The Hanging Judge and the Skirrid Inn

The Skirrid Inn is said to be the most haunted and the oldest in Wales with a history that stretches over centuries. Once a court house and a place of execution, it's little wonder that ghosts are said to walk it's corridors. At one point, the infamous Hanging Judge was said to have graced it's hallways, and hundreds are said to have died.

But is this a story based in history, or is it stranger than fiction?

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Resources

https://www.skirridinn.com/

https://www.hauntedhappenings.co.uk/skirrid-inn/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skirrid_Inn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glynd%C5%B5r_rebellion

https://www.landoflegends.wales/location/the-skirrid-mountain-inn-llanfihangel

https://thelittlehouseofhorrors.com/the-skirrid-inn/

https://thelittlehouseofhorrors.com/george-hanging-judge-jeffreys/

https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=the-skirrid-mountain-inn-llanfihangel-crucorney

https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2002/10/31/ancient-inn-has-links-with-notorious-hanging-judge/

https://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/hauntings/the-skirrid-mountain-inn/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jeffreys,_1st_Baron_Jeffreys

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the first Welsh Mysteries and Histories episode of 2025. 

It has been a while since we last uploaded but unfortunately, I spent the latter part of December and the beginning of January in bed having been struck down by food poisoning and then a bad bout of the flu. But thankfully, I am feeling a lot better, and I am here with two brand new episodes for you 

A few very quick updates before we get into the episode. 

Firstly 2025 is going to be a good year for this podcast, as we are entirely committed to growing it and to ensuring that it becomes more consistent. Every Monday we will be dropping at least one episode onto your feeds with a variety of topics to be covered. 

Secondly, every other Friday we will be dropping a news related episode, with it affording us an opportunity to start covering contemporary topics related to all things Wales. The first of these is coming this Friday and it’s a topic that I am excited to talk about. Make sure you’re subscribed for that. 

Thirdly a few weeks ago we received a comment from one of you regarding a past case that we had covered. This person suggested that they might have some information related to it and we are keen to talk to this person. However, our hosting platform doesn’t allow for us to reply to the comment via the platform used.  

So, if that’s you, please make sure you drop us an email via any of the contact details listed in the show notes. 

And finally, forgive me if you can hear any noises in the background. I have tried my best to isolate the sound, but the wind is howling outside my window and the rain is particularly heavy. The weather is weathering and while it poses the perfect podcasting weather for this episode and is a vibe, it is not ideal. 

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get into today’s episode.

Picture the scene. It’s a Sunday in October and while the weather is being typically Welsh – cold and wet – it’s also the perfect kind for a layer-up, welly boots kind of walk. Dressed to the nines in layers, and donning your favourite scarf and hat combo, you and yours head out in search of fresh air. The cold kind that bites as you inhale it, but which leaves you invigorated and ready for the week ahead. 

An hour later, with your step count hit and your boots coated in a light layer of mud, you decide to end the walk in the way that we Brits excel at. A quick drink in the local pub. 

Inside the atmosphere is buzzing, chatter surrounds you, and the pubs old, wooden décor seems to warm from within. A drink sits on the table in front of you, condensation dripping from the glass on to the table mat that is now stuck firmly to the bottom. The change from your order sits atop the table, waiting to be slotted back into your purse or wallet. It’s not a lot, a small note and a handful of coins. The conversation dies down and for a moment, you take in the scene around you. Families, couples, and locals sit around the tables, enjoying the warmth and temporary protection from the cold. 

You glance at your drink again, ready to lean forward and take a sip – but something strange catches your attention. You watch in amazement as the note, weighted down by the smattering of coins, slowly begins to slide across the table. It moves with purpose, and not as if it is being blown by an unidentified draught. It continues to slide across the wooden surface, reaching the end at which point it floats for a moment, and then – it drops suddenly to the stone floor. 

A shudder racks through your body, as a cold sensation gently surrounds you, leaving goosebumps along your skin. 

