Hallowe'en: Delving into the ghostly goings-on in Gwent

Here in Gwent we are reputed to have some of the most-haunted buildings in Britain.

Back in 2015 South Wales Argus reporter Kath Skellon took a deeper look into the ghostly goings-on across the area.

FROM pubs to castles and stately homes the region is home to some of the most famous spots for ghost hunters.

As Hallowe’en approaches there are more ghostly goings-on than usual from glasses being spontaneously smashed to the ghost of a woman and lights being switched on at several historic sites.

One such site is Raglan Castle.

Raglan Castle by Matt Ward

Raglan Castle is the youngest castle in Wales, built in the 1430’s and was last occupied in on August 19, 1646.

Built by William ap Thomas and his son William Herbert and remodelled by William Somerset, the third Earl of Worcester, the castle has had a turbulent history.

Despite attempts to demolish it during the Civil War in 1646 much of the Great Tower survived.

In 2015 for the first time, visitors to Raglan Castle got to experience first-hand the frenzy of a witch trial - including gruesome mock executions of the ‘guilty’ at an event on October 31.

Cadw custodian Jane Mcllquham said that ‘The Bard’ is the most famous sighting at the castle, which is the last of the medieval castles to be built in Wales.

He was apparently caught on camera in the 1980s, and is still seen around the castle today. Some say he is the guardian of sacred Celtic manuscripts, which maybe walled up in a secret tunnel during the Civil War, and that when he appears he is trying to hint to people where they are buried.

A knight and a young Welsh Lord have been spotted by visitors over the years and, on occasion, ‘old-fashioned’ music has been heard coming from the great hall.

“The stories have come first hand from those who have had experiences while visiting the castle,” explained Ms Mcllquham, who has been a custodian at the castle for more than five years.

“Raglan is a warm and friendly castle and one I can quite happily walk around on my own in the dark.

“Among the most recent stories I have been told was by a visitor who heard a harpsichord music coming from the Great Hall.

“She said she was eating a sandwich in the sunshine when she heard the music.”

“The lady said it was not until she heard the swishing of heavy material that she felt it brush her legs.”

“What is fascinating is that this ties in with the history of the castle because the Elizabethan composer William Bird played the harpsichord at Raglan Castle and his patrons were the Earls of Worcester.”

The Skirrid Mountain Inn near Abergavenny was named the UK’s most haunted pub.

The Skirrid Inn, Llanvihangel Crucorney, voted the most haunted pub the UK. Picture: www.christinsleyphotography.co.uk

It has been an inn since 1110 but is most famous for its use as Judge Jeffries courtroom until 1640 in the wake of the Monmouth Rebellion.

The judge was sent west by the Catholic King James II to brutalise the local population for supporting the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, (another James) in his failed rebellion.

Jeffreys hanged 180 rebels from a beam beneath the Skirrid's staircase.

The beam stands today and bears chaffing marks from the hangman's rope.

Since it was converted into an inn in the 19th Century, several customers have reported feeling the terrifying sensation of an invisible noose being slipped around their necks.

Inside the Skirrid Inn

Pub owner Geoff Fiddler said the spirit of former landlady Fanny Price, who died at the inn in the 1830’s, has allegedly been seen by ghost hunters looking for a spook. Her grave stone lies 150 yards away from the Skirrid.

Mr Fiddler said: “Someone has seen her sit in a wicker chair upstairs, “he said.

“When she looked again Ms Price disappeared in front of her eyes."

Mr Fiddler said that regular sleepover ghost hunts are held at the inn and run by private and commercial events companies.

The television reality star Joey Essex is among those to have taken part in a ghost hunt for a television programme.

“He was filming here as part of ‘Educating Joey Essex’ but left at 4am after being woken up by a loud noise,” explained Mr Fiddler, who has been the landlord for eleven years.

“Glasses have been known to fly across the bar by themselves, faces have been seen at the windows, “he said.

The most emotive happening, he said, was hearing music that sounded like an old instrument was being plucked.”

Paranormal investigator Dave Hughes said The Skirrid Inn is by far the most haunted he has visited yet.

Mr Hughes, of Cwmbran, has been interested in ghosts and is fully-trained in paranormal research.

“I have been to a range of historic buildings from the Newbridge Memo to Caldicot Castle but The Skirrid was by far the most haunted yet.”

Mr Hughes has made several visits to The Hanbury Arms in Pontypool which is a former execution house dating from the 1830s and allegedly one of the most haunted pubs in Wales.

The Hanbury Arms

The Torfaen pub, on Clarence Street, is said to be home to the souls of a little girl named Emily and a small boy in Victorian dress.

The musician, composer and music teacher in his day job, said glasses have spontaneously smashed, lights have been switched on when no one is in the room and that a barrel of cider was split open in the locked and empty cellar.

In the book, South Wales Ghost Stories author Richard Holland writes about the claim that Tintern Abbey, near Chepstow is haunted by phantom monks.

He writes that local legend has it that the ghost is of a monk who betrayed the doomed King Edward II to his enemies when he was hiding out in the Abbey in the 1300s.The monk has been seen in the main entrance making his way towards a spot where the Abbey church once stood and also in an open area bordering the River Clydach, the site of the medieval burial ground.

His research includes Newport where Mr Holland said it is though that the ghost of Newport is an apparition of the first overlord of the castle, the Norman Robert FitzHamon, grown to giant size as befits his tyrannical status.

Newport's Tredegar House is said to be haunted. The King's Room at the house is said to have been used by Evan Viscount Tredegar in the 1930s. It is claimed he dabbled in black magic, assisted by an occultist friend, who was a frequent visitor to the house.