SPECTRALWhat happened here
For centuries Pluckley was dominated by the Dering family of nearby Surrenden Dering. After one of them, it is said, escaped Parliamentarian soldiers through an arched window, the family put the same round-headed “Dering windows” into houses across the village — you can still spot them today.
The village is also known for something gentler: it was the setting of the 1990s television series The Darling Buds of May.
The legends
Pluckley's ghosts include the Red Lady, a Dering said to search the churchyard of St Nicholas for her lost child; the White Lady, seen inside the church; the Screaming Man, said to have died in a fall at the old brickworks; and a highwayman who, the story goes, was run through with a sword against a tree at the spot still called Fright Corner.
There is also the Watercress Woman, an old seller said to have burned to death on a bridge when her pipe set her shawl alight, and a phantom coach and horses heard on the lanes at night.
Fact or legend?
Pluckley's ghosts are village folklore, most of them impossible to trace to a real person. The Guinness title turned the village into a Halloween destination — so much so that residents have complained about crowds of ghost hunters at night.
Visiting
Pluckley is a living village with homes, a church and pubs. Its lanes and churchyard are public, but please respect residents' privacy, especially at night. The village has its own railway station.
