Pictures of Markyate

About Markyate

Lady Katherine Ferrers, one time occupant of the manor house at Markyate, is said to have been the original 'Wicked Lady', she was portrayed by actress Margaret Lockwood, in a film of the same name. Katherine was born on May 4 1634, she was the daughter of Knighton Ferrers who died when she was just six years old. Her mother died two years later.

Legend tells us that Katherine was forced into an early marriage to the teenage Lord Thomas Fanshawe. It was the failure of her marriage that led her to seek amusement riding out at night, waylaying carriages and plundering her victims of gold, jewellery and other valuables. Dressed in men's clothing with a black mask covering her face, she was eventually found shot dead close to the stairway leading to the secret room where she changed before setting out to terrorise and attack.

Locals tell of a shadowy woman riding the Markyate to Dunstable road and when, in 1840 the old house was destroyed by fire, those who helped fight the blaze are said to have seen Katherine's ghostly figure swinging on a large branch of an old oak tree close to the house. Thus, the fire was said to have been caused by her.

Markyate Cell was a Neo-Elizabethan mansion incorporating a 12th-century priory for nuns, which was turned into a Tudor manor house in 1539 by Humphrey Bourchier. Apart from the ghost of the Wicked Lady, ghostly nuns are said to have been seen in the parkland.

This fascinating story may be part of 19th-century myth, none-the-less it adds a colourful dimension to a visit to Markyate.

Attractions near-by; Whipsnade Zoo and The Tree Cathedral.