Haunted Manor Houses -Samlesbury Hall - Lancashire
Samlesbury Hall in America?
'The Ghost Goes West' is an Alexander Korda film about an American millionare who buys a haunted Scottish Castle. It is pulled down and reassembled in America.Of course the resident ghost goes there too! The film is based on a short story by Eric Keown called ' Sir Tristram Goes West.'
The American purchase of English buildings for reassembly in America is indeed a fact. London Bridge and The Church of St Mary, Aldermanbury are structures transported stone by stone and rebuilt in America.
Was the Keown story going to be the fate of Samlesbury Hall? It was this fear that led local people to form a trust to look after the hall and keep this archetectual jewel in Lancashire. The trust raised the money and the hall was purchased. It can be visited most days except at the weekend when wedding receptions take place.
History of the Haunted House
Salesbury Hall was built in 1325. Much of the areas past is shrouded in the mists of time. Samlesbury could mean raised ground or 'Samon-bury' a reference to the fish found in the nearby River Ribble.
The Vikings knew about this place having come via the Ribble and Aire gap from York. The Romans knew of the area too. They had a fort at Ribchester.
The beginning of a written record came only in 1190. This named the landowner who was the son of Swain, called Gospatric.
He had 4 sons and a daughter. The lands were kept in the family but because of a lack of male heirs there was disputes before the lands were divided between the two daughters. They married. One daughter became a Deuyas and the other a de Holland.
The Deuyas's family lived in the original hall. The de Holland's built their home on the present site.
Robert the Bruce attacked the region and Deuyas's home was destroyed. He may have bought the hall that Robert de Holland had built. It is believed that this building became the second Salesbury Hall.
In 1320 the Southworth family acquired the hall through marriage. It remained in this family until 1679 when it was sold. They had owned the hall for over 350 years!
Its architectural importance is that part of the hall is built from brick. This was the first manor house in Lancashire to be so built.
It is the Southworth family history which gives this Lancashire Hall its ghost.
The ghost story is a Romeo and Juliet affair. The Southworth's were a Catholic family. Sir John Southworth's daughter was called Dorothy She fell in love with the son of the de Hoghton family. They were a Protestant family. This religous difference prevented Dorothy from marrying the man she loved. Elopment to Gretna Green was the solution they chose.
However, on the August night when they were to meet and run away, Dorothy's brother discovered the plan.He killed the de Houghton boy in a duel. The body was buried on the estate. Dorothy was grief stricken and died in a French nunnery, never having got over the incident.
The spirit of the 'White Lady' has been seen on August nights by lots of people. These include an army officer, bus driver, a green grocer and my friend's mum. They belived that the spirit was searching for her lover.
Sources of Reference:
Samlesbury Hall - A History by Alister Hodge.Carnegie Pub Ltd
Haunted Halls of Lancashire by Keith Hassall and Mike Firth.The Boggarts Press 1990
