Torquay…Torre
Abbey and The Spanish Barn
On
the edge of the sea…
(A
Ghostly legend for you, based on a true story…)
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| Oldest part of Torre Abbey |
Along the south
England coast, beacons were lit to warn the inhabitants in the Channel of the
threat of arriving Spanish Ships.
In the 1580’s a
Spaniard and his love (who disguised herself as a sailor to be with him on the
ship) were on board the Nuestra Senora
del Rosario. The ship was once part of the proud Spanish Armada.
The Nuestra Senora del Rosario was captured
by the English and brought to Torquay. All on board, numbering 397, became
prisoners and were shuffled off to the Tithe Barn next to Torre Abbey.
Torre Abbey, one
of the first buildings in Torquay, had been a former monastery but at the present
time it was the home of a wealthy English family, The Seymour’s. Predictably,
before much time passed, the prisoners began to die of illness, disease, and
hunger. The disguised female lover was
numbered among the dead.
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| The Spanish Barn |
Ever since that time the Tithe Barn has been
known as the Spanish Barn because of the prisoners which were held there. Soon, stories were being told of a ghostly
female figure, described as a young Spanish girl, who on moonlit nights would
search among the trees and bushes and shadows of the Abbey, trying to find the
lover she lost.
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| Inside Torre Abbey |
Torquay is an English vacation spot on the coast of the
Channel. There are stories of a few haunted happenings here and the story of
the Spanish Barn is one of them.
Mystery Writer Agatha Christie had a winter home in Torquay,
the book “The Man in the Brown Suit,”
includes in the setting a place called ‘Hempsley Cavern’. This cavern is based
on a real cavern in Torquay called ‘Kent’s Cavern’. Kent’s Cavern is a stone-age
site where ancient caverns and passages can be seen. The caverns have been
occupied for millennia by ancient native populations of the British Isles. The
caverns are believed to be a Paleolithic site and have been declared as an
ancient monument, they are of special scientific interest. In cavern #4 part of
a human jaw bone was found in 1927, it is on display in the local museum. The
jaw bone is believed to be one of the earliest specimens of Homo Sapiens ever discovered in
North-Western Europe. There are engravings on stalagmite formations in the
caverns from the 1500’s recording the names of persons who explored there.
Flint tools have also been found, below the strata, from excavations which have
taken place in the cave.
The 2011 Movie ‘The Watcher’s: The Greatest of These’ was
supposedly filmed with Kent’s Cavern as the setting.
(Adapted by Deborah Niven)
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| Torre Abey, with the oldest part on the right side. |
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