Because the pub your in is unlike any other, and in that moment, you realise that perhaps, just perhaps, the rumours might be true. 

That not only is it potentially the oldest inn within Wales, but perhaps it is also the most haunted. As is claimed. You spare a glance at those around you, and, for the first time, you start to think about the buildings history and the stories that are often told. 

That the building in which you sit, seeking comfort and warmth, was once the site of utter horror as a courthouse. As a place where people were sentenced to death, for crimes that now seem petty, and as a site where capital punishment was enacted. The site where the infamous hanging judge is said to have operated, willy-nilly sentencing people to death by hanging. 

Because you sit inside of the Skirrid Inn, a location that is infamous in Wales and amongst certain circles in the world. The oldest Inn – and the most haunted – with a bloody history that allowed the Hanging Judge to thrive with his evil vigour.

But maybe, just maybe, things are not as they seem. 

The truth is that there is as much myth and mystery around the Skirrd as there is provable history, and much of what I thought I knew about the building turned out to me nothing more than folklore. 

And while this episode started as one thing – a history of building that seemed rich in fact and story – it ended by becoming another. Because much of what I thought I knew about the Skirrid was far from history. In fact, much of it was myth. 

But let’s start at the beginning. 

The Skirrid Inn is situated just outside of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, and it exists within the boundaries of the Brecon Beacons. For those outside of the UK, The Brecon Beacons is a Mountain range and is home to the highest mountain in South Wales, Pen y Fan. Many people use this mountain in preparation for climbing Wales’ highest mountain, which is of course Snowdonia. The Beacons is also home to the training ground that is used to develop military recruits who are seeking to join the Special Air Service. Or the SAS as they are more famously known. 

The area backs on to a hump shaped mountain, with legend ascribing it’s own meaning to the geographical phenomena.  

According to the History Points website:

“According to local legend, the mountain split when Christ was crucified. The Skirrid (Ysgyryd Fawr in Welsh) was also known as the Holy Mountain, and a chapel was built near the summit.”

“Another story is that a wizard called Jack o’ Kent caused the landslip when he leapt from the Sugar Loaf to the Skirrid. He features in various local legends in Monmouthshire and Herefordshire, often outwitting the devil.”

It’s this mountain after which the pub was originally named – the Skirrid Mountain Inn.

It’s in this rural setting that the Skirrid Inn sits, and according to legend, it’s history dates back hundreds of years. Hence making it the oldest Inn in Wales. Its own website claims that it is over 900 years old. 

The Haunted Happenings – an even company that organise ghost hunting events at the location – reports on its website that:

“The Skirrid Inn in Abergavenny is the oldest and many would say most haunted pub in Wales. With a history dating back to the Norman Conquest, this building has seen executions and some believe witchcraft during its long history. 

The truth, however, isn’t as clear cut. 

Because the Skirrid Inn is one of several other locations that also make the same claim, the Skirrid tending to be the most widely known because of its ghostly infamy.  

Because while the Inn often claims to boast a rich history that takes it back as far as the 1100s, what can be proven is dramatically different. 

This is a question that the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeology Trust attempted to answer, undertaking work on the property in a bid to prove the buildings real age. They concluded, from their test on the structure, that the building is much more recent than has historically been suggested, with them offering a rough date of the 17th century. 

This is an opinion that CADW, the Welsh monuments authority supports. They agree that nothing about the pub suggests that it pre-dates the 17th century. 

Other historians have attempted to explain this, with Frode suggesting that a prior building had potentially sat on the site in the centuries prior. His rationale being that the location was on a route that was commonly used by those making pilgrimage to Llanthony Priory. And it was conceivable that a similar building may have existed prior to the one that sits there today. 

The building holds a number of architectural secrets, with some aspects said to hint towards it’s real age. For example, the pub still has a mounting stone outside its front door – just one of the ways that it’s age shows. 

A mounting stone is a thick slab that would have allowed visitors to the pub to be elevated to assist with the remounting of horses. Yes, imagine that, riding your horse to the pub. 

