The legend suggests that when the future Queen Elisabeth I visited her manor in Bisley, she fell ill and died. Fearing the wrath of Henry VIII, the residents substituted a boy who bore remarkable resemblance to the young princess. This was never discovered and the “virgin queen” completed her reign.

This story was invented by the Rev. Thomas Keble and friends and was probably inspired by the discovery of a stone coffin in the grounds of Over Court containing the bones of a young girl. The coffin still exists