Longleat ghost laid by fire.
Longleat House, the ancestral home of the Thynne family, which has recently been in the news, once had its own ghost. It was nearing the end of the 13th century when a Priory was built on the site of the existing mansion, and it was dedicated to Saint Radegund. After about 300 years Henry VIII dissolved this monastery and a mansion was begun there. But this was interrupted by a disastrous fire, out of which comes the story of the Longleat ghost.
It was during the re-building that a ghost, believed to be the ghost of a monk, appeared, and is said to have pelted the stonemasons with chunks of stone. An effort was made to drive away this ghost with the well-known methods of that day, which included the use of gunpowder, poisoned apples, etc. As the ghost continued to haunt the place it was decided to burn the whole place to the ground, and this desperate recourse was carried out.
Later a ghost of a Marquess of Bath is said to have appeared at night inside the mansion, and also been seen taking walks around the lovely park and woods. It is said that the widow of the Marquess was so perturbed at the ghost that she invited a number of parsons to dwell at Longleat. The parsons wrapped the Marchioness in a sheepskin, and shut her in a room, whilst they seated themselves around a table and awaited whatever the night might bring. Yes, the ghost was true to its customs, and it appeared in the midst of the parsons. The parsons defied the ghost and would not let him contact his wife. The parsons walked the whole mansion using the mystic rite of chanting the Lord’s Prayer backwards, so it is said, and thus laid this ghost once and for all. The sheepskin is believed to have played a part in laying the ghost.
H.C.G.
Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer, 16th August 1946.