A Castleacre Ghost.
In the current number of “The Eastern Counties Magazine” there is an interesting article on “Castleacre, Westacre, and Southacre,” in which the writer – under the somewhat quaint heading of “The Three Acres – Without the Cow,” discourses pleasantly on the varied beauties of these little-known, but picturesque villages. In the description of Castleacre the old house known as The Grove is mentioned, and is truly designated a quaint specimen of early 17th century architecture. Being a “haunted house,” it boasted – aye, boasts – of a ghost, to which the writer also alludes.
Apropos of this it may not be amiss to place on record one or two remarks relative to this old building, more especially as it is almost immediately to be demolished to give place to a residence of a more comfortable and up-to-date structure. The Grove is a habitation of long and somewhat unusual shape, standing to the north-west of the Castle Keep. It contains large and lofty dining and drawing rooms, a breakfast or morning room with beams and some panels of ancient chestnut, and a curious open-range stove, which by internal mechanism “lets down,” so that at the festive season the proverbial “yule log” could of a surety have been burnt. The entrance and “large” halls are paved with stone, and a block-like structure projects into the latter, but what it contains, or if it is a closed room, yet remains to be seen. The kitchens are in the oldest portion of the house, and would certainly scare a modern cook! The bedrooms, which are accessible by three staircases, open into each other, and those above the kitchen regions are especially old.
Now as to the Ghost!
In one of the bedrooms there is a cupboard, and within this another, which, until very recently, had not been opened for at least a hundred years. The door was secured by strong iron bars, and a villager, who died at an advanced age in the middle of the last century, told a relative of the writer that when a girl she quite well remembered the “Grove Ghost” being “laid”, clergy coming from neighbouring parishees to assist at the “laying,” and the cupboard being subsequently closed by iron bars. The house was used as a vicarage for about 40 years by a former incumbent, and strange noises were from time to time heard by the family. Upon some of the members leaving the house four years ago, the cupboard was opened, but nothing found.
Now it is said that the ghost has resumed operations with renewed vigour, and certain it is that lights have been seen, and the noises have recommenced, but whether they can be traced to human agency or otherwise is at present a mystery.
Anyhow, curiosity prevails amongst the visitors, and numerous parties of inspection have been, and are, exploring the old and untenanted house during the last few days of its existence in its present form.
Norwich Mercury, 14th December 1901.