In 1882, a mournful tale of 18th century Loftus Hall appeared in the press, under the headline ‘Miss Tottenham’s Ghost: A true story told at Windsor Castle to Queen Victoria’.
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Lady Jane began with the earthly facts: In the 1770s, together with a full complement of servants and other staff, the denizens of Loftus Hall comprised Charles Tottenham the 2nd, and his second wife Jane Cliffe [his cousin], along with his youngest daughter Anne, described as tall, beautiful and unmarried.
Charles had inherited the house upon the death of his first wife (Anne’s mother), the Honourable Anne Loftus. By the time of Charles’ inheritance, Loftus Hall was a dilapidated ugly mansion, said to be lacking in any desirable qualities. It had long passages that led nowhere, large dreary rooms, freezing cold flagstone floors, small closets and all manner of useless nooks and crannies. The only room deemed worthy of note was the Tapestry Chamber.
According to Lady Jane's version of the story, on one especially black stormy night in 1775, as the three Tottenhams settled into the large drawing room, they were shaken by loud knocking on the outer gate, a startling and rare occurrence.
A servant answered the call only to discover a young gentleman on horseback. He had lost his way in the terrible storm and was guided to Loftus Hall by the candlelight glowing in the windows of the house.
Both the gentleman and his horse were completely spent, so he requested and was given shelter within. Little did the Tottenhams realise what would be wrought by this dark-eyed, dark-haired stranger, whom fate had brought within their midst.
A brief amour...
Over the course of his stay at Loftus Hall, the young man proved himself to be of most excellent character, gallant in behaviour, pleasing in both manner and countenance, an altogether delightfully ‘finished’ gentleman. He proved such an amiable addition to the household that he was invited to stay with them for 'some days', and in turn made himself quite at home. The beautiful Anne Tottenham fell in love with him.
At Loftus Hall with only her austere father and cruel stepmother, visitors were few, and there were no marriageable matches on the horizon, thus Anne led a life that was almost cloistered, like that of a nun. She was very lonely. Very quickly Anne formed a deep attachment to the young man. However, in the eyes of the handsome stranger Anne was only a passing fancy. His life and his friends swiftly took him away from her, a fact acknowledged in the refrain of a very old ballad, ‘He loved and rode away’.
Whilst no one knew what truly passed between them, his leaving left Anne bereft. Her melancholy over the loss of her belovéd became deep mourning and then madness, leading her parents to strictly confine Anne to a single room in house, the Tapestry Chamber.
Did Satan come to call?
Around this time a second story emerged, a wild story woven out of whole cloth. As the handsome visitor, together with the three Tottenhams made for a foursome in the house, it was proposed that evenings be spent playing whist. To Anne's delight, with the young man as her partner, the pair won every point and her parents none. However, one evening the game came to a very different end.
Clapping with pleasure at winning yet another point, Anne felt the precious ring her late mother had given her fly off her finger and drop to the floor. When she bent to retrieve it, much to her horror Anne discovered one of the stranger’s feet was a cloven hoof, the sign of Satan. Horrified, Anne let out a blood-curdling scream, whereupon the stranger turned into a giant fireball and disappeared up the chimney to the sound of a booming thunderclap, leaving behind the distinct odour of brimstone.
Word spread that Anne was driven completely mad by this visitation of the devil, thus her family was forced to confine her. She was carried away to the Tapestry Chamber, once her favourite room in the house, from whence she would never again emerge. Anne remained there for the rest of her life, dying in the Tapestry Chamber at the age of 31, less than a year after the visitation.
The ghost in silk brocade...
The first account by a guest of a supernatural encounter came near the end of 1790. A gentleman invited to Loftus Hall for a hunting party arrived late, so was put up in the Tapestry Room because the rest of the house was full. Moments after he extinguished his candle and settled into bed, something heavy leapt onto the bed growling like a wild dog, the curtains were torn back and the bedclothes stripped entirely from beneath him. Thinking he was the victim of a vicious prank, he struck a light and searched the room complete, shocked to find nothing and no one within it, save himself. The lock on his door was fully engaged, as he had set it upon retiring.
