Post by Elly on Nov 4, 2005 18:39:06 GMT 10
WARMANBIE House is an imposing place. Made from the distinctive red sandstone locally mined in south-west Scotland - but built to a fairly regular and recognised template similar in style to many early 19th-century country houses - there's little to distinguish it from many other large homes in the area.
However, when Warmanbie was put up for sale this year, stories soon began to spread about the colourful history of the guest house and its ghostly inhabitants, with some of these tales even making their way into property schedules and newspapers. Former guests began to recount hauntings during their stay, events which were supported by owner Rod Duncan, who was born and raised in the house in the 1950s and who has spent most of his life there running the family business.
"My earliest recollection of it (hauntings) is being about five years old and seeing a shadow on the wall of a man smoking a pipe, but when I looked around the corner there was no-one there," Duncan recalls. "Another time, we were in the kitchen and my sister felt her hair being pulled and asked 'Why did you pull my hair mum?' and she said, 'I never touched you'."
Duncan says most of the events happened around the kitchen. One time, he recalls, his parents heard a snapping noise while at the stove and two bits of pencil came flying through the air.
"It's all pretty harmless stuff," he adds.
The owner's light-hearted dismissal of these "friendly and quite entertaining" events, could lead you to believe that it's a load of spiritualist bunkum cooked up by an eccentric owner with a bad case of cabin-fever. Duncan, however, is one of the most down-to-earth, level-headed and straight-talking men you could ever hope to meet.
"Various spiritualists have been round and told me the place is haunted," he says, matter-of-factly. "But none of the guests have been particularly upset by it if they've seen something."
Duncan also remembers a time when a hotel guest was looking in a mirror and saw someone behind him. Another guest reported seeing a mysterious woman wearing a dairy maid's outfit.
What may be considered uncommon to you and me, has become part of everyday life for Duncan. Further investigation of the house and turbulent history of the area reveal there has been no shortage of action in this sleepy corner of Scotland.
Perhaps the most poignant tale held within the grounds is that of the Second World War gravestone found under a willow tree. A pilot on a training run from a nearby airfield dipped his plane to wave at some friends outside the next house up the valley from Warmanbie. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the plane to rise back up in time and smashed into trees.
Elsewhere on the grounds, deep within the ancient woods, a gravestone with a Latin inscription commemorates the lives of two craftsmen somehow linked to the house. Still further back through time, a 30-foot wide circle, clearly visible from halfway up the driveway has been identified as a Bronze Age burial ground.
Such an eventful history is due in part to Warmanbie's location, just outside the town of Annan in eastern Dumfries & Galloway, which borders England.
"The problem with being situated by the border between warring nations", explains local historian John Thomson, "is that you are right in the path of the invader.
"There were endless wars here during the 1500s between England and Scotland," he notes. "By 1603 Annan was in such a sad state that the King (James VI) gave some stones from the castle to the townspeople, so that they might build a kirk, as their old one been burned down by the English so often."
Warmanbie was close to the first castle in Scotland of the Brus family. Built by the great-grandfather of Robert the Bruce, the castle was washed away by floodwaters in the 1200s, so it was rebuilt in Lochmaben, that bit further north from England to give warning when under attack.
The border wars were not the only conflicts. A series of savage tribal feuds between families raged for centuries. These families were known as the Reivers, and between the 13th century and 17th century they "shook loose the Border", making theft, arson and murder part of everyday life. Their legacy includes the fortified houses still standing today and in their contribution of the words blackmail and bereaved to the English language.
Tactically, the area was a good one to command, being at the mouth of the Solway Firth and at a narrowest part of the UK landmass, close to where the Romans built Hadrian’s wall. In fact Burnswark, a Roman camp marked by a distinctive flat-topped hill, lies just five miles away.
"There are records of a settlement at Wamanbie dating back hundreds of years," Thomson explains. "The current house would have been built on the remains on a tower or castle, so really it could have been a site of habitation from the Bronze Age onwards."
Duncan, however, has never been tempted to investigate who his paranormal house guests might be. Comprising 14 rooms, a walled garden and extensive grounds with abandoned outhouses and woods, he's had enough on his hands just with looking after the place.
"Growing up here was amazing," he says. "My father was the local scoutmaster and we used to have some activities here in the grounds. As you can imagine, it's a fantastic place to play hide and seek. There are supposed to be all sorts of hidden passages under the house but I've never found them."
