Floating coffins, Stoking Ghosts, Sister Hylda, and a Frozen Pond
Sunday 12th January. Acaster Malbis and Bishopthorpe, North Yorkshire
Our second foray into Northern haunts brought us back to North Yorkshire - this time a little closer to York. A little research revealed that the small village of Acaster Malbis has more that one sinister tale to tell! We found a 5 mile circular walk provided by the City of York Council, starting in Bishopthorpe and leading past the River Ouse, through Acaster Malbis. We then returned to our parking point via a public footpath that took us over farmer's fields. Link here. We will go through an overview of the walk itself a little later.
Let's start with a few of these stories...
A funeral procession on Hauling Lane
One dark night when moon was high, a shepherd and his drover were herding sheep down Hauling Lane in Acaster Malbis. Who knows - perhaps they had paused for a beer at The Ship Inn and had lost track of time - needless to say, it was dark when their journey brought them to the lane. As they guided the sheep one man noticed a strange shape in the air ahead of them, it gradually appeared to solidify in form and they recognised it as the shape of a coffin. This coffin appeared to be hovering in mid air, but the way it gently swayed and rocked gave the suggestion of invisible pall bearers carrying some passenger to his final rest. If this was not terrifying enough, no sooner had the coffin materialised than another shape appeared to emerge as if from a grey mist. This gradually manifested the form of a Bishop in full robes who appeared from the movement of his lips and hands to be performing a mass. Despite all that these startled shepherds could see, no sound could be heard. The story does not tell what happened later, but I like to think that they retired to the pub to warm up and tell their story to the unbelieving patrons of the ale house!
Hauntings in a Paranormal Pub
The next story involves the pub itself, The Ship Inn. This hostelry is very conveniently placed at the midpoint of the walk and is dog friendly with a very appetising menu. It doesn't have a big selection of Ales, but there is something for everyone. It is warm and welcoming with friendly staff.
The pub has a long record of ghostly goings on. Both the current and previous owners have described a ghostly grey figure which appears with no warning, day or night, and moves around the pub, perhaps replicating the walk it carried out in life. Following flooding in 2009, a local newspaper covered a story of poltergeist activity during the renovations, with chairs moving and a lamp being repeatedly swept off the bar. A more recent story involves the original fireplace - it has been claimed that sometimes the fire appears to light itself, or sometimes a dying fire and the coal upon it will move and break and ignite as if being stoked by an unseen hand. The name 'Bob the Stoker has been affectionately given to this spirit. This was also the nickname of a previous patron of the pub, due to his penchant to sit beside the fire and constantly turn the coals with a poker. He died over 50 years ago and it seems that these strange happenings began shortly after his demise.
Sister Hylda and Friar John
Our final Acaster Malbis story has some echoes of the Richmond Drummer boy (4th January 2025) as it relates to a secret tunnel.
This takes us back to the Thirteenth Century when the village is said to have housed a small monastery and a Cistercian convent. It was believed that an underground tunnel links the refectories of these building to allow easy transport of food between the cellars. We'll come back to that soon. Sister Hylda was a novice nun who disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Her spirit then began to haunt the local area, with a focus on the convent and the monastery. Those who knew her recognised this spectre as the young nun, but Sister Hylda kept true to her vow of silence and did not reveal what had happened or where her body lay. After seven long years of repeated manifestations, the Abbess called upon help from the Archbishop in the larger town of Cawood. The Archbishop brought together the members of the convent and monastery on the eve of St. Mark's day. The plan was to pray, worship and bring about the end to this haunting. As they prayed - in a heady mix of silent contemplation and solemn chanting - the Archbishop conducted a High Mass. As it reached its climax, a shadowy figure emerged from the darkness and spoke. Sister Hylda found her voice at last. The spirit revealed that she had been "dishonoured, ruined, murdered by Friar John" in the vaults below. She revealed that she died unconfessed, but the prayers offered to her that night earned her an escape from purgatory and entry into heaven. She also told them where to find her body, hidden beneath a flagstone in the vaults. Her spirit was never seen again. Sadly the story doesn't offer us any detail about Friar John - but I really hope that he received all that he deserved!
Our Route
I'm not going to go through this in complete step by step detail, as this map provides a great route. Click the image below to access the map.
Whilst there is no actual car park, the start of the red dotted line at stage one, is a lane with houses to the left and a cricket field to the right. We parked here and began our walk.
It turns out the the 'Riverside Rest' has a much larger restaurant beside it called Bosun's, and there is actually riverside parking here. The café is a great place to pick up a coffee to keep you warm on your walk. On the opposite side of the river, you can make out Bishopthorpe Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of York. It is not open to the public.
The day of our walk, Yorkshire was recovering from a week of the coldest weather since 2010 and so we were wrapped up warm. There were still a good number of people out for a walk. As we left the Riverside Rest, we passed moorings and houseboats along the river, but strangest to see were the waterlogged fields all to the right of us now frozen solid. There were children playing on the ice skipping and slipping and falling. When we walked closer to explore, Monty did a very ungainly pirouette as he foolishly walked onto the ice. We passed a group of lads carrying a large piece of ice that must have been at least 4cm thick!
There are lots of things to see as you walk; Naburn Bridge with the Sculpture of the fisherman, Holy Trinity Church. We even found a strange looking windmill, which research revealed was an old water drainage windmill for the canal. I didn't even know they had them, but it seems that earliest was there in 1540. More information about this one can be found on the York Monuments site here.
The path is pretty simple to follow but we threw ourselves off by taking a detour when we saw the Ship Inn - we foolishly relied on sight rather than following the map! The pub was warm and welcoming and the food smelt delicious. - it was also dog friendly with very nice staff. We stopped for a pint and a packet of crisps - were able to snag a spot near the fire and so we took a few photos of the fireplace. After a little bit of respite, we headed back to what we thought was the route.
Our detour caused a minor dispute, as we attempted to get back on track. We ended up using a well known map app to help us out and were soon following our route again. It really wasn't a big issue - just be warned!
I will say that when you reach (9) and arrive at the fields, you come to a point where there is a hedge and drainage ditch ahead - keep to the right (NOT LEFT) or you will have another squabble with your fellow walkers - as ten minutes later your path is blocked by a drainage ditch and you can see the gate on the opposite side! We gritted our teeth and headed back, where a little bridge saved us from having to go all right back to the start of the fields. The field walk may be really lovely, but as we became engulfed in a strangely appropriate mist, it made it impossible to see. As the fog came in, the field became a little spookier and harder to navigate. I was worried that it would be waterlogged, but aside from a little mud, the path was easy to keep to and the mud was manageable.
Heading back to into the town of Bishopthorpe, the final stages of the walk are fairly simple to navigate, as you are back in civilisation.
It was an enjoyable walk with a few gates and stiles. Probably better suited for an adventurous older toddler than a pushchair.
This week the tales were cobbled together from a variety of online sources of different lengths and with a mixture of variations. You will find some information in this web article from 2009 here which references a couple of them.
We hope that you enjoyed the walk and look forward to sharing our next exploits with you!