Post by Spooky on Mar 16, 2005 14:48:05 GMT
This is one we have investigated on the main website with interesting results...
One of the first families to join the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Guildford, in 1673, lived at Sydenham Road, near the Holy Trinity Church. They tried to convert the rest of their family and friends but had no success at all with their 19 year-old daughter, Lorna, who was more interested in being with her boyfriend, with whom the question of religion never arose. However, Lorna’s parents continually questioned her about his religion and also the beliefs of his family.
One evening, just before Christmas, Lorna’s father discovered the couple together and demanded to know the boy’s religious beliefs. Not being satisfied with the answer that he received, he threatened to throw Lorna out onto the streets there and then. He declared that his daughter would only marry a Quaker and that the lad had no right to court her unless he was considering becoming a Quaker himself.
An argument developed between the various members of the family and Lorna’s boyfriend quietly slipped away, being totally embarrassed. Outraged by her father’s behaviour in particular, Lorna put on her black cape over her long grey dress and left the house, declaring that she would never return.
She ran down the streets of Guildford, not knowing where she would go, and finally reached the old chalk pits on the edge of the town. Rushing along the edge of the quarry she slipped and fell into the chalk. When she was finally discovered the following morning she was suffering badly from exposure, multiple bruises and several broken bones. She was carried home and died shortly afterwards in her room.
Her father refused to forgive her despite pleas from his wife and even other Quakers, declaring that his daughter’s body would not be buried in Quakers Acre, the local Quaker burial ground.
There were many reports of the sighting of the Grey Lady in the house at Sydenham Road in the 19th century but interest in her gradually fell away until Christmas, 1969, when the area was being developed into a multi-storey car park. The finishing touches were being made to the new development, to make sure that it was ready for the anticipated Christmas rush, when two workmen, painting wooden fencing on the second level, noticed the figure of a young woman wearing a long grey robe, standing on the edge of the floor. Thinking that she was in trouble and even a potential suicide, the two men walked over to her to ask if they could help in any way. As they approached her, the figure of the Grey Lady slowly vanished in front of them. People immediately remembered that the car park was being built on the site of Lorna’s former home, that had been demolished to make way for the new development, and the area in which she was seen must have been the exact location of her old bedroom, the room in which she had that terrible row with her father, and to which she was brought back to just a few hours later, and died..
One of the first families to join the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Guildford, in 1673, lived at Sydenham Road, near the Holy Trinity Church. They tried to convert the rest of their family and friends but had no success at all with their 19 year-old daughter, Lorna, who was more interested in being with her boyfriend, with whom the question of religion never arose. However, Lorna’s parents continually questioned her about his religion and also the beliefs of his family.
One evening, just before Christmas, Lorna’s father discovered the couple together and demanded to know the boy’s religious beliefs. Not being satisfied with the answer that he received, he threatened to throw Lorna out onto the streets there and then. He declared that his daughter would only marry a Quaker and that the lad had no right to court her unless he was considering becoming a Quaker himself.
An argument developed between the various members of the family and Lorna’s boyfriend quietly slipped away, being totally embarrassed. Outraged by her father’s behaviour in particular, Lorna put on her black cape over her long grey dress and left the house, declaring that she would never return.
She ran down the streets of Guildford, not knowing where she would go, and finally reached the old chalk pits on the edge of the town. Rushing along the edge of the quarry she slipped and fell into the chalk. When she was finally discovered the following morning she was suffering badly from exposure, multiple bruises and several broken bones. She was carried home and died shortly afterwards in her room.
Her father refused to forgive her despite pleas from his wife and even other Quakers, declaring that his daughter’s body would not be buried in Quakers Acre, the local Quaker burial ground.
There were many reports of the sighting of the Grey Lady in the house at Sydenham Road in the 19th century but interest in her gradually fell away until Christmas, 1969, when the area was being developed into a multi-storey car park. The finishing touches were being made to the new development, to make sure that it was ready for the anticipated Christmas rush, when two workmen, painting wooden fencing on the second level, noticed the figure of a young woman wearing a long grey robe, standing on the edge of the floor. Thinking that she was in trouble and even a potential suicide, the two men walked over to her to ask if they could help in any way. As they approached her, the figure of the Grey Lady slowly vanished in front of them. People immediately remembered that the car park was being built on the site of Lorna’s former home, that had been demolished to make way for the new development, and the area in which she was seen must have been the exact location of her old bedroom, the room in which she had that terrible row with her father, and to which she was brought back to just a few hours later, and died..