Warmanbie House has now been sold, with the new owners set to arrive in August. Perhaps these secret passages will be something for them to discover, in addition to Warmanbie's other "house guests".
heritage.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1344
This article: heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=1695572005
However, when Warmanbie was put up for sale this year, stories soon began to spread about the colourful history of the guest house and its ghostly inhabitants, with some of these tales even making their way into property schedules and newspapers. Former guests began to recount hauntings during their stay, events which were supported by owner Rod Duncan, who was born and raised in the house in the 1950s and who has spent most of his life there running the family business.
"My earliest recollection of it (hauntings) is being about five years old and seeing a shadow on the wall of a man smoking a pipe, but when I looked around the corner there was no-one there," Duncan recalls. "Another time, we were in the kitchen and my sister felt her hair being pulled and asked 'Why did you pull my hair mum?' and she said, 'I never touched you'."
Duncan says most of the events happened around the kitchen. One time, he recalls, his parents heard a snapping noise while at the stove and two bits of pencil came flying through the air.
"It's all pretty harmless stuff," he adds.
The owner's light-hearted dismissal of these "friendly and quite entertaining" events, could lead you to believe that it's a load of spiritualist bunkum cooked up by an eccentric owner with a bad case of cabin-fever. Duncan, however, is one of the most down-to-earth, level-headed and straight-talking men you could ever hope to meet.
"Various spiritualists have been round and told me the place is haunted," he says, matter-of-factly. "But none of the guests have been particularly upset by it if they've seen something."
Duncan also remembers a time when a hotel guest was looking in a mirror and saw someone behind him. Another guest reported seeing a mysterious woman wearing a dairy maid's outfit.
What may be considered uncommon to you and me, has become part of everyday life for Duncan. Further investigation of the house and turbulent history of the area reveal there has been no shortage of action in this sleepy corner of Scotland.
Perhaps the most poignant tale held within the grounds is that of the Second World War gravestone found under a willow tree. A pilot on a training run from a nearby airfield dipped his plane to wave at some friends outside the next house up the valley from Warmanbie. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the plane to rise back up in time and smashed into trees.
Elsewhere on the grounds, deep within the ancient woods, a gravestone with a Latin inscription commemorates the lives of two craftsmen somehow linked to the house. Still further back through time, a 30-foot wide circle, clearly visible from halfway up the driveway has been identified as a Bronze Age burial ground.
Such an eventful history is due in part to Warmanbie's location, just outside the town of Annan in eastern Dumfries & Galloway, which borders England.
"The problem with being situated by the border between warring nations", explains local historian John Thomson, "is that you are right in the path of the invader.
"There were endless wars here during the 1500s between England and Scotland," he notes. "By 1603 Annan was in such a sad state that the King (James VI) gave some stones from the castle to the townspeople, so that they might build a kirk, as their old one been burned down by the English so often."
Warmanbie was close to the first castle in Scotland of the Brus family. Built by the great-grandfather of Robert the Bruce, the castle was washed away by floodwaters in the 1200s, so it was rebuilt in Lochmaben, that bit further north from England to give warning when under attack.
The border wars were not the only conflicts. A series of savage tribal feuds between families raged for centuries. These families were known as the Reivers, and between the 13th century and 17th century they "shook loose the Border", making theft, arson and murder part of everyday life. Their legacy includes the fortified houses still standing today and in their contribution of the words blackmail and bereaved to the English language.
Tactically, the area was a good one to command, being at the mouth of the Solway Firth and at a narrowest part of the UK landmass, close to where the Romans built Hadrian’s wall. In fact Burnswark, a Roman camp marked by a distinctive flat-topped hill, lies just five miles away.
"There are records of a settlement at Wamanbie dating back hundreds of years," Thomson explains. "The current house would have been built on the remains on a tower or castle, so really it could have been a site of habitation from the Bronze Age onwards."
Duncan, however, has never been tempted to investigate who his paranormal house guests might be. Comprising 14 rooms, a walled garden and extensive grounds with abandoned outhouses and woods, he's had enough on his hands just with looking after the place.
"Growing up here was amazing," he says. "My father was the local scoutmaster and we used to have some activities here in the grounds. As you can imagine, it's a fantastic place to play hide and seek. There are supposed to be all sorts of hidden passages under the house but I've never found them."
Warmanbie House has now been sold, with the new owners set to arrive in August. Perhaps these secret passages will be something for them to discover, in addition to Warmanbie's other "house guests".
heritage.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1344
This article: heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=1695572005
