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The Choughs Inn History The Choughs Inn in Chard is at least 400 years old and it is reputed that George Jefferys, the 1st Baron of Wem and Chief Lord Justice of Chester stayed here whilst he conducted his Bloody Assizes in 1685. Jeffreys sentenced 320 people to their deaths, several of whom ended their days on an oak tree known as Hangcross Oak. Inside the Inn is a tombstone embedded upside down into the fireplace with the weathered inscription "Winifred". Marc Alexander, author of "Haunted Inns", visited the inn in the 1970's and upon hearing about a connection between the tombstone and one of the pubs ghosts attempted to take a flash photograph but failed be successful. Mrs Peters, landlady at the time, informed Alexander that " No one has been able to take a flash photograph of that tombstone. The ghost does not like it." Once a regular at the inn witnessed "A nasty old man, crouched by the fireplace..." yet no one else could see him. It is thought that the apparition was Jefferys himself. Other manifestations include a coughing sound, glasses being swiped off the counter by unseen hands but not breaking and a strange shadowy figure in the corridor behind the bar. Incidentally, my father paid the inn a visit about 10 years ago and managed to take a photograph of the tombstone successfully, however with out a flash I remember seeing the picture but it wasn't very clear. However, the reason why I took so long to include details of the Choughs Inn is that I have been unable to locate the photograph ! However, John Swain and Sherrill Hoole have both been able to provide me with pictures of the mysterious fireplace and Winifreds Grave I was very interested to read about The Choughs Inn at Chard in Somerset. I went to Chard School in 1959 -1960 and remember that ancient hotel very well. In fact my mother and eldest brother stayed there once when they came to fetch me at the end of term. I do not have any recollection of the place being haunted but I was quite young at the time. I suspect the legend about Judge Jefferys staying there is wholly apocryphal. I think you will find that he stayed in an ancient timbered building now called Judge Jefferys' Lodgings in Dorchester. Situated immediately across the street from where the "BloodyAssizes" were held, it was obviously more convenient than an Inn at Chard situated some distance away. Whilst I was researching my book "A Journey With Ghosts" I interviewed the former owners and staff of the Lodgings. They had a number of quite disturbing paranormal experiences during their tenure. Hell's teeth this is spooky! I have just been speaking to my son about The Chough in Chard. My ex-wife has a jigsaw of haunted pubs in Britain and The Chough is one of them! She got it some years ago and when I saw the finished item I told her about my experience in this inn and that is what she was telling my son about. I can tell you now that I have got Goosebumps just thinking about it. I am now 51 years old. This all happened about when I was 22 years old. I had been on a camping holiday in Par in Cornwall with 5 friends, myself Colin, John, John, Tony and Angie. we were travelling home at night by car (I don't remember if it was the A30 or A303). It was lashing down with rain and visibility was bad. We therefore took a detour for shelter and ended up at the Chough. We went into the small bar at the front and waited for someone to come and serve us. We waited for some time and no-one came out to us. Please forgive me if my memory is somewhat dull! I can remember Angie saying that she felt uncomfortable and did not want to stay. We chided her and and went on a walk-about and found a nice warm bar further back. We got drinks in and sat at the bar. We got chatting to the landlord who told us that that some of the old boys sitting round the fire were almost millionaires having sold out their farmland to an American oil company. These old boys had tatty clothes and had pewter mugs out of which they were drinking. I think the landlord had only recently taken over the Inn and was in the process of some modernisation. He told us that when it was measured between this bar and the rooms beyond it was obvious that between the fireplace and the room next along there was an anomaly. The length of the hallway did not equate to the room sizes. On excavation a "Priest's Hole" was discovered between the rooms and on examination, in a recess, a small coffin was found which contained the petrified remains of a Chough preserved in limestone. Presumably a witches familiar! He told us about the witch-hunter and also showed us the inverted gravestone although I cannot remember the name of Winifred. He also told of us of a researcher who had tried to take photographs of the fireplace with no success. Three of us took photographs of the fireplace and because of the light we all used automatic flashes. When we got home and eventually got our films developed none of us had got pictures of the fireplace although the pictures before and after came out OK. This event had such a profound effect on us that we wanted to seek out more. I cannot remember who it was, I think it was Angie's father, but we found a book in the library (This was either in Hornsey, London or Chatham in Kent) by this researcher which contained a narrative on this event and also some cloudy pictures of the result of his endeavours. I am by nature a sceptic, but this event had an effect on me and remains with me. Hell's teeth this is spooky! I have just been speaking to my son about The Chough in Chard. My ex-wife has a jigsaw of haunted pubs in Britain and The Chough is one of them! She got it some years ago and when I saw the finished item I told her about my experience in this inn and that is what she was telling my son about. I can tell you now that I have got Goosebumps just thinking about it. |
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