Hensol Castle is a castellated mansion

Mansion

A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...

 in the gothic architecture

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 style dating from the late 17th century or early 18th century. It is located north of Clawdd Coch

Clawdd Coch

Clawdd Coch is a hamlet in the Vale of Glamorgan. It lies to the northeast of Tredodridge in the parish of Pendoylan...

 and Tredodridge

Tredodridge

Tredodridge is a hamlet in the Vale of Glamorgan. It lies along a country lane, to the northwest of Pendoylan and southwest of Clawddcoch. It contains Brynteg House, once occupied by James Somerset.To the northwest of the hamlet is the Vale of Glamorgan Golf Club and Hensol Castle....

 in the parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of Pendoylan

Pendoylan

Pendoylan is a rural village in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, which has won many awards in Best Kept Village competitions and contains 27 entries in the Council's County Treasures database, 13 of which are listed buildings.- Location :...

 (Welsh: Pendeulwyn) in the Vale of Glamorgan

Vale of Glamorgan

The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. It is a Grade 1 listed building.

Architecture

This substantially extended mansion is something of an archaeological puzzle. The south range came first and is thought to be an unusually early example of the gothic revival in Britain This may have been the work of the London architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 Roger Morris. Around 1735, William Talbot, Member of Parliament and later Baron Talbot of Hensol, added the east and west wings, reportedly spending some £60,000. Samuel Richardson is said to have transformed the south front in the late 18th or early 19th century, by adding more castellations and corner turrets, but there is some doubt about this. In the 1840s Rowland Fothergill employed T.H. Wyatt

Thomas Henry Wyatt

Thomas Henry Wyatt was an Irish British architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870-73 and awarded their Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1873...

 & David Brandon

David Brandon (architect)

David Brandon was a British architect. In partnership with Thomas Wyatt, he worked mostly in the Gothic style.Brandon worked at a number of English country houses and churches, these include: Badminton House, Basildon Park, Bayham Abbey, Benenden House, Chilham Castle, Fonthill Abbey, Hemsted...

 to improve the property. They extended the house to the north, added a new courtyard, and refashioned some of the gothic into perpendicular

Perpendicular

In geometry, two lines or planes are considered perpendicular to each other if they form congruent adjacent angles . The term may be used as a noun or adjective...

, changed the battlements and added the off-centre window bay to the south front. The interior is classical

Classicism

Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...

 in style of various dates.

Occupants

The Hensol estate dates from at least 1419. It was owned by the Jenkins family in the seventeenth century, and the house was said to have been built by David Jenkins' great-grandfather, David Tew.

The famous judge David Jenkins

David Jenkins (Royalist)

David Jenkins was a Welsh judge and Royalist during the English Civil War.Jenkins was born at Pendeulwyn , Glamorgan, son of a well-established gentry family. He was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, admitted to Gray's Inn on 5 November 1602 and called to the bar in 1609...

 (1582–1663), the son of “Jenkin Richard of Hensol in the parish of Pendeulwyn” was born at Hensol. He was described in old documents as “Counsellor at Law, and one of the judges of the Western Circuit in the reign of King Charles I

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

”. Judge Jenkins was a man of great force of character and some eccentricity, named “Heart of Oak” and “Pillar of the Law”. Being a staunch royalist

Cavalier

Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...

, he took an active part against the Parliamentarians, during the Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, condemning several to death for activities deemed treasonable. He was captured at either Hereford or Oxford in 1645 and sent to the Tower of London

Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

. On 21 February 1648 he was brought before the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 but refused to kneel at the bar. He was therefore fined £1,000 (equivalent to about £100,000 at 2009 values) for his contempt. He was impeached for high treason

High treason

High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...

, and when an act was passed for his trial, he met it with a declaration that he would “die with the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 under one arm and Magna Carta

Magna Carta

Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...

 under the other”. After the restoration of the monarchy

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

 under King Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, he was liberated in 1656 and returned to his estate in Glamorgan

Glamorgan

Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...

 where he subsequently died and was buried at Cowbridge

Cowbridge

Cowbridge is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, approximately west of Cardiff. Cowbridge is twinned with Clisson in the Loire-Atlantique department in northwestern France.-Roman times:...

. His wife, Cecil, was daughter of Sir Thomas Aubrey, of Llantrithyd.

The 1670 Hearth Tax return shows that the Hensol mansion of that time possessed 18 hearths. Judge Jenkins’ son, David Jenkins was described as being “of Hensol” when he was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1685. This David Jenkins married Mary, daughter of Edward Pritchard of Llancaiach Fawr

Llancaiach Fawr

Llancaiach Fawr is a Tudor manor house near the village of Nelson in South Wales, which is now a museum of living history, some say it is haunted...

