Levens Hall
Levens Hall, located in Cumbria, England, originally began as a defensive tower used as defence against the Scottish during the Wars of Scottish Independence. The tower went on to change ownership, and from there it became the large Elizabethan house you see today. Known for having the oldest topiary gardens in the world, Levens Hall is also home to many artifacts belonging to the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon. In terms of hauntings, the house was seemingly plagued by a curse which is partially similar to the tale around the chained oak tree in the village of Alton. The woman said to have inflicted the curse is also said to haunt the house; appearing on the road before cars, and within the home itself. Levens Hall has even played host to a 'living ghost'.
History
The pele tower, which Levens Hall is built around, was built by Norman de Hieland; the founder of the de Redman family. I've found that the Redman family owned the tower since 1170, but I'm assuming this account just refers to the date they owned the land from as the tower itself wasn't built until much later. I've found a number of dates of when the tower may have been built. Some sources say it was built in the 12th century, placing it at being built within the 1100s, but other sources have said 1250, 1300, and 1350. Apparently the tower was owned by the Redmans for over 300 years before it passed ownership to the Bellingham family in the 1500s. This would place the tower at being constructed during the 1200s.
Either way, the pele tower was built as a form of defence during the Scottish Wars of Independance. Pele towers were usually three storeys high and had walls up to ten feet thick. The purpose of the pele tower was to protect people and their livestock from the raids and seiges which frequently occured. The ground floor was tunnel-vaulted and used for storage and animals, the first floor was the hall and kitchen, and then the top floor was where the people lived and slept.
I have found that the Bellingham family owned Levens Hall from 1562, although one account does place this date as being 1489. It could be possible that the Bellinghams took ownership of the tower during 1489, and then expanded it into a house during 1562; although this is purely speculation as to why I've found two very different and very specific dates to their ownership. What is known is that James Bellingham, who lived from 1577-1641, inherited Levens Hall in 1580 and was extremely loyal to Queen Elizabeth I. To represent this loyalty, you can see this queen's coat of arms throughout the house. James Bellingham stayed at Levens hall until his death. I've found a detail not mentioned in many sources which is that during the English Civil War of 1642; the royalist soldiers, also known as the cavaliers, were stationed at Levens Hall to protect it against the parliamentarian forces.
Another owner of Levens Hall is Alan Bellingham. I don't know when he took over the hall, but I'm assuming it was inherited after James Bellingham's death. Little is known as Alan Bellingham aside from his debts and involvement in gambling because it was these things which lost him Levens Hall. It's said that Alan Bellingham played a game of cards with his cousin, Colonel James Grahme, and wagered his house and estate in the process. He lost Levens Hall and the surrounding estate as a result of the Ace of Hearts, which is a detail you can see represented on the downpipes.
I have found slightly contradicting details around Grahme taking ownership of the house. The famous story is that he won the house, but I've found sources which say he bought the house. Apparently in 1688, the affairs of Levens Hall were placed into the hands of trustees, and then it was sold to Grahme in 1689. I have, however, found sources which say Grahme acquired the house in 1688. As for who Grahme was, aside James Bellingham's cousin; he was the keeper of the privy purse and master of the buckhounds to James II. When, in 1688, the Glorious Revolution happened; James II fled to France and this left Grahme without a job. James' protestant daughter Mary had taken the throne with her Dutch consort, William of Orange.
Grahme lived under constant suspicion and there were frequent allegations of treason against him. He was even subjected to imprisonment a couple of times. Another person who found themselves without a job was the court gardner to James II; Guillaume Beaumont. It's thought that Beaumont trained under Andrew Le Nôtre at Versailles and, during 1694, Grahme employed Beaumont to work on the gardens at Levens Hall. Beaumont had recently finished working on the gardens at Hampton Court Palace, and this is likely how Grahme knew of Beaumont's work. Beaumont had also worked for Grahme at Bagshot Lodge for at least five years. Grahme had spent most of the money he had aquired while in service of both Charles II and James II on the estate, but he made sure to spend some on the re-design of the gardens.
The topiary gardens, which are in the Dutch style, feature the earliest known example in England of a 'ha-ha'; also known as a sunken ditch. This feature is to create a border which isn't noticeable in the way a stone wall is, and this way it looks like the garden is ongoing. Beaumont did amazing work with the garden, and was apparently impressed with the depth of soil and quality of the land. I've found that Grahme expanded the house in 1694 with the grand staircase being added, but that a new domestic wing with a brewhouse were both added during 1692. In the summer of 1699, Grahme made Levens Hall his principal country house, and he even built a house for Beaumont which overlooked part of the garden. This was located at the south end of the stable block.
