<p><span style="font-size: medium;">It makes you wonder about traffic to your blog when my Hauntings in July post on this site has had 109 views. The same post on the old blog posted on the same date has had 208</span>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]> <span class="mceItemObject" classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui> </span> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0cm; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Northern Ghosts</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>I have recently been loaned a booklet with 15 tales of ghosts and terrors in the North of England. It was only on googling some of the places and &lsquo;events&rsquo; mentioned that I found that several of the tales had a foundation in fact.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>*****</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bellingham, a village on the North Tyne, is situated right at the heart of what was once part of Northumberland's Border Reiving country. The church at Bellingham, dedicated to St Cuthbert is said to have been one of the places where St Cuthbert's body was brought to following the Viking raids on Lindisfarne in the ninth century A.D. In the churchyard a long stone marks a grave associated with a well known piece folklore; `the Legend of the Lang Pack'.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lee Hall on the banks of the Tyne south of Bellingham was the home of the Ridley family who left their country residence each winter to reside in London. In the winter of 1723 three servants were left to look after the hall with strict instructions not to allow any guests or lodgers into the house.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">One afternoon a pedlar arrived at the hall carrying with him an unusually long pack and asked for shelter for the night. Remembering their orders the servants refused the pedlar, but gave him permission to leave the pack while he sought shelter elsewhere.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">During the night a young maid called Alice, became suspicious of the pedlar's long pack which had been left in the kitchen of the house. The maid swore she saw the pack move.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">She alerted the other two servants. The older man scorned young Alice's suspicion, but the young man not wishing to take any chances fetched his gun and shot at the long pack. A cry was heard and blood began to ooze from the mysterious package.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Inside the lang pack they found the body of a dead man wearing a silver whistle around his neck. The apparent plan was for this man to break free from his package and open the door for fellow accomplices to burgle the household during the night. The servants summoned help from the neighbourhood and many locals came to Lee Hall, bringing with them their guns. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Later that night on hearing a signal on the whistle the gang arrived to be greeted with gunshot from the servants and locals waiting at the hall. Four of the gang fell dead from their horses, the rest fled. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">At daylight the following morning the bodies of the four dead men had mysteriously disappeared and the Lee Hall servants were left with the body of the man from the Lang Pack. The rest of the gang was never caught and the identity of the man from the Lang Pack remained a mystery for all time. The body was buried at Bellingham</span> churchyard, where it is said to lie beneath the long stone cut in the shape of a Pedlar's Pack.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>It is said that the man from the long pack and the pedlar are often seen hovering around the lane that leads to Lee Hall.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>*****</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">An unclassified road from the Northumberland village of Elsdon to Wallington and Morpeth follows the course of an old drove road south eastwards, where it passes the site of Steng cross, an old medieval guiding post. Near the roadside at Steng Cross stands a gibbet known as Winter&rsquo;s Gibbet where the body of William Winter had been hung after his execution for murder.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">In <span>1791 Margaret Crozier, an elderly widow, lived at the Raw Pele, an ancient tower house, whose thick walls and narrow windows had provided shelter and security families during earlier days when the sounds of raiding horsemen brought terror to young and old like. In the days of the Reivers, to reach the only entrance on the upper floor, it was necessary to let down a ladder to gain entry. Now, in 1791, a stone staircase had been constructed giving easy access to the house. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>One day, two peddlars, Jane Clark, with her sister, Eleanor, visited her. Margaret made a number of purchases from their baskets. Impressed by their sales the sisters went on their way and, later in the course of their wanderings, met up with William Winter.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Winter and the whole of his family were well known for their criminal activities. Winter&rsquo;s father and brother had previously been hanged at Morpeth for theft. Convicted of stealing in 1784, Winter had only recently been released after a long term in the hulks on the Thames </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The Clark sisters had much in common with Winter and the women told Winter of their visit to Margaret Crozier&rsquo;s. They made their simple plans and waited for nightfall. On the night of 29^th August 1791 they broke into Margaret&rsquo;s home. Her body was found the next day.