Post by Graveyardbride on Mar 2, 2014 16:28:50 GMT -5
Would you spend £1million on a haunted house? Civil War era country mansion up for sale ... complete with its own ghostly coach and horses
LLANASA, Wales – A 400-year-old haunted house has been put up for a sale – but the £1million ($1,675,000) price tag could spook some buyers.
Henblas house, in the village of Llanasa, north Wales, was built during the English Civil War and is rumoured to boast its own ghostly coach and horses which clatter through the gateway to the house.
The Grade I-listed seven-bedroom country mansion was built for a wealthy landowning family during the siege of Chester in 1645.
The house played a part in both world wars, acting as a prisoner of war camp during the First World War and as an ammunition store and, later, accommodation for evacuees during the Second World War.
According to one local historian the house even has links to Welsh freedom fighter Owain Glyndwr – the last native-born Prince of Wales.
Historian Paul Parry said: “There is a verse in Old Welsh carved on the wall which reads 'I grew trees round thee to get thee ready for me' and is attributed to Owain Glyndwr's father. He is buried in the local church and it is believed he could have lived here in the 14th century in an older building which would have been demolished with Henblas built on its foundations.”
The house boasts wood-panelled drawing rooms and dining rooms and extensive formal gardens – with its own country cottage in the garden.
David Lawton and wife Bridget have owned the property for 40 years and brought up their five children there.
Mr Lawton said: 'It was built for the Morgan family of Golden Grove at the time of the Civil War and actually during the siege of Chester. It has a wonderful history which includes having been used to house German prisoner of war officers in the First World War and evacuees in the Second World War. At one time it was owned by Dennis Vosper MP, Lord Runcorn, who really restored the property in the 1960s after it had fallen into some disrepair. We were married 60 years ago in the church in the village but I knew it before then because I was born in Prestatyn and used to cycle up here. It's just a bit too big for the two of us now.”
Previous owner Lord Runcorn extensively restored the grand property and bought several oak tables from his old school Marlborough College and used them to re-floor the hall room on the second floor which is 40 feet long and 17 feet wide and where one refectory table still survives.
Another notable local resident in the 19th century was Dr Edwin Parry who lost both legs in a railway accident but continued to practice as a doctor from the house.
Matthew Holmberg from Jones Peckover estate agents said: “It has a rich and wonderful history and it is still a lovely house to live in.
“There are a number of interesting features to the house, which has three floors and a cellar. They including a carving of a man and a woman above the front door and also some more interesting carving on one of the gable ends. There is a verse in Old Welsh near the foot of the exterior wall while at the top there is a carving of a kneeling figure with the date of the house's construction.”
Source: Ben Endley, The Daily Mail, February 25, 2014.
