Houghton Regis
Contents -- Click to go to item
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General
Drury Lane
Houghton Hall
Puddlehill
Sundon Road
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A brief note about the area
The ghost of a little girl who was run over
Alice Brandreth’s ghost who haunts the hall she had built
The ghost of a Saxon Chieftain
A dark shape, strange whistling and occasional violence
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General
Houghton Regis is a mainly urban community which merges with the northern edge of Dunstable. The town has seen very extensive house building over the last fifty years, a lot of which were built to accommodate the London overspill. Houghton Regis now has a population of 15,840, though this may increase dramatically with the proposed addition of 25,000 houses in the area, many of which will lie to the north of Houghton (in the area around Thorn).
Despite this the old village green still survives, as does Houghton Hall, a fine chequer-brick mansion dating from about 1700. The grounds of the hall are now partially a public open space and partially new industrial development.
The parish church of All Saints is a very fine example of perpendicular architecture built from flint and the local limestone (Totternhoe Clunch) in a chequer-work style.
To the north-west of the town lies the small hamlet of Thorn. Here can still be found the Baptist cemetery from which John Bunyan preached to vast crowds.
The name derives from the Old English words hoh and tun and means hill-spur settlement. Regis is due to it being a royal manor by 1086.
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Drury Lane
Mr. and Mrs. Doerrer were walking past the Green in Houghton Regis late one night when they saw the figure of a young girl approaching. It was a cold night and after midnight yet the girl seemed totally unconcerned even though she was only wearing a flimsy white party dress. She passed by the Doerrers’ without noticing them and they observed that she was bare footed.
Somewhat concerned they followed the girl into Drury Lane but to their surprise there was no sign of her and all the houses were in darkness. They searched the area to no avail before carrying on their way.
It later transpired that the figure of the girl had been seen as far back as the 1930’s and it is believed that she is the ghost of a little girl who was run over by a car when returning from Sunday school one afternoon.
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Houghton Regis, Drury Lane
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Houghton Hall
Houghton Hall is haunted by the ghost of Alice Brandreth who had the existing hall built in 1700. Her ghost can be seen walking around in what is now a business premises. The original manor was built by Henry Brandreth who became the first lord of the manor in 1652.
To view a map of the area click on the button below
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Puddlehill
A footpath which runs from Puddlehill, just off Chalk Hill, to Houghton Regis has long been haunted by the ghost of a Saxon Chieftain. The area has a strange feel to it and from time to time the ghost would appear clad in full armour though there have been no recent sightings.
The tale was given greater credence when, in the 1950’s, a team of archaeologists from Manshead Archaeological Society unearthed the grave of an early Saxon warrior at the highest point of Puddlehill. The warrior had died a sudden and violent death as his skull had been smashed by a strong blow just above the left ear. Even though the grave was six feet long the warrior had had to be bent to fit into it with his head forced to one side and his spine twisted. The burial was a pagan one with the warriors shield and spear buried with him. Further investigation revealed other graves of a later date nearby containing beads, brooches, buckles and other objects.
We don’t tend to put negative reports onto this site but sometimes the negativity is significant enough to justify the addition and Puddlehill certainly comes into the category.
By a negative report we mean one where nothing happens and there are not even any tales to tell and this is one of them. Two of our members have lived very near to Puddlehill since 1999 and have walked over the entire Puddlehill and adjoining areas on numerous occasions. These walks have varied from daylight to the wee small hours of the night and neither of them, including our sensitive member and their dog, have ever seen, felt or in any way sensed anything. Make of that what you will.
To view a map of the area click on the button below
Houghton Regis, Puddlehill
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Sundon Road
Sundon Road in Houghton Regis is now fully developed with housing estates both sides of the road but thirty years ago fields lay alongside part of the road with a thick boundary hedge. One night in spring Mr. Tony Broughall was returning to Luton after visiting his future wife, who lived in Recreation Road, and was walking down the Sundon Road as he had missed the last bus. He was walking towards East End, Houghton Regis where the Chequers pub stands when he saw a dark shape cross the road some distance in front of him. He could just make out what appeared to be the outline of a head and shoulders and assumed the figure was on a bicycle. As he rounded the bend before the well lit junction he could see that there was no one there. The only way the figure could have disappeared would have been by pushing through the thick, unbroken hedge. Tony thought nothing of it and continued his journey home.
A week later he was repeating the journey when he was suddenly pushed violently from behind so that he almost fell into the ditch at the side of the road. The shock was amplified because he neither saw nor heard his assailant both before and after the event.
One wet night some time later as he hurried along the same road he became aware of a strange, tuneless, whistling coming from somewhere behind him. “The notes were aimless and jumbled and whoever or whatever was producing them seemed in no need to pause to draw breathe.” As he walked on the sound got nearer and nearer. Eventually he could stand it no more and ran the last hundred metres to the well lit junction.
To view a map of the area click on the button below
Houghton Regis, Sundon Road
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