Haunted (?) Wycoller Hall
Monday, 6. October 2008, 23:44:25
Since its nearly Halloween (also my birthday 
) this is going to be a strange and self indulgent blog post You have been warned 
I took a drive to a favourite childhood haunt the other day. It's a tiny hamlet called Wycoller, nestled in a valley below Pendle Hill, Lancashire.
There are a few old mill cottages dotted along the river bank, amonst the woodland that runs through the valley bottom. As you follow the main (only) street down from the point where modernity is halted (as cars arn't allowed in to Wycoller hamlet itself). The tree line breaks and you are met with the majestic yet trully erie sight of the ruins of Wycoller Hall.
Wycoller Hall is rumoured to be the inspiration for Ferndean Manor in Charlotte Brontes, Jane Eyre.
I was very happily suprised to find that health and saftey guidelines hadn't left the hall, (which was origionally built in 1550 by Piers Hartley) all but a pile of stones circled by red braided rope and 'Do not touch or breathe' signs.
I was able to retrace my footsteps and take my son through the innocent looking doorway in the remnants of the great hall, behind the 12ft fire place and up a hidden staircase (worn almost compleatly away in the center of each step, by centurys of it's inhabitants use) to stand on the last few remaining slabs of stone, that would have made the upper floor.
It was always the highlight of my visits as a young girl, standing there, whilst the other visitors below tryed to figure out how on earth I had managed to get up there. By the look on my sons face and his sense of adventure hitting an all time high, I think he had enjoyed it as much as I did. 
I went out of the hall to have a look at the new addition, visitors center which is housed in the Taythe Barn that dates back nearly as far as the iron age 'Clam bridge' next to it.
It has been fantasticly preserved and the ancient, exposed beams are beautiful, I just couldn't help taking a few photos of them.
When I got home I was zooming in on my shots to check how they would look printed out and saw a small white light on each of the shots of the barn roof.
I've had many 'orbs' appear on my photos before but I have had no doubt that they were refracted light from the lense .... but these seem different (zoom the barn images to see for yourself, second large beam from the back on the left)
I didn't notice them on the screen while I was taking the shots and these are much smaller than usual. It certainly isn't a hole in the roof either.
I know that Wycoller Hall has had a very colourful and haunting history,
There is a phantom black dog that supposedly roams the woods surrounding the hall that the locals have named 'Guytrash Lightfoot'.
There is the spectar of a woman dressed in black silk that walks the packhorse bridge at dusk.
The most emotive and scary of the ghostly storys is The Horseman believed to be Henry Cunliffe, the last inhabitant of the hall. It is said that if there is a thunder storm, on a full moon he has been seen riding into the village on a horse that 'breathes fire from its nostrils'. He rides in to Wycoller Hall and climbs the now non existant staircase to re-enact the brutal murder of his wife (whom he suspected of seeing another man) and then rides away up the hillside, with the bloodcurdling screams of his wife echoing in his wake.
The whole place has an unforgetable aire to it, so if you ever get the chance to visit Wycoller Hall it is highly and Cybi recomended.
Whether I believe in ghosties or not, would be a whole other blog post
) this is going to be a strange and self indulgent blog post You have been warned I took a drive to a favourite childhood haunt the other day. It's a tiny hamlet called Wycoller, nestled in a valley below Pendle Hill, Lancashire.
There are a few old mill cottages dotted along the river bank, amonst the woodland that runs through the valley bottom. As you follow the main (only) street down from the point where modernity is halted (as cars arn't allowed in to Wycoller hamlet itself). The tree line breaks and you are met with the majestic yet trully erie sight of the ruins of Wycoller Hall.
Wycoller Hall is rumoured to be the inspiration for Ferndean Manor in Charlotte Brontes, Jane Eyre. I was very happily suprised to find that health and saftey guidelines hadn't left the hall, (which was origionally built in 1550 by Piers Hartley) all but a pile of stones circled by red braided rope and 'Do not touch or breathe' signs.
I was able to retrace my footsteps and take my son through the innocent looking doorway in the remnants of the great hall, behind the 12ft fire place and up a hidden staircase (worn almost compleatly away in the center of each step, by centurys of it's inhabitants use) to stand on the last few remaining slabs of stone, that would have made the upper floor.
It was always the highlight of my visits as a young girl, standing there, whilst the other visitors below tryed to figure out how on earth I had managed to get up there. By the look on my sons face and his sense of adventure hitting an all time high, I think he had enjoyed it as much as I did. I went out of the hall to have a look at the new addition, visitors center which is housed in the Taythe Barn that dates back nearly as far as the iron age 'Clam bridge' next to it.
It has been fantasticly preserved and the ancient, exposed beams are beautiful, I just couldn't help taking a few photos of them.
When I got home I was zooming in on my shots to check how they would look printed out and saw a small white light on each of the shots of the barn roof.
I've had many 'orbs' appear on my photos before but I have had no doubt that they were refracted light from the lense .... but these seem different (zoom the barn images to see for yourself, second large beam from the back on the left)
I didn't notice them on the screen while I was taking the shots and these are much smaller than usual. It certainly isn't a hole in the roof either.
I know that Wycoller Hall has had a very colourful and haunting history,
There is a phantom black dog that supposedly roams the woods surrounding the hall that the locals have named 'Guytrash Lightfoot'. There is the spectar of a woman dressed in black silk that walks the packhorse bridge at dusk. The most emotive and scary of the ghostly storys is The Horseman believed to be Henry Cunliffe, the last inhabitant of the hall. It is said that if there is a thunder storm, on a full moon he has been seen riding into the village on a horse that 'breathes fire from its nostrils'. He rides in to Wycoller Hall and climbs the now non existant staircase to re-enact the brutal murder of his wife (whom he suspected of seeing another man) and then rides away up the hillside, with the bloodcurdling screams of his wife echoing in his wake. The whole place has an unforgetable aire to it, so if you ever get the chance to visit Wycoller Hall it is highly and Cybi recomended. Whether I believe in ghosties or not, would be a whole other blog post
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