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Ranworth

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Ranworth Broad

Ranworth Broad is haunted by the ghost of Brother Pacificus, who was a monk at the nearby St Benet’s Abbey a Benedictine monastery built in 816. In the 1 530s he was restoring the rood-screen in Ranworth church and would row across from the abbey every day with his dog. One summer’s evening when he arrived back at the abbey he found that it had been pillaged by Henry Viii’s troopers and that many of the monks were dead. For many years afterwards he lived as a hermit in the abbey ruins. He is buried in Ranworth churchyard, but occasionally at dawn a monk in a black habit can still be seen rowing across the broad in a small boat th a dog sitting in the bow

The ruins of the abbey are also haunted by a monk. At the time of the Norman Conquest, he betrayed his brethren and handed the abbey over to William the Conqu Soldiers in exchange for the promise that e Would be made abbot. He was indeed made abbot — and then nailed to the bell tower door and skinned alive by the Normans. Every 25 May he can be seen hang ing there and it is said that his screaming can still be heard at other times. Very little remains of the abbey today, but it can be visited either by river or by walking across the fields from Ludham. It lies close to the confluence of the Ant and the Bure and the remains of a windmill can be seen in the ruins of the gatehouse.

According to legend, the marshes near RanwOrth Broad also see the reappearance of the Devil himself. In the eighteenth century the old Hall, Ranwoith, was the home of Colonel Thomas Sidley. He was a huntsmafl notorious for his hard drinking and debauchery. On New Year’s Eve 1770, at the biggest meet of the season, he challenged a neighbour to a race. unfortunately he fell behind and it was soofl obvious that he was going to lose. Undeterred, he calmly shot his opponent’s horse. The rider fell and broke his neck.

Later that night the colonel was e1ebratiflg his win over dinner at the old Hall when he was interrupt by the arrival of a stranger, who threw him across his saddle and rode off into the stormy night. He was never seen again and it was claimed that it was the Devil himself who had carried him away. Every New Year’s Eve it said that he can be seen riding across the marshes the colonel still slung across his saddle. The old Hall has Since been demolished.