Legends of tunnels and ghosts

On occasions, I am asked whether such a tunnel really existed and my answer is invariably that I have no proof of such a construction, but in any case it is most unlikely.

The idea that anyone could build a secret tunnel between those two points is unrealistic.

Even if it was in a straight line, it would have to be almost four and a half miles long and it would have to pass beneath some very rugged and rocky countryside.

And there are other unanswerable questions. For example, if such a tunnel had been built, how could anyone breathe when deep inside it? And how could one prevent it being flooded?

This would not have to be a large tunnel of the kind that penetrates the Pennines for use by our railways, but a small narrow kind, probably of the sort used by prisoners crawling to their freedom from Nazi encampments.

Indeed, that is how the legend began. It was a supposed escape story. The tale is that Mary Queen of Scots made use of this secret tunnel during her attempted escapes from Bolton Castle, but there is absolutely no proof of this.

It is a fact, however, that she was a prisoner in Bolton Castle, being taken there in July, 1568 and remaining until January, 1569.

Her room was in the south-west tower and it had two windows, one of which overlooked the courtyard while the other faced west.

Using her diamond ring, she scratched her name Marie R on the glass of one of those windows and this survived even when the castle fell into disrepair.

When someone tried to remove it for safe-keeping at Bolton Hall, however, the glass broke, although I am told the pieces were kept.

Even though Mary was a prisoner here, she was not chained or locked and was allowed outside, albeit always under escort and close supervision. She went on hunting expeditions, visited some of the great houses in the area and explored parts of the surrounding countryside.

One of the places she visited as a guest was Nappa Hall, not far from Askrigg. Although dating from 1459 but never considered a castle, it was the seat of the famous Metcalfe family, with Sir Christopher Metcalfe acting as host to the Queen on that occasion.

Mary slept at Nappa Hall for two nights using an Elizabethan four-poster bed which remained at Nappa, probably until the latter years of the nineteenth century or into the early years of the twentieth. I have no note of its present whereabouts.

If the story of the tunnel linking Nappa to Bolton Castle is a myth, Nappa has produced another legend in the form of its own ghost.

In 1878, a young girl was a guest at Nappa Hall and she was playing hide-and-seek with the resident farmer's daughter, a girl about four years old.

The only lighting in the great hall came from a log fire and a candle and, as the two girls were playing, someone came into the hall from the lower end.

The young guest thought it was her friend's mother and ran after her, reaching out to touch her dress.

It was of the Tudor style in black velvet and beautifully cut, but as the girl reached out, the figure turned to reveal a very soft and gentle face.

After gazing at the child for a few moments, the figure turned and walked away to disappear through a door which led up the stairs to the angle turret of the west tower.

That is where Mary had slept at Nappa - and the child then realised she had not seen her friend's mother, but an apparition of Mary, Queen of Scots. This was confirmed by her sighting of a portrait of the Queen, and the story is just one of many alleged hauntings by Mary in places where she had slept prior to her execution in 1587.

Mary may not have been the only royal guest at Nappa Hall. Another tradition is that one of the King James' also slept here, or perhaps was merely a guest during a trek through Wensleydale, but information about that visit seems rather scarce.

It was said by some that the resident Metcalfes, the dominant family in Wensleydale for centuries following the Battle of Agincourt, had royal blood in their veins, and that they were related to a Danish chieftain who travelled here with King Canute.

It seems the Metcalfes were once known as the Meccas, but the odd name of Nappa comes from derivations of Nab or Knab, meaning a piece of land which juts out from the surrounding landscape.

The name often appears along our coastline, but it is widely used inland too. Some authorities liken it to neb, meaning a beak or even a nose.

Even though Nappa was built with castellated towers, it was never regarded as a castle. Indeed, it was sometimes called 'No Castle' although another name for it was Shrine of the Meccas.

Next Monday, November 25, is a stark reminder that Christmas is only a month away, but in the rural calendar it was one of those days when one was supposed to observe the weather with a view to learning one's fate during the coming February.

It was said that whatever the weather, foul or fair, on the feast of St Catherine, so it would be during the coming February.

St Catherine is not renowned as a weather prognosticator, however; she is better known for her part as the victim on a device of torture later known as the Catherine Wheel.

The story of that wheel involves one of the bloodiest tales of Christian martyrdom, but very little is known about Catherine's life even though the Orthodox Church built a monastery to her honour on Mount Sinai.

The story is that Catherine was a princess in Alexandria who rigorously protested against the worship of idols.

Her beliefs came to the notice of the Emperor, Maxentius, who ordered her to state her ideals before 50 of his finest philosophers and so she did.

She demolished all their counter-arguments, so they were all burned alive by the angry Emperor who then beat Catherine for two hours and threw her into prison.

Attempts were then made to compel Catherine to retract her beliefs, but she refused and during her imprisonment she had a vision of Christ which sustained her. She was also brought food by a friendly dove.

The Emperor then tried to break Catherine's will by placing her on a spiked wheel - the so-called Catherine Wheel. The idea was to fasten her to the outer rim while the wheel whirled around like a windmill until she was dead.

Greek criminals were executed in this manner, but in Catherine's case the wheel fell to pieces and left her unharmed.

Several spectators were killed by flying splinters and 200 soldiers were promptly converted, but Catherine was finally beheaded and her body carried to the summit of Mount Sinai.

Whether or not Catherine actually existed may never be known, but we remember her by the Catherine Wheels which are now used on Bonfire Night with fireworks attached to their rims and whirled around instead of martyrs.

In addition, on her feast day we recall her plight as we search for indications of the weather for next February.

Following my notes about Arthur's Oven, a legendary cave in Swaledale, I have received a call from a reader at Newsham near Richmond who assures me that Arthur's Oven does exist.

It comprises a pair of caverns in steep rocks on the south bank of the Swale. At this point, the river is also south of the Richmond-Reeth road and the caverns are not far from a prominent hill known as Round Howe.

They are on land which was formerly owned by St Martin's Priory, which existed near the Swale to the south-east of Richmond. This was destroyed during the Reformation and was once a cell attached to St Mary's Abbey at York.

The land which now contains Arthur's Oven is owned by a charity called the John Dakyn Trust and is leased to the National Trust.

I do not know of any legend attached to Arthur's Oven although it seems it is sometimes known by the alternative name of Arthur's Room. I thank my correspondent for this information.