Fancy a ghost story this Christmas Eve? We thought that we'd revive this age-old Victorian tradition and discuss the mysterious legend of the White Lady of Wollaton...
December has arrived, and with the darkest months of the year approaching, it seems fitting to shed a light on the ‘White Lady’ of Wollaton Hall. This apparition has long entertained Nottingham folklore, earning the Hall the title ‘one of the UK’s most haunted locations’ and prompting an annual hosting of ghost investigations. Sightings of her span the orangery, the stable block, and, most infamously, room nineteen.
While the ghost is generally thought to haunt the ‘half-roof’ area of the Hall, room nineteen can be found underneath this ghostly section of ceiling. The chamber itself is the former boudoir of Lady Jane Middleton, which she was confined to, following a part-paralysis after falling from a horse. Former staff members at the site have provided witness accounts of a suspicious orange glow emanating from the bedroom window, fuelling the mystery.
In 1971, staff members Donald Wyatt and Richard Barlow decided to investigate that glow after public open hours, armed with rifles and axes. As they approached the locked chamber, the light quickly went out. The two men then looked to the mains to find the electricity turned off and the burglar alarm active, but if the mains were off and the alarm was on, who had turned the light on in room nineteen, and how did they enter the property without detection? Of course, The White Lady’s glow needs no electric current, nor do her movements around the property need the opening or closing of doors…
Others are not so convinced of the legend. Ex-curator Mr Cyril Halton remarked on how Wollaton Hall casts strange shadows and lights, so guests could imagine ‘all sorts of figures moving about’. He also joked that the men on fire-watch at the Hall often had duties that would take them onto Lady Middleton’s haunted half-roof and often would avoid those tasks for fear of a chance encounter with the apparition.
In Britain, the legend of ‘The White Lady’ dates to the 14th Century. Originally referred to as the ‘Mulher de Branco’, this ghostly archetype is a rural wonder, often featured in stately homes. Some associate it with unrequited love and tragedy, while others, more morbidly, consider it to be a harbinger of death. Is the White Lady to blame for those bizarre happenings over at our beloved deer park? You can be the judge.
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