Years later one Mr. Shannon, the valet of the Marquis of Ely, was put up in the Tapestry Room for the course of their stay in the house. On the very first night the entire house was awakened by the roars and screams of Mr. Shannon. He had escaped the room and was found cowering in a most indecorous position, tearing at his night shirt and wild with fear.
Upon being settled, Shannon told his tale. Shortly after he extinguished his candle, the curtains rattled and were torn from the window, whereon a tall ghostly lady, dressed in stiff brocaded silk stood immediately by his bedside. Shannon was so terrified by the encounter that he insisted he would leave the employ of the Marquis should his lordship ever again expect him to occupy that room.
Numerous others are said to have been terrorised in the Tapestry Chamber by the ghost of a tall woman dressed in silk brocade, who would move through the room, stop before them, then enter the powder closet, including a Mr. Dale, the 'sober-minded man of reason' who served as tutor of the young Marquis of Ely, as well as a ‘decent clergyman’ named Reade, and a newspaper man who claimed to have seen the ghost of Anne Tottenham on at least three occasions, whilst he was a guest in the Tapestry Chamber.
Why cannot Anne find rest?
In 1872, Jane Loftus, who was then Dowager Marchioness of Ely, came to the conclusion that a visit to Loftus Hall by her good friend and Royal Highness, Queen Victoria, would raise both the stature and esteem of the Loftus family. To that end the dowager convinced her son, the 4th Marquis John Henry Wellington Graham Loftus, that the house had to be renovated.
It is here the story takes on its most tragic dimension. ‘Tis likely the love story between Anne Tottenham and the young man was true, but the handsome stranger left Anne with more than madness. According to local legend, during those renovations at Loftus Hall, the skeleton of a tiny infant was found within the walls of the Tapestry Chamber.
It has been surmised by some that Anne was confined to the chamber because she fell pregnant through her amour with the young gentleman. Anne's family likely concocted the story of the satanic visitation to keep the curious at bay, thus saving the family’s reputation. With no doctor or midwife to attend her, Anne Tottenham may have died a horribly painful death during childbirth in the Tapestry Chamber.
The renovation of the house saw the chamber converted to a billiards room; however, it did not stop the hauntings. It is alleged the ghost of Anne would enter in the night ‘making a horrid noise’ whilst knocking about the billiard balls.
Does Anne continue to haunt Loftus Hall, perhaps in search of her infant? Some say the dead haunt those places where they knew happiness, however brief. Perhaps this is the case with Anne Tottenham.
The end of Loftus Hall, as it once was...
Under the guidance of his mother, The Dowager Marchioness of Ely, the 4th Marquis had spared no expense, given that the queen was going to visit, and in doing so accumulated weighty debts. Queen Victoria never set foot on the estate. The renovations of Loftus Hall spelled the end of the mansion writ large.
The marquis died without issue in April of 1889. The Hall was bequeathed to a cousin, who recognising the prohibitive cost of keeping Loftus, put the bankrupt estate up for sale. Since then it has reopened in various incarnations, from a convent through to a hotel. Eventually it came under private ownership.
Loftus Hall continues to excite interest, and the tales associated with it are ever evolving. In some versions of the story, the gentleman on horseback has become a seafarer, and the devil is said to have exploded through the ceiling, rather than disappear up the chimney (a rather more interesting story than saying 'dry rot' caused the hole in the ceiling).
A 1930 rendition of the story describes Anne as "having many suitors to hand, but none [who] found favour with her, other than the dark-eyed stranger". In 1936 a newspaper report of the story had the stranger propose marriage, only to have the 'cold-hearted' Charles Tottenham refuse consent, leaving the offended young man to entirely quit Loftus Hall.
What is often missing in accounts is the likelihood that the Tottenhams chose to circulate a wild story about a satanic visitation in order to save their reputation, rather than reveal Charles Tottenham's betrayal of his own flesh and blood, by not having provided proper medical care for his youngest daughter, Anne, in her time of greatest need.
©Éire_Historian
Images:
1] My image of Loftus Hall, with light overlays ©Éire_Historian
2] ©The National Gallery, London
3] Brocaded dress ©Victoria & Albert Museum; I added the light overlay.
4] Loftus Hall ©National Library of Ireland.
