Motivation to Publication – and beyond

Tag: haunted houses

  • Borley Rectory: the house and its ghosts – part one

    Borley Rectory: the house and its ghosts – part one

    Borley Rectory 1892Houses are a current fascination. Perhaps because my next novel includes a house – but is it haunted? Borley Rectory, on the other hand, wasn’t just haunted, but supposedly England’s most haunted house. It  certainly is England’s most complex haunting.

    Looking at the picture of the house above, the place has an almost ethereal quality. Borley Rectory was anything but. Built by the Reverend Henry Bull in 1863, the building itself was large, red brick and gothic Victorian. It was decidedly striking – from the outside. Inside, the house was a different story. The floors were stone or heavy wood, the doors were substantial and also heavy, and some of the windows were iron-barred. There was no gas or electric lighting, occupants used oil lamps and candles for light, and the water supply came from a well.

    While the house lacked charm, it did have space, being three storeys high with about 20 rooms.  It was on the same site (more or less) as a former building, Herringham Rectory. Herringham Rectory, from what we know, seems to have been rather attractive, but wouldn’t have had sufficient space for the social engagements the Bulls enjoyed, and the size of their family (14 children of whom 12 survived). So Reverend Bull had his own home constructed, and later, even had it extended.

    Andrew Clarke, paints an interesting picture, when he talks about the presence of two previous buildings, Herringham Rectory  and an older building, maybe also a rectory, and mentioned in several ancient documents. This building is likely to have been from the 17th century or maybe the mid to late 16th century. Clarke describes it as a ‘typical three-bay oak-framed building.’  He suggests the three buildings would have used the same driveway and also shared a stable and coach house. But why is the oldest building significant?

    Borley Rectory sometime before demolition (1939-1944)By the 1950s, Borley Rectory had vanished from view, all that remained were cellars, foundations and plenty of rubble. In 1939, the house had caught fire and was badly damaged, it was later demolished (in 1944). But a history of ghosts, suggestions of nuns and messages on walls had finally led to cellar excavations, the first in the thirties when the house was still standing, and later in the fifties, when again nothing of significance was found. But in between, in 1943, was a different story, when ghost hunter Price was one of a team exploring the site. His motley crew included a pathologist, the local vicar and the vicar’s gardener who did the digging. They were looking for death but instead found bottles and broken knives. Then they moved on, and three feet down, and discovered a jawbone and part of a skull.

    We can only speculate, from a modern perspective, how the  gardener, Jackson, a former farm labourer insisted the jawbone belonged to a pig, while Bailey, the pathologist instead reported that the bone was human. The vicar, Henning, wanted the remains to be buried in the churchyard, but the locals protested  and the bones were hastily buried at Liston. Oh, for today’s forensic specialists!

    The bones and skull raise several questions and not just whether they were animal or human. Also significant: how did they get there, and were they anything to do with the hauntings? Possible explanations include:

    • the bones were animal : detritus left from a former building (probably the first)
    • the bones were either animal and human but planted/exchanged by Harry Price to support his theories. Price was a sceptic turned believer, so maybe the bones were part of his plan?
    • the bones were human:  the remains of a nun, probably not the one of the legend, but maybe French and possibly murdered in the 17th century (highly unlikely, although it’s interesting that when the dig was extended the following day some old French pendants were found nearby)
    • the  remains of someone associated with Borley whose death might not have been totally innocent (was Katie Boreham buried in the churchyard?)
    • the bones belonged to a plague victim of the 17th century, although why he or she might be lying in the cellar is anyone’s guess

    An interesting point with regard to the last, is that apparently part of the rectory’s garden was a burial site for plague victims, and occasionally bones would reappear  (A. Clarke, 2003).

    Still one question remains unanswered. What did happen at Borley Rectory and how much of the story is attributable to ghosts? Find out in part two.

    Note: Borley Rectory no longer exists. Anyone visiting the local area should respect the peace and privacy of residents.

    Article written by Ellie Stevenson, author.

    This article is copyrighted material. Brief extracts including a link to this site can be quoted but the article must not be reproduced in full anywhere without the author’s written permission.

    Sources (websites)

    Sources – Images

    Further Information

  • Where there’s a Ghost

    Where there’s a Ghost

    Samlesbury Hall, near Preston (UK)Great Britain is rich in its ghostly history. And wherever you go, north or south, there’s nearly always a white lady, or maybe a grey one. This mysterious ghost,  white or grey,  is often associated with a tragic event of a romantic nature: here are just three of the very many sad stories. But are they true?

