Cheadle Rectory, Cheadle

Cheadle Rectory was long believed to be haunted by the spirit of Dame Katherine, Abbess of Godstow, who was expelled from her Oxfordshire nunnery by Henry VIII and died at Cheadle in 1559. Her ghost, said to wear black and move with the rustle of silk, was most often heard or seen on the eve of All Hallows’ Day. Though the Rev. F. A. Macdona never saw her, his wife and servants reported the sounds and sights of her presence. Later rectors joked of exorcising the ghost, but the legend of the gentle Abbess endured for generations.