| SHUCKLAND Introduction Alphabetical List of Locations | |
| Location: | West Wratting, CAMBRIDGESHIRE |
| Legend: |
 "A curious variation of this ghostly hound ['Black Shuck'] is said to haunt an overgrown and little-used lane called Slough Hill in the parish of West Wratting...Police Constable A. Taylor, of The Tiled House, Panton Street, Cambridge, tells me that, in his youth, this lane which is on the road from West Wratting to Balsham was haunted by an extraordinary thing called 'the Shug Monkey.' It was, he says, 'a cross between a big rough-coated dog and a monkey with big shining eyes. Sometimes it would shuffle along on its hind legs and at other times it would whiz past on all fours. You can guess that we children gave the place a wide berth after dark!'" (1)"The creature, either ghost or demon, is said to be jet-black and shaggy-haired, with a monkey's face and staring eyes." (2) "The Shug-monkey...haunts the short stretch of road, and the adjacent lanes, between West Wratting and Balsham...With the body of a shaggy sheepdog, only black, and a monkey's face..." (3) |
| Sources: | (1) James Wentworth Day: 'Here are Ghosts & Witches' (Batsford, 1954), p. 28. (2) 'Folklore, Myths & Legends of Britain' (Reader's Digest, 1973), p. 250. (3) John Harries: 'The Ghost Hunter's Road Book' (Muller, revised edition 1974), p. 70. |
| Place Name: | Wratting - OE 'place where crosswort grew' |
| Other: | Slough Hill Lane, now a grass & gravel bridleway, meets the Balsham-Wratting road at TL598520, and heads north-west across the fields. |