Oystermouth Castle is said to be haunted. Since its reopening in 2011 there has been a numerous reports of paranormal activity by staff, visitors and ghost hunters alike, ranging from the sounds unexplainable footsteps to sightings of figures walking through walls. Prior to this there were several corroborated sightings of what appears to be the same ghost, known as the White Lady. A 2008 entry on Mysterious Britain, a paranormal forum, reports two sightings;
"One witness account I found described how a man taking his dog for a walk around the castle approached a tree after his dog had ran away from it in fear. Behind the tree he saw what he thought was a white sheet, that then rose and took the form of a woman in a white robe, before dissolving into mist. Another account shows a family having a picnic. The children who had been playing come back to their parents saying they had seen a scary lady in a white robe. The father goes to investigate and sees the White Lady by a tree. She turns from him, revealing her naked lacerated back then vanishes."
Illustration by Harold Morgan, from A Brief Description and History of the Castle of Oystermouth, W. H. Jones (1951)
In local tradition the ghost is that of a medieval prisoner who was tortured in the Castle. A whipping post still exists in the dungeon. The folklore surrounding the White Lady stretches further back into the past than most realise, but this truth has unfortunately become obfuscated by modern additions. New theories can add to the rich tapestry of folklore, but in this case and many others, claims are presented as if they're proven which leads to the supplantation and erasure of older knowledge.
Alina de Breos
14th century carved stone head, believed to be of Alina de Breos. Now located in Swansea Musuem, it may it may have originally come from Woebly Castle
In 2012 author Ann Marie Thomas published Alina, the White Lady of Oystermouth, which sought to associate the stories of the White Lady with solely with Alina de Breos - the last of the de Breoses to hold the lordship of Gower.
Alina (or Aline/Aliva) was born in 1291 at Bramber Castle in Sussex to Lord William de Breos and his first wife, named Alice in some sources. The de Breoses had come to Britain with William the Conqueror in 1066 and had been granted extensive lands in Sussex. Gower came into their possession in 1203. Historian W. H. Jones described the de Breos as a "licentious clan of freebooters, who appear to have been so habituated to duplicity and chicanery as to render it impossible to be straightforward and honest in their dealings with their neighbours."
Drawing of William de Breos' seal from a 1301 document
In 1298, Alina was married to John de Mowbray at Swansea Castle, when they were around 7 and 12 years old. At about 14 years of age, she gave birth to the first of 5 children with Mowbray. The following years were tragic for Alina and Gower. The land had been ravaged by terrible Atlantic Storm between 1315 and 1317, devastating the peninsula, particularly at Pennard. William's remarriage in 1317 indicates that Alina's mother likely died in the preceeding years. At this time the lordship was also subject to assaults from aggressive neighbours. King Edward II's favourite Hugh le Despenser had been gaining land in Glamorgan and by 1318 he was encroaching on Gower's borders. Fighting broke out. In 1319 the desparate William promised to sell Gower to the Earl of Hereford and took a deposit. He made the same promise to Roger de Mortimer. Despenser attempted to intimidate all contenders.
Drawing of John de Mowbray's grave
Following the death of his son and heir in 1320, William de Breos granted the lordship to Alina and John, with the Earl of Hereford's approval. William seems to have still been discussing the sale with Despenser, but Johm took matters into his own hands and seized Gower. Despenser complained of treason to the King, whose forces confiscated Gower and imposed fines on the rebels. In May 1321 the King's favouritism of Despenser caused the dissatisfied Marcher Lords to overrun the castles of South Wales, and John was once again in possession of Gower. A short peace came when the rebellious lords were pardoned, but the King once again instigated rebellion. The action came to a head on 16 May 1322 at the Battle of Boroughbridge near York, where the King's forces defeated the rebels. John de Mowbray was taken to York and executed.
15th Century depiction of the Tower of London
The now widowed Alina had fled from Gower over the channel to Ilfracombe in Devon with her children a few weeks earlier. She was eventually discovered and sent to the Tower of London. The Despensers schemed to deprive Alina of her inheritance, forcing William to surrender Gower to them. Alina's older sister Joan died in 1323. When her father died 3 years later, she was still imprisoned despite his efforts to win her release.
The execution of Hugh Despenser the Younger, from a manuscript of Jean Froissart.
Alina's salvation came in 1327 when the Queen consort Isobel deposed the king with the help of the barons (slide 4), and King Edward III came to the throne. The Despensers were executed (slide 5) and the barons were pardoned and had their estates returned. Her father's mismanagement meant Alina missed out, but the King showed mercy and granted her tower. She married Richard de Peschale, who she had met in the Tower of London. She had 4 children with him. In her remaining years at Oystermouth, it is believed she oversaw the construction of the Castle's Chapel, giving the castle its distinct windows. the Chapel is now associated with her. Unfortunately she did not have much of a chance to enjoy her reclaimed inheritance and died in 1331.
Photos showing the distinct windows of Alina's Chapel. The last was take by Mary Dillwyn c.1850s.
While Alina de Breos' identification with the White Lady now appears firmly established, with most online articles published since 2012 regurgitating this recent augmentation, she makes a poor candidate for the ghost. By the end of her life, her troubles appear to have been largelly resolved. The theory sanitised the reports of lacerations seen on the White Lady and the association with the whipping post. Contrary to popular belief, the Tower of London was not commonly a site of torture, certainly not for 13th century noblewomen such as Alina. The truth is far spookier.
Another carved stone head believed to depict Alina, dating from c. 1330. Now located in Swansea Museum, it was found in the old Rectory House on Fisher Street, Swansea, and is believed to have originally been in St Mary's Church.
The Original Tale
The original reports of the ghost were made by those who had seen the ghost while completely unaware of the existence of a 19th century folktale concerning the White Lady. Even Ann Marie Thomas did not uncover this in her research. Could the tale have been an explanation for much earlier sightings of the ghost? Sightings that were then corroborated entirely independently and uninfluenced by later generations?
A description of Oystermouth Castle from Swansea, Mumbles & Gower Coast Official Album Guide (1920) describes the castle as a 'haunt' and mentions the whipping post.
The story was published in Charles Wilkins' Tales and Sketches of Wales (1879) - a collection of old folktales. Exactly how long the story has been told for is unknown. In this tale the unnamed White Lady is once again married to a Norman Lord - this time the cruel Earl Neville. The White Lady is subject his torturous abuse and seeks to escape using supernatural means. The story published in Tales and Sketches of Wales (1879) can be read here;
