Pinkney Park, near Sherston, has a skull said to be that of a member of the Pinkney family from which the estate takes its name. It is kept in a niche above the stairs and is thought, because of its small size, to be female.
Local tradition says that many attempts have been made to destroy this skull, by burning, smashing with a hammer and sundry other methods, but it defies them all. The legend adds that when the last Pinkney dies and the estate passes into other hands, the skull will, of its own accord, crumble into dust.
Unfortunately for the legend, the estate has not been owned by the Pinkney family for centuries.
Why anyone should take so much trouble to try to destroy a skull is not recorded.
The Folklore of Wiltshire, Ralph Whitlock, 1976 (p126).
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