The story of The White Lady of Ardgillan Castle

After Captain Taylor died, Mrs.Taylor decided to move from Ardgillan and live in Meath. Accordingly she dismissed her staff, but agreed that her gardener could use the gardens in exchange for taking care of the castle grounds. She also left him keys to the castle.

The back door of Ardgillan, which looks out on to a terrace lined with yew trees, is connected to the front door through a series of passageways. Down one of these passageways is a glass door which leads to the cellars.

Some months later, the gardener’s two sons were working on the terrace when they heard footsteps coming down a flight of stairs in the house. The footsteps approached the terrace door, then stopped. Suspecting an intruder, the two men looked in a window but saw no one. They then checked all the doors, and found them securely locked.

When they told their father the story, he laughed, but later told them his own story.

A few years earlier, he had cause to return to the castle at ten o’clock at night. Carrying a basket of vegetables, he entered the house by the terrace door and walked along the passage to the kitchen. Passing the glass cellar door, he saw a woman dressed in white standing behind it. Thinking she was locked in, he moved to open the door and the lady vanished. Puzzled, he continued on to the kitchen and left the basket on the table. On his return, the figure was again standing behind the glass door. Once more the gardener tried to make contact with her, but she disappeared.

Some time later, the gardener mentioned the apparition to Mrs.Taylor, who revealed that she had been visited by another spirit, her son, who appeared and talked with her four nights after his death.

No other sightings of the son have been reported, but it is said that the White Lady can be seen on the Lady’s Stairs, which leads from Ardgillan to Barnageeragh strand, over the Balbriggan Road.