Three miles from Haltwhistle
on the east bank of the South Tyne stands Featherstone Castle. It is not
the castle that is said to be haunted but the woods next to it. Abigail
was the beautiful daughter of the Baron of Featherstone, she was to be
married to a rich nobleman of her fathers choosing, and she was told not
to see the man she really loved ever again. She married the nobleman in
the castle chapel. As was their tradition the full bridal party were to
ride around the boundary of the castle after the ceremony, to return to a
banquet held in their honour.
Unknown to the Baron who was
waiting at the castle in the Great Hall for the return of his guests,
Abigail's lover was waiting in the woods to ambush the party, so he could
rescue Abigail and they could escape together. As the hours passed with no
sign of the bridal party the Baron sent his men out to look for them, but
they were no where to be found. So the Baron sat in the Great Hall and
waited. On the first stroke of midnight the sound of the castle drawbridge
and horses in the courtyard could be heard. In total silence the bridal
party filed into the Great hall, and sat at their places. As the Baron
looked at his daughter and friends white and frozen faces he realised they
were ghosts. The baron in his shock screamed and then fainted, just as the
bridal party vanished.
During the ambush everyone
was killed even Abigail herself and it is said that the blood flowed into
a hollow stone now known as 'The Raven's Stone'. The Baron apparently
never recovered, he never spoke again and was paralysed for the rest of
his life. On the anniversary of the fateful ambush the sound of hooves and
harnesses can be heard as the bridal party ride through the woods near
Featherstonehaugh.
