Ghost
The Nomansland Rider
After dark, a black-clad rider on a black horse bolts across the common.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- An open common with parking
- Legend from
- 1600s
- Tone
- Eerie
This is Nomansland Common, where a black-clad rider on a black horse is said to gallop at night: the Wicked Lady, still on the road.
Nomansland Common, once fought over by the abbeys of St Albans and Westminster, was the supposed hunting ground of the Wicked Lady, Katherine Ferrers. Legend says the young noblewoman rode out from Markyate Cell to rob travellers, and that in 1660 she held up what looked like a lone carriage here, only for armed men to leap from it; she was shot and fled, dying of her wound. Since then a rider dressed all in black on a black horse is said to bolt across the common after dark. The lane crossing the common is named Ferrers Lane after her, and the Wicked Lady pub stands nearby.