Windermere’s famous spook: The Claife Crier...
The Claife Crier has to be the best-known spook in the Lake District, and, as is commonly pointed out, the only ghost named on an OS map. Sadly, neither he nor his residence are listed on my modern road map but still… here’s the story. A long time ago, a monk from Furness Abbey, whose job was to save the souls of immoral women, fell for one of his clients. He followed her back to Claife Heights, on the western shores of Windermere, but she rejected him. He took this badly, spent a lot of time wailing, and finally dropped dead. But didn’t stop wailing. The ferrymen who operated the Windermere boat service from Ferry Nab to Sawrey learned to ignore calls for transport from the western side of the lake after dark, as it was probably just the monk complaining again. Then one day a new recruit decided this was bunkum, and crossed the lake to pick up the fare. The new ferryman returned the following morning, stark raving mad, and died a couple of days later without telling anyone what he’d seen. Now this was a tad upsetting for the boatmen, so they called on the monks who lived on Lady Holme, an island on Windermere. The monk popped on-shore with his bell and bible, and confined the spook to the old quarry at Claife Heights, ‘until men should walk dryshod across the lake’. He’s still there, and still wailing. Or so you’ll be told if you visit the Claife Crier Bar, or take a pint of Claife Crier beer… you get the picture.
Diane McIlmoyle
Diane McIlmoyle is a writer and marketer based in Cumbria and author of Esmeralda’s Cumbrian History & Folklore blog. www.esmeraldamac.wordpress.com. Diane started writing about Cumbrian folklore and history because she was surprised to realise that she’d spent much of her life thinking that Cumbria didn’t really have any – and she’s even got a degree in history! Where were the heroes, the battles, the kingdoms that rose and fell? What about the faeries, witches, great black dogs and spectral ladies? She found that they’re all here, if only you look hard enough...
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