CHILLING tales of ghostly figures in Suffolk form part of the shadowy secrets of waterways in Britain.

Author Allan Scott-Davies has compiled spine-chilling tales of dastardly deeds and hauntings in his new book, Shadows in the Water.

The River Lark in Bury St Edmunds, which once ran through the abbey in the town, forms part of a grisly tale of murder and rebellion buried deep in the town’s past.

Monks and the abbot of the abbey were killed when townspeople rioted against high taxes in 1327.

Today, people walking down Eastgate Street in Bury have reported seeing a monk-like figure on Abbot’s Bridge, glowing as if on fire.

The screaming figure runs through the inner corridor of the bridge before vanishing into the road.

Mr Scott-Davies, 49, who lives in Felixstowe, said: “There are lots of ghosts in Bury. It is a town with a lot of history and a lot of devilish murders going on.”

The Great Churchyard in Bury is also said to be haunted every February 24 at 11pm by the ghost of Maude Carew, who was alleged to have murdered the Duke of Gloucester in 1446.

Maude retired to Bury as a nun to escape the excesses of the Royal Court but was asked by Queen Margaret to kill the duke.

Knowing he always got up during the night for a drink, Maude poisoned the duke’s door handle but also touched the poison herself.

As she lay dying, Maude confessed her deed to a monk, who cursed her to walk on this night for eternity, mourning her crime.

Every year, Maude’s ghost is said to glide from St Mary’s Church towards the Abbey Ruins to the site of the Abbey hospital, where her body was taken.

Shadows in the Water, The Haunted Canals and Waterways of Britain is published by The History Press, priced �12.99.