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Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, originally came to England in 1501 as the bride to the 15 year old heir to the Tudor throne, Prince Arthur, Prince of Wales who died shortly after their marriage. Catherine always denied that their marriage was consummated.
During her brief marriage to Arthur she resided in a property close to Ludlow Castle where the Elizabethan mansion Castle Lodge now stands. The Lodge is said to be haunted by a teenage girl believed by some to be the ghost of Catherine of Aragon. I've written about that previously:
Catherine eventually married Henry VIII a few weeks after his accession to the throne, they were crowned together in 1509. After 23 years of marriage Henry separated from Catherine in 1531 in order to marry Anne Boleyn. It took another 2 years for Henry to get the marriage annulled, something that Catherine never accepted.
The following hauntings are from the times after Catherine's marriage to Henry ended:
Catherine of Aragon's Ghost at Buckden Palace
The ghost of Catherine of Aragon has been seen in in a room by the chapel at Buckden Towers as the former palace is now know.
Catherine was sent to live in the Bishop of Lincoln's palace at Buckden, on the Great North Road, Northamptonshire in July 1533 following the marriage and and subsequent coronation of Anne Boleyn to Henry VIII. Catherine refused to accept the annulment of her own marriage to Henry, the legality of the Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn and her own new title, that of Dowager Princess of Wales.
By December, Henry incensed at Catherine's stubbornness over these matters, sent the Duke of Suffolk to Buckden to enforce the use of the Dowager Princess title and to move her to a more secure location.
Catherine refused to be moved and locked herself in aa room near the chapel.
The men of Buckden fearing for Catherine's safety gathered around the palace armed with whatever they could find. Suffolk not wishing to antagonize the crowds further departed with some of Catherine's furnishings.
A few months later, in March 1534 The Act of Succession 1533 was passed by Parliament.
This first Act of Succession confirmed that the marriage between "the Lady Katherine" and Henry was "void and annulled" and that the "said Lady Katherine" should "henceforth" be "called and reputed only dowager to Prince Arthur, and not Queen of this realm." Catherine and Henry's daughter, Mary was "demoted" from Princess to Lady and it was declared that the succession would pass through the children of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
Catherine refused to swear an oath of acceptance of The Act of Succession and now lived in fear of her life.
In May 1534 Catherine of Aragon was moved from Buckden Palace to the more remote Kimbolton Castle 8 miles away.
Visitor information: Buckden Towers is owned by the Claretian Missionaries and supported by The Friends of Buckden Towers, the grounds are usually open during daylight hours and tours can be arranged through The Friends of Buckden Towers. Short stay accommodation is also offered by the Claret Centre.
Address:
Buckden Towers
High Street
Buckden
PE19 5TA
Buckden High Sreet is well haunted with ghostly activity having been reported in both hotels:
The highwayman Dick Turpin is said to haunt The George Hotel. Locked doors have been found unlocked, guests have felt an invisible presence sit on their bed and the ghostly apparition of a man in a tricorn hat (Dick Turpin) and that of a female have both been seen on the stairs.
The Lion hotel is said to be haunted by the victim of a coaching accident, a young woman whose visitations are accompanied by the smell of lavender.
Catherine of Aragon's Ghost at Kimbolton Castle
Image: Public Domain via Wiki Commons
There's been a castle in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire since Norman times. Originally a wooden motte and bailey castle Kimbolton has seen several resurrections and by the time Catherine was sent there it was a Tudor manor house in a poor state of repair. Parts of the Tudor house were incorporated into today's building which almost entirely dates from the late 17th and early 18th century. It is currently owned and occupied by Kimbolton School.
New pupils at the school soon hear about the ghosts said to haunt the castle and grounds, one of whom is Catherine of Aragon who died there.
Remodelling of the building has changed the floor levels since Tudor times and Catherine's ghost still walks where the Tudor floor once was. Her head and shoulders in one room, with her lower body, legs and feet protruding from the ceiling in the room below.
Catherine was moved the eight miles from Buckden Palace to Kimbolton Castle in May 1534. It was here that she spent her final days in much reduced circumstances to those that she had been accustomed to as Queen of England. Her maintenance had been stopped, some of her servants had been forced to leave her household, her friends and more importantly her daughter Mary were refused permission to see her but Catherine "the most obstinate woman that may be" still refused to be addressed, or served, as Princess Dowager.
In failing health and convinced she was in danger of being poisoned Catherine confined herself to a few rooms and refused to eat anything not prepared in her presence by her trusted servants.
Catherine was dying from what we now believe to be of cancer.
By December 1535 she was unable to stand, eat or sleep due to pain. Her oldest friend, Maria de Salinas, Lady Willoughby, who Henry had removed from Catherine's household, heroically rushed to her side to nurse Catherine through her last days.
Despite knowing that Catherine was on her death bed Henry continued to refuse their daughter, Mary, permission to visit her mother. He did however allow Charles V's Imperial ambassador to England, Eustace Chapuys, to visit Catherine.
Chaypuys found Catherine not only mortally ill but also suffering agonies of conscience. In the summer of 1535 John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas More, who had both opposed Henry's divorce from Catherine, were executed having been convicted of treason for refusing to accept the King as the Supreme Head of the Church. Catherine was concerned that Henry's break from Rome and the subsequent bloodshed at the start of the English Reformation was due to her refusal to accept the annulment of their marriage.
At two o'clock in the afternoon on 7th January 1536 Catherine of Aragon died.
Three weeks later she was buried in Peterborough Cathedral.
Visitor information: Kimbolton Castle belongs to Kimbolton School, they have occasional public open days throughout the year.
