Guildford’s Ghostly Waters

There is an ageless lake just a few miles from Guildford in Surrey which has a history of pagan religion that extends back beyond the distant beginnings of myths and legends. In those aeons of pre-history certain pools of water had a religious significance which dominated the lives of early man. This is such a place. It is known as The Silent Pool.

It is best to go there in winter when you might see it in solitude. On a cold early morning when the mist is rising from the water and swirling around the trees which surround it, you get a real feeling of melancholic stillness with the link to pre-history being never stronger. This pool existed before the Druids, but they later made it their own and it continued as a sacred area well into the thirteenth century.

At that time the whole of that part of Surrey was untamed woodland and close to the pool lived a forester whose wife had died from illness several years previously. He lived there with his young daughter, Emma, and his son who together barely scraped a living. One day a horseman rode past, and is so often the case with those who have very little, he was invited in to share what refreshments the forester had. Meanwhile Emma was bathing in the lake, while her brother was hunting nearby in the woodlands for small animals to help the family survive the winter. When the horseman left, he saw the beautiful Emma bathing and as was the custom in those lawless days he felt it was his right to have his way with her. So he rode his horse into the waters in pursuit. She fled deeper and deeper into the lake while her brother responded quickly to her screams by diving into the waters to help protect her. But to no avail. Both of the children soon drowned, while the horseman retreated to dry land and galloped off.

The horseman was reputed to be King John, who had been ruling while Richard was at the Crusades.

But the story does not end there. The father was so upset when he recovered the bodies that he devoted the rest of his life to seeking revenge. He found out who the horseman was and eventually managed to get an audience with the King. He naturally enough had forgotten the incident and agreed that the perpetrator should be punished. King John was then told that he was the perpetrator. Unfortunately legend does not tell us what happened next, although it was rumoured that the Barons, who were seriously outraged by the King’s general behaviour, used this incident, amongst many others, as a lever to force the reduction of the King’s powers which resulted in the Magna Carta.

But now to modern times...

Many visitors complain of a brooding silence while standing near the edge of the pool. This gives off an aura which seems to threaten, the calmness of the waters being so intense that it radiates a haunted feeling of great eeriness. And often a body has been seen floating beneath the water, a pale shape which rises to the surface. And there are screams and sobs for help which make the hair stand on end. Dogs fear the place. Animals are always able to sense these things.

Then there is the mystery of Agatha Christie’s disappearance in the middle of the winter of 1926. Her car was found close to the pool. But she never did say what she was doing for those three famous “missing” days.

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In Association with the Western Gazette 

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