</span></span></p> <p style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">On August 10th 1792 William Winter, Jane and Eleanor Clark were executed at the Westgate, Newcastle for the murder. Margaret Crozier died of a fracture to the left temple and strangulation although it is often stated that her throat was cut.</span></p> <p style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">The chief witness was an eleven year-old shepherd boy called Robert Hindmarsh <span>&nbsp;</span>Robert was immortalised by Baden Powell in his book "Scouting for Boys" as an example of observation and citizenship. Legend has it that Winter was identified by Hindmarsh from the nail patterns on the soles of his boots.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Winter&rsquo;s body be sent to Whiskershields Common, near Elsdon, and be hung in chains from the gibbet which now bears his name.</span></span></p> <p style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Morbid sightseers soon lost interest when the stench became unbearable. Eventually the corpse was taken down and buried. It was replaced by a carved effigy of Winter&rsquo;s head. And so it is today, although heads tend to disappear and have to be replaced from time to time. [In the 20^th century fiberglass was used] </span></span></p> <p style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">The site of the body hanging from the gibbet is said be haunted the young shepherd boy whose evidence which largely convicted Winter.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 27pt;"><span><span style="font-size: small;">After the murder the Raw Pele was no longer inhabited. What remains is incorporated into the outbuildings of Raw Farm.</span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]> <span class="mceItemObject" classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui> </span> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Arundel</span><span> Castle is a restored medieval castle which overlooks the River Arun in West Sussex. Begun in the reign of Edward the Confessor the Castle was completed by Roger de Montgomery, the first Earl of Arundel - the title conferred on him by William the Conqueror.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img src="http://www.picturesofengland.com/img/L/1113875.jpg" border="0" width="500" height="335" /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Picture by Sarah Dawson&nbsp; -&nbsp; <a href="http://www.picturesofengland.com">www.picturesofengland.com</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>The motte was constructed in 1068, the gatehouse in 1070. Henry I (1068 &ndash; 1135) settled the lands on his second wife, Adeliza of Lovain. After Henry&rsquo;s death she married William d&rsquo;Albini who built the stone shell keep on the motte. It was Henry II (1135-89) who built much of the oldest part of the Castle and who confirmed William as Earl of Arundel.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>From the 11^th century the Castle has served as a hereditary stately home - to the Fitzalans in the 13^th and the Howards in the 16^th century. It is now the ancestral home of the Duke of Norfolk.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>The Castle was severely damaged by fire in the 17^th century but was restored during the 18^th and 19^th centuries.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Like many of our castles Arundel is said to be haunted:-</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>On moonlit nights the ghost of a young woman has apparently been seen wandering round Hiorne&rsquo;s Tower. [The tower designed by architect Francis Hiorne in the 18^th century is located in Arundel Park behind the castle]. It&rsquo;s said she committed suicide by throwing herself off the tower after the loss of her lover.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>The spectre of a &lsquo;Blue Man&rsquo; has been seen searching through books in the Gothic library. This ghost, dressed in blue silk, supposedly dates back to a resident of the Castle in the time of Charles II.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Some 200 years ago a young boy working in the kitchens is thought to have been beaten frequently by his the head cellarer. The boy died as a result of the mistreatment; his ghost haunts scrubs pots and pans and scurries round the kitchen.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>As late as 1958 a trainee footman went to turn off the drawbridge lights. As he walked along the ground floor corridor the footman saw the head and shoulders of a long-haired man in a loose grey tunic; the man faded away to nothing.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>The ghost of a small white bird is a harbinger of death. The bird flutters around the windows of the Castle on many occasions which are said to have coincided with the sudden death of a resident.</span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3 class="post-title entry-title"></h3> <div class="post-header"></div> <div id="post-body-6902084831326254852" class="post-body entry-content"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>A headless white lady wandering in the ruins chills the blood of those who encounter her at Corfe Castle, Wareham in Dorset.</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--m3ZeJkX5lI/TlpVdnTxlrI/AAAAAAAAEFQ/kgQEWS1P-nM/s512/Corfe_Castle_-_geograph.org.uk_-_170073.jpg"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--m3ZeJkX5lI/TlpVdnTxlrI/AAAAAAAAEFQ/kgQEWS1P-nM/s400/Corfe_Castle_-_geograph.org.uk_-_170073.jpg" border="0" width="400" height="300" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Corfe Castle</strong></span></td> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><br /> </strong></span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span>&nbsp;(by Robert Goulden - Geograph Project Collection - CC A-S A 2.0 license)</span></strong></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Is she the spirit of the young woman who betrayed the Castle to Cromwell&rsquo;s Parliamentary troops during the Civil War?