Paranormal Investigations Ltd
" seek and ye shall find "
Cambridgeshire Sites
The Nene Valley Steam Railway.
The Nene Valley Railway runs from Stibbington to Ferry Meadows in Peterborough. It is the home to Thomas the Tank Engine, created by the Rev. W Audry and makes a very pleasant day out. It has also been used to shoot films including two James Bond films.
Over the years, train drivers have reported seeing Nineteenth Century tunnel workers along the route and the Depot is said to be haunted. A ghostly passenger has been seen on the Station Platform, near to the toilets and figures have been picked up on the CCTV cameras. There have also been doors which appear to open unaided by human hand.
Also said to haunt the area is Snowy the Stationmaster's cat who is doomed to roam the area until he is found by the Stationmaster, himself struck and killed by a moving train whilst looking for his cat in the Yarwell Tunnel, Wansford.
Buckden Towers.
Buckden Village dates back to the Stoneage and its first written records appear in the Domesday Book. The Great North Road ran through the centre of the Village and was an important Highway accessing the North until recently.
The Bishops of Lincoln who held high positions in court resided in Buckden Palace (now Towers) built alongside the road in the Village of Buckden. Only the Great Tower, Inner Gatehouse and part of the Battlement Wall still exist.
There have been along line of Royal Visitors to the Palace, most noteably was Katherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII, who stayed at the Palace after her marriage had been anulled (1533/34). She was very popular both with the villagers and with the Monks that were looking after her. King Henry was deeply upset by this and tried to move her to Somersham but Katherine refused to go. Eventually she agreed to move to comfortable quarters with a high degree of security at Kimbolton Castle. She remained here until her death in 1536.
Other Royal Visitors have included Henry 111 in 1238, Richard 111 in 1483, Henry V111 and katherine Howard in 1541 and James 1 in 1619.
Nothing survives of the Palace's Great Hall except the footings seen in the grass to the North of the modern church. The medievil chapel, library and domestic quarters where Katherine of Aragon was held were demolished in 1833 and there is a strong local tradition that the Ghost of Katherine has been seen in the small room behind the chapel.
The site is now occupied by The Claretion Missionaries, a Spanish Monastic Order but they are not able to varify the Ghost story.
Not far from Buckden Towers is the Lion Hotel which was originally built as a Guesthouse for the Bishop of Lincoln in approximately 1492. Here the resident ghost is 'the lady in grey' accompanied by a strong smell of lavender. She is thought to be the ghost of a woman run over by a coach trying to draw through he narrow arched entrance (then through the middle of the hotel).
