Throwley Old Hall is a ruined mansion dating from the early 1500s, brooding over the Peak District landscape from its hilltop location near the village of Ilam.
The seat of the Meverell family from its completion in 1503, the hall went through several owners after the last Meverell lady married into the Cromwell dynasty. One strange occupancy was as a meeting place for the religious sect known as The Muggletonians, who believed prayer and worship to be a pointless waste of time and that the soul died with the body. Nonetheless they believed in the power of curses which they pronounced on their opponents with relish, with the peaceful Quakers seen as their arch enemies.
Throwley Old Hall is said to be haunted, mainly by a little blonde haired boy who wanders the ruins asking for help, then bursts into tears when none is forthcoming. A farmer claimed to have once seen a headless woman standing amid the crumbling walls, the front of her dress soaked with blood. A horse-drawn carriage is said to make its presence known by either sight or sound depending on the time of year, re-enacting its final journey where it allegedly crashed near the hall, killing three of its occupants.
Fans of the supernatural stories of MR James might be interested to know that a huge ash tree stands next to the ruins, a branch reaching out to the tower. Not a place I'd choose to spend the night at!
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