The Crying Woman

The Bull at Wargrave harbours one of Berkshire’s most poignant ghost stories—the tragic tale of a landlord’s wife whose heartbreak transcended death itself. Dating to the 1820s, this sorrowful spirit continues to manifest as auditory phenomena that move visitors to tears, her grief so profound it seems to seep into the very fabric of the 15th-century coaching inn.

The Historical Context of Early 19th Century Wargrave

The 1820s marked a significant period in English social history, particularly regarding women’s legal status and marital rights. Under the doctrine of coverture, married women had virtually no legal identity separate from their husbands. A wife’s property, children, and even her person were considered legally possessed by her husband. This legal framework provides crucial context for understanding the crying woman’s tragic circumstances.

The Bull at Wargrave, already three centuries old by the 1820s, served as both coaching inn and family residence for its proprietors. As a significant establishment on the Thames-side village’s High Street, it would have witnessed the social dramas and personal tragedies of successive landlord families throughout its history.

Wargrave itself was transforming during this period. The village, with its roots extending back to the Domesday Book of 1086, was evolving from a purely agricultural settlement to benefit from increased river trade and coaching traffic. The Bull, strategically positioned at the village’s central crossroads, would have been a focal point for both business and gossip—making any family scandal particularly public and devastating.

The Tragedy of the 1820s

According to multiple documented accounts, the haunting centres on a landlord’s wife who became involved in an extramarital relationship during the 1820s. Historical sources consistently describe her as having “taken a lover,” though the identity of this individual and the circumstances of their relationship remain unrecorded. What is documented across several paranormal investigations is the devastating aftermath of her husband’s discovery.

The landlord’s reaction exemplified the absolute authority husbands possessed over wives during this era. Upon discovering the affair, he immediately expelled her from The Bull, exercising his legal right to cast her out of what was, under law, considered his property rather than their shared home. More cruelly, he invoked his absolute parental rights to forbid any contact with their child—a punishment that proved psychologically devastating.

The Legal Reality of 1820s Marital Law:

• Husbands possessed complete legal authority over wives and children
• Adultery by wives was grounds for immediate expulsion from the marital home
• Mothers had no legal rights to access their children if fathers forbade it
• Divorced or separated women faced social ostracism and financial destitution

The combination of losing both home and child proved fatal. Multiple sources describe her death as resulting from “a broken heart”—a phrase that, whilst poetic, likely encompasses the genuine physical and psychological trauma that accompanies severe emotional distress. Modern medical understanding recognises that intense grief can indeed manifest as fatal physical symptoms, particularly in individuals already vulnerable due to social isolation and financial hardship.

The Residual Haunting Phenomenon

The crying woman’s haunting manifests as what paranormal researchers classify as a “residual haunting”—an emotional imprint replaying specific moments rather than an intelligent, interactive spirit. Witnesses consistently report the same phenomena: the distinct sounds of a woman sobbing and weeping, accompanied by what some describe as the rustling of belongings being packed.

Primary Manifestations:

• Auditory phenomena of crying, sobbing, and weeping
• Sounds consistent with packing belongings into cases or bags
• Overwhelming atmosphere of grief and sadness affecting witnesses
• Phenomena occurring primarily on significant dates, allegedly the anniversary of her departure

The most frequently reported location is an upstairs bedroom now known locally as “The Tear Room.” This nomenclature suggests the haunting has been recognised for a considerable period, with the room’s reputation becoming sufficiently established to warrant its own designation. The choice of an upstairs bedroom as the primary haunting location aligns with the story’s details—these would have been the family’s private living quarters, where the landlord’s wife would have packed her belongings before her forced departure.

Investigating the Historical Evidence

Whilst multiple paranormal publications document this haunting, specific historical records identifying the individuals involved have not been located. This absence of documentation is not unusual for domestic tragedies of the period, particularly those involving women of modest social standing. Inn-keeping families, whilst locally prominent, rarely generated the extensive record-keeping that might preserve such personal details.

Documented Sources Include:

• “Haunted Berkshire” by Roger Long
• “Haunted Taverns” by Donald Stuart
• “The Haunted Pub Guide” by Guy Lyon Playfair
• Multiple online sources and local folklore collections

The consistency across these sources suggests a well-established local tradition rather than recent invention. The story’s social and legal details align accurately with early 19th-century realities, lending credibility to its historical foundations even without specific documentation of the individuals involved.

The Emotional Impact on Modern Witnesses

Contemporary accounts of the crying woman’s manifestations consistently emphasise their emotional impact. Witnesses report not merely hearing the sounds of weeping, but experiencing profound sadness themselves—as though the grief itself has become embedded in the location. This emotional contagion effect is characteristic of locations associated with intense trauma, where visitors report unexpectedly powerful emotional responses.

Modern Witness Accounts Describe:

• Being moved to tears without apparent cause
• Overwhelming feelings of sadness and loss
• Sense of profound loneliness and abandonment
• Compulsion to comfort an invisible presence
• Lasting emotional impact extending beyond the immediate experience

The Bull’s staff and regular patrons have reportedly become accustomed to the phenomena, treating the crying woman with respectful acknowledgement rather than fear. This acceptance suggests a long-established relationship between the living and the dead at this ancient inn.

The Enduring Legacy

The crying woman of The Bull at Wargrave represents more than a simple ghost story—she embodies the historical reality of women’s vulnerability in early 19th-century England. Her tragedy illuminates the devastating consequences of absolute male authority over wives and children, whilst her continuing presence suggests that some injustices transcend death itself.

Her story serves as a poignant reminder of how legal and social structures could destroy individual lives, particularly those of women who transgressed moral boundaries. The residual nature of her haunting—endlessly replaying her moment of greatest anguish—creates a perpetual memorial to both personal tragedy and historical injustice.

The Bull at Wargrave continues to acknowledge this tragic presence, with The Tear Room serving as an inadvertent shrine to grief itself. For visitors sensitive to paranormal phenomena, the crying woman offers a profound encounter with authentic historical emotion, preserved in the timeless atmosphere of England’s oldest coaching inns.