{"id":1943,"date":"2020-10-30T08:30:48","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T08:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=1943"},"modified":"2020-10-14T09:44:14","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T09:44:14","slug":"a-dorset-house-and-its-ghosts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2020\/10\/30\/a-dorset-house-and-its-ghosts\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dorset House and its Ghosts…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Athelhampton\u00a0<\/span>H<\/span>ouse, just outside\u00a0Puddletown,\u00a0<\/span>dates from around 1485. Although much altered and\u00a0<\/span>expanded<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0the core of the house and\u00a0<\/span>the surrounding gardens have seen<\/span>\u00a0out<\/span>\u00a0the Tudors,\u00a0<\/span>Stuarts<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>the English Civil War and the\u00a0<\/span>changing fortunes of the landed gentry.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps then it is\u00a0<\/span>unsurprising<\/span>\u00a0that\u00a0<\/span>Athelhampton has long been supposed to house a wide variety of non-corporeal\u00a0<\/span>residents. These encompas<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0all the usual favourites such as a ‘Grey Lady’ and a ‘Monkish figure’<\/span>\u00a0– although the ghost of a monkey is rather more unusual!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
D-DPA\/1\/ATH\/5<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Country Life<\/em> magazine of Dec 1966<\/a> <\/span>contains\u00a0<\/span>an article by<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>ghost<\/span>–<\/span>hunter J. Wentworth Day who<\/span>\u00a0interviewed several\u00a0<\/span>eyewitnesses<\/span>. Both a\u00a0<\/span>retired housemaid and the housekeeper of 1966\u00a0<\/span>report<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0seeing the Grey Lady in the Tudor room.\u00a0<\/span>The maid told him that she<\/span><\/p>\n

‘<\/span>…walked into the\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span>udor room, and saw the\u00a0<\/span>G<\/span>rey Lady sitting in a chair just after\u00a0<\/span>the last of the day’s visitors had gone. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I am sorry Madam,\u00a0but I am afraid that the last of your party has just gone and the house is closing to the public.\u00a0Would you very much mind leaving.” <\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>G<\/span>rey Lady rose without a word<\/span>\u00a0and left – through the wainscot.’<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, the Grey Lady is the tip of the iceberg<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Various witnesses also report a ‘Black Priest’<\/span>, an uncanny feeling in the ‘Smoking\u00a0<\/span>W<\/span>alk’ and a monkey!\u00a0<\/span>The monkey\u00a0<\/span>was<\/span>\u00a0an emblem of the\u00a0<\/span>Martyn family and monkey images occur throughout the house.\u00a0<\/span>Legend has it that one such creature, a pet, was accidentally confined and starved\u00a0<\/span>to death\u00a0<\/span>on a\u00a0<\/span>secret\u00a0<\/span>staircase<\/span>, but\u00a0was\u00a0<\/span>seen and heard thereafter.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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D-DPA\/1\/PUD\/48: A Martyn’s tomb at Puddletown. At his feet rests a monkey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oddest of all is an account from\u00a0<\/span>‘Lady Vivien’ in a letter to\u00a0<\/span>Wentworth Day. She tells of a friend who was a guest at the house when\u00a0<\/span>her pre-dinner reading was\u00a0interrupted;<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She looked up to see two young men come into the room who did not address her but started to duel<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>he was very annoyed and asked them kindly to stop but with no effect, so she got up\u00a0<\/span>and pulled the bell for one of the servants. Nothing happened so she returned to her chair feeling most irritated<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>D<\/span>uring this time the young men were still fighting till one got wounded in the arm<\/span>\u00a0and they left the room.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alfredo (<\/span>Alfred de Lafontaine)\u00a0<\/span>came into the room shortly after<\/span>, and the lady, who was still ir<\/span>r<\/span>itated<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0said\u00a0<\/span>“<\/span>My dear\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span>lfredo, what extraordinary<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>people you have staying here”. Then she told him the story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alfredo seemed slightly\u00a0annoyed, and\u00a0said “I can’t understand what you are talking about as you met all the guests who are staying, at tea<\/span>“.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If nothing else<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>spooky\u00a0<\/span>stories evidence\u00a0<\/span>our\u00a0<\/span>human fascination with\u00a0<\/span>ghosts, the afterlife and legends of\u00a0<\/span>strong emotion.\u00a0<\/span>Do you have a\u00a0<\/span>D<\/span>orset ghost story to share? Let us know<\/a> and we’ll publish some of the best in our next newsletter.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Athelhampton\u00a0House, just outside\u00a0Puddletown,\u00a0dates from around 1485. Although much altered and\u00a0expanded,\u00a0the core of the house and\u00a0the surrounding gardens have seen\u00a0out\u00a0the Tudors,\u00a0Stuarts,\u00a0the English Civil War and the\u00a0changing fortunes of the landed gentry.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps then it is\u00a0unsurprising\u00a0that\u00a0Athelhampton has long been supposed to house a wide variety of non-corporeal\u00a0residents. These encompass\u00a0all the usual favourites such as a ‘Grey Lady’… Read more A Dorset House and its Ghosts…<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[82,235,237,234,236,109],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1946,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943\/revisions\/1946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}