OutlawLegendary
The Wicked Lady
Noblewoman by day, masked robber by night, restless ghost ever after.
Private, don't visit
- What's there
- A private house, not open to visitors
- Legend from
- 1600s
- Tone
- Eerie
Just off this road stands Markyate Cell, home, legend says, of the Wicked Lady, a noblewoman who rode out at night as a masked highway robber.
Markyate Cell, a mansion built on the site of a medieval priory, is tied to the legend of Lady Katherine Ferrers. In her husband's absence and with her fortune dwindling, she is said to have dressed as a man and robbed travellers on the roads nearby, especially around Nomansland Common. Shot during a hold-up, she rode home and died of her wound at the house. A secret chamber found by workmen beside a chimney in the 1800s was taken as her hiding place, and her restless ghost is said to have haunted the house and neighbourhood ever since. The tale inspired a 1944 novel and the 1945 film The Wicked Lady.