What Lurks in the grounds of Wentworth Castle?
28 Dec 2010 by Sarah
At first glance, it could appear that Debased is endeavouring to go high brow with a cultured outing to the relics of a well know Castle, to comment on structural design. True, Wentworth Castle and its grounds do have the odd anecdote and appreciable history. After all, behind most buildings that have weathered the centuries, a good story will be lurking somewhere in its past. This building is no different. Sir Thomas Wentworth built the towers, believe it or not, for his children to play in. In classic “keeping up with the Joneses” style, the original plans for the grounds were to show off to their neighbours, and their rivals, the wealth and prowess of the Wentworth clan.
Anyone who knows us well, knows Debased has a squishy softie streak for a tragic tale of love and separation. Unusually for a structure so vast there is only one prominent ghost known to linger in either the castle or its admittedly beautiful grasslands. The story goes that Sir Thomas’ daughter, Lucy, fell madly in love with one of the grounds’ gardeners. Forbidden from marrying her beau due to their class difference, she was fated to a life of lovesick misery, eventually dying from her heartbreak. Such is her presence still felt, the path where her ghost is said to reside has been named “Lady Lucy’s walk”. And a luscious walk it is, along an avenue of Lime trees that were planted in the 1920s, creating an ironic landscape of calm and peace.
When Debased visited the grounds, on a murky, unusually foggy October afternoon, on what was actually intended to be an outing to diffuse the stress of a deadline, something strange occurred. Of course, the hilariously unpredictable weather of a South Yorkshire autumn denied us a view from the top of the towers, which, on a clear day, is said to a panoramic vision of all our county’s glorious countryside. Seriously, on a rare clear day, I’d recommend it to anybody. Undeterred, we thought we’d stick around and get some piccies to put in the old, “here’s some nice landscape shots for the olds” folder.
Most of them came out ok. Nice pieces on the grand hall. Some lovely gardens. To be honest, I didn’t pay particular attention to the contents of the photographs, even when taking them. And then there are these. The photographs below were taken within literal seconds of each other, and witnesses have testified that the only occupants of that area of the grounds were our group and a family who were generally yards ahead of us in their tour which was very similar to ours. On first glance, the only viewable difference between them, is the small silhouette of someone leaning against the tower in the second photo. When flicking through the photographs back home, noticing the mystery person, I decided to get a clearer view of the figure, with the following results:
I've no idea of knowing how this person appeared in the photo, just a genuine believe there was nobody present but myself when it was taken. Worth a trip to Wentworth Castle after all maybe?
