The Dark Entry is a passage that runs between Canterbury
Cathedral’s Green Court and the old infirmary cloister, passing underneath the
building known as the Prior’s Lodging. It is reputedly haunted by the ghost of
Nell Crook, who lived and died during the reign of King Henry VIII in the 16th
century.
A servant of a canon of the cathedral, she discovered that her
employer was having an affair with his niece. Out of jealousy, she killed them
both by serving them with a poisoned pie. Her crime was uncovered and her fate
was to be buried alive beneath the pavement of the Dark Entry.
Her ghost has haunted the passageway ever since,
particularly on Friday nights! It is advisable to avoid the Dark Entry at these
times, given that seeing Nell’s ghost will bring about one’s own death, or so it
is said.
The story is one of many told by the Rev R H Barham
(1788-1845), writing as Thomas Ingoldsby in The Ingoldsby Legends, which first
appeared in 1837. These were macabre, satirical and witty tales, mainly in
verse, that continued the fashion for horror and mystery that was current in
the early 19th century, but in a form that was suitable for children.
So did Nell Crook ever really exist, or was she merely an
invention on the part of Rev Barham? Who knows?
© John Welford
