Bloody Chillingham: ghosts is the worst castle in the UK

The history of the castle Chillingham, built in the XII century, keeps many secrets and mysteries that to this day excites the minds of historians and ordinary citizens. Tell about one of the most sinister architectural works of the United Kingdom in our material.

The vaults preserved on the walls of the scratches of those who had been immured in them alive, the dungeon, once filled with remains of prisoners, and creepy atmosphere reigning at the great buildings — castle Chillingham is considered one of the most frightening and mysterious architectural structures not only in the UK but all over the world.

The history of the castle, built in the County of Northumberland, originates in the late twelfth century — it was originally built as a convent, however, three centuries later was purchased by the noble family of grey. The family estate was inherited by the representatives of the dynasty, until in 1298 king Edward I did not stop it on the way to Scotland.

The British monarch praised the strategic location of the castle he was practically on the border of England and Scotland, which was very convenient for soldiers in the British army. Since then the castle Chillingham has become a transit point that has repeatedly tried to destroy the warring troops.

One of the rooms was named in honour of Edward I — during his first visit couple of grey arranged for the monarch's private room on the top floor, the hole in the wall Windows and furnish the room luxury furniture.

Edward, Prince of Wales, later king Edward VII hunting in Chillingham

But successful for the warring parts of the United Kingdom the position of the castle became his curse — since then, as troops first stayed there, the place turned into a real castle of horror where, according to some reports, killed about 7.5 thousand inhabitants of Scotland, including many innocent women and children.

The cruelty of the warring armies, there was no limit — in the basement of the castle was equipped with a torture chamber, which, incidentally, have survived to this day. The prisoners that were prisoners of the British soldier, before his death had been through hell.

Among the main instruments of torture in the castle were the rack, the so-called "interrogation chair", and a few very primitive, but "effective" devices. The guards did not hesitate to use the cruelest methods of torture even in relation to captive women and children simply starved, locking in a dungeon with no Windows and other light sources.

According to rumors, some prisoners of the castle did not fall in a dungeon, equipped with a torture chamber, but their fate was no better — slaves were put into the family vault built near the main building. In it the prisoners walled up alive in the walls, and many tourists who visited the crypt in our day, claim that it was there until they heard the piercing groans of those who ended his days in those walls.

The statue-Ghost in the castle Chillingham

With the vault connected the history of one of the most popular ghosts of the castle Chillingham — it is believed that the main inhabitant of this damn place is a Ghost shining boy. According to legend, he appears at night in one of the rooms with a loud cry and goes to the crypt where during reconstruction were found the remains of an adult male and a small boy, immured in the wall alive.

This mysterious spirit of the boy is not the only inhabitant of the castle Chillingham. During breaks between battles, the manor was occupied by the representatives of the aristocracy, among whom was a man named John sage. He was famous throughout Europe for his cruelty, and the inhabitants of the County were afraid of him, knowing of his crimes.

Once in the castle, along with his lover Elizabeth Charlton, sage suspected her of infidelity and was angry, strangled her in one of the rooms. Father of the poor girl was in such despair that they demanded the British monarch retaliation, otherwise he threatened to unite with the Scots and to make a riot.

Accept the ultimatum, the king agreed to avenge the death of Elizabeth, and ordered the execution of the Torturer, the Sage, as he was called by the locals, right in the castle. Since then, the restless soul of the executed John Sage wanders the rooms of the castle, scaring its inhabitants a heavy metal groans and the clanking chains that were on his wrists at the time of death, and the official location of residence is considered to be the same prison where the soldiers were torturing captives.

It is believed that before his death, the Torturer, the sage cursed castle Chillingham and all future owners, and there is some common sense, if you look at subsequent pages of the history of Chillingham.

The next owners of the castle, became the wife of Berkeley. The young couple moved to a beautiful manor after the wedding, but shortly after moving to the relationship between lady Mary Berkeley and her husband began to deteriorate — the pair were constantly arguing, and sir Berkeley was regularly absent from home for a few days. A few months lady Berkeley has received from her husband a message, in which he reported that he's leaving her, because in love with her sister.

Desperate woman was unable to accept the sad truth — she died a few years in his bedroom in the castle all alone. According to legend, her Ghost regularly get away with portrait of lady Mary Berkeley, when Fillingame appear men unfaithful to their wives.

In 1617 began a new Chapter in the history of the castle. King James VI was able to reconcile the warring parties and the need for castle Chillingham as the strategic object has disappeared.

Then the king bade to improve the territory and develop the patrimony of grey according to the latest fashion. It was at this time the castle became one of the most popular places in the United Kingdom — there gathered the representatives of the aristocracy, noble ladies, and the James VI often went in the castle feast and sumptuous balls.

In 1828, around the castle was a beautiful Italian garden, designed in the regular style. By the way, is a work of landscape design have survived to this day, having undergone several major changes.

This time it was one of the happiest chapters in the history of the castle Chillingham, but after a few centuries, it ended with the advent of the Second world war. The soldiers of the British army arranged for a shelter in the walls of the castle, and all the trees are planted in gardens, as well as expensive wood and antique furniture went for heating the huge room.

In this period the castle fell into disrepair — the roof soon collapsed, and on the upper floors have accumulated a huge amount of bird droppings, which had not been cleaned in years. For several decades people in the UK have forgotten about the existence of the castle until in 1982 it was bought by sir Humphry Wakefield, whose wife was descended from the same family as grey.

Wakefield made the restoration of the castle the sense of his life and spent a fortune and many years to restore this building and make it the way it was during the reign of king James VI. It is worth saying that the idea of sir Humphrey Wakefield managed — after a few years the castle Chillingham regained its former glory and became one of the most beautiful and luxurious buildings of Europe.

Around the same time the castle has opened its doors to those who wished to get acquainted with a rich and sad history of this architectural masterpiece, and I must say, there were many. Crowds of people gathered in the County of Northumberland to visit the famous castle and meet its inhabitants.

A scene from the movie "Elizabeth," 1998

By the way, the castle Chillingham attracted not only tourists in 1998 within its walls was filmed historical movie Shekhar Kapoor's "Elizabeth" with cate Blanchett in the title role. According to rumors, the Director was so fascinated by the architecture of the medieval buildings that have spent a lot of effort and money to conduct the shoot in this place.

Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth

Today, the castle Chillingham is one of the most popular attractions of the United Kingdom, annually attracting thousands of tourists, and one of the features, in addition to the ghosts, is a semi-wild herd of white cows — these noble animals live exclusively in the vicinity of Chillingham that makes this place even more unique.