One source says that in 1703, the main staircase was built; a detail which possibly contradicts the grand staircase being built in 1694 if both sets of stairs are the same. I've also found that the kitchen wing was partially destroyed by a fire in 1703, and it was then rebuilt to connect to the brewhouse. Beaumont became ill from 1723 and eventually died in 1727. Upon Grahme's death in 1730, Levens Hall passed to his daughter; Catherine, the Countess of Suffolk. Despite the Dutch style of garden going out of fashion by the 1730s, leading to many being remodelled into more modern styles, Catherine kept the topiary garden as it was and used it as a grazing area for sheep.
Following Levens Hall passing to Catherine, the estate continued to pass down a female line for many generations; a detail which links to the curse I will discuss in more detail along with the hauntings. A big reason why the gardens remained in the Dutch style along the generations was because the owners used Levens Hall as their second home and so didn't want to put substantial investment into it. During the 1820's, Mary Howard had ownership of Levens Hall. She was the last of Grahme's direct descendants, and she modified the interior of the building. Howard Tower was also added in 1820.
The next family to own the property was the Bagot family. Again, I've found conflicting years as to when they took ownership with some sources saying they inherited it in either 1803, 1883, or 1885. As I've found Mary Howard to have owned the property in the 1820's, I would assume for the correct year of the Bagot's owning the property to be either 1883 or 1885. The current owners, who have been in charge since 1975, are Charles Henry Bagot and Susie Bagot. Charles Henry Bagot is also known as Hal Bagot.
On the 30th of June 1985, Levens Hall became a grade I listed building; and during 1994, a fountain was added with an avenue of pleached lime leading to it. This was based on Beaumont's original designs which had been lost for 100 years, and was added to celebrate 300 years of the gardens. Very little has been changed about the gardens over the years and it included over 100 ancient box and yew trees. At least half of the trees in the topiary garden are over 150 years old, with some even being over 300 years old. There have been ten head gardners over the years. The head gardner of 1928 was F. C. King, and the current head gardner is Chris Crowder; a man who has worked there for nearly thirty years since his early 20's.
A gift shop was added to Levens Hall in 1999, and the overall estate covers 9,500 acres of agricultural land which helps to provide lots of the produce used in the cafe 'Levens Kitchen'. The gardens are sized at either ten acres or twelve acres, another detail which sources were conflicted on. Today the house boasts a large quantity of relics to admire. At one point in history, a son of the house married a niece of the Duke of Wellington. As a result, Wellington gave the couple a number of items which were associated with himself and Napoleon. One such item is a clasp which was found in Napoleon's private coach after the Battle of Waterloo.
Other items include Bean Brummel's snuffbox, twelve globes in the library which were owned by Louis XIV, and paintings by Van Dyck, Brueghel the Elder, and Rubens. Another item is the earliest known example of English patchwork. This was created in 1708 by the wife of Colonel James Grahme and his daughters. The house is currently privately owned and features panelled rooms and plasterwork ceilings. The dining room is decorated with embossed leather wall coverings from Cordova. The hall also features large ornate chimney pieces from the late 1500s.
Levens Hall has even founded World Topiary Day in 2020, which is on the 14th of May. It did this to mark having the Guinness World Record status of having the world's oldest topiary gardens, which is over 329 years old. The Bagot family has also extended the gardens, but they've preserved the original topiary gardens as best they can.
Hauntings
As mentioned earlier, it is said that a curse was placed onto Levens Hall. It is thought that during the early 1700s, an old pregnant gypsy woman was turned away from Levens Hall after seeking food and shelter there. As the woman died of starvation, she declared that no male heirs would be born at the hall until the nearby River Kent ceased to flow and a white deer appeared in Levens Park; a place where only Black Norwegian fallow deer existed. The owner at the time was James Grahme, and true to the curse no male heirs came to be. This was until 1896 when the prophecy surprisingly seemed to be true. The arrival of Alan Desmond Bagot occured when the river was frozen and a white fawn was born into the black herd. This was such a momentous occasion that the white fawns ears have been kept in a scrapbook at the hall. All male heirs since 1896 have been born when the river freezes over.
It is said that a grey lady haunts Levens Hall, and it's thought that this is the spirit of the gypsy woman. She is said to appear in front of cars on the driveway, and has even been said to appear before horse and carts in the days before cars. She is sometimes seen with a small unclipped poodle with bright eyes on the staircase of the hall, along with within the corridors. She's even been seen on the bridge which runs over the River Kent.
Other spirits said to appear in Levens Hall are that of a woman in a print dress and cap who appears before children, and a small black dog that wanders the hall. There is also a pink lady who is dressed in a long pink print dress, an apron, and a mob cap. It's thought that she was a maid from the 1700s, and it is possible that she is the same as the woman who appears before children. A man with a stick, and a woman with a child have all been seen at the bottom of a bed during the night; and the drawing room and Bellingham room above it have both disturbed visitors who sometimes refuse to sleep in there. Flashing lights have also been seen in the gardens without any explanation.