    York’s Theatre Royal

    A grey lady is said to haunt the room behind the dress circle of York’s Theatre Royal (see image below), which is of Georgian origin. In mediaeval times, however, the building was part of St Leonard’s hospital, and run by nuns. Predictably, one of these nuns had an affair with a nobleman. As punishment for her dalliance, she was apparently bricked up in a windowless room (lovely behaviour!) and has haunted the theatre ever since. Somewhat surprisingly, seeing this woman is said to be a good omen for the evening’s production!

    York Theatre Royal (UK)

    Winster Hall, Derbyshire (privately owned)

    Winster Hall, a grade II listed building, was constructed in the early 17th century. In the late nineteenth century it became the home of Llewellynn Jewitt,  a noted engraver and prolific writer. In between these periods, legend suggests, a daughter of the house jumped from the roof, along with her lover: her lover was said to be one of the servants. The ghost of the woman, a white lady, is said to haunt the spot where she fell. The hall later became a pub for a while.

    Winster village is noted for the extent of its preservation and is an official conservation area. There is a local history of lead mining and the hall’s first owner was himself a mine owner.

    Samlesbury Hall, near Preston

    Samlesbury Hall (see top image) has a history of tragedy. Its Priest’s Room was named after a Catholic priest who was murdered there, during the Reformation. Despite the best efforts, his blood couldn’t be removed from the tiny floor. The room was then bricked up for 200 years. Even then, when the boards were removed, the stain came back every so often…

    The white lady, named Dorothea Southworth, came from a Catholic family but fell in love with a Protestant soldier, by the name of de Houghton. They defied their families and met in secret, but, planning to elope, they were caught that night and her lover was murdered in front of her eyes, with two of his friends. Dorothea was sent to a convent abroad but she never recovered, and sadly died.

    Her ghost has been said to haunt the hall, and has been seen on the drive, or in the nearby grounds. She was often seen in the two world wars, by soldiers stationed at the hall, presumably looking for her lost lover.

    In the late 1800s, three bodies were discovered, when road works led to an excavation: could these be her lover and his friends?

    Sources

    Stately Ghosts: haunting tales from Britain’s historic houses, London: VisitBritain Publishing, 2007.

    Winster Hall in Main Street, Winster

    Image sources

    Samlesbury Hall, near Preston

    Theatre Royal, York

  • At Home with the Ghost

    At Home with the Ghost

    guernseyI’ve always had an interest in things mysterious from when I was young. The unsolved murder, the abandoned house, a passing ghost. Now I’ve grown up (?) I’m using my interest in things historical, spooky or surreal in my writing. There’s plenty of scope. Haunted houses are a special interest. The jury’s out on whether they’re real, but they certainly make an excellent story. This is one.

    Reputed to be one of the most haunted houses in Britain, Sausmarez  Manor’s website says: ‘The Ghosts have been around almost as long as the house’s nearly 800 years, most are friendly, some are inexplicable, and the most recent one only died in the last 30 years.’

    Sausmarez Manor’s Haunted Barn

    A few years back I lived in Sark, a tiny place in the Channel Islands, which has recently been in the public (and TV) eye. We used to make regular trips to Guernsey on a choppy sea, for food and fun. Sausmarez Manor is in the south west, not that far from St Peter Port. I’ve never been there, but it’s had its share of ghostly noises. Behind the manor is a quaint old barn.  When the owner first moved into the manor, it wasn’t unusual to see a blue-tinted light shining at night from the gable of the barn, close to the roof. The building was unoccupied. The gable was solid and covered by a rose, but when the rose was cut down, a blocked up window was discovered behind it. Had the light somehow ‘come from inside’?

    A little while later, the ground floor was converted to a tearoom, and the top floor became a doll’s house museum. Various people running the tearoom began to ask if the barn was haunted, having heard footsteps coming from upstairs when they opened the barn for business in the morning. They’d checked upstairs, but the place was empty.

    ‘I can only assume,’ the owner, reported, ‘that whatever was larking about with the blue light is still larking about upstairs in the barn.’ (Peter de Sausmarez)

    What do you think?

    Source
    Stately Ghosts: haunting tales from Britain’s historic houses, London: VisitBritain Publishing, 2007.

    Further Information
    Sausmarez Manor website