I first came across Sibel Penn quite a while ago when I was looking into the family of Margery Pigott of Little Horwood in Buckinghamshire who, in 1587, left a bequest to her cousin Thomas Hampden 'whom I have brought up of a child.' Sibel’s maiden name was Hampden and she was of the family of Hampden, also in Buckinghamshire. I took no notice of her, only entering her name on Margery’s family tree noting that Sibel was Margery’s cousin 3x removed. Sibel was the wife of David Penn of Penn’s Place in Buckinghamshire, she was of the same family as Margery’s step mother in law Margaret, the heiress of John Penn of Penn’s Place.
It wasn’t until the other day that Sibel cropped up again as nurse to Edward VI following his birth in 1537, she was later a lady of the bedchamber to Elizabeth I.
Sibel is also Hampton Court’s most famous ghost, the Grey Lady, she died of smallpox after catching it from Elizabeth in 1562. She is buried in Hampton Church with a live-size marble effigy over her tomb.
It wasn’t until the other day that Sibel cropped up again as nurse to Edward VI following his birth in 1537, she was later a lady of the bedchamber to Elizabeth I.
Sibel is also Hampton Court’s most famous ghost, the Grey Lady, she died of smallpox after catching it from Elizabeth in 1562. She is buried in Hampton Church with a live-size marble effigy over her tomb.
In 1829 the church was demolished and her remains scattered. Soon afterwards an unearthly noise was heard through the wall of the south wing of Hampton Court said to sound like that of someone spinning thread. An investigation was mounted and the wall taken down, an old spinning wheel was found and the floorboards worn away where the treadle hit the floor! However, Sibel's ghost is said to haunt Hampton Court; she was seen in 1890 by a sentry who noticed a woman dressed in the exact clothing Sibel wears on her tomb.
Sibel's Memorial at St Mary's Church Hampton.
Hampton Court, as you all will know is famous for its ghosts as it is for being the property of Cardinal Wolsey and later Henry VIII, and Sibel’s ghost is not the only one to wander its corridors. In the Haunted Gallery poor Catherine Howard is said to have run up and down screaming for mercy. Jane Seymour, the much loved third queen of Henry is also said to have been seen, clothed in white and carrying a light taper close to what is known as the Silver Stick Gallery.
Interestingly, the village of Penn, the home of the aforementioned Penn’s has its own ghost, that of an 18th-century farm labourer, who appears, laughing, on a phantom horse.
Interestingly, the village of Penn, the home of the aforementioned Penn’s has its own ghost, that of an 18th-century farm labourer, who appears, laughing, on a phantom horse.
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