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General
The name Ellesborough derives from the Old English esol-beorg and means ‘ass-hill’. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it is recorded as Esenberg. In the century that followed the village was spelt variously as Eseburgh or Eselburgh but by the fifteenth century this had become Elisborough, much closer to the present name.
Nearby stands the Iron Age site of Beacon Hill showing that people have at least passed through the area for over two thousand years. In fact the history may go back further as the prehistoric Icknield Way passes through the parish on its way from the flint mines of Norfolk to the sacred sites of Wiltshire.
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St Peter and St Paul
It seems that the church dedicated to St Peter and St Paul in Ellesborough may be haunted by more than one ghost and from different eras. The first ghost did not appear until the 1940s and appears to be wearing genteel clothes that have been dated to the fourteenth century. He first appeared when the church organist was alone in the church practising for the Sunday service. He heard the church door open and close and thought it was a parishioner who had entered on an errand, so he turned round and was surprised to see a tall man dressed in strange clothes. The man walked slowly across the nave to the far wall whereupon the organist called out to him. The man ignored the call and stepped behind a pillar but did not appear on the other side. The organist went to investigate and found that the man had vanished. This was not the only time that the ghost was seen. Since that time he has become a regular visitor only appearing when the church is almost empty and he usually vanishes at the same spot whilst staring at the wall.
A number of decades ago the Reverend David Horner was walking along the church path one evening just prior to evensong. It was still light and he could clearly see a figure half way along the path that resembled one of his parishioners. He hurried to catch the person up so they could have a chat, but when he got within three metres of the figure it vanished. The figure had been that of a man wearing a blue or black cloak. About a week later his son, Stephen, saw the same man at, or very close to the same spot. At the time David had not told his son about his encounter with the figure. Some villagers claim to have seen a priest wearing seventeenth century vestments on the same path.
Another ghost is that of a young woman in white who is seen inside the church. Several people have seen her materialise near the organ at the east end of the aisle. She then walks down the aisle passing over some black marble slabs and disappears near one which lies close to the south door. According to the late Reverend C. N. White she is the ghost of a woman who felt an unrequited love for the reverend Robert Wallis in the mid 1600s. The reverend White is also reported to have said that he had seen the ghost moving away from the altar steps.
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