Ghost Stories for Christmas- The Many Specters of Herstmonceux Castle

Christmas time is here again, and I have delightful chunks of coal for all your players. At the intersection of Victorian Fiction and Christmas, lurk ghost stories. For December, we’re looking at dolorous hauntings of the British Isles and their weird, wonderful, uses in role-playing games. As before, my primary source is “Gazetteer of British Scottish & Irish Ghosts” by Peter Underwood, a ghostly guidebook full of interesting facts and folklore ready to be plugged into a Victoriana scenario.

In East Sussex, the great walls of Herstmonceux castle sit in ruined grandeur. Sir Roger Fiennes started his castle’s construction in 1441 on the site of an old manor house belonging to the Monceux family (Herst of the Monceux) giving the castle its name. Sir Roger built for comfort and style, not defense, using the relatively unusual building material (for the time) brick to build his castle.

Sir Roger or one of his sons may be responsible for one of his castle’s hauntings. A ghostly white girl swims in the castle moat and walks the gardens in obvious distress. She was a local girl lured to the bed of a Fiennes. She escaped his intentions, leaping into the moat, but she was caught and forced back into the castle. The Fiennes man had his way and killed her.

Sir Thomas Fiennes (Lord Dacre) and his friends were caught poaching deer as a joke on Lord Pelham’s property by three gamekeepers. In the panicked struggle, one of the gamekeepers died. In 1541, he was hung for murder and Herstmonceux was temporarily given to King Henry VIII. The land was given back to the Fiennes family soon after, and Sir Thomas also returned. His ghost, dressed in a riding cloak and spurs, rides a chestnut horse around the castle grounds. If spotted, Sir Thomas quickly spurs his horse into the moat, disappearing from view.

The most bizarre ghost of Herstmonceux is undoubtedly the giant drummer, walking the castle ramparts beating a tattoo with his glowing drumsticks. His reason for haunting varies with the story. One says he died at the battle of Agincourt, or he’s just a story spread by smugglers to keep their stores of tobacco and brandy hidden in the castle. In the best story, the giant is the lord of the castle, drumming all night to keep admirers away from his younger wife. His wife grew so tired of his drumming she locked him away in a small chamber to starve to death. He still drums for all eternity to scare off his wife’s lovers.

George Naylor, bought Herstmonceux in 1708. Like the giant drummer, his daughter Grace was starved to death by her governess. Grace’s ghost floats about the castle, crying and vanishing through walls.

The brilliant and beautiful Georgiana Shipley eloped with Francis Hare-Naylor (the son of Herstmonceux’s owner Robert Hare-Naylor) in 1784. After Robert’s death, his son and Georgiana left their life in Italy, and lived in Herstmonceux. Francis’s stepmother convinced his father to demolish in the castles interior in 1777, leaving a ruin as Francis’ inheritance. Georgiana lived in the ruins with dignity in poverty, but she was a bit eccentric. She always wore white, she rode a pure white donkey to drink from a mineral spring, and a white doe followed her wherever she went. Georgiana died in 1806, but a figure all in white, rides a white donkey through the castle’s rooms, and halls.

Herstmonceux remained in its ruined state until restoration started in 1913 and finished in 1933.

Adventure Ideas

The more I learn about Georgiana Hare-Naylor, the more I like her. She was pen-palls with the smartest men in Europe. She exhibited her paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1781. Understandably, I am going to focus much of this Blog’s Adventure Ideas on some of the more interesting facts about her.

Georgiana Hare-Naylor (then Georgiana Shipley) was a close friend to Benjamin Franklin during his stay in London. He even gave her a squirrel named Mungo. Was Georgiana Shipley a member of the Craven Street Club, Benjamin Franklin’s anti-necromantic conspiracy?

In 1803, Georgina painstaking painted many pictures of what Herstmonceux was before the demolition. She lost her sight entirely soon after at age 48. Was she trying to discover something strange about Herstmonceux’s construction? Does it have anything to do with the 52 chimneys and 365 windows, the castle had before its destruction which corresponds with the numbers of weeks and days in a year?

The funnest thing I can think to do with castle Herstmonceux is to combine it all together and make the five ghosts five obstacles to some goal in the ruins. To cross the moat, characters have to get past the poor girl’s spirit. Sir Thomas rides down anyone he finds wandering the grounds. The giant’s doleful drumming precedes his attempt to eat somebody. Poor Grace bitterly haunts several chambers, passing through walls with ease. Georgiana Hare-Naylor sits in the center watching over the ruin’s secret accompanied by her doe.