Hanging Hill, which the Cotswold Way crosses between Cold Ashton and Bath, takes its ominous name from its steep, overhanging cliff. Local stories tell of a woman in white seen walking the hilltop path at dawn, always moving towards the cliff edge before vanishing. The identity of the ghost varies with the telling — some say she was a jilted bride, others a Civil War widow searching for her husband after the Battle of Lansdown. The hilltop is genuinely atmospheric in early morning mist, and the views from the edge are spectacular but vertiginous. The name 'Hanging Hill' likely comes from the Old English for 'steep slope' rather than anything more sinister.
“The identity of the ghost varies with the telling — some say she was a jilted bride, others a Civil War widow searching for her husband after the Battle of Lansdown.”
