Samlesbury Hall




In this website you will have gathered that I presently reside at Samlesbury Hall near the City of Preston in Lancashire, England.
Samlesbury Hall march 9th 2008, is spring in the air?




People constantly ask me about any hauntings at the Hall. Do you want to see a ghost I reply?
Well do you? If so then click here for a real ghost.
www.samlesburyhall.co.uk/Ghost.mpg.3gp
Here is a full tour of Samlesbury Hall with photographs, be aware it is 12 pages long.
Click here to download this file
If you want to see King Henry take you on a tour of Samlesbury Hall then click here.

Dear Henry
I had a fanatastic afternoon out at Samlesbury Hall on Sunday. I have long been intrigued by King Henry VIII and wanted to be at his court when I was younger. I think it all stemmed from a school trip to Hampton court Palace many moons ago, and then some later visits as an adult.
I teach history in adult community education. I deliver some family history classes and it is my mission for my learners to make their history come alive. I have tried to do this also for my 15 year old daughter. You are an absolute inspiration. Today I have found your website(s), and I shall be never be away from them. You are an absolute minefield of information and have such a zest for what you do. I believe your philosophy for passing on your knowledge is absolutely and intrinsically sound.
I am a caravanner and I envy your nomadic leanings travelling the country in your quest. I have often thought of travelling the country to walk in the footsteps of my ancestors, and will do when time allows. I understand absolutely what you mean by wanting to be there and experience Henry's experiences. And to top it all off you are a lancashire lad !
Sir I am your loyal follower
Julie A

www.thedarkcastlelords.com/king_henry_viii.htm

Saturday 23rd september 2006.
Southworth! Southworth!
After two years of guessing I have finally found out the truth of where the name Southworth came from. But I’m going to dangle you a bit before I divulge it.
Today I restarted my hunt in Warrington for more facts about the Southworth dynasty. I’d already found Southworth Lane and that it leads to the Village of croft near the M6 close to Padgate Warrington. So I started there with an open mind full of loose ends from my research at Samlesbury hall. I drover through Croft, nothing out of the ordinary except for Glaziers Lane which fits in well with the sand and the Romans. Turning round sighing with the thought of a lot of time wasted as well as the petrol I immediately saw my first reveal, a farm called Eaves farm. Gilbert married into the Ewyas family who became the Eaves family. Then as I thought things were not as bad in the world I saw the little sign tied to a tree by means of string, not expecting to attract the tourist but only the postman, Southworth Hall. Southworth hall, I cannot stop saying it, Southworth hall. Stopping on the outer drive I parked my MG and thought about what I should do now, should I just write about it, should I go home and get my camera and take a picture of it or should I walk innocently looking up the inner drive and knock on the door. The third option was Henry’s so because he’s bigger than me I did just that. The main door was solidly closed, the old pull type bell broken and a small hand written sign ask the visitor to go around to the northern door. Well the thought of giant dogs and women in jodhpurs with stinging whips leapt into my brain as well as Blackwolfs warning of gun toting cops. The house was only rebuilt in 1954 and I thought there will be no evidence here but now I’m committed and would look even more guilty if I suddenly turned and ran. The Northern door was a porch, I knocked on it firmly as its bell also didn’t work, if no-one comes I’m off was my immediate plan, but someone was in and a really nice gentleman answered the door. “I’m really sorry to disturb you sir, but I work for Samlesbury Hall as their Historian/ speaker and would like to ask you some questions about the Southworth’s if you knew anything.”
“Samlesbury hall eh! Don’t worry you’ll get over it!” was his jocular reply. Hey I say that, this man’s just like me, I like him already.
The gentleman was the son of the owner who had rebuilt the hall after knocking down the dilapidated remains of the real hall, he showed me the stone plaque outside the west end which indicated the building of the first hall in 1400 and the updating in 1600 on the site of the Southworth lands in the middle of the Croft. He asked me in to the main room which was a huge lounge with a roaring log fire on a cast-iron base which had warped over the constant usage. From the original house that fireplace turned out to be a real find.
So, my old notion that Southworth had emerged from the croft community was correct, they had indeed made good and bought there freedom and the land itself. What I had got wrong , well half wrong, was where the name Southworth had come from. I worked it out that the crofts changed their name to be less common, to South of Lancashire and worth money. Nearly correct. The gentleman was indeed a direct descendant of Southworth and his family had lived there since the 1200’s.
“Nearly right young man, they were serf’s of course and made enough money to buy their way out of serfdom so they could be renamed. Southworth comes from ‘sup’ meaning ‘south’ and ‘worp’ meaning ‘homestead’. Croft means "a small piece of arable land". To say my head was whizzing with questions is a vast understatement, at long last I had uncovered the actual beginnings of the Southworths of Warrington.
Pushing my luck, I asked what the significance of the farm land next door being called Eaves farm. “In the family lad, one of the Southworth married into the family and some moved down here from Samlesbury!”
Let me get this straight, Gilbert de Southworth moved up to Samlesbury and married into the D’Ewyas family to get an heir from the aristocracy, then he sold some land or exchanged it for the land next door to the family plot in Croft. Sounds so plausible that it has got to be correct because I always wondered why Gilbert left Warrington instead of taking his bride down there. The D’Ewyas didn’t want their daughter to leave the area because of her status as an ex-Scottish Royal, Gilbert had to move up to Samlesbury. They swapped land, so simple an explanation that it beggars belief.
How did Gilbert De Southworth know that the family D’Wyas (De Eaves) of Samlesbury Lancashire has a Daughter that they wanted to marry off ? He was told about her by her own family
I got this informational evidence from an old map of Winnick where the Southworths lived nearby in Croft. The Manor next door was called Eaves, now it is Eaves farm. So part of the Eaves family lived next door and they told Gilbert about their cousin in Samlesbury. Simple solutions are usually the true ones.

