Abington Hotel

The Romans were the first to treat Crawford as a place of importance and during their sojourn in Scotland, Crawford was always the second most-fortified area, with Watling Street, the main Roman road north, running through it. Where the Romans were, so the Ancient Britons were also, camping in the hills around the Roman fortifications. When their numbers became too large the Roman soldiers would be sent out into the hills to slaughter them. Perhaps the explanation for Crawford's Roman ghosts lies in this gruesome tale. Ten Roman legionnaires have been seen marching down Walting Street in the middle of Crawford, possibly on their way to the Britons' camps. But, of course, the level of Walting Street in Roman times was much lower than it is today, so the legionnaires are only seen from the knees up!

Crawford remained a place of importance on the main north-south road. From the mid-18th century coaches stopped at the coaching inn, now the Post Horn Hotel, to change the horses, 6th of 40 stops between Edinburgh and London. The inn was built in 1744, a year before the second Jacobite rising, and Bonnie Prince Charlie must have passed this way on his fateful journey from Derby to Culloden. There were certainly Redcoats in the area because a local wood is known as the 'Hanging Wood' where Jacobites and local law breakers were hanged. Even a five year old child was hanged for stealing a loaf of bread and its ghost is thought to haunt the surrounding hills. Each tree used for hanging bears a silver cross.

The part of the Post Horn Hotel which is now the dining room and kitchens was once the stables of the coaching inn, and here you might find a little girl, about nine years old. She sings to herself as she skips, and another favourite game involves moving the dining chairs around. The present owners have glimpsed her often and believe she is the daughter of the inn's owner in the early 19th century, who was keen on horses and spent a lot of time playing in the stables.

It seems rather ironic, then, that she was killed outside the inn by a coach and four.