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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780752462394 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 12/26/2010 |
| Series: | Haunted |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 96 |
| File size: | 6 MB |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Haunted Cotswolds
By Diz White
The History Press
Copyright © 2010 Diz WhiteAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-6239-4
CHAPTER 1
Manor House Manifestations
Horror Hall
Witney, Oxfordshire
The candle inexorably burned down to a stub in the musty underground chamber, its flickering light revealing the sole, forlorn occupant of this evil pit. He was slumped on a chair by a wooden table. The smell of damp earth was rank with mould and the rats scurried about, becoming bolder every time they crossed the floor. The hours passed slowly for this poor soul, hidden deep underground, as thirst and hunger became unendurable. After several agonizing days the sound of a key was heard scrabbling in the lock of the trapdoor overhead. When it was opened, this door creaked ominously as its rusty hinges screeched in protest. A low light flooded into the chamber and an old man lowered the longed-for food, water and candles into the darkened tomb. A hurried, whispered conversation ensued. The old man promised a speedier return the next time he was to come. He closed the overhead door and locked it securely. But there was no next time. The doomed man hiding in this secret chamber died by inches as his supply of food and water slowly ran out. Only the rats were happy.
This was the horrible fate of Lord Francis Lovell, Squire of Minster Lovell Hall, a fifteenth-century fortified manor house situated on the banks of the River Windrush near Witney in Oxfordshire. Lord Lovell, who was created a Viscount by Richard III in 1482, made an unpopular decision in choosing who to support as his future King. A Yorkist in the Wars of the Roses, Lovell escaped to the Continent after the defeat of Richard's troops in the Battle of Bosworth and returned to Ireland where the pretender to the throne, Lambert Simnel, was crowned King. Lord Lovell's decision to support this imposter eventually led to his downfall. He accompanied Simnel to England and then on to Yorkshire to raise an army. Together with Simnel, Lovell met Henry VII's army at the Battle of Stoke, where they were soundly defeated. When Lovell's support of Simnel was discovered by his enemies in the surrounding region, he realised that he had put his life in peril.
Next, he hid in an underground chamber built deep in the earth under his home, Minster Lovell Hall. He entrusted his faithful servant to keep him supplied with food and water until the danger had passed. He also told his servant to lock him into this terrible place to keep him safe from his enemies. This was his undoing, as subsequently some accident or other misfortune befell his servant. This servant died and as nobody else knew of Lord Lovell's whereabouts, his terrible fate was sealed.
Today witnesses tell of Lord Lovell's agonised groans and weeping as he haunts the ruins of the Great Hall. The secret room in which Lord Lovell was hidden was uncovered in 1728, some 250 years after this event. The construction of a new chimney at Minster Lovell Hall uncovered a large vault deep underground. The skeleton of Lord Lovell was revealed slumped over a wooden table; before him were a book and some papers in a bad state of decay. Reputedly, the book and papers turned to dust as soon as the fresh air circulated around the room.
The phantom of Lord Lovell has company, because another apparition also haunts these spectacular ruins. This spectre is said to be that of Baron William Lovell, the unfortunate Francis Lovell's grandfather, who became the first squire of Minster Lovell Hall when he had this building constructed in 1440. An anonymous poem tells the story of how Baron William was celebrating his marriage to his beautiful young bride with much feasting and dancing. But, after a time, the bride tired of the festivities and suggested a game where she would hide and Baron William would find her. She scampered off to the most remote part of the hall and hid in an ornate wooden chest. She did not realise that the chest was self-locking. She was so far away from the lively wedding party that they did not hear her screams when she realised she was trapped. Nor did they hear the sounds her pounding fists made as she tried desperately to attract someone's attention. She was not found until the air had long run out of the wooden chest and she was already dead.
