Muncaster Castle is a privately owned castle overlooking the Esk river

River Esk, Cumbria

The River Esk is a river in the Lake District in Cumbria, England. It is one of two River Esks in Cumbria, and not to be confused with the River Esk which flows on the Scottish side of the border....

, about a mile south of the west-coastal town of Ravenglass

Ravenglass

Ravenglass is a small coastal village and natural harbour in Cumbria, England. It is the only coastal town within the Lake District National Park...

 in Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

History

Muncaster Castle is currently owned by the Pennington family, who have lived at Muncaster for at least 800 years. The Muncaster estate was granted to Alan de Penitone in 1208. The oldest parts of the castle include the Great Hall

Great Hall

Great Hall may refer to* Great hall, the main room of a royal palace, nobleman's castle or large manor house* Great Hall of the People, Tiananmen Square, Beijing* Great Hall of the University of Sydney, Australia* Cooper_Union#The_Great_Hall, New York...

 and the 14th century pele tower, a type of watch-tower fortification unique to the English-Scottish border region. It is suspected that the site of the castle lies on foundations dating to the Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 era, which, if they exist, may relate to the nearby Roman fort of Glannoventa at Ravenglass

Ravenglass

Ravenglass is a small coastal village and natural harbour in Cumbria, England. It is the only coastal town within the Lake District National Park...

. The placename "Muncaster" contains the Latin word castra, meaning "encampment", or "fort".http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookup.pl?stem=castrum&ending=

The castle was extended and enlarged on a number of occasions over the course of the centuries. Recent historical research (in the early 2000s) has uncovered records which indicate that in 1678 the castle had 14 chimney

Chimney

A chimney is a structure for venting hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the...

s; while a document relating to payment of Window Tax

Window tax

The window tax was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France and Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. Some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces , as a result of the tax.-Details:The tax was introduced in England and Wales under...

 in 1746 recorded at that date it had 103 windows and 55 rooms and corridors.

However, by the time of the ownership of Sir Joseph Pennington in the 1770s, the castle had fallen into serious decay. His son, Sir John Pennington, arriving to live at the castle after his wedding in 1778, wrote with despair of how a part of the building collapsed even as he was inspecting it. The preservation of the castle to this day is due to the efforts of Sir John Pennington to rebuild and restore it; surviving records indicate that this cost him some six thousand pounds

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

, an enormous sum of money for the late 18th century.

The castle contains a wealth of architectural features and artefacts from a wide span of English history, including a rare portrait of king Henry VI

Henry VI of England

Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...

, an Elizabethan

Elizabethan era

The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...

 banqueting table, and also an impressive library

Private library

A private library is a library under the care of private ownership, as compared to that of a public institution, and is usually only established for the use of a small number of people, or even a single person. As with public libraries, some people use stamps, stickers, or embossing to show...

 containing approximately 6,000 books.

In August 2005, an archaeological investigation was conducted in the castle grounds, and an Architectural Heritage Report was produced. This investigation revealed that the castle's north tower was constructed in the 1830s. Previous literature on the north tower mistakenly attributed its construction to the architect Anthony Salvin

Anthony Salvin

Anthony Salvin was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations...

, who was engaged to refurbish the castle by the fourth Lord Muncaster in 1862. The north tower complements the pele tower to provide a symmetry to the castle's appearance.

Since 2005, further architectural surveys have been conducted to examine the different phases of the building's construction. A second Architectural Heritage Report is expected from English Heritage in Spring 2010.

The ghosts

Muncaster Castle has also acquired a reputation for being one of the most haunted houses in Britain. However, this has only been the case since the 1990s (Even though the castle has been reportedly haunted for centuries), partly due to the investigations of Jason Braithwaite of Birmingham University into whether the alleged hauntings are down to environmental factors such as magnetic disturbances, and partly due to the drastic rebranding of the Muncaster Castle estates to appeal to tourists for more than merely its acclaimed gardens at the turn into the 21st Century. This was in order to ensure that it remained in Pennington hands (the financial situation was acute enough at one stage for them to admit in a BBC documentary called Castle Ghosts of the British Isles, that the estate was in danger of being sold as they could not afford much needed repairs to the roof).

Prior to the 21st Century, most ghost books that bothered to list Muncaster mentioned only two ghosts, that of Henry VI

Henry VI of England

Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...

 (who was sheltered at Muncaster after his defeat at the battle of Hexham) and the head carrying ghost of an apprentice carpenter who was decapitated whilst sleeping in the old stable block by jester Thomas Skelton (Tom The Fool) at the orders of Sir Ferdinand Pennington because of his love affair with his daughter Helwise.

However, visitors to the castle have long been informed by guides that as well as the above, the ghost of Skelton and the vengeful ghost in white of Mary Bragg - a foul-mouthed local girl who was murdered by being hanged from the Main Gate by drunken youths in the 19th Century after they'd kidnapped her for a joke: those responsible were never brought to justice. There were even tales that a lion shot by the last Lord Muncaster in Kenya, and whose skull is kept in the castle, was sometimes heard prowling (& gently growling) around at nightfall.