. They had a son, Richard, and a daughter, Cecil, who married Charles Mathew of Castell Mynach. They in turn had a daughter, Cecil.

An annual assembly of the bards was for many years held under the auspices of the Jenkins family in the adjoining parish of Ystrad Owen

Ystradowen

Ystradowen is a small village in rolling rural countryside; its nearest town is Cowbridge which is approximately three miles to the south. Ystradowen is twelve miles west of Cardiff, located in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales....

, until the death of Richard Jenkins who was a warm admirer of welsh poetry

Welsh poetry

Welsh poetry may refer to poetry in the Welsh language, Anglo-Welsh poetry, or other poetry written in Wales or by Welsh poets.-History:Wales has one of the earliest literary traditions in Northern Europe, stretching back to the days of Aneirin Welsh poetry may refer to poetry in the Welsh...

 and music, and a good performer on the harp.

The Jenkins male line became extinct with Richard Jenkins’ death in 1721 and the estate passed to Charles Talbot (1685–1737) though his marriage in 1708 or 1709 with the Jenkins heiress, Cecil (d 1720), daughter of Richard Jenkins’ sister, Cecil, and Charles Mathew of Castell Mynach. The Talbot family had come into Glamorgan through the marriage of John Ivory Talbot of Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order.- History :...

, Wiltshire, with Mary, daughter of Thomas Mansel, 1st Baron Mansel

Thomas Mansel, 1st Baron Mansel

Thomas Mansel, 1st Baron Mansel of Margam PC , sometimes referred to as Thomas Mansell, was a Welsh peer and Member of Parliament for Cardiff and Glamorgan.-Personal history:...

 of Margam Abbey

Margam Abbey

Margam Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, located in the village of Margam, a suburb of modern Port Talbot in Wales.-History:The abbey was founded in 1147 as a daughter house of Clairvaux by Robert, Earl of Gloucester and was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The abbey was dissolved by King...

, Glamorgan. John Ivory Talbot’s daughter inherited Lacock Abbey. Her son, William Davenport Talbot, was the father of William Henry Fox Talbot of photographic fame.

Charles Talbot served in Robert Walpole's

Robert Walpole

Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....

 government becoming Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

 in 1733 and taking the title Baron Talbot of Hensol. His son, William Talbot

William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot

William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot PC , known as the Lord Talbot from 1737 to 1761, was a British politician....

 (1710–1782) was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Glamorgan in 1734. His opponent, Bussy Mansel

Bussy Mansel, 4th Baron Mansel

Bussy Mansel, 4th Baron Mansel was a Welsh peer.He succeeded his brother Christopher Mansel as Baron Mansel of Margam in 1744....

 of Margam (later Lord Mansel

Baron Mansel

Baron Mansel, of Margam in the County of Glamorgan, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 1 January 1712 for Sir Thomas Mansel, 5th Baronet, previously Member of Parliament for Cardiff and Glamorganshire. His ancestor had been created a Baronet, of Margam in the County of...

) contested the result despite having initially received 823 votes against Talbot’s 678; but 247 were struck off from Mansel, and only 21 from Talbot. The sheriff, William Basset of Miskin, was accused of great partiality. Charles Talbot died in February 1736/37, William becoming the 2nd Baron Talbot. Bussy Mansel was then elected MP. William Talbot became Earl Talbot in 1761. In 1765 he leased some land near Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...

 to Anthony Bacon

Anthony Bacon (industrialist)

Anthony Bacon was an English-born merchant and industrialist who was significantly responsible for the emergence of Merthyr Tydfil as the iron-smelting centre of Britain.-Background:...

 and William Brownrigg at £100 p.a. for 99 years without royalty payments. This contained both coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 and iron ore and was used to develop the Cyfarthfa Ironworks

Cyfarthfa Ironworks

The Cyfarthfa Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales.-The beginning:...

, that became the largest in the world and was later run by another resident of Hensol Castle, William Crawshay II

William Crawshay II

William Crawshay II was the son of William Crawshay I, the owner of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales....

. A large tablet inside the north wall of Pendoylan Parish Church commemorates a gift of £50 from Earl Talbot, the interest of which was to be given to the poor of Pendoylan. In 1770 it was matched by a further £50 given by Philip John, and in 1871, a row of six charity houses were built which stand as Church Row to this day.

