Black Stockings: Ghostly Highwayman of the B4047
5 August 2021 (Updated 20 January 2026)
Before the A40 dual carriageway was built, the main road between Witney and Burford was what is now the B4047. A particular stretch of this road close to the Asthall turn is said to be haunted by the ghost of a highwayman known as 'Black Stockings'.
The figure has been seen both on horseback and on foot, but always dressed completely in black in the garb of the 18th century. According to Joe Robinson's Oxfordshire Ghosts, in life, the highwayman lived in the hamlet of Worsham, a few miles to the East, and has been witnessed by late-night car travellers in recent memory.
According to folklorist Angelina Parker, Black Stockings was headless, carrying his head under his arm, and was in the habit of 'swarming up on to the coach' to sit by the coachman. Parker claimed that Black Stockings' coach invasions were such a regular occurance that passengers overcame their fears and became accustomed to his invasions.
The most famous highwaymen in this area were probably Tom, Dick and Harry Dunsdon who terrorised the Burford area during the 18th century. Could 'Black Stockings' in fact be one of the notorious Dunsdon brothers?
The name Black Stockings may have been inspired by the legends around famous highwayman Dick Turpin. According to Westcountry Outlaws, Highwaymen and Rogues by Richard Peirce, one of Turpin's first crimes was the theft of a race horse named White Stockings.
Was Black Stockings a highwayman hoax?
Katherine M. Briggs in Folklore of the Cotswolds provides two alternative explanations for this haunting.
In one version told to Briggs by locals, Black Stockings was a goblin-like spirit who stopped horses and pulled their riders off their backs. However, the same source also told Briggs that this was merely a story put about by actual highwaymen, presumably to generate fear and discourage the law from hunting for them so they could continue their highway robbery in peace.
Black Stockings: man or horse?
The name 'Black Stockings' seems a strange one for a highwayman, whether living or ghostly. Surely the colour of his legwear would not be the most notable thing about his appearance! I wonder if 'Black Stockings' could actually be the name of the horse on which he rides, as the colouring of an animals legs can often inspire their name (this is why you meet so many cats named 'Socks'!).
The name could also possibly be inspired the escapades of a more famous highwayman, Dick Turpin. In 1737 Turpin robbed a horse-dealer of a famous steeplechaser named 'White Stockings'. The highwayman connection and similarity of names makes me think that the Dick Turpin story could have inspired the naming of the B4047 spectre.
The shrieking boy of Worsham
Briggs also mentions another nearby haunting that may have become confused with the legend of Black Stockings over time. The nearby hamlet of Worsham, also known as Worsham Bottom, was said to be haunted by the spirit of shepherd boy whose ghost would run screaming along the valley.
The truly grim tale behind this haunting is that of a shepherd boy who confronted a gang of ruthless sheep-stealers going about their work, and was skinned alive by them for his trouble! Worsham was home to a woollen mill during the 19th and early 20th centuries, so it is perhaps fitting that it should be haunted by a ghost connected to that industry.
If skinning a person seemly a perverse sort of torture, remember that glove-making from sheep and deer skins was a common occupation in the area, so those with the skills needed to deftly skin an animal (or man) would not have been in short supply!
Sources
- 'Oxfordshire Ghosts' by Joe Robinson (2000, Wharncliffe Books, ISBN: 9781871647762)
- 'The Lore of the Land' by Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson (ISBN: 0141021039)
- 'Westcountry Outlaws, Highwaymen and Rogues' by Richard Peirce (IDBN: 9780955869488)
- The Legend of Dick Turpin the Highwayman (www.london-walking-tours.co.uk)