 It has also been suggested that aspects of the pub are medieval, but again, this is contrary to widely accepted historical opinion. The same goes for the suggestion that panelling in the dining room is said to be from an Elizabethan “Man of war”.

There are historical sources that suggest an awful incident took place within the area in 1175, with it being claimed that a massacre took place at the location. It’s suggested that William de Braose, a “devout but also ruthless man”, was to blame. At the time of the incident, he was a noble man and the right hand of the later English King John and that he had a grudge against a number of Welsh noblemen. 

This story claims that William wanted to avenge the death of his Uncle Henty, who had murdered by the men a little while earler.

This source reports that: “William invited three of them, along with a few leaders, to have dinner with him at the Skirrid Inn for Christmas. At dinner, he ordered his men to slay them all.”

The Skirrid has also become closely associated with Owain Glyndwr, with it being suggested that he used the location as a rallying point for locals during the Glyndwr Rising. 

The Glyndwr rebellion – or rising – took place predominantly between 1403 and 1406, and was led by Owain Glyndwr – the last Welsh Prince of Wales.  

The rebellion has its roots in 1400 when, Owain Glyndŵr, claimed the title prince of Wales. A descendant of several Welsh royal dynasties, he made this move following a dispute with a neighbouring English lord.

In 1404, Owain Glyndŵr was crowned the Prince of Wales, with envoys from Scottish, French, Spanish and Breton present for the occasion. 

He summoned a national parliament in Machynlleth, where he announced plans to reintroduce the traditional Welsh laws of Hywel Dda, establish an independent Welsh church, and build two universities. 

He was able to form a close alliance with Carles the VI of France and in 1405, a French army landed in Wales to support the rebellion. 

However, in early 1406, Owain’s forces suffered severe defeats and Grosmont and Usk, On the backfoot and outnumbered, the Welsh populace grew exhausted by the conflict. With an English blockade combined with pillaging and violence by English armies often seen as being partly to blame for the eventual defeat. 

By 1407, the English had regained control of Anglesey in the North, as well as huge swathes of South Wales. In 1408, they took Aberystwyth castle, followed by Harlech in 1409. With territory having been lost across the country, Owain Glyndwr had lost. 

But he didn’t give up the fight, despite the best efforts of King Henry V, who offered him two pardons. In fact, small pockets of resistance continued for years.  

Glyndwr was never captured or killed, but he vanished in 1415 and is recorded as having died. However, his body has never been located. But in 1421 his son, Maredudd ab Owainm, formally accepted his pardon and the rebellion officially came to an end.

It's often regarded to the last manifestation of the Welsh Independence movement, with Wales having then been annexed into England in 1543. 

This theory suggests that on one occasion Glyndwr – the Prince of Wales – attended himself in a bid to rally the troops on the cobbled courtyard outside of the Skirrid Inn. It’s said that this took place before a raid on nearby settlements that were sympathetic to the English. 

However, this has never been proven and there appears to be no written record of this event having happened. 

What we do know, is that there is historical record to suggest that there was related activity within the area.

“This revolt was against the reign of Henry VI. In the year 1404 a bloody battle took place under Owain’s orders within the city walls of Abergavenny. Owain got help from a woman who opened the gate at the market on the inside. His men plundered the city and set it on fire. The street near the market is now known as “Traitor Alley”. 

But it’s the Inn’s history that tends to draw the most attention, with its gruesome and shocking offering the perfect content for those looking for spooky thrills. 

And while elements of this are undoubtedly true, even this aspect poses more questions than it does answers. 

We know that the first floor of the Inn was used as a courthouse in the first half of the 17th century. Said to have been used for those accused of stealing sheep and of being highwaymen, it was also the location where capital sentences were enacted. 

It’s claimed that as many people lost their lives by hanging in that location, with them seeming to have been hung from a beam at the top of the stairs.

The beam is said to still be there to this day, but it has now been moved to the bar area. It’s reported that you can still see damage where the rope burned the wood. 

