I always supposed the high number of ghostly nuns and monks was a similar phenomenon to the amount of local folklore connected to monks, eg legends of tunnels which are often said to have been made by unspecified "monks" (eg those catalogued on the brilliant
Hidden East Anglia site).
Gee thanks for that, now I've got something else to worry about! Both the town I'm now living in and one of the villages I grew up in are mentioned. The thing is both my neighbour and I are concerned about cracks that are appearing in the corners of our respective houses but neither of us can get our landlords to take it seriously. 'It's an old house ... cracks happen blah blah' We are pretty sure it's actually the drains but now going by the story on that site perhaps we are sinking into a tunnel as it is more or less en route!!
No I don't really think that although one of the objections to that particular tunnel theory is that it would have had to go under the river but the river in question is little more that a wide ditch at that point so although I don't think that objection holds good I still don't think it's very likely, but there again? mmm
There were tunnel legends associated with monks very near the site of the following legend it isn't actually about the monks or a tunnel in this case.
I can confirm that you can't avoid curses that easily! We paid heed to the legend but it must apply not just to the journey to the church but the journey back as well, as the wedding breakfast was held in the village hall just opposite the bridge.
'Beneath the Bridge Edmund is said to have hidden from the Danes, but was given away by a newly-wed couple who saw the moon glancing from his golden spurs in the waters of the brook. As he was dragged to his death by the Danish soldiers, he cried a curse on all bridal couples who should ever cross the bridge. It's said that until well into the 19th century, many local wedding parties would go the long way round rather than chance the curse. The shine of his spurs can still be seen from the bridge on moonlit nights.'
My dads friend was a reporter for the local rag and was well pleased that he had a new angle to add to the usual wedding reports and unbeknownst to us managed to get it printed together with the photo, not only in the local rag but the ones that covered the whole of East Anglia! All well and good but we hadn't mentioned to the hotel that our stay was actually our honeymoon and were dismayed that they had spotted it and laid the paper, open at the report, on our table the following morning!!!
Many years later my aunt spotted in the EDP the story reprinted in one of those filler 'on this day' columns. Well I suppose it's the nearest I've got to being famous which I suppose is why I'm milking it on this forum ha! ha! We were divorced by then but the date of the reprint?
9/11/2001
Ringing a bell anyone? No wonder the marriage didn't last. Wrong venue wrong date! Yes yes I know it's really just a meaningless coincidence.
So much for local legends, another village also lays claim to a similar tale so it's a bit flakey and in any case us kids looked in vain for the glinting of the spurs. However the bridge did make a good place to play 'ghosts'!
Given the usually brief sightings that one is afforded of an apparition, it would require the skills of a clothing historian to be able to differentiate 'a nun' and a woman wearing a wimple from any other century.
Agreed and sorry for the above diversion to your thread catseye. I'd just like to add that given how bad we are at accurately describing real life people we've had longer than a fleeting glance of it's no wonder that many ghost sightings can be a bit simplistic/generic. I'll let you all know if any ghostly nuns leave the tunnel to come floating out of my floor!
Sollywos x