A chilling discovery was made at a 15th-century Cotswold manor when workers stumbled upon a secret chamber housing the skeletons of a man seated at a table and a dog at his feet.
The skeletal remains of Francis Lovell were found eerily upright at a table, surrounded by books, paper and pens, as if frozen in time, leaving his cause of death shrouded in mystery.
Eerie tales continue to circulate hundreds of years later that Francis and his loyal hound still haunt the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall, nestled beside the River Windrush in Oxfordshire.
Cotswolds.com describes Minster Lovell as ‘the region’s most haunted village’, largely due to the ghostly apparitions of the Lovell family, who are rumoured to frequent the area long after their demise.
The hall was erected in the 1430s on the site of an older building by William, 7th Baron Lovell, a veteran of the renowned Battle of Agincourt alongside Henry V. He also revamped the village church, believed to be his final resting place, although there is no inscription or documentary evidence to substantiate this claim, reports Gloucestershire Live.
Minster Lovell Hall served as the primary residence of the Lovell family for much of the 15th century, even hosting Richard III as a guest of Francis, William’s grandson. However, their close association with Richard proved detrimental when the family’s estates were seized following the Battle of Bosworth, and the village was handed over to Jasper Tudor, uncle of Henry VII.
However, it seems Francis wasn’t prepared to surrender, and in 1487 he barricaded himself and his hound inside a concealed chamber, with only a loyal servant knowing of his actions and possessing the sole key.
According to History UK, he remained there until a team of labourers stumbled upon the subterranean vault and his skeletal remains during reconstruction work on the property in 1708.
Yet Francis wasn’t the sole individual to meet his demise within the hall’s walls.
Cotswolds Journeys reports that William’s new wife vanished during a game of hide and seek on her wedding evening, never to be seen again.
Subsequently, years later, a servant discovered the corpse of a young woman clad in wedding attire, perfectly preserved within a lead-lined cold storage chest used for keeping provisions.
One gentleman who maintains he has encountered supernatural phenomena at Minster Lovell firsthand is Jonathan, who documented on Darkling Room that he experienced an “strange atmosphere” upon entering the hall’s dovecote.
Jonathan said: “Upon entering, we were both immediately aware of the strange atmosphere around us. The bright daytime was gone, and an eerie atmosphere was enhanced by the dusky hues within. All was quiet.”
He further claimed to have captured photographic proof of some form of apparition: “I took a photograph of the roof beams… I was more than a little startled to see a large white mass appearing to the right-hand side of the image.
“It took me a moment to react, and sadly I panicked almost immediately. There was something very peculiar about the image, and my instinct was to leave the confined space, and return to the daylight beyond the small door.”
Sir Thomas Coke, the Earl of Leicester, acquired the manor in 1602, with his family overseeing its demolition for construction materials during the mid-18th Century.
The medieval dovecote situated in the adjacent field can now only be observed from outside, though the remainder of the hall remains accessible to visitors.
Minster Lovell Hall sits three miles west of Witney off the A40, and can be located by following the English Heritage signage from the village.