by a somewhat less loyal retainer. It has long been assumed that the headless phantom which wanders through Holy Trinity Churchyard is that of the luckless 7th Earl of Northumberland searching for his head.
Home
The Supernatural Index
York Ghosts four