Ghost of Lady Pelham of Pevensey Castle

A structure has existed on the current site of Pevensey Castle for over 1,700 years. Initially, a Roman fort was built here during the third century. In 1066, William the Conqueror landed at Pevensey and erected a prefabricated wooden fort within the ruined stone walls of the old Roman fort. He then moved his army to Hastings and erected another wooden fort before going on to win the English crown from Harold II at the Battle of Hastings.

After Peter of Savoy was granted the castle in 1246, stone walls and towers replaced the timber defenses of the inner bailey, which resulted in a less vulnerable structure. Pevensey Castle withstood many sieges, including a long one in 1264 and 1265. The most notable occurred in 1399, when local levies besieged it while the constable of the castle, Sir John Pelham, was away supporting Henry Bolingbroke. As a result, the defense of the castle was left to his wife, Lady Joan Pelham. She wrote a celebrated letter to her husband describing her circumstances, and she successfully held the castle.

The ghost of Lady Pelham is said to haunt the castle. One evening she appeared to four local boys wandering about the castle grounds. The startled boys reported the incident to the castle custodian, who was so impressed with their account details that he made an official entry in the castle records. Again in September 1984, she appeared to a group of twelve young visitors as she appeared in medieval clothing at the bottom of Castle Hill. The visitors were even more amazed when she vanished as they approached her.

As Richard tells the story ...

The anguish of the siege lingers at Pevensey Castle still, and many people have seen the misty form of a pale lady gazing anxiously from the upper walls. It is believed, though not proven, that the forlorn phantom is that of Lady Joan Pelham, whose spirit has been trapped by the trauma of those angst-filled days when she would scan the horizon seeking a distant speck that might signal her husband's approach and the end of her ordeal.

- Richard Jones