Wetheral Priory, Cumbria

Wetheral Priory

Name: Wetheral Priory Gatehouse

Locality: 25 Greenacres, Wetheral, Cumbria CA4 8ES

Built: 14th century

Owner: English Heritage 

Grade I

Website: EH

In September 2014 whilst staying in Cumbria, we decided to go on a 'short' bike ride, which took is past the Priory, when we ended up doing, what professional cyclists call the 'SHARK' a 20 mile up hill and down-dale nightmare through the Cumbrian hills, we got very lost and I very nearly lost my breakfast due to the effort and dehydration! Not good when you are riding heavy mountain bikes on tarmac roads to haunted places. Anyway, we went back later to have a gander...

We went past Wetheral priory, which is run by English heritage. As we cycled down a quiet country lane we could see it in the distance. It was a lovely little place, a little gem. We pulled over, it was so tranquil and quiet, all you could hear were the corvus, crowing in the trees and the noises from the small farm at the back of the property; we promised each other we would go back another day.  Later we went back in the the car and I recorded a short video inside the priory. My better half went in first, he announced when he came back out that he had heard footsteps behind him, he thought I had followed in behind, but I said, no as I was sat on a wall outside having a drink of coffee. Spooky! The place does echo a bit, so he could have misinterpreted a normal sound. Whilst I was inside I waited for footsteps to follow me.. but I heard nothing.. 

English Heritage

My video of that day

Wetheral Priory - Wikipedia

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GHOSTLY HAPPENINGS AT THE BAGOT RESIDENCE - Levens Hall, Cumbria

LEVENS HALL, CUMBRIA, LAKE DISTRICT

Name: Levens hall

Locality: A6, Levens, Cumbria LA8 0PD

Built: 16th century

Owner: Bagot Family 

Grade I

Website: www.levenshall.co.uk

I have been to Levens Hall on a couple of occasions, the first time was when a TV production company called Dreamscope Productions contacted me, they wanted me to help them out with a paranormal documentary they were filming there called 'Into The Unknown'. Toby my paranormal cohort (who is no longer with us)helped me out with the piece to camera as I couldn't do it because of a dental problem I was having (lol) but anyway, he was better at it than I was, he would have made a very good tv presenter, which he wanted to be. I much prefer to by behind the camera blending into the background. The second time was when I was with my partner, I remember it being a very nice warm sunny day, everyone was in the garden admiring the topiary carvings, when I heard Susie Bagot's voice coming around the corner, she owns Levens Hall and she is a very recognizable character, guess what she was talking about? The house is lovely but the garden is really fantastic!

Levens Hall

Location: Cumbria, England

Built: 1694, there has been a dwelling on the site since 1350

Ghostly manifestations: There are several ghosts, The Pink lady, black dog, grey lady (gypsy).

Ghostly anomalies: The ghostly black dog occasionally makes solitary appearances running playfully in-front of visitors as they walk the stairs for it only to disappear without trace, then re-appears close to their feet for them to nearly trip over the dog. Desperate attempts are made to avoid stepping on him then he simply vanishes into thin air once again.

History: The first dwelling at Levens dates from circa 1350, and was built by the de Redman family as defense against the Scottish raiders of the time. It was then a primitive Pele tower, with under-housing for the women and cattle in time of raids, and a large room where smoke from the open fire would escape through a hole in the roof. The medieval structure was built around in Elizabethan times when the Bellingham family created a mansion and beautified it with fine paneling and plasterwork still to be seen today.

The Gypsy of Levens Hall

Levens Hall on the edge of the Lake District is haunted by a gypsy woman who set a curse on the house, saying that no son should inherit it until the River Kent ceased to flow and a white fawn was born in the park. Levens passed continually through the female line until the birth of Alan Desmond Bagot in 1896, when the river froze over and a white fawn was found in the park. The gypsy woman has been seen quite often on the back drive and the bridge over the river. Besides its resident ghosts, Levens Hall, still home of the Bagot family to this day, is well worth visiting for its gardens, which include the best, the oldest and most extensive topiary garden in the world. Apparitions have been Seen in both the house and the gardens.

http://www.levenshall.co.uk/the-house/ghosts.html

SIZERGH CASTLE, CUMBRIA

We visited Sizergh Castle which is a National Trust property - (sounds like sizer) which was within the estate where we were staying. Sizergh, only a few miles north of Levens Hall, another property which has alleged ghostly inhabitants. My research into the property came up with conflicting information with regards to what ghost haunts here? Although skeptical of the existence and whereabouts of said waifes, I found the castle very mysterious and romantic. 

More about the history here on the National Trust Website

"Sizergh near Kendal today offers an appearance more beautiful than bellicose. The castle, now cared for by the National Trust, originated as a pele tower, where the local Lord of the Manor and those under his protection could take refuge when the border raiders, the legendary reivers, swept down from Scotland to steal anything that could be carried or driven, killing all who stood in their way. In the more than 600 years since it has added a Great Hall, Elizabethan wings, Georgian facades, and much else besides. But the great walls of the pele tower remains the heart of the place, and perhaps its soul too.
In that tower there is said to reside the ghost of a lady, her demise linked to the border raids against which the tower protected the folk of the district. But the raids were never just one way. The gentry of Cumberland and Westmoreland were happy to return the compliment when they could. 
It was before one such raid that the castle’s owner, surely one of the Strickland family which owned it from medieval days to the last century, to keep his wife safe, or to protect her virtue, or perhaps to punish her for some reason, locked her away in a room with an impregnable door. Perhaps he died; perhaps the raids were prolonged that year, perhaps the servants abandoned the place. Whatever the cause, he failed to return for a very long time: his poor wife starved, and as she starved she went slowly mad. Her screams are said to echo through the place sometimes still, half a millennium and more since her horribly slow death". 

Source http://www.information-britain.co.uk/

Moving Floorboards

Location: Kendal (Cumbria) - Sizergh Castle
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While not happening in living memory, it is claimed one room here had its floorboards removed and scattered by unseen hands on several consecutive nights. Sobs of a phantom woman have also been heard, and Catherine Parr is said to haunt the Queen's Room.

Source  http://www.paranormaldatabase.com