Guests may book a tour of the castle and an all-night vigil

Vigil

A vigil is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance...

 in a haunted bedroom known as the Tapestry Room, where guest reports of paranormal

Paranormal

Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...

 phenomena include: hearing footsteps, seeing the door open of its own accord, hearing a crying child (allegedly Margaret Susan Pennington, who died of screaming fits in the 19th Century) and/or a singing woman, having their digital cameras turn off and on inexplicably, feeling themselves patted, experiencing changes of room temperature, chest pains, and even being inexplicably tossed out of the bed.

Jason Braithwaite, a cognitive

Cognition

In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...

 psychologist

Psychologist

Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...

 and neuroscientist

Neuroscience

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...

 from the University of Birmingham

University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...

 has been studying the phenomena at the castle for some 15 years, and has suggested one possible explanation as being "strange and anomalous magnetic fields" in the areas of the hauntings, which might affect certain people with a tendency towards "more erratic" brain function, such as those who suffer from migraine

Migraine

Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea...

 headaches or epilepsy

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

, for example.

Muncaster Castle estate in the early 20th century was around 23,000 acres (93 km²) in size. Today, the castle is surrounded by 77 acres (311,608.2 m²) of woodland gardens in a park of some 1,800 acres (7.3 km²). The gardens contain many rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...

s, camellia

Camellia

Camellia, the camellias, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalaya east to Korea and Indonesia. There are 100–250 described species, with some controversy over the exact number...

s and azalea

Azalea

Azaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Pentanthera and Tsutsuji . Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks...

s, and the castle's Plant Centre offers the largest collection of rhododendrons in the north of England.

The castle is not only the residence of the current owners, Peter Frost Pennington & family, but in common with many such ancient estates in the British Isles it operates as a function centre and a site where civil wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

s may be held, has bookable accommodation for 24 guests, and is also the location of the headquarters of the World Owl Trust, a registered UK charity

Charitable trust

A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...

 dedicated to the preservation of owl

Owl

Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...

s and their habitats

Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...

.

The estate is situated in sparsely populated and scenic countryside, between the Irish Sea

Irish Sea

The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...

 and Hardknott Pass

Hardknott Pass

Hardknott Pass is a pass that carries a minor road between Eskdale and the Duddon Valley in the region of Cumbria, England, in the Lake District National Park...

, near England's tallest mountain, Scafell Pike

Scafell Pike

Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England at . It is located in Lake District National Park sometimes confused with the neighbouring Sca Fell, to which it is connected by the col of Mickledore...

.

The Luck of Muncaster

After the battle of Towton in 1461, tradition has it,Henry VI fled to Muncaster Castle where Sir John Pennington sheltered him. Henry gave Sir John a glass drinking bowl with a prayer that they might prosper for as long as the glass remained unbroken. The glass is known as 'The Luck of Muncaster' and remains unbroken to this day.

Tom the Fool

Tom the Fool (real name Tom Skelton) was a jester in the castle at the end of the 16th Century - reputedly the last court jester in English history (cf. Berkeley Castle

Berkeley Castle

Berkeley Castle is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, UK . The castle's origins date back to the 11th century and it has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.The castle has remained within the Berkeley family since they reconstructed it in the...

). A friend of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

, he was by all accounts a dark character responsible for a number of deaths during his time at Muncaster, not merely the murder of the carpenter at Sir Ferdinand Pennington's orders. One of his ideas of a "joke" was directing anyone asking him for directions to Ravenglass towards the hidden quicksand and bog marsh by the River Esk rather than the ford - some realised in time, many did not and were never seen again.

Present owners of Muncaster, Phyllida and Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington, believe Tom still keeps a watchful eye on the castle, and occasionally gets up to more sinister mischief. Most of the ghostly goings on are attributed to this fiendish fool, but with several other ghosts at Muncaster any of them could be responsible.

His portrait still hangs in the Castle, which contains his Will. Skelton died around 1600, according to legend in the very marshes where he'd sent so many to their deaths when trying to return to the castle whilst drunk.

The castle still has a special day called 'Tom Fool's day', which is a family fun day with various attractions.

See also

• Luck of Edenhall
  Luck of Edenhall
  The "Luck of Edenhall" is a glass beaker that was made in Syria in the 13th century, elegantly decorated in blue, green, red and white enamel with gilding. Its inscription, ihs, suggests it may have been intended for a Christian purpose...
  
  
• Castles in England
  Castles in England
  This list of castles in England is not a list of every building and site which has the word "castle" as part of its name, but nor is it a list only of those buildings which conform to a strict definition of a castle as a medieval fortified residence. It is primarily a list, not of castles that were...
  
  
• List of historic houses in England

External links

• Muncaster Castle Website - Lake District Historical Houses
• The Cumbria Directory - Muncaster Castle
• Photographs of Muncaster Castle & grounds
• 9MSN.com News Item 21-Jan-2006: Boo! Britain gets first ghost school
• World Owl Trust
• Mysterious Britain & Ireland - Muncaster Castle An investigator's account of an overnight vigil during a scientific investigation of the alleged haunting of the castle