The most interesting haunting of Levens Hall is one which had occured while the spirit in question was of someone still living. A previous owner of the hall, Oliver Robin Bagot, was heard playing the harpsichord within Levens Hall while he was away on business in Keswick. His family at the time feared that he had perished in an accident of some kind as that was the only explanation for his ghost being present, but he returned safely. This gave his ghost the name of being a 'living' ghost.
Summary of Hauntings
1. Grey lady apparition/gypsy apparition, appears on driveway, on bridge, in hall
2. Small black dog, wanders hall
3. Woman apparition, print dress and cap, appears before children
4. 1700s maid apparition, pink lady, long pink print dress, mob cap, apron
5. 'Living' ghost, Oliver Robin Bagot, still alive when spirit played harpsichord
6. Man with stick apparition, bottom of bed
7. Woman with child apparition, bottom of bed
8. Flashing lights, gardens
9. Feelings of discomfort, drawing room and Bellingham room
My Thoughts
I was quite surprised to see the lack of hauntings present at Levens Hall as I've found that usually regardless of how much or how little history a location has, it tends to have plenty of hauntings. I was also quite surprised that many of the dates involved with this location seem to be uncertain. An important thing for me to discuss here, which I mentioned at the start of the article, is the similarity between the curse at Levens Hall and that I mentioned of the chained oak in the village of Alton. The similarity isn't surrounding a chained oak tree, or the consequence of family members dying following the fall of a branch. Instead, the similarity surrounds the origin of the curse. Both stories involve an old woman being turned away by someone in a position of wealth and power. There is also the similarity of both stories seeming to have some truth to them. The chained oak in Alton stands as proof that something occured which led to the oak tree being wrapped in chains, and the ears of the white fawn being kept at Levens Hall show there was clearly some degree of importance being placed on that fawn's existence.
These stories of curses, especially when there seems to be some element of truth to them, really raise interesting questions around if curses and other elements of magic are indeed true to some extent. As there are clearly elements of truth, then I am inclined to think that maybe there is something to these curses. However, I think for the most part they serve as cautionary tales regarding wealth and class.
In terms of the spirits of Levens Hall, it's odd that there aren't more details. The owner, Hall Bagot, has also said that he has never seen a spirit at Levens Hall. As a result, I can't help but wonder if the spirits of Levens Hall are nothing more than just ghost stories. The curse is definitely interesting, and unexpected, but the spirits don't seem to have enough information out there about them to be real. However, as I have said in other posts, perhaps this lack of information makes them all the more real? It's clear that Levens Hall aren't promoting the property based on the hauntings, so that begs the question of where he the stories come from? Perhaps the vague information comes from the brief instances where people have genuinely experienced something within the hall and then they've gone on to discuss it online. As their tales didn't gain traction, perhaps what I've found is the raw information and not what I'm sure has happened elsewhere, where a tale has been built upon amongst a long running game of Chinese whispers.
The tale around Oliver Robin Bagot is definitely the most interesting of the spirits said to have occured at Levens Hall. If true, I feel it shows good evidence towards residual hauntings existing and that these residual hauntings don't have to occur after the death of the individual. It's interesting and as a result I'll mark Levens Hall as a location of interest. The 'living' ghost sounds like a very interesting thing to research, and so I will keep a record of tales like this.
Thank you for reading to the end of this post! It was a surprisingly messy location to write about as lots of the information online was about the gardens and not the house, and the dates were a bit all over the place with their consistency. The curse was really interesting to find out about though, as was the 'living' ghost which was experienced here.
A special thank you to Damain, Nicolette, Kerry, The Cornish Ghost Whisperers, Beardo Gets Scared, and Starlight Phoenix Paranormal for your continued support of The True Paranormal. If you want to follow The True Paranormal you can do so on Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Tumblr. You can also subscribe to The True Paranormal on YouTube, or directly to this website through the bar on the left which will give you email notifications. That bar also lists all of the links which will take you to The True Paranormal's various social media platforms. If you want to contact me about your own experiences, or about anything at all paranormal, you can email thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com
Sources I Have Used
1. Levens Hall
11. Erika Packard
12. Visit Cumbria
13. Dicamillo
15. Lindeth Howe
21. UK Museums
25. Anglotopia
27. Gatehouse
28. Park Cliffe
30. Mail Experiences
31. Mill House
35. Haunted Places
38. Craig Manor
39. Occult World
40. Haunted Hovel
42. BBC
44. Ace Media
45. Flickr
46. Family Rambling
48. Historic Houses
49. Discover Britain
51. Britain's Finest
It looks spooky! Do you know if it is National Trust/English Heritage or still privately owned?
ReplyDeleteWow! Living Ghosts, you learn something new every day and I'm learning lots thanks to your informative articles GD
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