#three crowns hotel

The Three Crowns Hotel dates back to the 13th century. For several hundred years, it was the family home of the Whiddons, one of whom, Mary, achieved local notoriety in 1641 when she was shot dead on the church steps on her wedding day. No sooner had the village recovered from this tragedy than, two years later, the young Royalist poet Sidney Godolphin was caught up in a local Civil War skirmish, and riddled by musket fire, was carried to what is not the hotel’s porch, where he died in agony.

Time moved on, and the ancient property evolved into a charming old world inn, its solid granite walls, splendid mullioned windows, massive oak beams, and huge fireplace being complemented by, of course, a resident ghost, said to be the somber shade of the tragic Sidney Godolphin. He wanders the hotel’s cozy interior, resplendent in full cavalier dress and sporting a handsome plumed hat. He makes fleeting appearances, occasionally startling witnesses by suddenly manifesting in front of them and fixing them with a sad stare. Some who see the ghost of Sidney Godolphin describe him as more melancholic than malevolent. Others who encounter him are moved to admiration by his piece de resistance of walking through granite walls that are so thick that, even though he is a ghost, the feat of passing through them is little short of miraculous.