A battle has left its ghostly memory near York. On 2nd July 1644, during the English Civil War, the Puritans led by Oliver Cromwell defeated the Royalist forces at Long Marston. Cromwell used the Old Hall at Long Marston village as his base for the battle and his ghost has reputedly been seen there on several occasions, pacing up and down, deep in thought before the conflict.

Ghostly combatants have been seen in the area for some years, and in 1932 when two motorists, lost while searching for the Wetherby road, came across a group of ragged clothed men trudging alongside the road in a ditch. As the motorists slowed down to ask if help was needed, they realised that the men were wearing clothes of the Cavalier fashion and appeared not to notice the twentieth century travellers or their car.

The Cavaliers clambered out of the ditch and wandered into the centre of the road, where they were run down by a bus travelling in the opposite direction. The car drivers searched the area but they found nothing. They had witnessed a group of Royalists fleeing to safety from the defeat at Marston Moor.

Source: Haunted Yorkshire


Marston Moor, York
North Yorkshire
A group of tourists lost in their search for the road to Hessay had found themselves on an unidentified road between the A59 and B1224. Comment among the friends was made regarding a number of tramps stumbling silently along the ditch. The driver of the car slowed down to take a closer look and he and his passengers were puzzled by the clothing of the `five or six men` that they could see, for they appeared to be dressed in a seventeenth century style. Having passed the staggering troupe the tourists turned round to watch their progress only to be astonished to realise that the road was empty. This incident occurred in 1968 but a similar experience was reported by two other travellers on the same road five years later. The site of the famous Battle of Marston Moor is a short walk away from where the ghosts were witnessed.

Source: © Andrew Green