</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The castle dates back to the 11^th Century although some form of stronghold predated the Norman Conquest. The reference to Wareham Castle in the Domesday Book is thought to refer to Corfe rather than the Wareham timber castle. William the Conqueror himself may have been the responsible for it being built.</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Towers, halls and walls were added during the reigns of Henry I, King John and Henry II. In 1210 Maud de Braose and her eldest son William were walled alive in the castle dungeon where they starved to death. </span>Eleanor the "Fair Maid of Brittany" the rightful heir to the throne was captured in 1203 and taken to Corfe Castle where she remained a prisoner until her death in 1241.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The castle remained a royal fortress until sold by Elizabeth I to her Lord Chancellor. In 1635 the castle was bought by Lord Bankes, Attorney General to Charles I. During the Civil War while Bankes was away the castle was besieged twice by the Parliamentarian forces. The Parliamentarians withdrew after the first six week siege. The second siege lasted two months until it was betrayed by one of Lady Bankes&rsquo; (&ldquo;Brave Dame Mary&rdquo;) own garrison.</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>After its capture the castle was undermined and blown up to ensure that nothing remained&ndash; it could never be used again as a royalist stronghold. </span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Subsequently there has been talk of ghostly encounters, flickering lights on the ramparts at night and the noise of a child sobbing in a cottage abutting the grassy knoll on which the castle stands. The most enduring spectre remains the castle&rsquo;s headless white lady &ndash; was it she who betrayed Brave Dame Mary in those Civil War day?</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5AB7BOKzoyc/TlpVbccDHaI/AAAAAAAAEFM/faUqAx2zfy4/s512/450px-Corfe_Castle2.jpg"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5AB7BOKzoyc/TlpVbccDHaI/AAAAAAAAEFM/faUqAx2zfy4/s400/450px-Corfe_Castle2.jpg" border="0" width="300" height="400" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Corfe Castle</strong></span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span>&nbsp;<strong>(By Robert Brook - CC Attribution 2,0 generic license)</strong></span></div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><br /></h3> <h3 class="post-title entry-title"><br /></h3> <div class="post-header"></div> <div id="post-body-2655483461651060400" class="post-body entry-content"><br /> <table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0P16Y4T11ww/TtOwFIKLr8I/AAAAAAAAEjI/Aj3ltMmxhv0/s512/800px-Herstmonceux_Castle%25252C_2009.jpg?gl=GB"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0P16Y4T11ww/TtOwFIKLr8I/AAAAAAAAEjI/Aj3ltMmxhv0/s400/800px-Herstmonceux_Castle%25252C_2009.jpg?gl=GB" border="0" width="400" height="300" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>The facade of Herstmonceux Castle</strong></span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>(By Brian Raine - Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 generic license)</strong></span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Herstmonceux</span><span> Castle, in East Sussex, has had a chequered existence and like many of England&rsquo;s it has it ghosts.</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Sir Roger Fiennes, Treasurer of the Household of Henry VI, started building the castle in 1441. It was one of the first major brick buildings and today is the oldest brick building of any note still standing in England.</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>By 1700 the last Lord Dacre, Earl of Sussex was forced to sell the castle and by the end of the century most of it had been demolished. By the early 1900s it had become a ruin before being reconstructed. In 1946 the estate was sold to the Admiralty and it became the home of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. In 1993 Herstmonceux Castle was acquired by The Queen&rsquo;s University of Canada; it is now an International Study Centre. </span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The most famous Herstmonceux ghost is the nine-foot tall Phantom Drummer who frequents the ramparts at night. Some accounts say he was killed at the Battle of Agincourt and ever since his death tattoo can be heard accompanied by showers of blue light from his drum sticks. </span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Other versions say the drummer is the ghost of an old Lord Dacre who lived secretly in the castle and beat his drum to ward off lovers of his young wife. He applied phosphorous to his face, clothes and drum and appeared round the castle in a drummer&rsquo;s uniform. His wife became so annoyed she locked him in and left him to die. Unfortunately for her, the sound of his drum could still be heard, frightening her lovers away.</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The spectral White Lady seen swimming across the moat at night and standing nearby wringing her hands in torment is believed to be the wraith of a girl from the village. One of Sir Roger's sons had forced his attentions upon the girl; she escaped his clutches by leaping into the moat. Her attacker caught her and dragged her back into the castle. He then assaulted and murdered her.</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Visitors to Herstmonceux Castle are now invited take part in a guided tour and become familiar with the stories of the resident ghosts.</span></span></div> <table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e5DXzvP3H_Q/TtOwCybSIcI/AAAAAAAAEjE/NqcDZ-qzjTc/s512/Herstmonceux_castle_aerialview.jpg?gl=GB"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e5DXzvP3H_Q/TtOwCybSIcI/AAAAAAAAEjE/NqcDZ-qzjTc/s400/Herstmonceux_castle_aerialview.jpg?gl=GB" border="0" width="400" height="305" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Aerial View of Herstmonceux Castle</strong></span></td> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><br /> </strong></span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span>&nbsp;<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>(By Welshie - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported license)</strong></span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> </div> <div class="post-footer"></div>

