Shute Barton, a medieval manor house with history

Image: © Derek Voller Taken: 20 May 2017

Is this the avenue of trees by which "The Grey Lady" is sometimes seen walking? Her identity is uncertain, although some claim that it is the ghost of Lady Jane Grey, the so-called ‘nine day Queen.’ Others, however, maintain that she was a member of the de la Pole family who is thought to have lived at the property during the Civil War. The de la Pole’s were staunch Royalists, and one day legend holds that a group of Parliamentarians ambushed this unfortunate lady as she walked through a grove near to the house. Placing a rope around her neck, they threw it over the branch of a tree and hanged her. A group of nearby trees is still known as ‘Lady’s Walk’ in commemoration of the long ago act of infamy and her ghost is said to put in regular appearances around the place where her days ended so violently. Witnesses have described her as having a determined face, and an air of familiarity about her. Indeed several have mentioned that she walks about "as if she owns the place" - which, at one time, she might well have done. She doesn’t take kindly to being approached and should any who see her attempt to do so she will fix them with an admonishing stare and moments later vanish into thin air.

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