It is said that Baron William returns to visit the hall every Christmas Eve. The hall is now a massive ruin and his plaintive tones are heard echoing around the few walls left standing. Those who have witnessed his visits say his voice is heard for several minutes, wailing for his dead bride, before his apparition finally appears. He walks around the ruin of the hall as if it were still as it was when he built it. He appears to still be searching for his bride and opens doors that are not there, climbs invisible staircases, floats in the air and walks on upper floors that no longer exist. His pitiful cries for his lost love strike terrible sadness and fear into all his unlucky listeners.
Hauntings of the Hanging Judge
Thrupp, Gloucestershire
The lovely, but haunted, Nether Lypiatt Manor near Thrupp, Gloucestershire, stands close to a minor road junction and looks westward over Stroud. This Queen Anne house was formerly the home of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and was built in 1702 by an unknown architect for Judge John Coxe. It is a wonderful example of an early eighteenth-century house on a small scale and is framed by a stand of trees whose leaves whisper in the wind on stormy nights. Some inhabitants of the nearby village tell of shivering in fear when eerie, wailing voices mingle with the rustling of these trees and there have been many sightings over the years of not one, but two ghosts who haunt this manor.
Nether Lypiatt Manor forms a square of merely 46ft and is arranged over four floors. This exquisite building has sash windows, tall chimneys, hipped roofs and fine gate piers and railings. It is the perfect setting, in fact, for the scariest of hauntings. Many of the principal rooms boast their original panelling in chestnut, oak or beech wood and the original stone fireplaces are also still in place. A particularly beautiful William & Mary staircase rises from the basement to the attic.
In 1981, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent described Nether Lypiatt Manor as 'the home of our dreams' and tried to buy it. However, they found that after taking its condition into account, the asking price for the house was too high. Many other prospective buyers, however, refused to purchase the house when they heard tales of it being haunted. Finally when the price was lowered, the Kents bought it for less than £500,000.
Princess Michael of Kent, who was born Baroness Marie-Christine von Beibnitz of Bohemia, was quoted as saying, 'I have no doubt that many old houses have some kind of spirit presence or ghost and, if Nether Lypiatt Manor has such, he, she or it must be benign and well disposed. We as a family have all been extremely happy living here'.
However, when interviewed, many inhabitants of the nearby villages did not agree with Princess Michael's portrayal of the friendly nature of the spirits that haunt the manor and told tales of two ghosts that have repeatedly returned over the centuries. These ghosts first appeared following the tenure of the manor's original owner, the aforementioned Judge John Coxe, or 'the Hanging Judge' as he was known.
This judge's son took his own life in Nether Lypiatt Manor and it is his ghost that is rumoured to have appeared in many of its rooms. Soul-shattering wails from this agonised apparition have scared almost every owner of the manor over the years.
In 1704, Judge Coxe presided over the case of a local blacksmith who had been convicted of murder. The judge initially sentenced him to hang but later, playing a cruel game, pledged to let the blacksmith go free if he could make a flawless set of wrought iron gates. The blacksmith worked almost without pause for fourteen days before delivering the finished artefacts. When the evil Judge Coxe examined them he found the smallest imperfection and did not allow the blacksmith a reprieve. This poor man was hanged on 25 January 1705.
On the anniversary of this date every year these same wrought iron gates, which adorn the entrance to the manor, are said to fly open at midnight to the accompaniment of eerie voices emanating from the trees surrounding the grounds. These sounds quickly climb to a screeching crescendo, at which point the ghost of the hanged blacksmith, riding a great white horse with hooves flying, thunders through the gates. Once outside, the apparition of the blacksmith's horse rears up on its hindquarters and, with great clouds of steam billowing from its nostrils, whinnies and snorts in the frosty night air. At the same time, the blacksmith's ghastly moans echo through Nether Lypiatt Manor and the surrounding grounds, sending chills through all who hear them.