<h3 class="post-title entry-title"></h3> <div class="post-header"></div> <p></p> <table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-perHfeZSSP8/TvsemMiu8GI/AAAAAAAAEoI/ppdaxbG-gS8/s512/Thoor_Ballylee_-_geograph.org.uk_-_67589.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-perHfeZSSP8/TvsemMiu8GI/AAAAAAAAEoI/ppdaxbG-gS8/s400/Thoor_Ballylee_-_geograph.org.uk_-_67589.jpg" border="0" width="263" height="400" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Thoor Ballylee</strong></span></td> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><br /></strong></span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span>&nbsp;<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>(By Dr Charles Nelson - CC A-SA 2.0)</strong></span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The 16^th century Ballylee Castle stands near the town of Gort in County Galway. The castle originally belonged to the De Burgo (Burke) family before becoming part of the estates of the Earls of Clanrickarde.</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>William Butler Yeats purchased the castle and its adjoining cottage in 1917, He renamed the property Thoor Ballylee (&ldquo;Thoor&rdquo; is Irish for tower.) Yeats and his family lived there during the summer for 12 years.</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Ballylee was abandoned and fell into ruin in the 1930s. However it was fully restored for the centenary of Yeats's birth in 1965 when it was reopened as a Yeats memorial and heritage centre.</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Ballylee inspired Yeats to write &ldquo;The Winding Stair&rdquo; and &ldquo;The Tower&rdquo; poem collections. On the first floor of the four-storey tower a steep spiral staircase hewn from stone winds to the upper floors about which he wrote,</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>"I declare this tower is my symbol; I declare</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>This winding, gyring, spring treadmill of a stair is my ancestral stair.&rdquo;</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-size: small;">As part of his restoration Yeats had this short verse carved on a slate and embedded into the tower wall</span>.</span></div> <table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R-x5c6GBJfs/Tvsenhv8j4I/AAAAAAAAEoM/FCCb2nH_g2E/s512/398px-Inscription_at_Thoor_Ballylee_-_geograph.org.uk_-_948487.jpg"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R-x5c6GBJfs/Tvsenhv8j4I/AAAAAAAAEoM/FCCb2nH_g2E/s400/398px-Inscription_at_Thoor_Ballylee_-_geograph.org.uk_-_948487.jpg" border="0" width="265" height="400" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Yeats's Verse</strong></span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span>&nbsp;<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>(By James Yardley - CC BY-SA 2.0)</strong></span></span><span> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>I, the poet William Yeats</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>With old mill boards and sea-green slates,</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>And smithy work from the Gort forge,</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Restored this tower for my wife George,</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>And may these characters remain</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>When all is ruin once again.</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Yeats believed in ghosts and thought that the tower was haunted by an Anglo-Norman soldier. </span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>A curator was reluctant to climb the winding stair at the end of a day; she was convinced a spectral form wandered the worn stairway. Her dog frequently appeared terrified of something in the downstairs rooms.</span></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>In 1989 a photographer took some pictures in Yeats&rsquo;s sitting room. When his film was developed there was a ghostly silhouette of what appeared to be a young man standing in front of the camera; no one else had been in the room at the time the photo was taken. It has been suggested that the ghostly boy may have been Yeats&rsquo;s own son.</span></span></div> <table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8JV620ZSPCU/TvseoXsWyxI/AAAAAAAAEoQ/FnfoOegeOok/s512/398px-Thoor_Ballylee_-_T%2525C3%2525BAr_Bhaile_U%2525C3%2525AD_La%2525C3%2525AD_-_geograph.org.uk_-_948467.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8JV620ZSPCU/TvseoXsWyxI/AAAAAAAAEoQ/FnfoOegeOok/s400/398px-Thoor_Ballylee_-_T%2525C3%2525BAr_Bhaile_U%2525C3%2525AD_La%2525C3%2525AD_-_geograph.org.uk_-_948467.jpg" border="0" width="265" height="400" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Thoor Ballylee</strong></span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span>&nbsp;<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>(By James Yardley - CC BY-SA 2.0)</strong></span></span></div>