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Barbara, the wife of Edward, the tailor of Llantwit Major, was a hale and hearty woman, until a secret pressed sorely upon her mind. For a long time after her husband's mother's death she kept as a profound secret the fact that the old woman had entrusted her with a bag of money, which was to be divided equally between several members of the family. Barbara decided to keep this for her own use. But the spirit of Mollans, as the old woman was called, would not give her peace. By-and-by Barbara became very miserable and emaciated, and seemed to be gradually pining away. For the spirit teased and pinched her in the night, and would not allow her to sleep because she persistently refused to take the hoard and honestly divide it, or throw it into the Ogmore. Barbara selfishly consented to the latter course. The spirit then led her out of the house, and wafted her so high in the air that she saw the church loft and all the houses far below her. In her flurry she threw the bag of money up the stream, instead of down with it, whereupon the spirit, in a great rage, and with a savage look, tossed her into a whirlwind. One evening the bellringers found her in a sad plight and in a fainting condition near the church lane. She was wet and bedraggled, and her hair was filled with sand. The whirlwind bewildered her so much that she could not remember how or when she came home. From the moment after her return Barbara never had peace. Her husband, a very good and truthful man, declared that supernatural noises and knockings were always heard in the house, and the garden was haunted because of Barbara's folly. People are living to-day who said Barbara's children were "ghost-walked," or ghost-ridden.
An aged woman still living says that Barbara invariably refused to open the door when, as she said, the spirit of her mother-in-law knocked. But the spirit assumed the shape of a crow, and entered by means of an open window or down the chimney. When my informant was about ten years of age, she remembered being in Barbara's house when a crow chanced to fly in through the window. Barbara screamed with terror while the crow flapped its wings around her head and beat her unmercifully. Neighbours, hearing the commotion, entered from the back of the house and offered to kill the bird, but Barbara said: "Don't, don't! If you kill the crow you'll kill my mother-in-law, and I shall go to perdition." When the front-door was opened the crow flew out.
Once the home of William Randolph Hearst, St Donat’s Castle is haunted by several ghosts including that of a Lady Stradling, said to be a stately old lady, wearing high-heeled shoes and a trailing long dress, who was murdered at the Castle. Her usual haunt is the Long Gallery. Her appearances are said to be a warning of an impending disaster. She was certainly seen as late as 1938, a short while before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Other ghosts at the Castle include what is described as a horrible-looking old witch who has been seen in the Armoury, a phantom panther which has been seen padding around one of the corridors, bright lights in one of the bedrooms, described as being “like bright eyes”, and invisible hands that play the piano even when the lid is shut.
Also known locally as "The Ruins", this 16th century manor house, just off West Street, is said to be haunted by a lady in white who was starved to death by her husband...
During
the reign of Richard I the so called Boverton Castle was the property
of the Earl of Gloucester, whose daughter Hadwisa became the wife of
Prince John. When, about ten years later, John divorced Hadwisa of Gloucester,
so that he could marry Isabella of Angoulême, his wife, who has
been described as amiable and affectionate, retired to the seclusion
of Boverton Castle. According to local tradition, King John once fled
from his barons, and was sheltered in Boverton Castle by the gentle
woman he had wronged.
Early in the nineteenth century men were employed to dismantle part of this castle. One dark hazy day they saw a tall, shadowy female figure, dressed in deep widows mourning of antique design. ["Vale of Glamorgan." p. 336.] Her face was scarcely visible, but her long dark hair fell in neatly braided tresses down to her waist. She wandered from room to room in a slow, disconsolate manner, and occasionally her sobs and sighs broke the silence. At first the workmen were greatly frightened, but as during the progress of the work they frequently saw this apparition little heed was taken of it. One of the men mentioned the circumstance to a very aged person in the district and was told: "Oh, she is Wissie, the Kings widow. I've often seen her." May not this dark lady have been Hadwisa of Gloucester?
When the dismantling of the old castle was completed the dark apparition vanished, but for long years afterwards people declared the black lady haunted Boverton Castle.
Two farmhouses near Llantwit-Major, Glamorganshire, are known by the names of Great and Little Frampton, corrupted from Francton. Tradition says they owe their names to the English knight, Adam de Francton, who slew Llewelyn, the last Prince of Wales.
