Author: Emma Kelly
Directions: Head back into the Entrance Hall and walk through it to reach the Macquoid Room.
Transcript
As you enter the Cleves Room, you may be struck by the dark, cocoon-like nature of its Netherlandish leather wallpaper interior. This is where the Stanfords would relax. It was their living room, a place to play cards, read and sew.
Imagine a crackling fire illuminating the walls, flickering off the swirling gold swags adorned with decadent fruit, proud eagles, and intricate flowers. Not only a sanctuary but a place of spiritual exploration.
Ellen Thomas-Stanford believed in an afterlife. In fact, the Stanfords were certain they could feel a presence in Preston Manor: silk dresses slashed to pieces, shadowy figures lurking on staircases, a lady of white roaming the corridors and — most terrifying of all — disembodied hands moving up bed posts.
Determined to restore peace, Ellen held a séance in this room on the 11th of November 1896 with spiritual medium Ada Goodrich Freer. The 11th of November is a resonant date in Preston Manor, with Ellen taking her final breath on the 11th of November 1936. Also, her grandson, Vere Fane Benett-Stanford, tragically died after fighting in the First World War. I can imagine Ellen sat by the fire observing the 11th of the 11th with a stoic and solemn reverence.
At the time of the séance, Ellen had lost her first husband, Vere Fane Bennett, two years previously in 1894. It strikes me that Edwardian times were a period of grief, so no wonder Ellen believed in an afterlife.
During the séance, a disgraced nun, Sister Agnes, exclaimed, ‘prove me innocent,’ desperately sharing her story, via the medium, of excommunication from the church. She pleaded for a proper burial in consecrated land as she could not rest. Could she be the Lady in White who was rumoured to walk the corridors of Preston Manor?
When doing work on the drains in 1897, after a plague of sore throats and an unbearable stench, the Stanfords found human bones and believed they belonged to Sister Agnes. The vicar of St Peter’s church refused to bury them, so the family found a gravedigger willing to do so and the last rites were spoken in secret.
Did this rid the house of the paranormal? I’ll let you decide. Perhaps you’ll feel a presence as you explore, or maybe it’s just the living time capsule of Preston Manor bringing you closer to the people of the past. Maybe you’ll see the disembodied hand in the South West Room. If you don’t, be sure to look at the extensive collection of books there and imagine Ellen reading one in the Cleves Room.