Hauntings

Hetty of Bewdley

A manor house, Bewdley

A manor house in Bewdley, not clearly identified by its actual name anywhere in the source describing it, is said to be haunted by a woman named Hetty, her story following a pattern genuinely reminiscent of the similarly named haunting recorded at Hellens Manor in Herefordshire elsewhere in this collection. The story told locally holds that her own family disowned her entirely after she eloped against their wishes, and that when she eventually returned to them afterward, hoping perhaps for forgiveness, she was instead locked away inside the house for a full thirty years rather than ever being welcomed back. Her ghost is now reported walking around the property, still apparently confined to the grounds that once held her captive in life.

The same building is credited with two further, apparently entirely unconnected hauntings: a priest from the Cromwell-era Commonwealth period, and separately, a naval lieutenant. As with Pershore's own sailor recorded elsewhere in this collection, the naval detail sits somewhat oddly against Bewdley's genuinely inland position on the River Severn, though the town's historical river trade did in fact carry its influence and its people further afield than its modest size might otherwise suggest to a casual visitor today.

The absence of a named building, a specific family, or any firm date anywhere in the available material means this should be read honestly as a passed-down local story rather than as anything that could currently be checked against any actual historical record, and it is flagged accordingly here as exactly that kind of thin, orally transmitted tradition.

Specific property not identified in available sources.
Evidence
Dubious
Access
Access unrecorded
Location
52.375, -2.312 (Parish-level only, treat as an area)

Sources: Anthony Poulton-Smith, "Haunted Worcestershire" (summarised via bookseller listing and search coverage) [other]

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