A quote from the Little House of Horrors website reads:

“You can still see the rope marks on the oak beam in the stairwell. The people who were hanged at the Skirrid Inn were unlucky. Being brought to death on the gallows had the advantage of an instant death for the hatch would be opened and the neck would snap. Here, at the inn, there was no hatch. Here people were forced off the steps. No necks were snapped by this action, so people suffocated to death slowly. Perhaps that’s why this place is so haunted.”

The last hanging was said to have taken place in 1658, at which point the Inn ceased to be a courthouse. 

A second layer to this aspect of its history, is the suggestion that the infamous “Judge George Jeffreys” – the hanging judge – once worked within its walls. With some online sources even suggesting that some of the Bloody Assizes – a famous treason case that Jeffrey’s worked on – were enacted there. 

Let’s break that down slightly. 

Let’s start with the man himself, who was Judge George Jeffreys?

Due to his status, and perhaps his historical importance, the life of Judge George Jeffrey is fairly documented. We know that he was born on the 15th May 1645 in Acton Hall, Wrexham, and that he came from a family of Royalists. 

His father had been rewarded for his loyalty during the English Civil War by being appointed as the High Sheriff of Denbighshire. And we also know that his grandfather had been a judge. 

George was educated at Shrewsbury School, before attending Cambridge University where he studied law. 

In 1662, he graduated from Cambridge University. He then went on to hold several law functions before being made the Lord Chief Justice in 1683. And just two years later in 1685, he become Lord Chancellor. 

Amongst his career, there is also some information about his home life and we know that he was married twice. His first wife, Sarah, gave him 7 children but she died in 1678. 

His second wife was a 29-year-old widow named Anne, and it’s often suggested that George was terrified of her. 

Back to his professional life and Judge Jeffreys was about to play a pivotal role, one for which he would forever be remembered. 

Because the Monmouth Rebellion was about to happen. 

Despite the best efforts of Parliament to exclude James II from succession in 1681, the ascension continued and in February 1685 he succeeded his brother, Charles. 

The Monmouth Rebellion was led by James Scott, the first Duke of Monmouth and the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II. He opposed the succession of Protestant, James II, largely due to his Catholicism.

Having lived in exile in the Dutch Republic since 1683 for the Rye House Plot to assassinate Charles II and James, the first Duke of Monmouth, determined to bring about a rebellion, 

On the 11th June 1685, he returned landing in Lyme Regis. He had widespread popular support and planned to take control of the areas as he marched to London.

In the next few weeks, Monmouth's growing army of nonconformists, artisans and farm workers fought a series of skirmishes with local militias and regular soldiers. However, they were unable to complete with the army and they failed to capture the city of Bristol. 

On the 6th if July 1685, the rebellion ended with his defeat at the Battle of Sedgemoor.

On the 15th of July 1685, Monmouth was beheaded and many of his supporters were put on trial. An event that become known as the Bloody Assizes. 

George was tasked with overseeing the punishment of those who had been involved in the Monmouth Rebellion. Having been sent to the West Country to conduct the trials, he was just by a number of other eminent judges. 

It’s at this moment in his timeline that people tend to conflate he and the Skirrid, combining the two timelines into one and suggesting that Bloody Assizes is linked. But as we will see, this is incredibly unlikely. Another Welsh location, Plas Teg, also tends to be connected. 

During the Bloody Assizes, Judge Jeffreys is said to have sentenced over 700 people to hanging. Hence his nickname of the Hanging Judge.

Some sources even go as far as to suggest Judge Jeffreys sentenced 182 of these people to hang at the Skirrd Inn itself but that is simply fiction. These 182 were hanged as a result of the Bloody Assizes, but there is nothing to suggest it was within the Skirrid. 

Quote from Little House of Horrors:

“He was a very passionate judge, like his grandfather, and he even earned the title Lord Counsellor at some point. The problem with old George was that he was a little too passionate, which earned him a questionable nickname.”

