Name and location: “Ghost House” Nottinghamshire
Description: This stone hall is believed to have been built out of material stolen from Roche Abbey.
Era: The current hall was built in 1848 by C. Challoner, a wine and timber merchant from Liverpool, while the back portion of the house which is owned by the Riddell family dates back to the 16th Century.
History:
– According to legend there was a battle near the area that the hall now stands on and the grounds were used as a hospital and a place to keep the dead. A Roman road runs through the property and apparently a Roman villa was situated just metres from the house.
– There has been a building on the site since as early as 1100 AD when the Cressy family lived there until 1408. The Cressy’s had strong connections with the Knight’s Templar It is said that the hall was built on the foundations of a far greater property that was never finished. The person responsible for this earlier building is said to be Bess of Hardwick and potholers have found foundations of a different house under the floor.
– After the Civil War the area went into decline and from 1765 the Mellish family became connected with the area as they held 20,000 acres of local land.
– It is thought that in the early part of the 19th Century Edward Challoner killed someone in an illegal duel here and fled north where he married into the Riddell family. In order to further distance himself from the crime he allegedly had himself canonized as a Catholic Bishop.
Ghost ratings:
– Roman soldiers have been spotted marching along the driveway and in the cellars.
– woman with red hair and black Elizabethan clothes is seen in the grounds. Is she perhaps Bess of Hardwick?
The ghostly figures of a man and a boy have been seen in one of the 16th Century cottages, located within the grounds.
– A previous gardener, long since dead, likes to watch the current gardener as he works around here.
Victorian servants are often seen in the corridors and a man in a top hat likes to hand around in the toilet near the entrance.
– The back corridors and stairs play host to phantom children, a ghostly cat and the spirit of a toddler playing a piano.
– The ghost of a little girl dressed in Victorian clothing has been seen playing in the dining room.
– An officer in uniform has been seen in the Boudoir, as has the ghost of a white lady.
– The current owners believe that The Bishop’s Room is haunted by the ghost of a particularly unfriendly Bishop. Could this be the spirit of Edward Challoner?
– The menacing spirit of a woman haunts the attic.
– An old housekeeper has been seen walking from the office and down the stairs in the old servants’ quarters
First Broadcast: 10th May 2005
A self confessed super fan of Most Haunted and editor of GhostMag.com. Matt’s passion for ghost hunting began when he moved into a haunted house in his second year of university in Leicester! His favourite location is the Niddry Street Vaults in Edinburgh.
I’ve just been watching your ‘most haunted’ and I loved it,it really intrest’s me,its amazing.