Devil’s Arch, where Thomas Tilling and his grey ghost horse were last seen.
Horses hate the Devil’s Arch.
A road out of the UK’s North Wessex Downs goes down a notorious dip, known as Pebble Hill or Devil’s Arch. There is no arch as such, but ancient trees squeeze the high banks with knuckled roots.
It is always damp and darkly atmospheric, and the first to be closed by fallen trees in storms. It is also a place with a sad story about a ghostly horse.
On this spot, 126 years ago, Thomas Tilling, a rakemaker, was returning home. Tilling traveled in a fully loaded timber cart, pulled in tandem by two draft horses. A piece of the harness snapped. The weight of the load listed against the wheel horse he was leading. The horse panicked, and leaped up the bank. Tilling was fatally injured by the wagon and he died, his wife beside him, the next morning.
Ghost stories often begin as a form of warning. Tilling’s grey ghost horse is said to turn towards those who see it.
Tar spot fungus on sycamore leaves and a fermented, split bale of haylage, lost from a trailer, smell like worked leather and horse sweat. There is a warm, close presence in the darkness. A muffled clip of hoof fire on leaf mold.
Learn more about Thomas Tilling and his grey ghost horse along with other ghost stories in Shadowlands: A Journey Through Lost Britain by Matthew Green released by Faber. █