The present house was either newly built, or was an extensive remodeling of the manor

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

 of the Jenkins family, in around 1735. In 1780, William Talbot was created Baron Dynevor

Baron Dynevor

Baron Dinevor, of Dinevor in the County of Carmarthen , is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1780 for William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, with remainder to his daughter, Lady Cecil, wife of George Rice, a member of a prominent Welsh family...

 with a special remainder in favour of his only child, a daughter, Cecil Rice, and “the heirs male of her body”. She had married George Rice of Newtown (later called Dynevor Castle). In 1782 William Talbot died, the Earldom became extinct, and the barony of Talbot of Hensol passed to his nephew, John Chetwynd Talbot (1749-1793)

John Chetwynd-Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot

John Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot of Hensol , known as John Talbot until 1782 and as The Lord Talbot between 1782 and 1784, was a British peer and politician.-Background:...

, for whom the title Earl Talbot

Earl Talbot

Earl Talbot is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. This branch of the Talbot family descends from the Hon. Sir Gilbert Talbot , third son of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury. His great-great-great-grandson the Right Reverend William Talbot was Bishop of Oxford,...

 was revived. The title Baron Talbot of Hensol

Baron Talbot

Baron Talbot is a title that has been created twice. The title was created first in the Peerage of England. On 5 June 1331, Sir Gilbert Talbot was summoned to Parliament, by which he was held to have become Baron Talbot....

 is still held by the Earl of Shrewsbury

Earl of Shrewsbury

Earl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation, 1074:The first creation occurred in 1074 for Roger de Montgomerie, one of William the Conqueror's principal counselors...

, the premier earl in England and Ireland.

In 1789 the estate was sold by the Talbot family to Samuel Richardson (1739–1824), a banker, who may have modified the south front of the house, and who in 1798 was Sherriff of Glamorgan. He is said to have been a pioneer in agriculture and made many improvements to the Hensol estate, including land drainage and introducing the threshing machine.

Samuel Richardson left in 1815, and Hensol was purchased by Benjamin Hall

Benjamin Hall (ironmaster)

Benjamin Hall, FRS was an industrialist and a prominent figure in South Wales.- Background, Education & Connections :...

(1778–1817), son of Dr Benjamin Hall (1742–1825) Chancellor of the diocese of Llandaff

Diocese of Llandaff

The Diocese of Llandaff is a Church in Wales diocese. It is headed by the Bishop of Llandaff, whose seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Llandaff, a suburb of Cardiff...

. Benjamin Hall had married Charlotte Crawshay (1784–1839), second daughter of Richard Crawshay

Richard Crawshay

Richard Crawshay was a London iron merchant and then South Wales ironmaster.Richard Crawshay was born in Normanton in the West Riding of Yorkshire...

 (1739–1810), ironmaster of Cyfarthfa, in 1801 and had been elected MP in 1806. Their first son was anotherBenjamin Hall

Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover

Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover PC , known as Sir Benjamin Hall, Bt, between 1838 and 1859, was a British civil engineer and politician.-Political career:...

 (1802–1867) and he also became an MP, was made baronet in 1838 and in 1859 became Baron Lanover. In 1855, as Sir Benjamin Hall, Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Board of Works, he oversaw the later stages of the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament, including the installation of the 13.8-tonne hour bell, “Big Ben”, in the clock tower. He was a tall man and many attribute its name to him, but this is questionable.

Following the early death of the second Benjamin Hall in 1817, Hensol was put on the market in 1824 and passed to his widow's Crawshay family, Hensol being bought by her nephew, the “Iron King” of Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...

 William Crawshay II

William Crawshay II

William Crawshay II was the son of William Crawshay I, the owner of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales....

 (1788–1867), who later built Cyfarthfa Castle

Cyfarthfa Castle

Cyfarthfa Castle is the former home of the Crawshay family, historical ironmasters of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Despite appearing superficially to be a fortified building it is a house built in the style of a large mansion...

. William Crawshay was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1829.

Another ironmaster

Ironmaster

An ironmaster is the manager – and usually owner – of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain....

, Rowland Fothergill (1794–1871) of Abernant bought Hensol in 1838, and soon employed T.H. Wyatt

Thomas Henry Wyatt

Thomas Henry Wyatt was an Irish British architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870-73 and awarded their Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1873...

