Hermeston Hall is a manor house in Oldcotes, northwestern Nottinghamshire, England. It is located in a lane just off the A60 road, just south of the village of Oldcotes on the road to Langold. Hermeston Hall is situated on a site where a previous manor stood, built around 1100 AD for the Cress family who lived there until 1408. Bess of Hardwick was known to have been connected to the property in the 16th century. Foundations of the earlier house have been found under the floor. The site, however is believed to date back much further, given a Roman road runs through the land and a Roman villa was once situated in the vicinity of the house. After the English Civil War the property fell into decline and from 1765 the area fell under the ownership of the Mellish family who owned some 20,000 acres (81 km2) of local land. The hall as it stands today was created in 1848 by Edward Challoner, a timber importer from Old Swan, Liverpool, who bought the house and some adjacent farmland and added a new south wing. It actually contains part of an older 16th century abbey on the rear side which was owned by the Riddell family. Edward Challoner left three daughters, one of whom, Catherine Flora, inherited the house and married Edward Charles Riddell. They added another two wings to create the square shape the house has today, with some 50 rooms. The house descended since then in the Riddell family until it was sold to accountant Nicholas Bristow. Hermeston Hall is primarily known for its paranormal activity and reported ghost sightings. Ghostly Roman soldiers have apparently been spotted marching along the driveway, a woman with red hair and black Elizabethan clothes resembling Bess of Hardwick, and a man and a boy have been all been within the grounds. Phantom servants and children from the Victorian era are said to walk the corridors and the stairs and frequent the dining room. Unexplained phenomenon have been regularly experienced dining room and billiard room including hearing low voices, the smell of tobacco and a sense of being watched. The ghost of a little boy playing the piano has also been heard, a child's handprint on the window in the Chinese room and screaming children have been heard despite no children being near the property. The people who currently own the property have indicated that the Bishop's Room is haunted by a lady in white and an evil bishop, believed to be Edward Challoner and have claimed that a malevolent spirit haunts the attic to the hall. The mansion has been investigated by paranormal investigators who have caught unexplained orbs and red mists on camera and experienced unusually high EMF readings at Hermeston Hall.

• published: 10 Apr 2014
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