Cresswell Tower
Visited 19 September 2004
Cresswell Tower, a 14th century tower house not far from Ashington, Northumberland has a fantastic ghost story connected with it. The woods surrounding the tower are also said to be very haunted and are very spooky after dark. Cresswell Tower was the perfect location to carry out my seventh investigation of September 2004.
The lovely little coastal town on Cresswell is only a 15 minute drive from when I live and has a great historical past. The tower stands besides the village in sight of the shore. It is well preserved from the outside and has a history going back three hundred years. It is, of course, associated with the Cresswell family.
A sad story associated with the tower tells how the beautiful daughter of the family had fallen in love with a young Danish prince whose country, at that time, was at war with England. Her brothers hated the idea of her 'sleeping with the enemy' so to speak, and were absolutely furious when she announced plans to marry her true love. They were to be wed outside Cresswell Tower and a huge crowd turned up to see this fairytale wedding. She waited at the top of the tower for husband-to-be to arrive. In the distance a horse approached but where was her Danish prince? As the horse got nearer she was horrified to see that he was being dragged along behind the horse, his ankle caught on a rope, he was dead, stabbed to death. Her brothers had paid some locals to kill the prince before he reached the tower. She lost all will to live and soon afterwards she died of a broken heart. It is said that her ghostly form can still occasionally be seen gazing out to sea from the tower roof.
Another variation, and less well know, of the above story is 'The White Lady of Cresswell' who haunts the area. Her two brothers murdered her boyfriend near the lifeboat shelter and she saw this from pele tower. She supposedly went insane and know roams the area. In this story however, she is said to wander the streets, going in gardens and knocking and looking through the windows. Screams have been heard across the fields, described as being 'almost human' and 'not of this world'.
The woods surrounding the tower are said to be haunted by the ghosts of Vikings.
A sad story associated with the tower tells how the beautiful daughter of the family had fallen in love with a young Danish prince whose country, at that time, was at war with England. Her brothers hated the idea of her 'sleeping with the enemy' so to speak, and were absolutely furious when she announced plans to marry her true love. They were to be wed outside Cresswell Tower and a huge crowd turned up to see this fairytale wedding. She waited at the top of the tower for husband-to-be to arrive. In the distance a horse approached but where was her Danish prince? As the horse got nearer she was horrified to see that he was being dragged along behind the horse, his ankle caught on a rope, he was dead, stabbed to death. Her brothers had paid some locals to kill the prince before he reached the tower. She lost all will to live and soon afterwards she died of a broken heart. It is said that her ghostly form can still occasionally be seen gazing out to sea from the tower roof.
Another variation, and less well know, of the above story is 'The White Lady of Cresswell' who haunts the area. Her two brothers murdered her boyfriend near the lifeboat shelter and she saw this from pele tower. She supposedly went insane and know roams the area. In this story however, she is said to wander the streets, going in gardens and knocking and looking through the windows. Screams have been heard across the fields, described as being 'almost human' and 'not of this world'.
The woods surrounding the tower are said to be haunted by the ghosts of Vikings.
Thomas Kirkup, Harry Dalton and I arrived in Cresswell at 9pm, to get to the tower you have to walk through Cresswell Towers Caravan Park. We got out our torches and cameras out and make our way through the park towards the tower which lies at the back of the park. It brought back memories of Blackpool Caravan Park from when the three of us and another four mates had a mad weekend away, but that's another story. We probably looked a little suspicious, three blokes walking around carrying torches, wearing dark clothes and woolly hats but before long we were in the dark woods that surround the tower and out of the view of the holidaymakers.
The woods don't seem particularly scary until you imagine a Viking ghost appearing out of nowhere. We wandered through the trees, further away from the lights on the caravans and into the darkness. Before we knew it the tower was in front of us, it was smaller than I expected but very creepy. We walked around the outside of the tower, as we approached it Tom's torch dimmed until it went out completely, strange since they were new batteries. As we walked around I was holding my camera up the windows which were quite high up and taking photos inside in the hope of catching something on film. We reached the side furthest from the caravan park and there is heavy metal door which was locked. We circled the tower, I was constantly looking to the top of the tower where the heartbroken girl is said to stand but could see nothing.
The woods don't seem particularly scary until you imagine a Viking ghost appearing out of nowhere. We wandered through the trees, further away from the lights on the caravans and into the darkness. Before we knew it the tower was in front of us, it was smaller than I expected but very creepy. We walked around the outside of the tower, as we approached it Tom's torch dimmed until it went out completely, strange since they were new batteries. As we walked around I was holding my camera up the windows which were quite high up and taking photos inside in the hope of catching something on film. We reached the side furthest from the caravan park and there is heavy metal door which was locked. We circled the tower, I was constantly looking to the top of the tower where the heartbroken girl is said to stand but could see nothing.
We headed back off back into the woodland, my brothers torch came back on. We walked as far as we could in every direction and never heard, saw or felt anything. I tried to help things along by asking if anyone was there, is they were could they make something move, give us a sign. Nothing.
We headed back over to the tower and sat on a small rocky 'bench' at the right hand side of the tower as you look at it from the front. Tom's torch went off again. We chatted quietly, hopeful something would happen to kickstart our investigation into life. Tom said that he felt something was at the second window up, watching us. I thought I heard footsteps to our right but didn't say anything. "There's someone to our right" said Tom while staring at the ground in front of him. I got up and walked over, if anyone was there it was probably someone from the caravan park going for a walk. No one was there.
We headed back over to the tower and sat on a small rocky 'bench' at the right hand side of the tower as you look at it from the front. Tom's torch went off again. We chatted quietly, hopeful something would happen to kickstart our investigation into life. Tom said that he felt something was at the second window up, watching us. I thought I heard footsteps to our right but didn't say anything. "There's someone to our right" said Tom while staring at the ground in front of him. I got up and walked over, if anyone was there it was probably someone from the caravan park going for a walk. No one was there.
We sat for about 45 minutes and nothing much happened so we walked slowly through the woods back towards the caravan park hoping that something, anything, would happen.
We made our way back to the car after a fairly uneventful night, we left Cresswell Towers Caravan Park and headed home.
We made our way back to the car after a fairly uneventful night, we left Cresswell Towers Caravan Park and headed home.
Conclusion
I didn't see a ghost, I didn't feel or sense anything. Tom's torch kept going off near the castle which was strange and he said he could feel someone watching us but Harry and I felt nothing. This was a disappointing ghost hunt but from time to time we're going to get quiet ones. There is a lot of stories here and it's a fairly famous haunted place I've heard Alan Robson talk about it on Night Owls on Metro Radio and read about it in books and on the internet. I will probably return here one day and hope that it is more eventful that tonight.