STATELY HOME’S SPOOKY SECRETS Morbid mystery of the buried head at TV’S Ghostly manor
IT’S THE backdrop for hit BBC comedy Ghosts, but stately home West Horsley Place had its fair share of spooky-goings on long before TV cameras started rolling in 2018. Dating back to the 15th century, the Grade I listed manor house near Leatherhead in Surrey – which historian Bamber Gascoigne, 86, “accidentally inherited” from his aunt in 2014 – was once owned by Sirwalter Raleigh’s son Carew.
When his father was beheaded for treason in 1618, his mother is said to have kept his head in a red velvet bag. Now Bamber is keen to share the grisly tale today on Halloween.
He says: “Carew Raleigh was baptised in the Tower of London in 1606. During his father’s long imprisonment there, Elizabeth Raleigh, Carew’s mother, campaigned tirelessly on her husband’s behalf and continued to do so after his death.”
She published his poems and other works to ensure his lasting reputation in a successful campaign to have his possessions restored to the family. Bamber continues: “On the day of his execution at Westminster in 1618, she achieved a very unlikely wish – his severed head was placed in a red leather bag and put into her carriage.
“She had it embalmed and kept it with her for the rest of her life.
“In 1643 Carew moved into West Horsley place and his mother came with him, with the red leather bag.
“She died four years later. A much later report claims that Carew kept it in a cupboard in the hall.
“It was one of my aunt’s most fervent wishes it might one day be discovered in the house. Its whereabouts are unknown but a local tradition claims it to be under a flagstone in the church or in the graveyard, buried with Carew.” The ramshackle property also housed Guy Fawkes when, aged around 19, he was employed as a footman to the 1st Lord Montague ofwest Horsley Place.
Local historian Pam Bowley explains: “Lord Montague died two years later in 1592 and Fawkes went into service with the 2nd Lord Montague. The Montagues were staunch English Catholics and Fawkes a convert to Catholicism.
“Montague was married to Robert Catesby’s first cousin, Elizabeth Tresham, whose brother Francis was among the conspirators who planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I, his queen, and eldest son on November 5, 1605. Guido Fawkes, as he was now called, was an explosives expert,” Pam says. “His military experience saw him recruited by Catesby, drawn into the plot, and sworn to secrecy. “But he remained an outsider. Not being one of the elite, he was not privy to private supper parties where the plotting took place.”
Renting a house to smuggle 36 barrels of gunpowder under the palace ready to blow it sky-high, the plot was only rumbled when an anonymous letter was sent to Lord Montague warning him not to go to the House of Parliament on the following day, November 5th.
“Could this have been from Guido himself?” asks Bamber . But what the conspirators did not know was that a long-delayed search of Parliament had been ordered.
“A tall figure in a dark cloak seen leaving the building was promptly arrested. He gave his name as John Johnson, servant to Thomas Percy, but, of course, it was Guy Fawkes.”
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arrest broke, the conspirators fled and Fawkes was tortured until he gave up their names. The traditional death for traitors in 17thcentury England was to be hanged, drawn and quartered in public – but this was not 35-yearold Fawkes’s fate, says Bamber.
“As he awaited his punishment on the gallows, he leapt from the platform and died as a result of breaking his neck. He died on January 31, 1606, aged 35.
“Lord Montague spent nine months in the Tower, but his name was eventually cleared.
“Sir Walter Raleigh was also under suspicion, because his wife was related to the plotters Catesby and Tresham, although he had not had anything to do with the plot. No proof could ever be found but he ended up in the Tower for 11 years for political reasons.”
BAMBER also reveals how Henry VIII was once an owner of West Horsley Place when he inherited it from close friend Sir John Bourchier in 1532. Sir John was heavily indebted to the king, so when he died the king seized several of his manors, including West Horsley, giving it to his cousin Henry Courtenay.
Despite its incredible history,west Horsley Place had been at risk of falling into ruin. Bamber, the former University Challenge host, first discovered he had been left the property by his godmother when contacted by his solicitor.
His godmother was the Duchess of Roxburghe, a trainbearer for Queen Elizabeth at the 1937 Coronation of King Georgevi.
“On 9th July 2014 I was asked to attend a meeting in a London solicitor’s office,” he recalls.
“There was nothing unexpected about this. I was one of the two executors of my 99-year-old aunt, Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, who had died a week before.
“The solicitor handed me a document. ‘This is the will’ she said. ‘Have a look at page six. You are her heir’. It was hard to take in. My aunt never mentioned this to me – it was completely unexpected.
“Given the work required to restore the house, she expected I would sell it.” But Bamber had other ideas and was determined to hang on to the house.
He commissioned a surveyor to see how much it would cost to restore.the work was estimated at £7million for the house and £3million for the rest.
Inside they found some extraordinary treasures to finance the repairs, selling £5.3million of jewels, paintings, furniture and artefacts through Sotheby’s, including the gown worn by the Duchess at
George VI’S Coronation. However, feeling more than a little nervous about the challenge ahead, Bamber established a charity called the Mary Roxburghe Trust (now West Horsley Place Trust) and gave it the house, the entire estate and all the money raised by three sales of the Duchess’s possessions.
He also found alternative revenue streams, by hiring it out to TV and film companies.
Five years ago, the BBC was looking for a location for its new drama Ghosts. It happened upon West Horsley Place.
The plot of Ghosts follows Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-bynoe), who unexpectedly inherit a grand country estate called Button House only to find it is both falling apart and overrun with ghosts.
The house has also featured in the first series of The Crown, ITV dramas The Durrells, Howards End, Vanity Fair and Sky Atlantic drama Guerrilla with Idris Elba.
LAST year the charity received £126,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to make the house more inclusive. Bamber’s dreams came true this summer when he opened the 50-room stately home and its 18th-century walled gardens for the first time to the curious public for a series of tours, open days and special events.
This week alone the house has welcomed hundreds of visitors for spooky Halloween tours, and from tomorrow they can book on to the Nooks and Crannies tour.
It has become hugely popular with Ghosts fans, who can now explore every corner of the house and learn about its history.
Although another series of Ghosts will bring more revenue the property is still on Historic England’s At Risk register.
However, Bamber and his staff have high hopes for a new opera house in the grounds, the hiring out of Stone Hall and the Drawing Room for weddings, and its 18thcentury stables, with plans to turn them into a craft centre.
Clare Clinton, from West Horsley Place, said: “Our vision is that West Horsley Place should be a welcoming space for the community to enjoy, with arts, heritage, history and nature at its heart.
“And if they want a bit of spookiness thrown in for good measure, now is a great time to visit!”