Powis Castle and the Spinning Spinster

A-Z Challenge 2012 - P

Powis Castle

Powis Castle, near Welshpool in Powys, Mid Wales was built in the 12^th century as a stronghold for the Princes of Powys as a defence against English invaders. The castle sits on a rocky ridge with steep slopes to the south-east and north-west.

Powis Castle

During the latter half of the 13^th century, Owain, the last Prince of Powis began a rebuilding programme most of which is still visible today. In 1578 the castle came into the hands of Sir Edward Herbert, in whose family it has remained. Extensive repairs and modernisation were carried out by the Herberts in the late 1500s. The family were staunch Royalists during the Civil War. Powis Castle was captured by the Parliamentarian forces in 1644, garrisoned by them during the remainder of the war and not returned to the family until the restoration of Charles II.

William, Lord Powis, inherited the castle on the death of his father in 1667. A State Apartment, the Blue Drawing Room, library and the State Bedroom were all additions by William.

In 1784 Lady Henrietta Herbert married the eldest son of Clive of India; Edward Clive later changed his name to Herbert. The Clive fortune paid for overdue repairs to the castle and funded improvements to the gardens and park. It was George Herbert, 4^th Earl of Powis who bequeathed the castle and gardens to the National Trust on his death in 1952.

Powis Castle - from its gardens 2006

The most famous haunting associated with Powis Castle is that involving a devout spinster invited in 1780 to stay and do some spinning work for the Earl. Little did she know that she had been given a bedroom known to be haunted.

As she was sitting by the fire reading her bible, she heard the door open. A man dressed in gold lace entered the room, crossed to the window and stood there silently, before turning and leaving the room. Not a word was spoken.

The woman knelt to pray when the ghostly man reappeared and motioned to her to follow him. By the light of a candle he led her to another room and showed her a locked casket beneath a floorboard. The phantom told her to take the casket and its key and send it to the Earl in London, promising her he would leave the house in peace if she did what she had been told.

Apparently the Earl was so delighted that he mad provision for the spinster to live in comfort at the castle for the rest of her life.

The contents of the casket were never revealed. The ghost in the gold lace suit was never seen again.

Hilary Melton-Butcher's castle for O - Oystermouth Castle on the Gower.

Attributions

• Powis Castle; author Val Vannet; Geograph project collection; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
• Powis Castle viewed from its gardens, 2006; author Phil Catterall; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Amberley's Lustful Bishop

A-Z Challenge 2012 - A

Amberley’s Lustful Bishop

Amberley Castle is located in West Sussex, England. It was built as a 12^th century manor house by Bishop Luffa. It was fortified in 1377 when Bishop Reede received a license to crenellate it from Richard II. It then had a stonework enclosure with high curtain walls, towers, a hall and a massive gatehouse. The Bishops of Chichester used Amberley as a fortress.

The castle passed to the Crown and became a royalist stronghold in the English Civil War. Charles II took shelter there after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651 prior to heading for exile.

Amberley Castle

The castle remained in private hands after its purchase by the Duke of Norfolk. After 1989 it became a luxurious country hotel.

However you will find no mention in the hotel’s literature of the castle’s one time servant girl. Made pregnant by a lustful Bishop, poor Emily, deserted in her hour of need, died in childbirth. Her ghost is said to haunt the kitchens and to return to the top of the battlements from where she had leapt to her death.

Amberley Castle Walls

Attributions:

• Amberley Castle, East Sussex; author Jonathan Day; Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0 
• Amberley Castle walls; author Colin Day; Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0

The Bridge at Yarm

A-Z Challenge 2011 - B

The Bridge at Yarm

There has been a bridge over the River Tees at the North Yorkshire town of Yarm for 800 years. Before 1771 when a new bridge was built at Stockton, Yarm was the nearest place to the North Sea where the river could be crossed, the road from York to Durham passing through the town.

Three arches of Yarm Bridge from downstream - the structure behind is a railway viaduct

Records show there was a bridge at Yarm before 1300 and it is probable that the first timber bridge existed in 1200. The right to bridge tolls (pontage) was granted by the King to the person responsible for making repairs. We know one such pontage was granted by Edward I in 1305. 

The bridge too decrepit for use by the end of the century was replaced in stone by Walter Skirlaw, Bishop of Durham, in 1400. Skirlaw’s bridge, repaired many times and widened, still stands and carries road traffic to this day. The original stone bridge had five arches; three of these can still be seen on the upstream side. A drawbridge inserted in the arch on the northern side, in use during the Civil War, was removed in 1785 and the arch rebuilt in its present semi-circular form.

The increasing in traffic by the end of the 18^th century led to the decision to replace it with a new single-span iron bridge. However before the new bridge could be opened to the public it collapsed into the river. The old stone bridge was widened and provided with new parapets in 1810. With the addition of pavements each side and a tarmac surface it remains the same 200 years later.

 Yarm Bridge in front of railway viaduct

Ghosts in March

Where you in Pembrokeshire on the nights before and after 1st March, St David’s Day? Perhaps if you visited St Bride’s Bay you may have heard ghostly singing from the ruined chapel overlooking the Bay.
No.

 

St David's Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace

© Copyright Martin Halley and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

(Photo is copyrighted but also licensed for reuse)

 Then perhaps you heard the church bell stolen from the tower of St David’s Cathedral. The bell was lost together with the boat and crew that smuggled it into St Bride’s Bay. The boat sank in a storm. Seamen claim to hear the bell chiming on the seabed to warn them of an impending storm.

On 9th March in Cassiobury Park, Watford you may meet the ghost of Lord Arthur Capel.

1st Baron Capel and his family

(Portrait - source Norton Anthology; Author Cornelius Johnson)

Lord Capel defected from the Roundheads to support the King in the Civil War. Captured by Fairfax at Colchester, he even escaped from the Tower. Recaptured he eventually lost his head. 9th March is the anniversary of his death in 1649.

 Ferry Boat Inn

© David Bartlett - Licensed for reuse under CC-ASA 2.0 License

 The Ferry Boat Inn in Holywell claims to be the oldest inn in England. A slab in the floor covers the grave of 17 year-old Juliet Tewsley who hanged herself on 17th March 1050 as the resulted of unrequited love for a local woodcutter. Her ghost is said to appear each March on the anniversary of her suicide.