The Cotswolds may charm by day, but its ghost stories come alive after dark, writes guest writer ASH PHILLIPS, from Ghosts of the Cotswolds YouTube channel
The Cotswolds are often imagined as the very picture of English charm – honey-stone cottages, rolling hills, and bustling market towns.
Yet beneath this postcard surface lies a landscape steeped in blood and legend.
Romans marched along its roads. Medieval monks built abbeys. Civil War soldiers fought and died in its fields.
Each era left scars – and some say spirits – that linger still.
By day, the Cotswolds delight visitors. By night, the region tells very different tales – stories uncovered in Ghosts of the Cotswolds, a project devoted to exploring the region’s haunted past.
Haunted Inns and Taverns
Few places attract ghost stories like old inns, and the Cotswolds is full of them.
At The Fleece Inn in Bretforton, a 15th-century tavern built by a church sexton, legend says travellers have long spoken of a spectral coach that thunders up to the doors, and of a ghostly landlord keeping watch.
Marks scratched into the beams – “witch marks” – were carved to ward off evil, though some believe they may have trapped spirits within.
The inn also likely saw the passage of Civil War soldiers, who left behind tales as well as spilled ale.
In the village of Bibury, considered one of England’s prettiest, the old Catherine Wheel inn hides a darker tale.
Guests tell of a veiled Grey Lady drifting through the upstairs rooms. Some believe she was a traveller on the ancient Roman road that runs through the village, forever unable to complete her journey.
Phantom Travellers
Prestbury, near Cheltenham, is often called the most haunted village in Britain.
Here, locals say a phantom horseman rides the lanes, his hooves echoing in the night.
Some link him to Civil War skirmishes said to have taken place nearby; others to the priory’s dissolution centuries earlier.
The Black Abbot, clad in monastic robes, is believed to cross the churchyard still – a ghostly echo of monks expelled when Henry VIII tore down England’s monasteries.
In Burford, legend tells of a fiery coach that rattles through the streets at midnight.
Some say it recalls the bloody events of 1649, when Cromwell’s troops executed rebel Leveller soldiers in Burford churchyard.
Whether or not the phantom is truly tied to that moment, many insist its wheels spark fire as it hurtles through the night.
Haunted Churches and Monks
The great abbeys and churches of the Cotswolds are no less haunted.
At Malmesbury Abbey, figures in habit are said to climb the spiral steps or drift along cloisters that should have fallen silent centuries ago.
Local lore recalls monks who met tragic fates on the staircases, and plague victims believed to have been laid to rest in its shadow.
In Painswick, the churchyard is famous for its 99 yew trees.
Legend insists a hundredth will never grow, for the Devil forbids it.
During the Civil War, the church is believed to have been used as a barracks; musket fire scars on its walls lend weight to the tale.
Today, villagers still whisper of ghostly processions weaving among the yews, fading silently into the night.
Witches, Trees, and Forests
The Cotswolds were not spared the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries.
In Bretforton, legend says a gnarled elm known as the Witch Tree was used as a hanging place for accused women.
Long after, locals swore it oozed blood at certain times of year, and to stand beneath its branches at dusk was to feel a chill colder than any wind.
Further east, on the Oxfordshire edge of the Cotswolds, remains the old royal hunting ground of the Wychwood Forest.
Travellers tell of a spectral woman who appears on lonely paths, sometimes as an omen of death.
In one account, a villager who encountered her soon sickened and died.
Others claim to hear ghostly hunts echoing through the glades, as if the deer and hounds of England’s kings are forever chasing shadows.
Even Queen Elizabeth I is recorded as having hunted here – though some say not all her companions ever left.
The Cotswolds After Dark
From Roman roads to medieval abbeys, from Civil War battlefields to witch-haunted trees, the Cotswolds carry the weight of centuries.
And with that history comes a restless chorus of monks, soldiers, travellers, and witches who refuse to be forgotten.
By day, the region delights with cottages and cream teas.
But after nightfall, when the lanes fall quiet and the church bells lie silent, legend says you may discover why so many call the Cotswolds one of England’s most haunted landscapes.
So if you find yourself wandering through a Cotswold town at midnight, don’t be surprised if footsteps echo a little too closely behind you…
Have you seen something strange in the Cotswolds? Tell us about it in the comments section below!
ASH PHILLIPS runs Ghosts of the Cotswolds, a YouTube channel exploring the haunted history and folklore of this mysterious region.