Prince Llewelyn, while at Aberedwy, near Builth, on December 10, 1282, discovered that the English troops were quickly approaching, and in order to baffle his pursuers he engaged a blacksmith to reverse the shoes of the horses. Snow was on the ground, and, by reversing the horses' shoes, the prince hoped to escape. He, with a few of his soldiers, rode swiftly to Builth Castle, but was refused entrance.
The blacksmith who had reversed the shoes of the horses gave information to the English, who immediately chased the prince. Llewelyn and a single esquire, both unarmed, hurried into a deep and narrow dingle on the banks of the River Irvon, near Builth. The English soon surrounded the dingle, and Adam de Francton seeing a Welshman leaving it rushed forward and plunged a spear into his body.
The Welsh, eagerly expecting their chieftain to join them, entered into an engagement with the English, and the slaughter on both sides was terrible.
Meanwhile, Llewelyn was lying in a dying condition near a small well, on the summit of the dingle. On December 11, after the battle, Adam de Francton returned to the dingle. To the surprise of the knight, the wounded man, who still breathed, was Llewelyn, the last of the native Princes of Wales. The prince's head was cut off his body, and sent to Edward I at Conway Castle. It was afterwards placed on the loftiest pinnacle of the Tower of London.
When Prince Llewelyn crossed the Irvon, he said, "If the English cross this river, it will leave its bed." People say that grass grows where the Irvon then ran.
Llewelyn's head was carried by soldiers in branches of broom, and, according to local tradition, the broom has never grown in that parish since, though it is found in abundance in the surrounding parishes.
To return to Adam de Francton. Tradition says he was connected by marriage with some of the families of South Glamorgan. Filled with bitter remorse for having slain Llewelyn, the knight retired to the remote and secluded neighbourhood of Llantwit-Major, where he became the victim of ceaseless restlessness. He could not sit still at home, but rode recklessly to and fro through the country side, as though he were pursued by a demon. One evening, while riding homeward with some boon companions, he met an untimely death by a broken neck, caused by a fall from his horse, in the roadway leading to his house, now known as Great Frampton.
To this day, the country people declare that, often in the twilight and early night, strange sounds, resembling the clattering of horses' hoofs, may be distinctly heard, followed by a loud thud, as of something falling. Children in their play, or while gathering wild flowers in the roadway, say to each other as the twilight approaches, "Come, be quick, let us go, or we shall hear the Frampton horses."
Not very far from the place associated with Adam de Francton is a field which bears the reputation of being haunted by a gigantic black dog with eyes "like coals of fire." This dog is "chained," and people say they hear the noise of the links rattling. In the same field a man is sometimes seen tossing smouldering hay. He is described as being a swarthy gentleman, respectably clothed in black. His particularly luminous eyes glare fiercely under a black slouched hat. This energetic gentleman is to be seen any time after ten P.M. but, unfortunately only by appointment, for those who go expressly to call upon him never find him at home. Another field near at hand is reported to be charmed or witched. People say they have wandered around the field for two or three hours, and have failed to find the exit. Whether they are fairy led, or driven by witches or warlocks, none can tell; but even now, young folk do not care to go through the field after dark, fearing they would experience "bewilderment" therein.
In the same parish, and leading to the remains of the ancient monastic buildings, is a stile known as the "Big Man's Stile." There a gigantic ghost sat in the eventides fifty years ago, but he is never seen now. This ghost appeared to be of a meditative turn of mind, for he is described as leaning on his elbow, and gazing moodily to the west. He too is reported to have been swarthy, with coal black hair and fiery eyes.
In the adjacent village near Llanmaes there is a road known by the gruesome name of "The Gallows Way." (Which is now know as Llanmaes Road) There horses passing at midnight see ghostly dogs - doubtless the faithful attendants of men who suffered the rigours of the law on the Gallows Tree (at the crossroads from Llanmaes road, Eagleswell Road and Frampton) - and strange noises are heard in the evening. These noises are varied. They are described as the "sound of a lot of people running," or "something heavy falling into the road," and more than one person says that wailing sounds are heard there at certain times of the year.
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Stories
of the supernatural can be traced in the reputed hauntings by white
ladies of the Old Place, St. Donats Castle, the Upper Place, the Ham,
and the crying boy of Ham Lane East, not to mention Burial Lane and
Gallows Way.