The Ghostly Goings On Of The Aristocracy

You can take coach tours to ogle at the homes of the rich and famous. Celebrity makes a home famous but before celluloid was invented the aristocracy were the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of their day.

And when your home has a grand name such as Blickling Hall or Buckland Abbey, you can bet the lives of those who lived there were larger than life too.

Ghost stories abound in historic country homes, and perhaps if you lived in a home as beautiful as Buckland Abbey, your spirit wouldn’t want to leave its four walls either. The 700-year-old building with its 16th-century great hall was home of the Elizabethan seafarer Sir Francis Drake. Drake may be more at home in the pages of history books than Hello magazine but he was famous in his day. Drake lived in glory as a national hero while he was alive but perhaps in death he didn’t find peace. It’s rumoured that he and his accompanying ‘hell hounds’ haunt his former home.

Even though historic homes are resplendent in their grandeur, it seems as though there are a lot of unhappy souls drifting through their halls. In Norfolk, Blickling Hall’s creaks and draughts are not innocent gusts of wind; the noises are attributed to the dying groans of Sir Henry Hobart. Sir Henry died after wounds he received during a duel proved fatal. Not content with one ghost, Anne Boleyn’s unhappy spirit is said to wander the grounds of the medieval manor. And with its parkland, lakeside walks and sunken garden, who can blame her?

Over in Cornwall, another medieval house, Cotehele, has plenty of ghostly goings on. The 500-year-old home is said to have a whole host of hazy figures who appear with a strange herbal smell.

Geography knows no bounds for ghouls. In West Yorkshire, East Riddlesden Hall boasts a Woman in White. This spooky vision is said to be the lady of this atmospheric 17th-century manor house, who drowned in the ground’s fish pool. And how’s this for scandal and intrigue? Another unfortunate female is the Grey Lady, reputed to have been locked in her room to starve to death after her husband discovered her with a lover. It sounds like something from a novel. And rather fittingly the home’s pond was used as a film location for the 1992 production of Wuthering Heights.

It may be hundreds of years ago but some things never change. Dogs were a man’s best friend back then too. And Elizabeth, Duchess of Lauderdale, loved her pooch. Her ghost is said to linger in the lavish rooms of Surrey’s Ham House, accompanied by her King Charles Spaniel. Ham House is reputedly one of Britain’s most haunted houses.

Ghost stories often have a sad twist to the tale as unhappy spirits roam with tales of woe or unfinished business. For the Lady in Grey at Rufford Old Hall, one of Lancashire’s finest 16th-centry buildings, it was a tale of true love. Elizabeth Hesketh fell ill while her husband was fighting overseas. She vowed she would not die without first bidding farewell to her beloved husband, who sadly never returned from war.
There’s no question that English house names can add prestige. Naming homes has its roots in the gentry who named their Halls, Castles, Manors and Lodges according to ancestry.

Even if you are not from landed gentry, or your house hasn’t a grand name like Blickling Hall, who knows what ghosts haunt your home?

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