History & Haunting of : Crook Hall ,Sidegate, Durham,U.K The Hall is a rare example of three eras of English domestic architecture; mediaeval, Jacobean and Georgian. The poetry of history lies in the almost miraculous fact that once, on this earth, once, on this familiar spot of ground, walked other men and women, swayed by their passions but now all gone, one generation vanishing after another. Gone as utterly as we shall shortly be gone, as ghosts at cockcrow. Trevelyan. The Medieval Hall was built around 1208 although the solar wing has long since disappeared. The Jacobean Mansion was built in 1671 and in 1720 the Hopper family built the Georgian House. The main hall was restored in the 1980s.The circular turret was an interesting late addition allowing the ancient wooden stairs to remain in place. The old stairs are now for the sole use of the White Lady,a niece of Cuthbert Billingham, who supposedly haunts the room. The history of the people who have lived here are varied but every single family has added their mark and have in their own way cherished the site and helped to pass it through the centuries so we can all enjoy it today. Only the great hall and a screen passage remain from that early medieval building, but they are enough to give a good impression of the first Crook Hall. You can easily see where the old medieval doorways have been filled in. The screen passage leads to a Jacobean addition. Near the screen passage is an odd-looking set of wooden stairs, which ascend to the ceiling where they come to a sudden stop. The upper floors are now gained by an outside tower staircase. The stairs are associated with the legend of a ghost, or White Lady who, it is rumoured, glides down the stairway on St. Thomas Eve (December 20), and on other occasions. The White Lady’s current roommates are Maggie and Keith Bell, who moved in nearly 20 years ago and opened the home for public tours. “I think when you die, you die,” says Maggie, who readily admits that she doesn’t believe in ghosts. “Although,” she adds cryptically, “we have had some strange experiences.” Maggie once saw a psychic have a “physical reaction” in the 13th century Medieval Hall. The psychic then revealed that a soldier had been killed and bricked up in the corner. Later, as caterers were setting up for a wedding reception in hall, Maggie heard a blood-curdling scream. “One of the women said she had been leaning in the corner, and a man (presumably the soldier) put his icy cold hand on her back,” she recalls. Her most hair-raising anecdote is about something her husband heard as they lay in bed one night. “I was asleep, and Keith became aware of a dragging sound in the Minstrel’s Gallery. At the door to the bedroom, the sound stopped. Then he heard footsteps going upstairs, where there are no stairs, and walking across the ceiling. There used to be a room there, but someone has blocked up the window and taken off the stairs.” Looking at the sealed-off window from the garden below, I feel a chill and wonder who—or what—might have been bricked up in the attic. amylaughinghouse/?p=488 Photo 1 by crookhallgardens.co.uk/ Photo 2 by amylaughinghouse/?Crook Hall haunted staircase Photo 3 by amylaughinghouse/?The Medieval Hall at Crook Hall Photo 4 by ngs.org.uk- Photon 5 by threadaddict.blogspot- crookhallgardens.co.uk/crook_hall.htm Photos 6,7,8 by afterthefullmonty.wordpress/
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 15:06:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015