The Hertfordshire legend of the notorious Nomansland highway robber, Lady Katherine Ferrers, persists some 350 years after her death. The pub named after her, The Wicked Lady, still stands on Nomansland Common between Sandridge and Wheathampstead, to the north of St Albans, as a permanent reminder to passing motorists and hikers. Several novels based loosely on her story have been published over the years, and Margaret Lockwood famously portrayed her in the film The Wicked Lady, Britain`s biggest box-office hit in 1946. The film was re-made in 1983 with Michael Winner as Director, but met with rather less success.
But was Katherine Ferrers truly wicked, or simply a wronged woman treated badly by history? There is no doubt that Katherine Ferrers was a real person, with records showing that she was born in Bayford, near Hertford, in May, 1634. The Ferrers were a wealthy family, with numerous lands and properties, including the manor house of Markyate Cell, which can still be seen from the A5183 to the north of Markyate village. The family were fervent Royalists and suffered severe financial punishment from Parliament for their support of King Charles 1.
In 1648 the orphaned 14-year-old Katherine was married off to Thomas Fanshawe, himself only 16 years of age, and many of the old Ferrers assets were then sold off. Fanshawe was later described by the diarist Samuel Pepys as “a rascally fellow, without a penny in his purse”, and there is no evidence that the couple had children. Katherine died aged 26 in June 1660, a month after King Charles II returned to London to reclaim the throne, and she was buried at St Mary`s Church in Ware.
According to legend the impoverished noblewoman, Lady Katherine Ferrers was obliged to commit highway robbery simply to make ends meet. During a final attempted robbery on Nomansland Common she was hit by a gunshot and rode off into the night, to be found the next morning disguised in men`s clothing beside a secret doorway to Markyate Cell, dead.
Sadly for enthusiasts of the Wicked Lady legend, there is no evidence that Katherine Ferrers ever visited Markyate Cell, and in fact the property had been sold off five years before Katherine`s death. Many other acts of lawlessness were added to the Wicked Lady story in subsequent years, including robberies, the slaughtering of livestock and the killing of a constable. However, historian J.E. Cussens pointed out in 1870 that no contemporary records attribute these activities to Lady Katherine Ferrers, The Wicked Lady, or any other single highway robber. Nor is there any mention of her in works such as Alexander Smith`s Complete History of the Lives of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, published in 1714, only 54 years after Katherine Ferrers` death.
Stories persist of ghostly sightings of a woman at Markyate Cell, and of a figure on a black horse galloping across Nomansland Common in the darkness. With the nights closing in and mists swirling through the shadows it would take a brave person to venture alone across Nomansland even today.
This article is part of our Celebrating St Albans History series. You can view all our historical facts on our Celebrating St Albans History page.
