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Ghost · Chalfont St Peter

Judge Jeffreys' court and the phantom coach

A notorious hanging judge is said to have held court upstairs at this old inn. And some nights, locals say, a coach arrives that nobody is driving.

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Ghost

The Hanging Judge's Inn

Upstairs, Judge Jeffreys passed sentence. Outside, a phantom coach pulls up.

Check opening times

What's there
Old timber-framed coaching inn on the High Street
Legend from
1680s
Best time
Misty nights, for the coach
Tone
Eerie
PubsGhostsTrials

Before you go

The Greyhound is a working pub and hotel on the High Street; check opening times before you go. The upstairs 'courtroom' is now guest bedrooms.

  • The Greyhound Inn, Chalfont St Peter
  • Near High Street, Chalfont St Peter
  • The pin marks the spot.

Chalfont's Greyhound Inn is where the hanging judge, Jeffreys, is said to have sentenced the poor. On misty nights, a phantom coach still pulls up outside.

The Greyhound on Chalfont St Peter's High Street is a 16th-century coaching inn. Local tradition ties it to Judge George Jeffreys, the notorious 'hanging judge' of the 1680s, who lived nearby. He is said to have added an extension in 1684 and to have held court in an upstairs room, now bedrooms, where many poor people were condemned, including, it is claimed, the last man hanged for sheep-stealing in England. The inn is also linked to a ghost story. On misty nights, people say, a phantom stagecoach pulled by ghostly horses rolls down Amersham Road and vanishes when it reaches the Greyhound.

Sources

  1. Who has been hanging around The Greyhound?, Bucks Free Press â_x0080__x0094_
  2. From Henry VIII to bum-pinchers - the bizarre ghosts that haunt Buckinghamshire's pubs, Buckinghamshire Live (2021) â_x0080__x0094_
  3. The Greyhound Inn (1251800000), Buckinghamshire's Heritage Portal â_x0080__x0094_
  4. The Greyhound Inn (official site) â_x0080__x0094_