Muncaster Castle

Old, drafty castles and ghosts seem to go hand in hand...

Muncaster Castle is a privately owned castle which overlooks the Esk River about a mile south of the west-coastal town of Ravenglass in Cumbria England. The site was originally selected by the Romans as a place from which to guard the Esk River. At present the castle is owned by the Pennington family who has lived at Muncaster for at least 800 years. The land had been granted to Alan de Penitone in 1208. The oldest parts of the castle include the Great Hall and the 14th century pele tower, which is a type of watch tower fortification unique to the English-Scottish border region. On a number of occasions the castle has been extended and enlarged.

Recent historical research (early 2000s) has uncovered records which indicate that in 1678 the castle had 14 chimneys, while a document relating to payment of Window Tax in 1746 recorded that at that date the castle has 103 windows and 55 rooms and corridors. At the time of the ownership of Sir Joseph Pennington in the 1770s the castle had fallen into serious decay. His son Sir John Pennington who arrived to live at the castle after his wedding in 1778 was dismayed when a part of the building collapsed while he was inspecting it. It cost him some 6 thousand pounds a very large amount of money in the 18th century to rebuild and restore the castle.

Today the castle contains a wealth of architectural features and artifacts from a wide span of English history, including a rare portrait of King Henry VI, an Elizabethan banqueting table and an impressive library with about 6,000 books.

The catle is surrounded by 77 acres of woodland gardens in a park of some 18,000 acres. The gardens contain many rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas and the castle’s Plant Center offers the largest collection of rhododendrons in the north of England. It operates as a function center and a site where civil weddings may be held and is also the location of the headquarters of the World Owl Trust, a registered UK charity dedicated to the preservation of owls and their habitats. The estate is situated in a sparsely populated and scenic countryside, between the Irish Sea and Hardknott Pass, near England’s tallest mountain, Scafell Pike.

Muncaster Castle has also acquired a reputation for being one of the most haunted houses in Britain. Prior to the 21st century there are only two ghosts mentioned, at the castle that of Henry VI (who was sheltered at Muncaster after his defeat at the battle of Hexham) and the head carrying ghost of an apprentice carpenter who was decapitated while sleeping in the old stable block by jester Thomas Skelton (Tom the Fool) at the orders of Sir Ferdinand Pennington because of his love affair with his daughter Helwise.

However guides have informed visitors to the castle that as well as the above mentioned ghosts there is also the ghost of Skelton and the vengeful ghost of Mary Bragg. Mary Bragg was a foul-mouthed local girl who was murdered by drunken youths who hung her from the Main Gate after having kidnapped her for a joke. There are even tales that a lion shot by the last Lord Muncaster in Kenya and whose skull is kept in the castle was sometimes heard prowling and growling around at nightfall.

Guests can book a tour of the castle and an all-night vigil in a haunted bedroom known as the Tapestry Room where the paranormal phenomena include hearing footsteps, seeing the door open on its own, hearing a crying child (allegedly Margaret Susan Pennington, who died of screaming fits in the 19th century) and/or a singing woman, digital cameras will turn on and off, feeling themselves patted, experiencing changes in room temperature, chest pains and even being tossed out of bed.

Jason Braithwaite a cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist from the University of Birmingham has been studying the phenomena at the castle for some 15 years suggest one possible explanation as being "strange and anomalous magnetic fields" which can affect certain people with a tendency towards "more erratic" brain function.

Tom the Fool (real name Tom Skelton) was a jester in Muncaster Castle at the end of the 16th century. He was reputedly the last court jester in English history. Tom was a friend of William Shakespeare. He was a dark character who was responsible for a number of deaths during his time at Muncaster. One of his ideas of a "joke" was to direct anyone asking for directions to Ravenglass towards the hidden quicksand and bog marsh by the River Esk rather than to the ford. There were those who realized in time and saved themselves but many did not and were never seen again.

The present owners of the castle Phyllada and Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington believe that Tom still keeps a watchful eye on things and occasionally gets up to more sinister mischief. His portrait hangs in the castle. Skelton died around 1600 according to legend in the very marshes where he’d sent so many to their deaths when they tried to return to the castle while they were drunk. Muncaster Castle has a special day called "Tom Fool’s Day" which is a family fun day with various attractions.

By: Rasma Raisters