Watton Priory: Mothers Scorned
Located in West Yorkshire, visitors will find the Watton Priory, which offers more than just a variety of Tudor-style architecture. On the premises, the ruins of a nunnery and monastery dating back to the 8th century are situated in the area. It is here that two female ghosts are said to wander about the premises, showing intense sadness over the loss of their children.
The first female ghost is said to have a history that can be traced back to a brutal end met by the hands of Cromwell and his soldiers. Her residence was raided and although she attempted to hide herself and her child in a cupboard, they were found nonetheless. The snatched her child away from her and horrifically beat it to death. To add insult to injury, they chopped off the child’s head after it had already expired. It is believed that the room where all of these gruesome acts were committed is haunted. It is the headless ghost of the mother who has been seen on the premises. When she appears, she is seen carrying her child’s lifeless body in her arms. Her clothes are stained with the blood from both of them.
The second female ghost is one who was a former nun of the priory. As the story goes, during the 12th century, there was once a child that was placed in the nunnery. When the child became older, she blossomed into a rather attraction woman. At that time, the nunnery was positioned next to the monastery. As the years passed, a certain monk caught the eye of the young nun and she fell in love. Every night, they snuck into one another’s arms. All of this, of course, was done in secret.
It didn’t take very long before the nuns caught wind of what she was doing and their affair was no longer a secret. The time soon came when he had to answer to her peers. To make matters worse, the young nun was pregnant with the monk’s baby. This sent them into a rage and they attacked the young nun. She was stripped of all her clothing and thrown into a dungeon, where they locked her up. They also tied her feet and hands to chains.
While the young nun was chained, the other nuns summoned him to the dungeon and brought him before her. She was subjected to watch her love suffer a horrific attack. There was nothing she could do. A couple of days after this graphic scene, the young nun gave birth to their child. The nuns didn’t waste any time retrieving the baby and separating it from its mother. The young nun was then left to die. It is believed that the nun haunts the surrounding fields and grounds of the Watton Priory, searching for the child she never had a chance to rear.