Tamworth Castle

2003

The White Lady

As shown on our Home Page, the White Lady is said to have been a lover of Sir Tarquin who was slain by Sir Lancelot Du Lac in c519. However, the first reference to any type of castle or palace in Tamworth is in 913AD, built by Aethelfleda. There is a statue in the castle grounds erected in 1913 to commemorate this. Since no castle existed during the times of the Arthurian legends it would therefore be impossible for the White Lady to have been the lover of Sir Tarquin. Especially if we look at another source on the Internet http://www.britannia.com/history/legend/collection/legcol28.html which suggests that Tarquin’s castle, where three score knights and four (64) were imprisoned, was in fact at Mamecestre. So how did this rather strange link come about?

In c1437 the Great Hall was built at Tamworth Castle and during the 16^th Century a mural was added to the north wall depicting the battle between Sir Lancelot and Sir Tarquin. Unfortunately, in 1783 the mural was destroyed when the wall was whitewashed. This seems to be the only link between the supposed identity of the White Lady and Castle. We are currently unaware as to exactly how long the White Lady has been seen to roam the parapet. But, if you have studied Tamworth Tower and Town (c1870) in our About Tamworth and Tamworth Town section, you will have noted there is only a reference to the Black Lady at the Castle. Unless this is an oversight by the author it may be worth studying the history of he castle since that time.

In 1869 a local widowed businessman took out a 21-year lease at the Castle. Thomas Cooke married Emma Pipe in 1842 and had seven children. Thomas, at the age of 19, took over the ailing clothing business when his father emigrated to Canada in 1840. With a lot of help from Emma they turned the business around, making Thomas one of Tamworth’s most successful businessmen. In 1867 Emma died and when the Cooke family moved into the Castle one of his daughters, Annie Marie became his housekeeper. In 1884 Thomas Cooke gave his daughter Annie an income and instructed her to leave the castle as she had violent opposition to his attachment to Frances Ellen Wann, who was about three years younger than Annie. With Annie out of the way Thomas went to County Amagh, Ireland and proposed to Frances. They were married in Belfast later in that year. In August 1885 Frances gave birth to a daughter Etheflaeda. Annie lived in France until her Father stopped paying her allowance. With her only source of income dried up she decided to return to the Castle and as the gates were locked, gained access by scaling the walls and gaining climbing through a window. Her father had her forcibly removed from the Castle and almost succeeded in getting her committed to a lunatic asylum, however Annie returned to live in Paris. She later returned to Tamworth where she lived quietly until her death in 1933.

Because of all the strife and turmoil, could one of the Cooke family be the White Lady, after all there are several candidates?

The Black Lady

The Black Lady is said to be the ghost is of a nun called Editha who founded her order in the 9th century. It is said that Robert de Marmion, the first Baron, expelled her nuns from a nearby Convent after he took possession of lands and the castle given to him by William I.

The prayers of the nuns were said to have called Editha from her grave and one night, after a lavish banquet, the 3^rd Baron Marmion saw a vision of St. Editha, whilst in his bedchamber. Editha is said to have prophesied that unless the nuns were restored to Polesworth, the Baron would meet an untimely and painful death. Just before she vanished the vision struck the Baron on his side with the point of her crosier, the wound was so terrible that the whole Castle was awoken by Marmion's cries. Seeing him so tormented with pain his friends advised him to confess himself to a priest and restore the nuns to the abbey. His pain only ceased when this vow was taken and the nuns returned.

Some believe she still walks the castle and has been seen on a staircase and in a bedroom, however this seems very unlikely as the part of the castle said to be haunted by Editha is not old enough. As there is evidence that the original kitchens from Baron Marmion’s time were in the area now occupied by the staff canteen it seems far more likely that his bedroom would have been above there. The bedroom of the lord of the manor was usually built above the kitchens so the warmth from them would warm the room.

This being the case why should the black lady be St. Editha?

Well in the time of Henry the 8^th after his excommunication from the Catholic Church and him being made head of the Church of England he ordered an investigation into the affairs of monasteries. Amid the sweeping reform of church and state that took place under Henry VIII, the abbey at Polesworth continued to function as normal. A royal commission of the time, after a visit to the village, stated that: - “the Nunnery at Polesworth should stand and remayne unsuppressed... [for, if it were to close] the towne will shortly after fall into ruyne and dekaye...” The commission also noted that thirty to forty children were being educated at the Abbey school and that a total of 38 people were living within the Abbey itself. It was because of this that the Abbey was granted an exemption from dissolution in January 1537, in return for a fee of £50. The Abbess, Alice Fitz-Herbert, voluntarily surrendered the Abbey just two years later, it is hard to say exactly what had happened, however it appears that some kind of decline had taken place, as only fourteen nuns now remained in residence.

Could the dissolution of the Abbey mean that the spirit of St. Editha once again roams the castle, possibly between the two bedrooms linked by what is said to be a haunted staircase?