The Ghost of Marbury Hall
Northwich, Cheshire 1700s
“She is often described as a pale, ethereal figure dressed in white, wandering the park’s lime avenues and the ruins of the hall. Her presence is said to evoke a sense melancholy, as if she is searching for her lost love.”
We’re transporting back to the 1700s in Northwich, Cheshire for a tale of love, loss and women scorned (don’t most ghost stories involve this?!). This particular haunting takes place on the grounds of Marbury Country Park which may seem like unassuming gardens today but was once home to Marbury Hall.
Marbury Hall consisted of several houses dating back to the 13th Century and was inhabited by the Marbury, Barry and Smith-Barry families. Our tale involves James Smith-Barry, who inherited Marbury Hall in 1787. These houses have long since deteriorated to the state of demolishment but one small salt-poisoned tree has lovingly been sculptured into an eerie memorial for the ghost of Lady Marbury.
There has been great speculation as to who the ghost lady is as she walks through the grounds of Marbury Country Park. Visitors to the park have reported seeing a pale woman dressed in white roaming the tree-lined pavements, poltergeist activity had occurred whilst the Hall was still standing, all standard ghostly happenings.
One of the more popular theories of the history of our ghostly gal seems rather sweet and romantic on the surface. James Smith-Barry, an avid art collector, travelled a lot around Europe, spending a lot of time in Italy, Greece and the Levant. It is rumoured that on one of Smith-Barry’s European tours, he happened upon a mysterious Egyptian lady who he fell hard and fast for. Love was in the air, but unfortunately Smith-Barry was called back to Cheshire.
Not wanting to lose his new romance, he promised the Egyptian lady that he would absolutely, 100%, undoubtedly send for her so she could join him in England and they could live the rest of their lives out together. How very romantic... if it was true.
When Smith-Barry returned home, as was custom in the 1700s, a wife had been chosen for him and their marriage was imminent. Crushed, but accepting of his fate, Smith-Barry continued with his life - cruelly forgetting about his Egyptian love and leaving her in the dust of his new wife. Time passed, as time does, until one fated dreary Autumn evening when Smith-Barry heard a knock upon his door.
As the door creaked open, and Smith-Barry’s eyes descended upon the frail outline of a woman standing at his doorstep, the love and lust he felt on his travels, forgotten over time, rushed back into him in a flurry of emotion. The Egyptian girl told Smith-Barry that she had spent the past few months making her way over to England to find him and asked if it was possible she could act as a servant in the Hall. Smith-Barry, overjoyed to have rekindled his feelings, agreed to her residing in the Hall as a maid (the least he could do after ‘ghosting’ her).
The two loved each other in private, sneaking around the Hall to avoid the disapproving eyes of his family. As their romance blossomed, the Egyptian lady asked to form a pact with Smith-Barry - if she was to die before him, she would be embalmed so their souls could remain together.
As it happened, she did die before him (some say murdered, my guess would be by his wife, but who knows!) and Smith-Barry kept his promise. Her body was embalmed and kept in a chest at the bottom of a spiral staircase in the Hall (a piece of décor I’m sure the Lady of the Hall disapproved of).
James Smith-Barry passed away in 1801, and thusly the mummified body of his secret lover was moved out of the Hall and buried in the churchyard at Great Budworth, understandably so. However, the removal of the Egyptian lady from the Hall was the catalyst for strange activity. Doors would open and slam shut on their own, villagers and servants all reported seeing a ‘misty’ female figure roaming the gardens. Wanting to put an end to the strange phenomena, the residents of Marbury returned the embalmed body from the graveyard back to the Hall - stopping the hauntings.
Eventually, her body was buried in an unmarked grave beneath the Marbury rose garden. Whilst the activity in the Hall seemed to have ceased, visitors to the Marbury Country Park still report sightings of a veiled, pale lady walking by the trees. Do you believe the forlorn spirit of Smith-Barry’s Egyptian lover continues to haunt the grounds? Let us know!
Sources
https://thelocalmythstorian.com/a-ghost-story-for-cheshire
https://treecarving.co.uk/the-marbury-lady-sculpture/
https://ludchurchmyblog.wordpress.com/places-of-other-local-interest/the-ghost-of-lady-marbury/
https://aghosthuntersdiary.blogspot.com/2010/03/marbury-park.html
