On the 11th October 1641 Mary Whiddon was shot dead, by a jealous suitor, following her wedding at St Michael's Church, Chagford.
Her memorial reads:
Here lieth Mary the daughter of Oliver Whyddon Esquire who died the 11th day of October Anodm 1641
Reader wouldst know who here is laid
Behold a Matron yet a maid
A modest look a pious heart
A mary for the better part
But drie thine eyes why wilt thou weep
Such damsels doe not die but sleepe
It has since become a modern day custom for brides to place a bouquet of flowers on the memorial to bring their marriage luck and happiness.
The shooting is believed to have inspired part of Richard Doddridge Blackmore's 1869 book Lorna Doone.
Mary's ghost is said to haunt both the Three Crowns located opposite St Michael's church in Changford High Street, where she is seen to gaze at newly wed brides, and Whiddon Park House. The Reader's Digest "Folklore, Myths and Legends of Great Britain" sites July 10th 1971 as one of the days that Mary Whiddon, dressed in black, appeared to a wedding guest staying at Whiddon Park House.
Photos: Church By User:Theroadislong (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Three Crowns don cload [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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