The arable land developed many skills as well as the old Glass making, Glazier Lane, Sandy lane, Dam lane, Mustard lane, Smithy lane as well as the obvious Southworth Lane. Croft shares a joint township with the village of Southworth, therefore it is known as Southworth-with-Croft.
Not all departed to Samlesbury, a thriving Southworth enclave was developed. Here is a collage of pictures to get the feel.

Now do you see why I strung it out, why my excitement stopped me blabbing out the facts without the opportunity to milk the moment?


I fell asleep at the wheel! No not driving but sat on the captain’s chair of the Hampton Sport GTi and my feet on the driver’s seat. I was in the middle of reading an old book I had found in the loft of Samlesbury Hall, 1934, frayed and falling apart except for the contents this book should have been a wrote off. It was a piece of good fortune finding the book, wedged behind an old door which had been left opened for so long it was fixed to the floor by gravity and decay. I saw the spine of the book and took the time to fish it out of its tomb, wow what a revelation. “Secret Hiding Places” by Granville Squiers. 1934 Mayflower Press, Plymouth 1st edition. No more maybe about Nicholas Owen then, he was with Edmund Campion in Easter 1581 a few months before Campion was captured. Helpers of Campion collecting the "Houghton papers", hid in the Hall but were captured in the Jetty next to the priest hole where he and brother John had been hiding. Owen was not captured but went on to join up with Henry Garnet the next head of the Jesuits. Nicholas was captured at Hindlip hall with a helper, sent to the Tower of London and tortured to death without giving any information about the whereabouts of any of the hiding places he had constructed.
I found a suspected Chamber behind the Parlour fireplace in March 2005, still not excavated because of costs and this book refers to three chambers. Three chambers, Yes! At last a reference to the third hiding place.
“In 1592 a raid was made and a “secrett vaulte” was discovered as well as two other hiding places, in one of which was much altar furniture and eleven books of “papistrie””. Well that’s three in my simple counting system on one hand.
Having never been in the Lodge building near the entrance to the drive, mainly because it is where the newly married couples can stay for the wedding night, so I believed that it would be fully redecorated and altered to modern-day standards. The book details a history unknown to me about the building.
“…….belonged to the Southworth's and was a resort of priests. One report mentions “James Cowper a seminary priest”, who was “receipted, relieved and maintained and said mass there daily.” Harrison, James Bell and John Finch, priests who were afterwards executed, are also reported as being there.”
Boy am I going to search that building soon!
I fell asleep because of the sun pounding down on my head, having taken a brisk walk around the sea wall at St. Anne’s and having had a glorious in the van lunch with my wife on her day off. The book certainly did not bore me, it enthralled me and more will follow as I cream off the fat and analyse the remains from the pen of this History detective.


A wedding at Samlesbury Hall, what a fantastic venue. I still meet people who are celebrating their silver weddings and they were married at the Hall, they come back now and then just to rekindle memories.
Click here to download this file

Detailed notes on Henry's tour of the Hall.


