The site of Cumnor Place is said to be haunted by the shade of Amy Robsart, who was married to Robert Dudley. Dudley was the Earl of Leicester and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Cumnor Place was the scene of the death and suspected murder of Amy.

 

On September 8th 1560, when only 28 years of age, Amy was found dead at the foot of a staircase at Cumnor Place, where she was then living. The house was pulled down in 1810, it is said because her ghost gave the locals so much trouble. Attempts to lay her ghost in a local pond proved fruitless, and it is said that her spirit will not allow the pond (pictured above) to freeze, even in the grips of an icy winter. Amy also haunts Worcester College in Oxford.