The Old Rectory at Gawsworth, a 500-year-old mansion, is associated with the ghost of Mary Fitton, a Cheshire woman who served as a maid of honour at the court of Elizabeth I. Fitton became a figure of considerable local legend, partly due to her romantic entanglements at court and partly due to a longstanding and unproven suggestion that she was the Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Her ghost is said to walk the avenue of lime trees between the Old Hall and the Harrington Arms on autumn evenings.
In 1964, the Old Rectory was purchased by former Stockport alderman Idris W. Owen, who became interested in the ghost and held eight separate vigils in the room where she was reputed to appear. She did not. Addressing a luncheon that November, Owen mentioned his failed attempts in the presence of Sir Geoffrey Shakespeare, deputy chairman of the Abbey National Building Society and a direct descendant of the playwright. Shakespeare suggested that the Dark Lady might make an appearance for a Shakespeare where she would not for others.
