Plantagenet House, New Romney.

This ancient stone house is the oldest in the town and has been reliably dated to the first decades of the 14th century.

Why call in a medium? We moved into our ancient home in 2004 without knowing anything of the history of the building and we had absolutely no acquaintance with anyone resident in the area. It was a blank sheet. The origins of the building were an enigma and we solved this by having it subjected to a historic buildings survey conducted by representatives of University College London. However, this told us nothing of the social history, or, of any possible,’hauntings’.

For some time we had become aware of ‘presences’. A ‘dark presence’ appeared one night in the Solar, (bedroom), creating much consternation on our part and it was not alone. One January night, in 2007, Janet, my partner, was resting downstairs in the living room, suffering from a severe cold, when she became aware of a, “man sitting in the Inglenook Fireplace,” no more than a metre away from her. “He wore a felt hat, with a 3 inch, or so, brim, Bogart shaped but not 1940s, had shoulder length mousy coloured hair, facial hair, goatee moustache and was aged 35-40. His wide topped long leather boots would have reached his thighs but were turned down and he had a cape over his shoulders. He appeared to be warming himself beside “an invisible fire”. After a short while, he stood up, adjusted his cape and hat, “I had a feeling that he was going out”. “He seemed to walk around something and exited through the back wall, out into the real Aisle and straight through the door and walls of our bathroom into next door”. “I got the impression that the floor level in the Living Room was a bit lower than now because his feet seemed to partially sink through it.
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A very big hearth: The fireplace was constructed in the days of Henry V11, to replace the’ open hearth’ on the floor. The ‘ghost’ was sitting where the TV is positioned, whilst Janet was sitting as shown. A huge ‘orb’ is present in the centre of the photo.

First conversation with Patrick McNamara, 19th February 2008: When he picked up the phone, Patrick had absolutely no idea of our address or even our full names. Within seconds he gave me the correct Christian and Surname of the man who sold our home to us back in 2004, He then described,”A tall elegant lady, named Laura, who together with her king Charles Spaniel, haunts the stairs and makes noises”. (after this conversation and completely unknown to Janet, I asked ‘Laura’ to make her presence known and she ‘barged’ Janet as she went upstairs. Apparently, Janet has been aware of ‘something there’ for some time but had said nothing).

Patrick went on to give me the name, Gregory Phillips/Phillip and described a “Cardinal, dressed in red, with a cracked mitre.” (Our building may have been occupied by men ‘in holy orders’ in the medieval period – I have only just unearthed this information yesterday, 22nd March 2008).

He went on to state: ‘the Red Rose of Lancaster’, a man c1920s/30s, with fair/ginger hair, owner of a British Motorbike, the Reverend Feelgood, a lady holding a stillbirth, a young boy, a woman named Gladys who was, “a maid of all help”, Captain Phillip Wainright, a man named Harrington, living in the early c20th, a grandfather figure, wearing brown shoes, heavily built man, jowled, with receding grey/white hair, wearing a heavy watch of 20s/30s style, signet ring on the 3rd finger of his left hand with a blue stone. “Seems to be an anniversary/birthday associated with, ‘Harry’.

Patrick was shown “a globe, twin windows, a portrait on the wall and the view from the window is of greenery”. (interestingly, this is a very good description of the situation and room contents associated with the window of our bedroom, (original medieval Solar).

Finally, Patrick stated that, “there is a box hidden in the house near the fireplace and what used to be a stairwell”.

Within minutes of this conversation ending, he called me back to tell me that,”a thin lady with glasses seemed keen for me to phone you again”. He thought that it might mean that I should contact Nick at Greenways Farm, (not then acquainted).

Rear Aisle Stairway: ‘Laura and her little dog’ seem to be attached to this spot.

Note from Patrick McNamara, 29th February 2008: In this email, he told me that he had “picked up a Monk called Thomas” in connection with the ‘orb’ in a picture that I had emailed him of our Living Room and that, “there are three orbs in the picture, two more on the right side. One is a King Charles Spaniel Dog, the other a cat. There is another man too. He looks Romanesque, (like looking at a coin), very short hair, wearing armour from the late 15th, early 16th century breast plate. The armour is leather looking, not metal and he would have worn it under armour. I get French connection with this, not English.”

Visit by Patrick McNamara and Karl Fallon to Plantagenet House, New Romney, Kent, on March 1st 2008.

Persons present: Patrick McNamara, Karl Fallon, Nick Jones, Tracy Milliams, Charlotte Jane Hughes, Janet Blair, and Malcolm Dyer.

These notes were compiled during the event and on the subsequent morning and then checked for accuracy by Janet Blair.

Time: 5pm – approximately 11.30pm.

