Hadleigh Castle is in the English county of Essex and overlooks the Thames estuary from a ridge to the south of the town of Hadleigh. The castle was built around 1215 during the reign of Henry III by Hubert de Burgh, and was surrounded by parkland it had both an important economic, as well as defensive role. Hadleigh Castle was expanded by Edward III, to defend against potential French attack as well as provide the king with a convenient private residence close to London. The ground on which the castle is built is an unstable hill of London clay, the castle has often been subject to subsidence; this, combined with the sale of its stonework in the 16th century has led to it now being ruined.
As with many old, ruined buildings, Hadleigh Castle is "reportedly" haunted. The most common story is of reports of various sightings of a ‘huge’ black dog with red or orange eyes which is foaming at the mouth.
Another story it that a milkmaid called Sally, from Castle Farm, saw a ghostly woman early one morning. The ghost commanded Sally to meet her again at the castle at midnight, but the girl was too frightened to go. She was met the next morning by the ghostly woman, who was so annoyed that she had been disobeyed that she hit the milkmaid around the head, almost dislocating her neck. After this, the girl was known as ‘wry-neck Sal’.
In 1814, John Constable visited Hadleigh to make sketches of the castle in preparation for ten oil sketches and one painting. The painting depicts the castle as a "a decaying man-made structure, succumbing to the elemental power of nature" and is described as "one of his most monumental works". The painting now hangs in the Yale Center for British Art at New Haven, United States
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