Storyteller: Were sightings psychic re-enactments of fierce battle at Bradley Manor?

When I first arrived in Torbay, one of the first things I did was seek out all the local ghost books, something I’ve been doing all my life, just to see what spooky places there are to visit on my doorstep.

Among my earliest purchases was Devon Ghosts, by the renowned folklorist, Theo Brown. I read it avidly, then marked all the locations on my map, planning on paying them a visit as soon as the opportunity arose.

One property that caught my eye was Bradley Manor, situated on the outskirts of Newton Abbot.

This is a medieval manor house, regarded by some as the finest example of its kind in Devon, and now cared for by the National Trust. It is said that the land has been lived on since Neolithic times, and situated on the hill-top behind, are the remains of an Iron Age encampment.

In her book, Theo recalls interviewing the then occupier of the manor, who related the local legend that if you were to stand at the entrance to the hillfort on a moonlit night, you will see, strewn all around, the dead bodies of warriors struck down during some fierce battle that raged there long ago.

What you are witnessing is a psychic re-enactment of the aftermath of such a tragic event.

Some years ago, I paid a visit to Bradley Manor, during a special open day, which was being hosted by the then resident herself. During my wander around the property, I took the opportunity to enquire about the story attached to the hillside above, asking if she had ever witnessed anything herself?

Unfortunately, she turned out to be a complete sceptic, debunking the alleged sightings as nothing more than the deluded fantasies of people seeing the moonlight shining off rocks scattered around up there, and imagining they were seeing bodies.

As yet, I haven’t returned to the property to check out the story for myself, however, during the course of some recent research, I revisited Theo’s book and reread the section on Bradley Manor, discovering there was more to the place than I had originally remembered.

There is a raised lawn at the back of the main house that used to be a courtyard enclosed by stable blocks. It is alleged that these stables were haunted, so much so, that the owners were unable to house their horses, as they became so unsettled if you tried to shut them inside.

The buildings fell into disrepair, through this disuse, and were eventually demolished to make way for said lawn. The ghost was reported as being of a young man, supposedly the son of the household, who had been killed in a riding accident. Only the horse had returned to the stables, its rider following it in spirit form.

Was it the haunting that brought about the demolition, or the parents’ way of dealing with the tragic loss of their child?

Further tragedy was visited upon these same owners of Bradley Manor, when their other son, the twin of their already deceased boy, committed suicide.

As was customary at that time, suicides weren’t allowed Christian burial, so instead he was buried at 'Yarde’s Cross', named after the boy’s family, a crossroads near Shinner’s Bridge, just outside Totnes.

The idea was that the spirit of the suicide would be suitably disorientated, so as not to be able to return to confront its family, in a similar way to the case of Kitty Jay on Dartmoor.

This kind of puts paid to the story concocted by locals close to Bradley Manor, that it was the ghost of this son that haunted the stables. Is it any wonder that the Yarde family sold up, in an effort to put Bradley Manor, and all its tragic memories, behind them.

Sadly, with both of their sons dead, it wasn’t long before this particular branch of the family died out.

Some people say there is no substance to these alleged hauntings, yet, behind the manor, there is a public footpath, heading towards Ogwell, that crosses the river Lemon via a footbridge known locally as Ghost’s or Ghosts’ Bridge.

Maybe there is something to the tales after all? They are certainly worthy of further investigation.