However, the truth is that this is a slightly unjust assessment of his legacy, with some historians casting doubts on this.

Firstly, the suggested figure of 700 us woefully inaccurate with historians now suggesting that it the number was much lower than this. In fact, it’s claimed that of the 1381 defendants who were sentenced for their role in the Monmouth Rebellion, only 160 and 170 were sentenced to death. A huge number, but not the 700 often stated. Most of these people were actually transported to the West India’s.

Aside from this, the idea that he was uniquely brutal is one that is not really reflected in fact. Because Judge Jeffreys was simply implementing the policies and precdents that exited. 

In truth there seems to have been nothing provably questionable about his decisions. Based on contemporary standards that is. In fact, only one of his convictions during the Bloody Assizes was considered improper.

At the time, capital punishment was the expected sentence for crimes of treason. The King was the only person able to pardon and his reluctance to use this precedent was far more against contemporary standards than the sentences themselves. Take the example of Alice Lisle, the one conviction of his which was considered harsh or unfair.

Alice Lisle was accused of sheltering some members of the defeated rebel army, none of whom had yet been found guilty of treason. 

There was no evidence that she had taken an active part in the rebellion itself, and she was never accused of this. When the jury asked whether her actions could in law be considered treasonable, Jeffreys replied that yes, her actions could be defined as such. 

The jury then returned a guilty verdict, and Alice was executed at Winchester by beheading. Initially, she was due to have been burned at the stake.  

Prior to the sentence being implemented, the King had refused to offer her a reprieve, leading some to speculate that he was taking posthumous revenge on her husband. His name was Sir John Lisle, a regicide, who had been one of his own father's judges at his trial in 1649. 

Sir John Lisle had been murdered in 1664, but the King had not forgotten. And it’s often been suggested that he may well have felt that Alice should suffer judicial punishment in her husband's place.

A few years later after the Rebellion in 1869, George faced his own downfall.

Following the Monmouth Rebellion, King James had consolidated his power and reigned until 1688. At which point, he was deposed by his nephew, William III of Orange, in the Glorious Revolution.

The Glorious Revolution took place between 1688 and 1689.  

Having been supported in his judgements by the then King James II, George was faced with an impossible decision but unlike the monarch – who fled – George chose to stay in London.

It's since been reported that he stayed there until Dutch William III’s troops nearly entered the city. At that point, he tried to flee and to follow the King abroad, who had already left. However, he was captured at a public house in what is now Ramsgate. Historical sources suggest that he was dressed as a sailor and that he had been recognised by a judicial victim. One who had survived the court room. 

He claimed that he had recognised the man immediately, stating that “he could never forget Jeffreys's countenance, although his ferocious eyebrows had been shaven.” 

He was dragged to the Lord Mayor, who claimed that he was arresting him for his own protection. It’s also suggested that he begged to be protected from the mob, asking for mercy in a way that I am sure many had done in his court rooms. 

The Tower of London was not for the faint of heart and on the 18th April 1869, Judge George Jeffreys died of kidney failure. 

He was originally buried in the Chapel Royal of Saint Peter ad Vincula in the Tower. However, in 1962 his body was moved to St Mary Aldermanbury. 

Incidentally, St Mary Aldermanbury was destroyed during the Second World War by the Germans and his tomb was destroyed. There was no remaining trace of his it today and instead a landscaped garden now sits there. The remains of the church were actually transported to United States in 1966 and rebuilt to its original form in Fulton, Missouri, as a memorial to Winston Churchill.

But here’s the clanger. What if it was provable that not only did Judge Jeffreys was never at the Inn in the first place. And that, this fact has been staring us in the face all along? 

You see, it’s actually pretty simple. Because the last hanging at the Skirrid took place in 1658 and after that point, the Inn ceased at being courthouse. And certainly, there were no more hangings within it’s walls.  

At the time of the last execution, Judge Jeffreys – who was born in 1645 – would have been just 13 years old. And further to this, we know that he was not, yet a qualified lawyer. Because he didn’t become on until 1662 when he graduated from Cambridge.  

