Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Loading...
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Pinal Airpark
Note the chrysanthemum crests.
Hachiman Bridge
Clarendon War Memorial.
Clarendon War Memorial
This fried chicken is one of Bangkok’s most famous.
Gai Tord Jae Kee
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
This fried chicken is one of Bangkok’s most famous.
Gai Tord Jae Kee
Chefs Aruss Lerlerstkull and Atcharaporn Kiatthanawat lean into regional traditions.
Charmgang
The khao soi at Gedhawa comes with a rich, coconutty broth.
Gedhawa
At Nai Mong Hoi Thod, the oyster omelet is worth waiting for.
Nai Mong Hoi Thod
In this deceptively simple dish, top-quality ingredients are paramount.
Kor Panich
Loading...

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United Kingdom England Nottinghamshire Bessie Sheppard Stone

Bessie Sheppard Stone

This lonely memorial marks the supposedly haunted site of a brutal 19th-century murder.

Nottinghamshire, England

Added By
E Capemarsh
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
The Bessie Sheppard memorial stone.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Older engraving on the rear of the stone.   Deborah McDonald/cc by-sa 2.0
The stone is well hidden from the roadside.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Largely forgotten in the undergrowth of Thieves Wood, this simple stone was erected in 1819 by the shocked residents of Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, in response to the murder of a teenager from the rural village of Papplewick.

Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth "Bessie" Sheppard failed to return home in July 1817, after looking for work in the nearby town of Mansfield. She had been beaten to death with a hedge stake by Charles Rotherham, a Napoleonic War veteran from Sheffield, who had been drinking in the nearby Hutt public house.

After the seemingly random murder, Rotherham relieved Bessie of her only saleable possessions, a pair of shoes and an umbrella, and disposed of her body in a ditch. He returned to the Hutt, where he failed to sell his stolen goods, before continuing south towards Nottingham. He attempted to sell them again at another pub on the way, before finally succeeding in offloading the incriminating umbrella and shoes in a third pub in Redhill.

After a manhunt on an unprecedented scale, Rotherham was finally apprehended loitering on a canal bridge in Loughborough, Leicestershire, and sent back to Nottingham, where his subsequent trial and public execution by hanging drew large crowds.

Visitors looking for the often-overgrown memorial to Elizabeth Sheppard should take note that the ghost of Bessie is said to appear every time the stone is disturbed. The A60 Nottingham Road was widened in the 1930s and the stone moved back several feet. An eerie figure was seen loitering around the spot where the stone used to be for a number of days afterward. Similar sightings were reported 20 years later after the stone was hit by a car.

A final curious event happened in 1988, when vandals struck the cemetery in Papplewick where Sheppard is buried, and her gravestone went missing. A police officer was photographed by the Bessie Sheppard Stone for an item in a local newspaper about the vandalism. Feeling a strange need to touch the stone, the officer had a revelation, immediately returned to Papplewick and located the missing gravestone buried in vegetation 200 feet away from the grave. This gave Bessie her gravestone back, and the local newspaper a much more interesting story than they first anticipated.

Related Tags

Memorials Burial Places Gravestones Murder History Haunted Graves

Know Before You Go

The stone lies only a few meters away from where the Robin Hood Way long-distance footpath crosses the A60 (Nottingham Road), a busy main road linking Nottingham and Mansfield. The stone is notoriously difficult to spot from a moving vehicle, and best sought out on foot. There is a carpark at the nearby Portland College Cafe, but you will have to buy tea coffee or cakes or sandwiches from them if you would like to use it. Heading towards Mansfield, there is a road sign welcoming you to the Ashfield District. The stone is just across the road from this sign. If you are thirsty for more history (or just beer), the 13th-century Hutt public house where Rotherham had been drinking still exists a mile and a half towards Nottingham from the memorial stone.

Community Contributors

Added By

Capemarsh

Published

July 1, 2019

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • https://nottinghamhiddenhistoryteam.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/tales-from-the-mansfield-road-the-elizabeth-bessie-sheppherd-murder/
  • http://blidworthhistoricalsociety.co.uk/54712.html
  • http://www.ournottinghamshire.org.uk/page_id__918.aspx
Bessie Sheppard Stone
A60 (Nottingham Road)
Nottinghamshire, England
United Kingdom
53.101253, -1.177855
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Fountain Dale

Nottinghamshire, England

miles away

Newstead Abbey

Nottinghamshire, England

miles away

The Druid Stone

Nottinghamshire, England

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

England

Places 16
Stories 1

Nearby Places

Fountain Dale

Nottinghamshire, England

miles away

Newstead Abbey

Nottinghamshire, England

miles away

The Druid Stone

Nottinghamshire, England

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

England

Places 16
Stories 1

Related Places

  • The grave itself is overgrown with agave, poison ivy, and lots of other sharp pointy objects, so wear protective clothing!

    Sanibel, Florida

    Grave of Captain Oliver Bowen

    The bizarre story of the mysterious death and hidden treasure of one of Sanibel Island's early homesteaders.

  • Bristol, England

    Hermit's Cave and Quaker Burial Ground

    A medieval cave used to shelter local hermits now holds nearly 200 old Quaker gravestones.

  • Gravestones with planes taking off above.

    Atlanta, Georgia

    Flat Rock and Hart Cemeteries

    Two Civil War-era cemeteries stuck between runways at the world's busiest airport.

  • Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

    Grave of Caroline Walter

    Flowers have mysteriously appeared on her effigy every day for the last 150 years.

  • Burial site.

    White Pigeon, Michigan

    Wahbememe Burial Site and Monument

    A memorial to the Potawatomi chief who allegedly ran nearly 150 miles to alert settlers of an impending attack.

  • “The Overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea”

    Edinburgh, Scotland

    Craigentinny Marbles

    This enormous, elaborate tomb looks oddly out of place next to a suburban Edinburgh bowling club.

  • The carved tree trunk.

    Bloomington, Illinois

    Dorothy's Grave

    The carved remains of a 200-year-old oak tree memorialize the namesake of the iconic "Wizard of Oz" character.

  • Likeness of Bob Hope in his memorial garden.

    Los Angeles, California

    Bob Hope Grave and Memorial Garden

    The final resting place of one of Hollywood’s most prolific and talented actors is on the grounds of a California Mission.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.