The King's School is a co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils and is held to be the oldest continuously operating school in the world, having been founded in 597 AD. One of the school entrances is ominously known as the Dark Entry. As a school, it is NOT OPEN to the public.

 

It is reputedly haunted by the apparition of Nell Cook - and it is not a phantom you would want to see. According to The Ingoldsby Legends, Nell waited on a canon. She found him in a compromising situation with a lady he claimed was his neice. Nell then murdered them. Her ghost is said to return on a Friday night, and anyone who sees her will die within a year.

 

Pictured left is the Dark Entry circa 1925.

Simon Sudbury (1316-1381) served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1375 until he was beheaded on Tower Hill in the Peasants' Revolt. He was a major benefactor to the city and cathedral and initiated the re-building of the nave outer walls. As chancellor, he was held responsible for the 1381 poll tax. Sudbury's decapitated head was buried in his parish church at Sudbury, Suffolk, and his remaining body buried at Canterbury with a lead canon ball in place of his missing head.

 

The tower that is named after him is reputed to be haunted by a figure with "a grey beard and fair complexion". Some claim it to be Sudbury himself.

 

Pictured left is Sudbury Tower courtesy of N. Chadwick.