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General
Cheshunt certainly dates back to the Roman occupation due to its proximity to Ermine Street the main route from London to York. It appears in the Domesday Book as Cestrehunt when there was a mill fed by the river Lea. The name means ‘Roman site spring’ and derives from the Old English words ceaster and funta.
A nunnery was built on the marshes at Turnford and is first mentioned in 1183. The nunnery survived until the Dissolution in 1536. Gravel workings during the 1950s destroyed any remains of the nunnery.
Queen Elizabeth I spent some time at Cheshunt as a girl and later stayed at Theobalds Park many times when it was owned by her Secretary of State, William Cecil.
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Cecil House
In the middle of the 1800s Cecil House, which stood in Theobalds Park, was being leased by Mr. and Mrs. Chapman. The Chapmans had been living in the house for several months when strange things started to happen. As night was beginning to fall Mrs. Chapman walked into one of the bedrooms and was rather surprised to find a young woman looking out of one of the windows. She described the woman as having long dark hair and wearing a short petticoat. The woman stared out of the window as if she was expecting to see someone then suddenly vanished.
A few days later came the second event. This time it involved the nursery maid who was trembling with fear. She told Mrs. Chapman that she had seen a hideous old woman peering through the window at her as she walked through the lobby.
After this all occurrences were only in the form of noise and nothing was seen. In the middle of the night the household was woken to the sound of the pump in the yard resonating as if someone had struck it with a crowbar. Footsteps would be heard in different parts of the house but they could never be associated with any member of the family or household staff. Once footsteps were heard approaching the kitchen door, the latch lifted and the door opened and a presence entered the room but there was nothing to see.
One night one of the servants had a dream which related to what was going on. It appeared that the dream concerned one Miss Emily Black who had lived at the house about eighty years before the Chapmans moved in. The woman had a child though it is uncertain as to whether she killed the child or he grew up and eventually joined the army and went to India. The hideous old woman seen by the servant was thought to have been the ghost of the family’s nurse. About eighty years ago the house had been occupied by a Mrs. Ravenhall and her niece Miss Black so that part of the dream was correct. One other ‘fact’ about the dream regarded a dark-complexioned gentleman in a fustian coat. This very figure had been seen by Mrs. Chapman and the coal merchant who told her that a man fitting the description had ordered coal from him. After the Chapmans left the house was occupied by a few tenants but none of them stayed very long. Eventually the house stood empty for years until it was pulled down.
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Cheshunt Great House
W. B. Gerish, the Hertfordshire historian, wrote about Cheshunt Great house in the early 1900s. He told the story of a lady in grey who was seen to glide up the wide staircase and disappear into an upper room. On the floor of the room was a dark stain which was believed to be human blood. The caretaker had also heard strange noises which could not be accounted for.
The house itself was built in the fifteenth century and was owned by Cardinal Wolsey from 1519 to 1529. In 1750 the whole house was encased in red brick and it survived until 1965 when it was destroyed by fire.
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Meux House
In the eighteenth century the ghost of a pretty girl dressed in silk was seen several times looking out of a window in Meux House. It appeared as if she was waiting for someone who never came. The ghost of an older woman was also seen on the site, her appearance was described as being quite scary. When the original house was knocked down the ghost of the old woman disappeared and has not returned.
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