Ghosts of Ripley Castle

Ripley Castle has been the seat of the Ingleby baronets for over 700 years. In 1308, Thomas Ingleby married Edeline Thwenge and acquired the castle as part of her dowry. His son, also named Thomas, saved the King from being gored by a wild boar while hunting. He was knighted and added the boar's head symbol to his crest.

 

King James IV of Scotland stayed at Ripley Castle on his way south to be crowned King James I of England. The Ingleby family would also be involved in the Gunpowder Plot to overthrow James I by allowing the plotters to stay at Ripley Castle in 1605 while they procured horses.

The Ingleby family supported Charles I during the Civil War and fought at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 when the King's forces were routed. William Ingleby escaped the battlefield and returned to Ripley Castle, hiding in a priest hole while Oliver Cromwell billeted himself in the castle for the night. The castle had a priest hole because the Ingleby family were devout Catholics when the Tudors and the Church of England transformed religion in England.

Ripley Castle is home to more than just the Ingleby family; a few spirits roam the castle's rooms and grounds.

A lonely female figure dressed in 19th century clothing has been seen wandering about the castle. It is suggested that she may be the ghost of Lady Alicia Ingleby, who lost her only two children to meningitis in the 1870s. She has been seen walking toward the children's bedrooms before passing through locked doors. The current Lady Ingleby would sometimes feel a tug or nudge at her bedclothes while feeding her baby whenever the baby would whimper. Some castle tour guides have seen a lady wearing an 1870s dress walking along the halls.

Inside the highest tower, a spirit becomes disturbed by crying babies and will move children's toys. The priest hole is also said to be haunted by the spirit of Francis Ingleby, who hid there before he was found and executed.

Outside the castle, the spirits of Civil War soldiers who were lined up and shot by Cromwell's forces at the Battle of Marston Moor are said to haunt the castle walls.