Kington, Herefordshire, England

Hergest Hall

Hergest Hall

Hergest Hall (pictured above) is open by appointment only. For centuries it was the seat of the Vaughan family. Sir Thomas Vaughan was known as Black Vaughan. He was captured and beheaded in 1483, following that his faithful bloodhound gathered the head as it fell and run off with it! The head has been reported floating above the moat. The house is reputedly haunted by a great black hound, ‘The Black Dog of Hergest’ and can be seen from the lawn at the end of the avenue. His sighting reputedly presages death. It is also rumoured to have been the prototype for The Hound of the Baskervilles, as Conan Doyle is known to have stayed at nearby Hergest Hall shortly before he wrote the novel. Both the dog and Black Vaughan are said to haunt the area, especially the road to Kington Church.

Hergest Road,

Kingston,

Herefordshire,

HR5 3EL.

 

For further information, please visit:

www.hergest.co.uk

 

For further information, please read Haunted Britain by Antony D. Hippisley Coxe and Britain's Haunted Heritage by J.A. Brooks.

Stanner Rocks

The author Coxe refers to an area as Stanmore Rocks near Kington, however this appears to be mistaken for Stanner Rocks. It is described as a “barren piece of land where nothing will grow”. It has also been referred to as the “Devil’s Garden”.

 

For further information, please read Haunted Britain by Antony D. Hippisley Coxe.

Location

Visitor Information

Kington is a market town, electoral ward and civil parish in Herefordshire, England.

Kington is 2 miles from the border with Wales and, despite being on the western side of Offa's Dyke, has been English for over a thousand years. The town is in the shadow of Hergest Ridge, and on the River Arrow, where the A44 road crosses it. It is 19 miles northwest of Hereford.

Pictured left is Hergest Hall courtesy of Philip Halling. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.