Westrop Cottage in Cricklade Road, Highworth has a secret hiding in it’s back garden. The 17th century cottage has winding tunnels which originally ran from Westrop House next door to stable buildings which were used by servants which needed to keep themselves out of sight.

The cottage is now owned by Historical Society member Jan Boddy who has been told her resident ghost may be the mistress of the man who built the tunnels. “I haven’t seen it yet, much to my disappointment,” said Jan. “A chap used to stable his motorbike nearby and he saw her coming out of the opening one night,” Jan continued, “She just wafted out. It gave him such a fright that he didn’t take his bike down there again.”

The are also reports of the ghost knocking on the door of Westrop House but no-one can say what, or who, she is looking for.

The cottage’s tunnel system consists of a deep brick lined ice-house, about 30 yards of tunnel and an extra ice-house in a seperate system which may have doubled up as a coal hole.