Phantom Lady of Copper Beeches

This small group of houses was built in 1984 on the site of the former stable yard which once belonged to Westrop House. A complex of covered and vaulted stone passages built circa 1818, and accessed from No. 24 Cricklade Road, lie between Westrop House and Copper Beeches. Some further remnants of these tunnels run under the gravelled driveway to Westrop House and Copper Beeches. Believed to have once provided service access for servants to an ice house, hot houses, stables and kitchen gardens, this area has since become associated with stories of a phantom white lady who has been seen on at least two occasions.

Before the stable was torn down to make way for the new houses it was used to garage cars, etc. Coming home late one night to put his motorbike away, a man saw the white figure of a lady drift out of the tunnel entrance. The experience so shook him up that he refused point blank to ever go back to the place again.

More recently the first owner of No. 2 Copper Beeches, which is close to the entrance to the tunnel, looked out of her window one evening and saw the white figure of a lady passing by.

Who is this lady? Is she the ghost of a servant going about her business, the lady seen at Westrop House, or as some say the mistress of Squire Crowdy?