There is a ghost that haunts Creslow Manor which is generally heard and rarely seen. The sound is a rustling of clothes which some people attributed to the ghost of Cornelius Holland whilst others say it is the ghost of Rosamund Clifford. The figure that has been seen is that of a woman, and the rustling is her silk dress. So which is it male or female?

One story tells of the High Sheriff of Buckingham who in 1858 volunteered to stay overnight in the room in which the ghost was heard the most. Armed with a brace of pistols, a sword and a box of matches he retired to the room locked the door and barricaded the windows. The following morning he failed to turn up for breakfast and the jug of water, which had been left outside his door earlier in the morning, was untouched. Fearing the worst, they were just about to break down his bed chamber door when he strolled in the front door claiming he had been for a long walk. In reality he had been woken up at 02:00 by the soft tread of a woman’s footsteps approaching his door. That wasn’t too bad until he found that the footsteps continued through the door and across his bed chamber along with the sounds of rustling silk. The footsteps paused in the room for a while they returned by their original path. At this point the Sheriff decided he had had enough and fled the house.

The name of the site, Creslow, derives from the Old English cærsehlaw meaning ‘cress hill’ though some believe it to be a derivation of ‘Christ’s Low’ (Christ’s meadow) as the land was owned by the Knights Templars in 1120 then passing to the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. At the Dissolution the property passed to the Crown and in 1635 it was leased to Cornelius Holland, one of our candidates for the ghost. Cornelius was low born, his father died in Fleet Prison where he had been imprisoned for debt. But Cornelius was unscrupulous in his desire for advancement. He started off waiting on Henry Vane at Court then under Charles I he found favour, eventually representing New Windsor in the House of Commons in 1640. That said he betrayed his king as he was one of the signatories of Charles’ death warrant and it is said he drew up the charges against Charles. At the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 Cornelius was charged with high treason and fled the country to Holland. It is believed that he died in Lausanne, Switzerland and is said to haunt his old home at Creslow.

In 1660 the house was leased to thirty year old Sir Thomas Clifford who had been knighted by Charles II on the Restoration of the monarchy. By 1668 he had risen to be Treasurer to the King and two years later he was Secretary of State and the Baron Clifford of Chudleigh. In 1673 the country was alarmed by reports of a Catholic plot to remove Charles II and install his brother James as king. Charles was forced to dismiss his Catholic ministers including Thomas Clifford. During his time in office the Baron had virtually abandoned his wife but now he returned to her at Creslow and they spent the remainder of their lives together. It is his wife, Lady Rosamund that is the second candidate for the haunting. It is the sounds of her light feet and rustling silk dress that is heard. Her most notable physical appearance was in 1850.

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