The Ribble begins at Ribblehead, in the shadow of the Yorkshire three peaks, and flows through Settle, Clitheroe, Ribchester and Preston, before emptying into the Irish Sea between Lytham St. Annes and Southport, a length of 75 miles.

According to Coxe, the river was "sacred to Minerva during and after the Roman occupation" and as such this goddess became interwined with Peg O'Nell. She wasthe spirit of the river that would demand a life every seven years. The legend of Peg O'Nell is also associated with the haunting of what Coxe refers to as Wadden Hall, but is in fact Waddow Hall.

Pictured left is the River Ribble courtesy of Alexander P Kapp.

Waddow Hall, originally built by the Tempest family during the Tudor period, is a 17th-century Grade II listed building set within a 178-acre estate that serves as a conference and activity centre for Girlguiding UK.

According to Hole, the estate is haunted by the ghost of Peg O'Nell, a former servant at the hall. Legend claims that she was either murdered by her mistress, or died in an accidental fall when O'Nell was sent to fetch water from a well. Sources state either her mistress cast a spell on her, causing her to slip and die, or had expressed the wish that she fall.

Pictured left is Waddow Hall courtesy of Alexander P Kapp.