Local place names and their origins.
Click here to download this file

Do you believe in Ghosts?
Do you believe in spiritual happenings?
I didn't until I worked at Samlesbury Hall.

30th January 2006, a ghostly happening.

4.30pm still no sign of our guests for the Henry Evening at the Hall, the lovely lady who is in the kitchen stirring the huge vat of soup is getting worried as she needs to go at 5.30pm. 5.30pm and still no coach, the wheelchair lift at the back had jammed and a mechanic was working to free it. Now left alone with Lindsay to run the evening, the jobs were shared to make it work, I would stir the vat of soup and ladle it into the 20 bowls, and Lindsay would serve the soup and sandwiches. I would them suddenly appear from the kitchen area and sit with the group. Should work!
6.00pm they appeared, a mixture of senior citizens, middle age and youth, some sort of community gathering. The young folk had written stories from the older people about their times in the second world war and had them published on the BBC website, “My War” I think I heard them call it. Anyhow, such a fantastic group of interesting people could not be found anywhere else.
The meal went well, I even criticised. In full Henry character, the soup serving had a smudge on the dish; they didn’t know I had been the culprit. The tour took on a ghost tour theme, I always tailor my talks to the image I get of the audience and this on was definitely there to be frightened, and boy were they! Lindsay being the only other member of staff in the Hall, and clearly seen in the dining room scared the audience when we heard someone walking upstairs. I must say, it worried me a little, it was as if on cue that as I talked of the ghost of John Campion in the small chapel, the footsteps were heard. One of the cocky lads thought it was a put on and went upstairs to see what was going on, he soon came down white as a sheet. “There’s nobody up there!” He sang to the rhythm of the stairs he was running down. When it came to the time to go upstairs, we had taken the wheelchair-bound people to the comfort of the lounge who were quite pleased they did not have to go up anyway, the remainder of the group stayed so close to me I thought we were joined.
In the small chapel, notorious amongst staff at the hall as being a bit spooky, I asked the entire group to close their eyes. To the groans of “I’m falling over” I explained that this room make you dizzy, travel sick and cold down your neck. I told them where the body of the murdered priest had laid, where Edmund Campion and John Campion had been hiding before they were caught. This increased the fear in the hearts of the group and they left much quicker than they had entered. The group now glad to be one again in the lounge, started to ask questions about the White Lady Dorothea Southworth, which by now became so easy to scare the folk I was getting a conscience. I finished by explaining how some people have a wavelength and frequency in their brains which could match closely the vibrations given off by such an old building, thus giving them a sense of spirit. Sounds good, but I had made it up on the spot to calm the now scared group. One of the old ladies looked at me smiled a wry smile and winked, she knew my act was spot on and I had delivered the evening well. Little did she know that it scared me too, I had not set up any noises, or the dizziness, and they were real enough.
To end the evening after the coach had left Lindsay and I walk closely together to our respective cars in the dark, spooky car park. “I’ll wait at the gates for you Ray!” She said to make sure I got out alive.
Oh and was there another factor in the eveing to raise an eyebrow?
The broken down coach was called "The White Lady". Spooky eh!

It needs to be said, that many people come to Samlesbury Hall because of its reputation as a most haunted house. When I began at the Hall some 18 months ago, I was not a believer in ghosts or supernatural occurrences and would explain any strange happenings in a scientific manner. However, it takes more than one strange occurrence to convince even me that something is happening not of this world, so after three occurrences I am now verging on being less of a sceptic and more an understanding ear when people tell me about their feelings in the house.
Look, I saw a light through the floorboards of the parlour, just a sliver of light where the joints had parted. Not frightening at all, just perplexing. I knew there was a cellar down there, because there are vents outside and it is a wooden floor on Wych Elm beams, so I asked the boss if I could go down there with the caretaker and see what was structured under the Nicholas fireplace. She said it was not possible as there is no cellar there. Not defying her really, I saw the caretaker a couple of days later and asked him to take me into the wine cellar so I could look for myself, which he did. The cellar has a central corridor, with small storage rooms off it, but it stops as in a cul-de-sac, no room at the end. The end wall has no beams touching it at the top so it is not a load bearing wall, just a blockage in the corridor. If the wall was not there, there would be access to the underside of the parlour floor. So, where did the light come from?
Next occurrence was seen by over 20 people during my tour of the hall, we entered the old Tudor Chapel and we all saw sparks flying across the room from a blank wall to the alter end. Nobody could explain what it was; we all looked at each other and turned around. Third occurrence, only my second week at the hall and I had asked for a room to change in because there are only Ladies toilets behind in the staff area. I was given the top attic, which has an old Oak door with a cast iron lock operated by a cast iron key. I was told not to lose the key as it was the only one, so I hung it on my belt for the day as I was being King Henry VIII. At the end of the day, I went to get changed and found all my clothing down the back stairs, but the door was still locked. Mmm, for many months I believed there must have been another key and someone was having a joke with me, to this day I have not found another key and surely someone with that kind of humour would still be laughing or would have owned up by now.
Now when I take parties of children on Tudor school days into the old Jetty Chapel, lots of them feel sick, dizzy and cold even on a hot summer’s day. Even Sunday, adult visitors feel the same when they go in the room.
Those are my experiences of Samlesbury Hall, here are the actual stories taken from published books and the Hall’s own record book from the loft.

