Ghosts

When we first came here in February 2011,  all sorts of unexplained noises, thumps and doors shutting were heard. The most inexplicable was very faint harpsichord music being played in the upstairs parlour. When we talked to James Cartland, the previous owner ( who initially had denied all the tales of hauntings until the final completion papers were signed!) he confessed to also having heard this, and going a step further to have it investigated.

Experts reportedly attended and recorded the music. They concluded it was from an organ harpsicord, the Rolls Royce of all harpsicords, and really quite rare.

James much later, discovered in an inventory, a mention of an organ Harpsichord in the dining room in 1717. this had been a wedding present for Frances Revell as she had married Mr. Strelley -Pegge.  By closing the right doors and playing a recording in the room we were able to record the same level of sound in the parlour.

The north east bedroom had a history of being haunted going back at least a hundred years; nobody knew why. About eight years ago It was discovered that Robert Revell, the Squire, was “murdered in his bed by two of his servants”. This story had been lost over the centuries and was found on an old family tree. Both we and our guests have heard the furniture in rooms above us being shifted when we have bee in the library below, and footsteps accross the drawing room, with, of course, no one there! A recent séance produced some rather amazing results, appearing to justify the nervousness of those lucky enough to sleep in this room.

Another group were locked in by an unseen hand ferociously rattling the door handle. All occupants of the house at the time had been accounted for, so who was it? Spooky!!

Several people related to the 19th century servants have told us of three children in 18th century costumes (two girls and one boy) who play ball on the south lawn and fade into the dusk. Apparently the staff often used to wait for it. Although we’ve never seen it, it is presumed to be Tristram Revell and his two sisters Mary and Bazina in the 1740′s.

Another story is of a ghostly coach, seen in the fields west of the Hall by various servants heading home in the dark to their houses in Alfreton during Victorian times. What they didn’t know was that the Hall was reversed in about 1700 and the main drive to the old front of the house was that on which the coach was seen: Is this Robert Revell’s coach? One lady said her mother had told her it had two huge wheels and two small, a perfect description of coaches of the late 17th / early 18th century.

A small room known as the Red Cross Room (owing to its use in the first war to wind bandages by the local ladies) gives many visitors the jitters. A previous occupant once saw a lady standing over her bed and never slept there again! Clearly something happened here; what, we don’t know.

Various visitors and guests have said they have seen figures out of the corner of their eyes. And two, unrelated guests, on separate occasions both described the same ghostly religious figure sat in a window seat in the dinning room. A builder here once heard someone  in heavy boots walk across the attic a few inches above him, when he was painting the parlour ceiling, . He was alone in the house at the time and mindful of burglars had locked himself in! The carpet fitter was found sat outside the house refusing to re-enter alone, as a lady had been talking in the adjacent room, which, as you may have guessed, was empty. A Bamfords auctioneer refused to discuss what he had heard, but as the house changed hands and antiques were sold off, he left the house, unsecured and refused, ever, to re enter it.

An amusing local story is that a ghost ball takes place here every year in the great parlour on the anniversary of the ball given in 1700 by Robert Revell when he was High Sheriff of Derbyshire. We have neither seen nor heard it yet, but some years ago a piece of film showed a shadow of a man’s lace cuff on a shutter in the art of dancing. In the 1960/70’s the police quite often came here, called by concerned passers-by who had seen flickering lights in the windows. It was easy to get in but no one was ever found except the smell of candle smoke. An unauthorised mark at the end of the drive painted on the wall warned tramps never to stay;presumably one had spent the night and was unnerved, so kindly marked the gate.

Now honoured to be a tiny fraction of the wonderful history of Carnfield Hall, we fully intend to come back and haunt the place ourselves!