And there it is, verifiable proof that Jeffreys never operated at the Skirrid. 

In 1914, the Inn was witness to an interesting incident, when a local Labourer was fined for a road rage.

“On 13 August, days after the First World War began, he had followed the victim along the road from Pontrilas, calling him a “German”. When the pair were passing the inn, he shouted: “Stop that man. He is a German.” A labourer helping at the inn thought the cyclist in the rear was a policeman and stopped the innocent victim, whom Irons then assaulted. The local police soon received confirmation that the victim wasn’t German but the son of a Macclesfield police sergeant.”

The labourer, Thomas Irons, was fined 10 shillings for his part in the incident.  

A few months after this event, Charles Powell – who owned the Inn – was one of three local pub landlords who were each fined £5.00 each for stealing a black spaniel from Mrs Attwood-Matthews.  

While in the 1940s, a prisoner of war camp operated directly opposite.  

We can’t talk about the Skirrid without mentioning the haunting and without discussing the ghostly aspirations that are said to live within it’s four walls. 

The Little House of Horrors website reads:

“Many have seen apparitions at the inn and even more claim to have heard or felt something. The temperature tends to drop for no reason and people feel as if they’re being watched. Sometimes glasses are thrown all over the place. The owner claims to lose 10 to 15 glasses per week this way. Money occasionally flies through the inn as well. There are also reports of people who suddenly dropped to their knees, grabbing their throats. Later they claimed they felt as if a noose was placed around their necks. Faces are seen through the windows, even on the third floor, where no one comes anymore. But there are not just evil spirits at the inn.”

It's often been suggested that many of these ghosts may be the victims of the brutal punishment systems that plagued that period. 

But one of the ghosts is said to have a name – Fanny Price. 

Said to have lived in the building in the 17th century and to have worked as a bartender, it’s reported that she died there aged 35 from consumption. And she is also buried nearby, 

Again, from the Little House of Horrors website reads:

“She walks around the inn as if she still wants to keep an eye on it. Her remains were buried at a churchyard not too far from the inn. Her immediate family, who owned the inn with her, is buried here, too. Henry Price, a relative of Fanny who might have been her father of perhaps her husband, also haunts the place. He has been seen while marching up and down the cobbles outside the inn as if he’s a soldier. Sometimes, Henry spends time inside as well. He then scares guests by banging inside the chimney.”

The woods that surround the Inn are also said to be haunted, with the same website recording that:

“In 1700, the lord of the manor house had an affair with a young servant girl who worked at the Skirrid Inn. His wife caught them red handed and she chased the girl out of the house and into the woods. Her body was found the next day sitting against a tree. She was frozen to death. The woods of Abergavenny are now called the White Lady Woods for her spirit is often seen floating through the woods in a white dress.”

The website, Mysterious Britain, has compiled a list of some the incidents that are reported to have taken place within he walls of the Inn. Here are of them:

• Visitors to the inn have felt like there was a noose being slipped over their heads and tightened around their necks. Apparently, marks have been left on the skin around their necks for days afterwards. 
• It is said that a regular ghost is often heard but never seen by the staff. It is said to make a rustling noise, like a long ladies dress would do, as it passes by, and it then leaves a cold chill in the room.
• There have been reports of soldiers being heard in the courtyard of the inn.
• There have reports of people hearing cantering horses outside the Skirrid Inn.
• Sometimes there is a powerful scent of perfume in the inn.
• Glasses have been said to fly off the bar unaided, apparently ten to fifteen glasses are broken like this every week.
• Guests have allegedly been overcome with dizziness, nausea, and fear whilst on the stairs.
• Guests have allegedly reported an invisible presence passing them on the stairs.

These days the Skirrid Inn remains operational, with people visiting from all over the world to spend a night within its walls. 

Whether or not the Inn is as haunted as they say is very much one for interpretation, but when it comes to history facts are important. 

The Skirrid – while interesting and haunted – may not be everything we thought before.