Address:
Kimbolton School
Kimbolton
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire
PE28 0EA
Catherine isn't the only ghost at Kimbolton Castle:
Elliott O'Donnell writes in the 1930's Wonderful Britain. It's Highways Byways & Historic Places; Vol 4 that Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England, " is alleged sometimes to "sit astride the park wall," and sometimes to "lie in wait for rogues and poachers under the great elms." Sir John Popham was involved in the trials of Robert Southwell, Sir Walter Raleigh, the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot and Mary, Queen of Scots. There's a legend that he threw his baby daughter to her death out of a window at Kimbolton Castle. The stone the baby fell upon is said to glow red on the anniversary of her death.
The ghost of an unknown woman is said to walk on the slope below Warren House which overlooks Kimbolton Castle. Once home to the warrener who managed the estates rabbits for meat and fur Warren House is now owned and managed by The Landmark Trust. It is available to let as self-catering holiday accommodation, full details can be found on the website.
Remodelling of the building has changed the floor levels since Tudor times and Catherine's ghost still walks where the Tudor floor once was. Her head and shoulders in one room, with her lower body, legs and feet protruding from the ceiling in the room below.
Catherine was moved the eight miles from Buckden Palace to Kimbolton Castle in May 1534. It was here that she spent her final days in much reduced circumstances to those that she had been accustomed to as Queen of England. Her maintenance had been stopped, some of her servants had been forced to leave her household, her friends and more importantly her daughter Mary were refused permission to see her but Catherine "the most obstinate woman that may be" still refused to be addressed, or served, as Princess Dowager.
In failing health and convinced she was in danger of being poisoned Catherine confined herself to a few rooms and refused to eat anything not prepared in her presence by her trusted servants.
Catherine was dying from what we now believe to be of cancer.
By December 1535 she was unable to stand, eat or sleep due to pain. Her oldest friend, Maria de Salinas, Lady Willoughby, who Henry had removed from Catherine's household, heroically rushed to her side to nurse Catherine through her last days.
Despite knowing that Catherine was on her death bed Henry continued to refuse their daughter, Mary, permission to visit her mother. He did however allow Charles V's Imperial ambassador to England, Eustace Chapuys, to visit Catherine.
Chaypuys found Catherine not only mortally ill but also suffering agonies of conscience. In the summer of 1535 John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas More, who had both opposed Henry's divorce from Catherine, were executed having been convicted of treason for refusing to accept the King as the Supreme Head of the Church. Catherine was concerned that Henry's break from Rome and the subsequent bloodshed at the start of the English Reformation was due to her refusal to accept the annulment of their marriage.
At two o'clock in the afternoon on 7th January 1536 Catherine of Aragon died.
Three weeks later she was buried in Peterborough Cathedral.
Visitor information: Kimbolton Castle belongs to Kimbolton School, they have occasional public open days throughout the year.
Address:
Kimbolton School
Kimbolton
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire
PE28 0EA
Catherine isn't the only ghost at Kimbolton Castle:
Elliott O'Donnell writes in the 1930's Wonderful Britain. It's Highways Byways & Historic Places; Vol 4 that Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England, " is alleged sometimes to "sit astride the park wall," and sometimes to "lie in wait for rogues and poachers under the great elms." Sir John Popham was involved in the trials of Robert Southwell, Sir Walter Raleigh, the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot and Mary, Queen of Scots. There's a legend that he threw his baby daughter to her death out of a window at Kimbolton Castle. The stone the baby fell upon is said to glow red on the anniversary of her death.
The ghost of an unknown woman is said to walk on the slope below Warren House which overlooks Kimbolton Castle. Once home to the warrener who managed the estates rabbits for meat and fur Warren House is now owned and managed by The Landmark Trust. It is available to let as self-catering holiday accommodation, full details can be found on the website.
Catherine of Aragon's Ghost at Peterborough Cathedral
Image:TTaylor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Catherine of Aragon was buried on 29th January 1536 at Peterborough Cathedral. Her body was interred with all the pomp and ceremony due, not to a Queen of England, wife of Henry VIII, but, to that of Dowager Princess of Wales, the title she had refused to accept during her lifetime just as she had refused to accept the annulment of her marriage to Henry.
Today Catherine's name and title, "Katherine Queen of England", are displayed in gold lettering on an iron grill beside her tomb in Peterborough Cathedral along with a wooden plaque reading, "A queen cherished by the English people for her loyalty, piety, courage and compassion."
Catherine of Aragon does not haunt the cathedral but Peterborough is a short distance from Buckden and Kimbolton both of which she is said to haunt and the grave will be of interest to those in search of Catherine. If you are able to visit around the anniversary of her burial. 29th January, there's a Katherine of Aragon festival details of which are published on thee Cathedrals website.
Visitor information: Open all year, except for 25th and 26th December, entry by donation.
Peterborough Cathedral
Minster Precincts
Peterborough
PE1 1XS
Peterborough Cathedral has its own share of ghosts. A monk, a stone mason and a little girl believed to have been murdered in the precinct in the 1860s. People have reported hearing an invisible choir and seeing what has been taken for the light of a candle moving around the upper floors.
Where to stay: The Bull Hotel is within easy walking distance of the cathedral.
The Bull Hotel
Westgate
Peterborough
PE1 1B
This 17th century coaching inn was built on the remains of a burial site so it will come as no surprise that both guests and staff have reported paranormal activity, sudden drops of temperature, ghostly footsteps and the jangling of keys. The hotel is also said to be haunted by a dog that was killed in a coaching accident, apparently staff have found muddy paw prints on clean bedding where no dog has been.
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