Calgarth Hall

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2 Responses

  1. Ian Topham says:

    Thanks for the clarity
    Thanks for the clarity John.  I find stories do get changed each time they are retold and passed on.  Obviously we’d like to get as close to the truth as possible.  I’d really appreciate any information you have on the above tale.

  2. JohnCampbell says:

    Calgarth Hall
    Before she and her husband were hanged at Appleby, Dorothy Cook is said to have laid seven curses on the Philipsons or on Calgarth and to have vowed that she and Kraster would continue to haunt Calgarth day and night as long as it remained standing. She is said to have uttered the following words:

    Harks ta here, Miles Philipson; that teeny lump o’land is t’dearest grund a Philipson has ivver bowt, for ye sall prosper nivver mair, yersel ner yan o’yer breed; An’ while Cawgarth’s strang waws sall stand, we s’haunt it dae an’ neet.

    It is said that the Krasters’ skulls appeared in the Hall time and again and could not be destroyed by fire, by crushing or by any other way. 

    How much of  the tale is true or not is difficult to say. There does not seem to have been a Miles Philipson as owner of Calgarth in the relevant period, that is, the mid 17th century. There is undoubtedly some truth in the story but it may refer to Miles Philipson of Crook, who was a Justice of the Peace (as was the Miles of the legend) and who owned a silver cup or "calles". I do not know if anyone has investigated the story deeply enough to ascertain the real facts of the attempted "land-grab".