Bettiscombe Manor

BETTISCOMBE MANOR ~ DORSET UK

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Bettiscombe Manor is the ancestral home of the Pinney family, and is built on very ancient ground.

The story goes that one Azaiah Pinney was due to be hanged drawn and quartered for his part in the failed Monmouth Rebellion of 1685.

A swift bribe ensured he was instead whisked away to the colonies, to be an indentured servant in the Caribbean.

Clearly being a man of sterner stuff, Azaiah eventually became a rich plantation owner on the Isle of Nevis.

Many years later a descendant of Azaiah, returned to Bettiscombe in the company of a faithful black servant.

The servant, used to tropical climes, was not much taken with the wind and rain-swept Dorset landscape, and was soon on his deathbed.

His dying wish was that his remains be returned home for burial and added to this, was a warning not to fail him~

‘if his wish were to be ignored, then the house would have no peace.’

Well, the canny Pinney family were not about to go to the expense of repatriating the remains of a servant, and the man was duly buried in the local churchyard.

Soon the dark chambers of Bettiscombe were disturbed by unearthly screams and unexplained happenings, something was terribly amiss.

Bloodcurdling screams began to emanate from the dead servant's grave, and a plague of misfortune fell on the village.

After some months the terrified villagers petitioned Pinney to take action.

His solution was to exhume the body and take it back to rest in the manor.

Over the years the skeleton has disappeared leaving only the skull. Various attempts to remove it from the house have always been met with the unearthly screams.

As a result the skull now lies peacefully inside the manor.

Should anyone be foolish enough to try to remove it from its favourite resting place, it is said to ~

"scream and cause agricultural disaster if taken out of the house, and also causes the death, within a year, of the person who commits the deed".

This is almost the end of the story, except that local tradition tells of a ghostly carriage rattling between the Manor House and Churchyard, on the anniversary of the death of the servant.

This is referred to by villagers as ' the funeral procession of the skull.'

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Source~ hauntedpalaceblog.

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https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

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The Screaming Skull of Bettiscombe Manor with the portrait of John Pinney.