 & David Brandon

David Brandon (architect)

David Brandon was a British architect. In partnership with Thomas Wyatt, he worked mostly in the Gothic style.Brandon worked at a number of English country houses and churches, these include: Badminton House, Basildon Park, Bayham Abbey, Benenden House, Chilham Castle, Fonthill Abbey, Hemsted...

 to remodel it. Despite being a county magistrate, he was convicted in 1844 of inflicting a serious injury with a pitchfork on a Mr. Brown, the superintendent of his farms. The plaintiff was awarded £500 damages. Rowland Fothergill was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1850. In 1853 he commissioned David Brandon to rebuild Pendoylan Parish Church.

On Rowland Fothergill's death the estate passed to his unmarried sister, Mary (1797–1887). She built and endowed a new school building for Pendoylan in his memory in 1873. On her death, Hensol passed to her sister Ann Tarleton-Fothergill (1802–1895), the estate passing to her daughter, Lady Isabella Elizabeth Price Fothergill (1839–1918), who had married Sir Rose Lambart Price 3rd Baronet (1837–1899) in 1877. Major Sir Rose Lambart Price travelled in America and published two books on his observations.

Their first son, Lieutenant Sir Rose Price (1878–1901) was killed in action at Villesdorf in the Anglo-Boer War. Their third son Lt. William Rose Price (1882–1907) also died in South Africa, whilst serving in the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers. Lady Price Fothergill died of pneumonia following influenza on 30 November 1918. Their second son, Sir Francis Caradoc Rose Price (1880–1949) then inherited Hensol, but in 1923 he put it up for sale and was quoted in The Times newspaper as follows.

The old place requires a lot of money to maintain it. Income-tax and supertax have almost trebled since the war, and the cost of upkeep has considerably increased. These heavy burdens make careful consideration of one's position necessary, and there is a duty to younger children. If I died to-morrow, heavy death duties would make it impossible for them to live here. I can go on, but they could not. By the time one has paid all Imperial and local dues in the way of taxation there is not much left now, and for that reason I have decided to put the estate up for sale.

In November 1926 he sold the castle and estate of 1082 acres (4.4 km²) to Glamorgan County Council for the sum of £36,500 for use as a County mental hospital. Part of the estate was divided up into smallholdings.

Hensol hospital was opened in July 1930 as a “colony” for 100 men with learning disabilities ("mental defectives" in the terminology of the time). New blocks were built in the grounds in 1935 to accommodate up to 460 men, women and children and in 1937 it was visited by Sir Kingsley Wood, Minister of Health. At that time it housed 343 inmates and the Minister was reported a saying that he hoped to take back to his work in London fresh ideas which one could never obtain from minutes and records. Further building and expansion took place with the advent of the National Health Service

National Health Service

The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...

 in 1948. Latterly in the 20th century, with the move towards community care for people with learning disabilities, the number of patients progressively decreased. In the 1980s the ground floor of the house became a conference centre and, from 1992 to 2002, the upper two stories housed the Wales School of Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy

Occupational therapy is a discipline that aims to promote health by enabling people to perform meaningful and purposeful activities. Occupational therapists work with individuals who suffer from a mentally, physically, developmentally, and/or emotionally disabling condition by utilizing treatments...

 .

The hospital closed in 2003 and the castle and grounds were bought by local businessman and supporter of sport in Wales, Gerald Leeke, chairman of the Leekes group of companies who had previously built the 145-bed Vale of Glamorgan Hotel, Golf and Spa Resort on adjacent land. Some of the old hospital buildings have been converted in luxury apartments.

Hensol Castle was used to film scenes of Whitehall in the 1992 movie Rebecca's Daughters

Rebecca's Daughters

Rebecca's Daughters is a 1992 British and German comedy film, directed by Karl Francis.It was based on a story by Dylan Thomas. The screenplay was originally written in 1948 by Thomas, but forty four years elapsed before it was finally made into a film, which is the longest period of this kind on...

 and scenes set in 10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....

 for the BBC television Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

episode "Aliens of London

Aliens of London

"Aliens of London" is the fourth episode of the first series of the British science fiction television show Doctor Who that was first broadcast on 16 April 2005. The Doctor takes Rose back to 21st century London, just in time to witness a spaceship crashing into the River Thames, triggering a...

".

Rumours abound that the castle is haunted. Workers of the Centre for Health Leadership Wales, who used the castle as their Headquarters before it was sold in 2003, often reported feeling a "presence," especially in the attic storage area in the upper levels (that were eventually cordoned off due to Health and Safety issues). The said attic areas were often strewn with the bodies of dead birds that had found their way into the space but were unable to find their way out. This only served to support the rumours that a ghost lived in the attic.