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Dinton
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A brief note about the area
The ghost of Simon Mayne |
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The village of Dinton derives its name from the Old English -ingtun and a personal name and means a farm or settlement connected with Dunn(a). In the Domesday Book of 1086 the name appears as Danitone. There was once a manor house in the village that belonged to the Mayne family who were lords of the manor in 1086, but this has long since disappeared leaving just some earthworks.
Dinton Castle is not quite what it seems. It looks like the ruin of a mediaeval castle but it was actually built in 1769 by Sir John van Hatten to house his fossil collection. The site is now haunted by the ghost of Simon Mayne even though the folly was not built until nearly a century after he died. Simon was the secretary to Oliver Cromwell and signed Charles I's death warrant in 1649. At the Restoration he was stripped of his wealth by Charles II. It seems he died a broken man whilst imprisoned in 1661 and his ghost now seeks shelter within the crumbling folly.
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