Ghost 1. The White Lady.
Dorothea Southworth, aged about 15 years, loved Robert/Gareth Hoghton from the nearby Hoghton Towers family of high gentry. It was about the year 1622, the Southworth’s hated the Hoghtons because they were pretending to be Protestants and so not pay the Fines for Catholic believers. The Southworth's refused Dorothea’s request to be allowed to marry Gareth. They both decided to elope, Gareth and two friends came down to Samlesbury Hall with horses to collect Dorothea. There was a battle between the two families and the three men were murdered, their bodies being buried near the outer poles of the house drawbridge. In about 1800, when the existing road foundations were built, these three bodies were found. Dorothea, being a witness to the murder of her lover by her family, was sent away to a French nunnery where she died. Here spirit is seen near the grave and near the back boundary by US soldiers digging wartime trenches on BAe land next door.

Ghost 2. William Harrison, late Landlord of the Hall when it was The Bradyll Arms tavern. He shot himself in the very same attic I changed in, because he thought he had lost all his money in a shady bank deal, except he hadn’t and his money was found to be safe immediately after his death. He is said to remove other people’s belongings from his death room.

Ghost 3. A murdered Priest, John Campion in the Jetty Chapel.
A very famous Jesuit Priest called Edmund Campion came to Samlesbury Hall whilst on the run from the King’s soldiers. His constant companion was Nicholas Owen, the Martyred builder of secret Priest holes and tunnels. Edmund was training a young Priest called John Campion, I’m not sure whether they were brothers or not. However they were both caught in the Jetty chapel. Edmund’s fate was sealed, he would be taken down to London and publicly executed, whereas John the lesser important catch cold have been allowed to run if Edmund gave away where the others were hiding in the area and who Nicholas Owen was. He refused, John Campion was killed in the chapel in front of Edmund and to this day his spirit haunts that room.

There is another story, seen in more than one book recording it, covering a time of ownership change at the Hall.
There was a large barrier screen which was in front of the service entrance in the great hall, it was elaborately carved and was the pride of the Southworth family with their crest on it. When Thomas Bradyll took the house as payment for a bad debt from the Southworth's he was building at the same time a new Manor house in Cumbria so I striped out the best its and shipped them up north. Workers were sleeping in the Parlour when they were confronted by a ghost of a Priest, insisting that if they removed the family barrier they would die and their houses would burn. They refused to remove the barrier, so Bradyll had it taken apart and made into the present Minstrel’s Gallery, although that is the wrong end of the room for one.
Some time ago a TV company came to the House with a medium to film about the dead bodies of Hoghton and his friends. I have privately followed descriptions of where it was, together with the map of the previous road building I believed I was the only person who could take anybody to the exact grave place. Without any help at all, the medium went to the exact grave position and even to where one of the slain horses was found. He was very excited about the parlour; it gave him a feeling of a murder taking place in it, the body being under the floor. The minstrels gallery made him cry at the northern end under the room where the landlord committed suicide.
So you see, all this makes me a little uncomfortable with my previous solid belief in scientific analysis and shakes my Technological mind with unanswered questions.




