The White Rabbit

Near the south gate of the Romano British town where roman coffins were found, this spot has somewhat of an evil reputation among the labouring population of Icklingham. They used to aver that a certain gap in the corner in the field could not be kept closed, because it was a witches path, and at sundry times after dusk uncanny forms accompanied by a white rabbit had often been seen to disappear through the opening.

It is also related, but no authority can be found for the statement, that at this point a horse passing along the road was so terrified that it threw its rider, who was killed by the fall. A crab apple tree in the opposite hedge marked the spot where his body was found.

So strong a hold had these traditions upon the labourers, that one of the more educated declares that returning past this place one night from his work, he was upon the point of striking down with his hoe an old woman of weak intellect, who, with her head wrapped in a shawl, had wandered from home. Fortunately her timely exclamation averted the impending blow.

The mans fears; it was stated, were so wrought upon, that he mistook the poor woman for a denizen of the nether world.

These incidents are narrated to show that like many other ancient sites Icklingham has its ghostly traditions, which so far as this spot is concerned originated probably from finding of human remains whilst making the ditch and the bank at the time of the enclosure of the common.