Ribble Valley haunted pub trail (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Ribble Valley haunted pub trail

6:30pm Friday 13th January 2012 in News

SIX HISTORIC rural pubs which are reputedly haunted are to be the subject of coach tours designed to attract visitors.

Ghostly stories from the hostelries, all in the Ribble Valley, have been collected by tour guide and storyteller Simon Entwistle.

His intention is for visitors taking part in the tour to leave their car keys at home and travel to Clitheroe by train.

The groups will then take in the unspoilt countryside of the area while visiting The Lower Buck, Waddington, The Sun Inn at Chipping, The DeLacy Arms, Whalley, Slaidburn’s Hark to Bounty, The Punch Bowl at Hurst Green and The Swan and Royal in Clitheroe.

Simon, who will lead the tour and regale the guests with ghostly stories, said: “All the inns have fascinating stories and are centuries old.

“Among the stories of hauntings I will be telling are that of Lizzie Dean, a 20-year-old skullery maid who hung herself at the Sun Inn after being spurned by her lover.

“Customers at the pub claim she now occasionally joins diners as they eat there.”

Among the other stories Simon will reveal are those of William Southworth, an ex-landord of the Lower Buck, who was stabbed to death by the village butcher and a monk clad in white robes who is said to stalk the grounds of The Delacy Arms.

Simon, who has also produced a dvd featuring the six pubs, said that another intention of the tour was to promote the pub industry.

“The UK is losing six pubs a week, some of them dating back hundreds of years,” he said.

“I’ve seen the Ribble Valley lose five pubs in three years. They’re an important part of our heritage.”

The first of the tours will take place in March.

For further details visit www.tophattours.co.uk.