Value for money and what a treat!
YESTERDAY afternoon my wife and I visited Samlesbury Hall, which, despite both of us having lived in this part of Lancashire all our lives, we had never visited before.
What a treat we were in for!
The hall and contents are fabulous, but the star attraction was the conducted tour by "King Henry VIII" (in real life ex-teacher and Henry lookalike Ray Irving). His knowledge and amusing, informative manner were superb. In the one-hour tour we were shown, among other things, three "priest holes" (which had one way in and two escape routes), ghostly graves, and learnt about things like "upper crusts", "hot pots", "bouncers" and how local towns and places got their names.
After the tour we were then free to explore the hall alone, where there are secondhand and antique goods for sale at very reasonable prices. To cap it all, there is a smashing tea room with snacks and meals at realistic prices. All this for £3 each and £1 for children is wonderful value.
As Bill Bryson says about Durham in his book "Notes From a Small Island": "You've never been? Here, take my car and go now".

DAVID PHIPPS,
Woodlands Park,
Whalley

Ray,

As organiser of our social event at Samlesbury Hall earlier this month, I would like to pass on our thanks for making the evening such a special night.

Our guests from the UK, Sweden, and America have still not stopped talking about the evening ! The highlight of which was your informative and very humorous tour, which gave us an insight into Samlesbury Hall and its local history, all very neatly tied in with origins of the English language.

It is likely we will be back again some time in the future to enjoy the fine food, atmosphere and hopefully your good humour at Samlesbury Hall.

Thanks again for a truly excellent evening,

Regards,

Michael Gornall

Westinghouse UK
Springfields Works
Preston.







Samlesbury Hall Circa 1325



Samlesbury Hall Circa 1500



Modern day Samlesbury Hall

I have been asked many times about working at Samlesbury Hall. I must say the staff at the hall are the most hard working individuals I have ever come across. They are always there, moving chairs, setting up dining rooms, weddings, meetings, art and craft shows, theatre visits, special groups and their motto of Open everyday except Christmas and New-Years day is true. The Boss of Samlesbury Hall, Sharon Jones knows only too well who her biggest assets are, the staff. The Hall would not run without their efforts, so every now and then she puts on a Staff morale event, it could be a Christmas Party, or Summer BBQ. Last night it was the BBQ. My first, and along came my wife to enjoy the evening with friends and colleagues.
What I also knew about this staff, is that they work hard, they also play hard and the evening was lifted by the inclusion of Sumo wrestling with air suits, run around the stick for a dizzy race and cook the food yourself if you want any. Special!


Here's a Treasure Hunt for visitors to Samlesbury Hall







I wonder who could be coming to Samlesbury Hall?

Is there a US President connected with Samlesbury Hall?
YES

And here's Alice Carpenters Last Will and Testament.


The Minstrels Gallery, is it genuine or not?
There has always been a conflict in my mind due to differing records in history books about Samlesbury Hall where King Henry takes the willing on a factual walk around the buildings. You see one book tells of a previous owner, Bradyll taking the oak screen apart when changing the Hall into the Bradyll Arms Tavern and making it into a seemingly genuine minstrels gallery. Yet I found a book dated 1871 in the loft that never mentions the conversion and describes a Minstrels gallery built in the early 1500’s, that sounds the same design. We do have a picture of the oak screen before it disappeared into a new shape and it looks just like the gallery does today. So what has happened?
Have one of the two authors got it wrong?
Or has there been two minstrels galleries, the first one taken away and the second one built to give the new Tavern some ambience?

Now what kind of evidence would solve the puzzle one way or another?

Ah! Evidence comes in strange forms, and here it is:
1. There are bare joint marks at the edges where some sort of timber work used to be, not connected with the present gallery structure.
2. Some of the wood carving pattern and wording are behind some of the structure as if it was another shape before.
3. I have found a sketch of the Great Hall without any minstrels gallery at all.
4. I have found the mention of a gallery in the 1500’s.
5. The present gallery is at the solar end of the Hall and would not have been so prominent in the 1500’s there because it should be seen by the Lord and Lady not over their heads.
So what is my conclusion?



I think there was a balcony, narrower than a gallery, leading to bedrooms, over the solar end. It may have been used as a Minstrels Gallery but I don’t think on a regular basis. The present Gallery is definitely the old screen dismantled and reformed into the sides across the solar end of the hall, too many mistakes have been made to believe it is the original. He only way the solar end could have been used for the gallery is if the solar end was not for the family but for a drinking room as in a Tavern. Over the years the gallery has been encased into another end wall design thus creating a passageway behind. Present day exposing of the gallery show up its errors and poor construction.

Let's swap hats for a while!
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