The skeleton of fourteenth-century abbot Thomas de Gretham is said to have been discovered in the 1830s, sitting at a table in a bricked-up alcove, before an open book, with a pen and ink beside it. According to legend, de Gretham was involved in witchcraft, and when this was discovered, he was bricked into a portion of the dungeon and left to die. Subsequently, there were many apparent sightings of him in and around the Thornton Abbey grounds, especially in the vicinity of the gatehouse.

Other versions of the narrative have it that de Gretham was falsely accused of black magic by Sir William Wellen, after falling in love with his daughter, or that the abbot in question was Walter Multon, another fourteenth-century abbot at Thornton. You can read a short rendition at Haunted Places.

Words by RORY WATERMAN