The Creepy Collector
Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire
Snowshill Manor was owned by Winchcombe Abbey from AD 821 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Its ownership then passed to the Crown and it was given to Catherine Parr, the wife of King Henry VIII. It is set in a remote part of the Cotswolds overlooking the Vale of Evesham and is surrounded by a series of terraced garden rooms.
The section of the manor now left standing was built in 1500 but, by 1919, after acquiring many owners, it was abandoned and left almost derelict. It was then bought by the eccentric architect and craftsman Charles Paget Wade from Suffolk, who was independently wealthy and able to indulge his mania for collecting. Charles Wade restored Snowshill and, from 1900 until the beginning of the 1950s, amassed the most extraordinary collection of everyday objects, eventually numbering over 22,000 items. He used Snowshill Manor to house his collection, which included clocks, bicycles and children's toys. He augmented these items with more arcane ones such as collections of cow bells, butter stamps, automatons and twenty-six suits of samurai armour.
Wade also dabbled in alchemy, magic and, some say, the dark arts. He collected a number of artefacts that were connected with this interest and it is well documented that he would delight in deliberately scaring visitors to his mansion, including some members of the Bloomsbury Group, such as Virginia Woolf. As these visitors were viewing his collections he would slip unseen into the room that they were occupying and suddenly appear before them as if by magic. He became so adept at scaring his visitors that numbers of them were known to have fainted.
Charles Wade bought Snowshill Manor chiefly because it had no electricity. He felt that his collection would be enhanced by the spooky shadows cast by the oil lamps and candles that were used for illumination. Wade did not live in Snowshill itself but in the old priest's house in the courtyard, making the manor deserted by night; an ideal setting for the ghosts who were already present and for new ones who took up residence.
A dark hooded figure, widely believed to be a monk, has been reported haunting the manor on numerous occasions. He has been seen in the daytime, where it has been noted that he disturbs farm animals for several hundred yards around. His monk's habit swirls around him as he walks slowly around the mansion and seems to become illuminated from within. He has been known to kneel and appear to be praying before moving on, sometimes passing through walls, and at other times reclining on the stone floor.
Charles Wade donated Snowshill Manor to the National Trust, who took possession of it in 1951. After Wade's death, some of the manor staff ascertained that mysterious noises heard from behind closed doors were made by the ghost of the former owner.
Loud clanking and grating noises and sounds of grinding machinery echo through the deserted rooms of Snowshill Manor as, it seems, Charles Wade haunts his former home. He is apparently unable to leave behind his fantastic collection which he gathered obsessively for over fifty years.
Miss Lobb's Lament
Kelmscott, Gloucestershire
The famous Victorian designer and craftsman William Morris leased Kelmscott Manor jointly with the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1871 and made it his summer home. It is situated a couple of hundred yards or so from the River Thames on a quiet lane in the ancient village of Kelmscott.
Kelmscott Manor is primarily Tudor and was built in 1570. However, another wing was added in 1670. This house was chosen by Morris because it had remained largely unchanged by the original owners, a farming family called the Turners, for several hundred years. This three-storey, gabled, farmhouse-style building is made of traditional Cotswold limestone, while the added wing from around 100 years later shows the influence of the Renaissance with its classical pediments above the windows and fine wood panelling inside its rooms.
The manor has several attic rooms situated between the great timbers that support the roof where in earlier times, the tillers and herdsmen slept. These great timbers are exposed and provide a spooky setting for the ghost that is said to inhabit the upper rooms and roof of the manor. Morris's bedroom would make any ghost feel welcome because its seventeenth-century tapestry hangings show gruesome scenes of Samson having his eyes gouged out.
The manor is now owned by the Society of Antiquaries, who restored it and currently maintain it. It is open to the public on certain days in the summer months.
This beautiful old house, in its tranquil setting of semi-formal gardens surrounded by a halcyon meadow, hardly seems the setting for visitations from the other side. But according to some of the local villagers and volunteers who lead the tours of the manor, this is indeed the case.
