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General
Hatfield originated as a coaching town and dates back to Saxon times. Like Harpenden most of the towns expansion took place after the arrival of the railway in 1850. Further expansion took place with the arrival of the aircraft industry in 1930. Famous aircraft like the Mosquito, Comet and Trident were all built at Hatfield.
The village was first known as Hetfelle and later Haethfeld when in about 970 King Edgar gave the monastery at Ely two thousand hectares of land. From then until 1226 there are no records for the town until Henry III granted the Bishops of Ely the rights to hold a weekly market and annual four day fair.
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Bush Hall House
Bush Hall House is now a hotel but was once the home of Sir Robert Chester. Sir Robert lived during the early part of the nineteenth century and had been master of ceremonies to four different monarchs. According to the stories he now haunts the house where he lived and has been seen floating up the stairs and drifting in and out of bedrooms.
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Fore Street
On January 24th 1680 Elizabeth Freeman was a single woman of some thirty one years. As she sat in front of the fire in her mother’s home in the early evening she became aware of a voice behind her calling ‘sweetheart’. She looked around to find a woman dressed all in white whose face was covered with a veil and who stood with her pale hand gripping the back of Elizabeth’s chair. As Elizabeth looked on the ghostly figure spoke these words: ‘The fifteenth day of May it is appointed for the Royal Blood to be poisoned. Be not afraid for I am sent to tell thee.’ After uttering the words the apparition vanished.
The following week the ghost appeared again before Elizabeth. It asked her if she remembered what had been said and Elizabeth replied that she did. She then asked of the ghost, ‘In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, what art thou?’ The ghostly figure’s voice then grew harsh and said ‘Tell King Charles from me and bid him to remove his Parliament and stand to his Council. Do as I bid you.’ Again the figure vanished.
The ghostly figure appeared one more time whereupon the terrified Elizabeth is said to have told all to the King. It is said that Charles told Elizabeth to go home and serve God and she would have no more trouble from the apparitions.
The ghost is believed to be that of Lucy Waters who was an early mistress of Charles II during his exile. Lucy, also known as Mrs. Barlow, had a son by Charles who later became the Duke of Monmouth. Lucy’s fame lived on in a contemporary song called No Protestant Plot:
A spectre told strange things to honest Bess
Which much amaz’d the Hatfield Prophetess.
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GNR
On the 17th March 1894 a strange story appeared in the ‘Hertfordshire Express’. The story related to an express train passing through Hertfordshire which was saved from disaster by the timely intervention of a spirit.
The story, as related by the driver of the Great Northern Railway train, was as follows:
‘Three years ago I was driving the 8:30 train to the North, and left Kings Cross four minutes behind time. I can’t tell you what it was, but I never felt nervousness but once on an engine, and that was the night I’m talking about. I don’t know nothing about ghosts or spirits, or apparitions – call ‘em what you like – but I’m ready to swear before any judge today that I saw something of the kind that night, and no amount of argument will change my belief.
‘It was just when we were passing through Hatfield when, I would take my oath for all I am worth, a man stepped from the platform to the footplate, just as easily as though we weren’t travelling about fifty five miles an hour. Aye, I can see his face and dress to this day. It was the saddest face I ever come across. The eyes seemed to look you through and through, and when on top of that I saw he was all in black, I was never so afraid in my life.
‘The curious thing is that Dick, my fireman, saw nothing of it. He coaled up for the hill by Welwyn just as natural as though all was fair sailing, and when I tried to shout to him I felt a great lump in my throat, and not a word could I speak.
‘I soon noticed that the strange-comer never went to any other part of the footplate except to the spot whereon I stood, and he even hedged up so close to me that I went cold all over and my feet were like lumps of ice.
‘I think I must have acted mechanically, for I watched the man put his hand on the regulator, and I put mine on with him. The touch of it was like the touch of snow, but I couldn’t loose it, and before I knew what I’d done, the steam was cut off and the train was slowing.
‘Dick, I know, thought I was mad. He’d been away on the tender, breaking up the coal, but he came down and craned his neck when steam was off, and he saw, as I saw, that the distant signal was off, and after that the home signal stood for line clear.
‘You won’t believe, perhaps, but it’s Gospel truth, that although I knew the way was right, I was compelled to stop the express, and stop her I did just outside Hitchin Station.
‘For nothing you say? Well, Heaven alone knows how, but it proved to be for a great deal. There were two trucks across the main line, and although the signals were off, the way was blocked, so that me and the passengers behind me wouldn’t be living to tell the story if I hadn’t been compelled to pull up as I did.’
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Hatfield House
In 1835 the first Marchioness was burnt to death when she knocked over a candle in her bedroom. The subsequent fire not only killed her but destroyed most of the west wing of the house. Before her death she would often take her coach to London and now the same coach is said to haunt the house. It materialises at the gates to Hatfield house complete with four black horses then travels at breakneck speed along the long drive. When it reaches the house it is said to pass through the doors and continue up the stairway before it finally vanishes. The first Marchioness was a definite character, hunting and gambling right up to her death at the age of eighty five.
The coach is not the only spectre to haunt the house as the ghost of the first Marchioness herself has been seen floating along the long gallery. She was clearly seen in 1982 by a workman and a visitor to the house.
It is also said that the ghost of Queen Elizabeth I haunts the house. It was here in 1558 beneath an oak tree in the grounds that she learnt of the death of Mary and that she was now queen. The house itself was built by Robert Cecil in the shape of an ‘E’ to commemorate Elizabeth’s popularity.
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Hatfield Town
An old tale of Hatfield concerns the ghost of an old woman dressed in black. She has been seen by both night and day when she will beckon to people and has even been known to talk to them
The exact location of this manifestation is not known.
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Old Palace
One passage in The Old Palace is haunted by the sounds of ghostly footsteps. The sounds travel along the passageway, a door can be heard opening followed by the distinct sounds of slow footsteps descending the stairs. It is said that on moonlit nights the shadowy figure of a woman can be seen passing through The Old Palace gateway. The figure crosses Fore Street then disappears through the door of the church.
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Todd Building
The Todd building lies on the University of Hertfordshire’s Hatfield campus. It is here that a misty figure has been seen by security staff. The figure was spotted in a darkened, secure building and the lights have been seen to turn on and off by themselves.
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