A Canon, a Cook and a Fatal Pie

The story of Nell Cook is told in Barham's The Ingoldsby Legends under the title "Nell Cook: A Legend of the “Dark Entry”, subtitled The King's Scholar's Story. Written in the nineteenth century, the tale is presented as a story told by a King's Scholar to his uncle, beginning with a question that generations of Canterbury schoolboys might readily have understood: why should anyone be afraid of walking through an old passage after dark?

The answer takes us back to the reign of Henry VIII, when a Cathedral canon lived in a comfortable house close to the Dark Entry. Although the religious establishment around him was austere, the canon enjoyed a generous table, presided over by his talented cook and housekeeper, Ellen Bean, better known as Nell Cook.

Nell was devoted to her master, and the household appeared to run smoothly until the arrival of a young woman whom the canon introduced as his niece. Nell, however, suspected that their relationship was rather less innocent than the canon claimed.

In Barham's darkly comic telling, Nell's cooking becomes the instrument of her revenge. A poisoned pie brings death to the canon and his supposed niece, and the household's secrets are suddenly exposed. The authorities discover the terrible outcome, but Nell herself has disappeared. Her punishment, according to the legend, is as grim as the crime. She is said to have been buried alive beneath the flagstones of the Dark Entry.

Nell's story does not end with her burial. Her spirit, according to local tradition, continues to haunt the Dark Entry, particularly on Friday evenings.

Barham gives the legend its memorable warning:

“But one thing's clear – that all the year on every Friday night, Throughout that Entry dark doth roam Nell Cook's unquiet Sprite…”

The poem goes on to suggest that anyone who feels the ghost's fatal breath is destined to die an untimely death within the year.

Barham's account is a literary treatment of local legend, rather than verified evidence that Nell Cook existed or met the fate described. Whether fact or fiction, the story remains part of the folklore of King’s, passed down through generations of pupils, staff and OKS.

Read the full story of Nell Cook, as it appears in the Ingoldsby Legends, here.