After William Morris died, his daughter May took great care to guard his legacy and kept the manor exactly as her father had left it. The many textiles and wallpapers he produced, featuring patterns inspired by the surrounding flora and fauna, are still sold today and are displayed around the manor along with original furniture, metalwork, ceramics and other artefacts from Morris's craftwork.
For many years May Morris enjoyed the friendship of Miss Lobb, a close companion. Apparently Miss Lobb could be somewhat intimidating and even managed to scare William Morris's friend, the formidable George Bernard Shaw, on one occasion when he came to tea.
When May died Miss Lobb was inconsolable and before very long, it is said, took a bottle of brandy and a shotgun to bed with her and followed right along. It is thought to be Miss Lobb's ghost that haunts the upper rooms of the manor. Wispy ectoplasm has been seen to weave in and out of the ancient roof beams and a strange, deep voice is heard faintly calling as it echoes around the roof and upper chambers. These plaintive, strident calls apparently make anyone who hears them shiver with fear.
May is buried along with her sister Jenny, her father William, and his wife Jane in the grounds of nearby St George's Church in Kelmscott. Perhaps Miss Lobb cannot find May on the other side and through her constant calling and searching, she is attempting to intimidate anyone who witnesses her ghost. This apparition can remain dormant for many years before suddenly reappearing to haunt the upper chambers, beams and huge rafters of the mansion.
The Half-finished Haunted House
Nympsfield, Gloucestershire
Mysterious Woodchester Park's salient feature today is a creepy, unfinished mansion with incomplete floors, fireplaces suspended in mid-air and staircases that lead to nowhere. It was purchased by William Leigh, a devout Roman Catholic, for the sum of £100,000 in 1844 and is now known at Woodchester Mansion.
After several false starts, Leigh engaged the services of a young architect named Benjamin Bucknall to replace Spring Park, the original Georgian country house situated on this estate, with a mansion in the Gothic style. Although incomplete, Bucknall's masterpiece exhibits a thorough understanding of medieval architecture with a startling blend of domestic and monastic styles. These features create a haunted atmosphere that fill some who view the mansion with dread. Rooms built for domestic purposes lie side-by-side with a perfectly proportioned chapel and the outside of the building is decorated with the insanely grimacing faces of many gargoyles.
William Leigh died in 1873, leaving behind a son who did not inherit his religious fervour. Many plans for the completion of the manor fell through due to lack of funds and the only building work finished after William's death was that of the drawing room, which was completed for a visit by Cardinal Vaughan in 1894.
After a number of changes of ownership, Woodchester Mansion, which is situated between Stroud and Nailsworth, was purchased by Stroud District Council with English Heritage providing 75 per cent of the monies needed. Emergency repairs were carried out but the completion of the mansion was considered too expensive a project. The mansion is now listed as a Grade I building which saves it from demolition.
In 1988 the Woodchester Mansion Trust was set up to preserve its present state and to arrange for courses in stonemasonry and architectural conservation to be made available to students and the general public. With the help of grants, the trust has been able to complete the restoration of the grand staircase, the rainwater system, the West Range and the Clock Tower.
Local villagers have reported seeing a plethora of ghosts and creepy objects in and around the unfinished mansion, including a coffin hovering above a nearby lake which is thought to be that of a Dominican friar who committed suicide by drowning; a black dog; the ghost of a slightly built man standing in the doorway of the chapel; a headless horseman in Civil War clothes; and, in addition, pieces of stone and masonry mysteriously and dangerously flying through the air.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Haunted Cotswolds by Diz White. Copyright © 2010 Diz White. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page,About the Author,
Acknowledgements,
Introduction,
one Manor House Manifestations,
two Oxfordshire Entities,
three Creepy Cotswold Castles,
four Eerie Inns,
five Cadaverous Cotswold Kings and Queens,
six Gloucestershire Ghosts,
seven Chilling Chippy,
Sources,
Copyright,