A narrow gorge in Staffordshire, England, looks like something out of a fairy tale. But Lud's Church is a real place that could have inspired fairy tales. The chasm penetrates 60 feet down into the bedrock, and the humidity encourages growth, even as the limited sunlight struggles to penetrate its depth. The result is a lush, green, moss-covered chapel of rock. The various tales told of Lud's Church associate it with Arthurian legends, the Celtic god Llud, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Robin Hood, and Walter de Lud-Auk, leader of the Lollards. His daughter is said to haunt the gorge.
Local legend tells of Alice’s ghost haunting Lud’s Church, along with “a headless figure echoing the beheading ritual of Gawain and the Green Knight.” Whatever your personal beliefs, the Arthurian reference is notable for the chasm’s connection to the Green Chapel, where in the chivalric romance Sir Gawain of the Round Table faced the Green Knight one last time. Based on the anonymous author’s description, the Green Chapel is thought to be either Lud’s Church or nearby Nan Tor.
Read deeper into the mythology of Lud's Church, and see more beautiful pictures at Urban Ghosts.
(Image credit: August Schwerdfeger)