Hauntings

The headless Sir Thomas More of Baynards Park

Baynards Park, Cranleigh and Ewhurst

Ghost lore undated; house 1587 to 1979

Baynards Park is a 2,000 acre estate across the parishes of Cranleigh and Ewhurst. Sir George More built an Elizabethan manor there in 1587. The house was remodelled in Georgian style between 1832 and 1840 and, after standing empty for about eleven years, burned down in 1979 in what Wikipedia calls suspicious circumstances. The outbuildings, walled gardens, bell tower and lodges survive.

Alec Kingham's Surrey Life piece reports that Sir Thomas More, beheaded in 1535, has been seen headless, stumbling round the grounds of Baynards Park, and that a woman in brown seen on the stairwell is said by some to visit him. Kingham himself is sceptical, noting that ghosts do not usually pay calls on one another.

The link to More is shaky. The house was built by Sir George More, a relative, more than fifty years after the execution, and More is not known to have lived here. No witness or date is given for the sightings. It is kept as a traditional tale that grew around a famous name, with the pin set on the estate centre.

This site is private property or has no public access. Coordinates shown are rounded and no directions are offered.
Evidence
Dubious
Access
Private property
Location
51.121, -0.451 (Parish-level only, treat as an area)

Sources: Great British Life, "Surrey's most haunted sites" [other]; Wikipedia, "Baynards Park" [other]

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