NGI

East Riddlesden Hall is one of West Yorkshire`s many historical sites. East Riddlesden Hall itself was built in the 1640s by the local Murgatroyd family.

The History of East Riddlesden Hall

The family had made their fortune through milling and weaving and the building was designed and built as a symbol of the power of the family.

Unfortunately the family`s star was short-lived and the house passed into the hands of the Starkie family through intermarriages later that same century.

The Hall was extended during the 1690s but has changed very little since that time and still contains many items originating for the century it was built including furniture and embroideries.

The Hall has been a gentleman`s residence and also a tenanted farm. It came under threat of demolition in 1934 but was purchased by the Keighley brothers who presented the house to the National Trust who now have the care and running of the property.

The Haunted History of East Riddlesden Hall

There are a number of spirits who are said to haunt East Riddlesden Hall - the Grey Lady who is apparently the wife of a former Lord Of The Manor and who can be seen wandering the corridors as though looking for something. The White Lady who is seen walking around the Halls lake and who was alledgedly thrown from her horse whilst hunting and a phantom coachman who again has been seen near the lake perhaps looking for his horse and coach.

Curiously there is a spirit known as the "Assassin-Dishwasher" who, it is said, was a man who worked at the hall by day as a dishwasher, but at night was an assassin. Normally he doesn`t pay much of a visit, but if somebody harbours a depressive mood then he will strike.

Stories of paranormal activity abound at East Riddlesden such as if a bunch of fresh flowers are left on Table 3 within the halls tea room sometimes, by morning, they have wilted and died. Chairs are also reported to move on their own accord within the tea rooms.

Also within the tea rooms, there is the spirit of a mother and two young boys, one of whom supposedly drowned in the lake in the grounds of the hall. Some mornings, books and stuffed toys have moved from the toy-box contained in the tea room and can be found in locations throughout the room that they could not have reached if they had somehow just fallen out of the box.