Samlesbury Hall

OVERVIEW

A timber-framed medieval manor six miles east of Preston, built in 1325 by Gilbert de Southworth and the Southworths' home until the seventeenth century; it has been a pub and a girls' school, was saved from demolition for its timber in 1925 and is run by a charitable trust. Visit Preston and the hall's own tours tell its ghost.

HISTORY

The Southworths were Catholic recusants; Sir John Southworth was imprisoned for it under Elizabeth. In 1612 Jane Southworth, a widow of the family, was among the three Samlesbury witches tried at Lancaster with the Pendle accused and acquitted when the child witness's story collapsed. The White Lady story — Dorothy, forbidden to marry a Protestant de Hoghton, whose brother ambushed and killed him and his men at their elopement, and who died in a convent abroad — is tradition; the family records show no Dorothy of the right generation.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

The White Lady on the corridors and in the grounds, seen by staff and by passing motorists; bones found under the chapel wall in the nineteenth century are attached to the story. Most Haunted filmed here. The hall tells the tale as a tale.

VISITING

Open daily except Saturdays, free; café, shop and events. Ghost tours by booking.