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Curse · Tewin

The tomb split by trees

On her deathbed, Lady Anne scoffed at the afterlife: if there was one, trees would burst her tomb apart. Go and look at her tomb today.

Open on the map: directions, what's there today and read-aloud →

Illustration: The Tree-Split Tomb
The legend
Curse

The Tree-Split Tomb

She swore there was no afterlife; four trees burst her tomb to disagree.

See it clearly

What's there
A railed tomb split open by trees in the churchyard
Legend from
1700s
Tone
Curious
CursesTombs & gravesTrees

Before you go

Lady Anne's tomb is in Tewin churchyard, open to visit. Look for the tree growing out of the grave.

  • Lady Anne Grimston's tomb, St Peter's Churchyard, Tewin
  • Near Churchfield Road, Tewin
  • The pin marks the spot.
  • DateNew Year's Eve, midnight (churchyard run belief; no current observance verified)

Nearby in Tewin churchyard is a tomb torn open by trees, said to have grown because the lady inside swore there was no life after death.

East of Tewin church stands a railed chest tomb from which several trees grow, cracking the stonework apart. Tradition holds that Lady Anne Grimston of Gorhambury denied any life after death and declared on her deathbed that if there were one, trees would burst her tomb asunder. The trees duly appeared, and by Victorian times so many curious visitors came to stare that outer railings were put up in 1870. A related village custom dares people to run around the churchyard between the first and last strokes of midnight at New Year; anyone who fails to get back in time, it is said, will see Lady Anne rise.

Sources

  1. Historic England list entry 1089089 'Grimston Memorial and Railed Enclosure' (NGR TL 26835 14259), text via mirror
  2. Herts Memories, 'Lady Anne Grimston'
  3. Herts Memories, 'Tombs and Burials in Hertfordshire'