Wicked Lady of Markyate

Wicked Lady of Markyate and Sandridge

By Daniel Hill

The Wicked Lady of Markyate, was a girl or woman who went by the name of Katherine Ferrers. She was the daughter of a rich and noble family. She was married at age 12 to a 16 year old named Tom Fanshawe, whose royalist family suffered in the Civil war. Her fortune was whittled away by the Fanshawe’s. She then returned home at 18 to the only property she had left. It was then rumoured that she lived life as a highwayman, where her last exploit was said to be in Nomansland, Sandridge. Somehow, she died in June 1660 drained of blood, and the last of the Markyate-Ferrers line died with her. She became a legend within Sandridge.

 

Source: HALS Library, “Historic Sandridge Revisited” By Edward Giles and Richard William Thrale, Edited by Janet R Rose

This page was added on 19/07/2013.

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