A grisly sight greets customers of the Stag Inn - the blackened bodies of two cats discovered in one of the chimneys of this Elizabethan building during 19th-century restoration work and now displayed in a glass case on the wall of the public bar.

 

The story tells that they were once the cats of a witch named Hannah Clarke. During the 'Great Plague' of 1665-1666, it was commonly believed that cats and dogs were to blame and so it came that Hannah's cats were bricked alive into the fireplace.

 

Another possibility, however, is that they were sacrificed in appeasement of whatever evil force it may be that brings disaster to a home:  Other examples have reportedly been discovered in the Old Town.

 

 

 

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In the Stag Inn, near the top of All Saints Street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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