Weather conditions: cold and dry.

Firstly Patrick McNamara, (who had arrived with Karl at around 5pm), went into the Undercroft, (this was the original ‘undercroft’ of the early 14th century house and is now our kitchen): He immediately stated,”there is a Great Dane dog or lurcher that is quite enormous and there are two people who are here quite a lot and there are a lot of people who come and go.” We have just one black and white tomcat. Janet, my partner, with his guidance then actually ‘saw a blue glow’ on Patrick’s hands and then on her own, which he identified as,’ectoplasm’. This occurred in fully lit conditions.

“There are two people present including a very strong woman named Sylvia.”

A man with short-cropped hair showed him the ‘Uniform of the Parliamentarians’. I understand that he saw him wearing a half armour breastplate and his hair was blond in colour. He felt the presence of, “Children aged two or three, they make a noise. They are happy and in visitation.”

“Man died of an illness, and had something to do with the local church. He might have been a verger, gravedigger. “One minute I was here the next minute I was gone”

“There is a lady here for Janet and she could be a grandmother, she is bigger than Janet, she has fat arms, had slight trouble breathing. Condition seems like a heart attack.”

Our Washing Machine has been leaking water and Patrick said that there was a lady speaking to him about this.” She puts a thought into my head.”

Earlier building on the site of our house: Whilst walking from the Living Room into the Kitchen, Patrick said, “The House is built on the site of something else. Below this there are foundations of something else. Thick walls are running across the kitchen through the present entrance into the living room” (University College London, in their Historic Buildings Survey, of 2004, speculate about evidence they found in the external walling that could indicate the likely existence of an earlier building on the site).

Then he said that, “ I am getting the name Anthony/Antonia”.

The Undercroft/kitchen adjoins the Living Room, which was originally an, Open Hall, in medieval times and Patrick examined an early to mid 18th century wainscot chair:
“ There is a man dressed in Walloon dress, Flemish, black gaiters and polished shoes. Wife is German, she sat in it often. They/he/she feels disgust with Bonaparte. I see a ring with red background and white cross on it and some order of some sort.”

On the back rail of this chair is inscribed: ‘ I H S  1A.VBIELAVSTBER 8  ANNA 1791. Could this be a Dutch address? 

Returning to the Undercroft/kitchen:
 “I have got a lady here who makes her own bread, dough bin would have been in here. Most of the cooking done outside. Has one of these mop caps on, drudge, very, very, hard work.”

Solar or 1st Bedroom: Patrick felt that someone died here of cancer. He then described a, ‘scribe/secretary with tonsured hair’. “An important document was signed here with wax seals”. He detected the presence of a man with pretences of authority, wearing a cape, riding boots of thigh length, associated with horses, smells of leather, harness. (Could this be the same man Janet saw in the Living Room, back in January 2007 – Patrick know nothing of this event).

Subsequent researches by the writer have made sense of the reference to the,’ scribe/secretary with tonsured hair’. This would indicate a possible ecclesiastical connection. A report in my possession, speculates that the original purpose of our home was for ‘The Master of the Hospital of St John the Baptist’. This long lost establishment, like some 800 similar facilities throughout the kingdom in the Middle Ages, offered a secure home for poor folk and was the responsibility, in the case of New Romney, of the Jurats and Bailiff of the Cinque Port of New Romney, (it was a sort of medieval ‘Health Service’). It was in existence by 1260 and fades from records in the first decades of the Sixteenth Century. Although the ‘Mastership/Priorship’ was in the gift of the ruling Jurats and Bailiff, it appears that they favoured appointees who were in holy orders. This is evidenced by the usage of the term,’ Prior’ to describe them in the fifteenth century.  I quote the following, which is part of a treatise on the subject contained in, ‘Destroyed Churches of New Romney’, by W A Scott-Robertson and sourced from, ‘Archaeologia Cantiana’:

“Whether the Prior was always in holy orders is not quite clear; latterly he was, but it is doubtful whether the priors, at the commencement of the fifteenth century, were priests…………A subsequent prior, Dompnus, Robert Bernyngham, a native of Bernyngham in Suffolk, was admitted to the franchise of Romney in 1480, on the 8th of October. He was evidently in holy orders. So also was John Lauther, clerk, who in 1495-6 paid to the Jurats a rent of 10s for the House of St John the Baptist.”

Patrick appeared to identify just such a person in the Solar. He had no previous inkling of the historic role of this building or who would have slept and worked in this room. For my own part, I had no reason to believe that anyone of other than secular origins would have been appointed ‘Master’, or,’ Prior’. However, Patrick clearly described a man with ‘tonsured hair’, which is famously associated with medieval churchmen. Again, earlier this year, another medium – someone entirely unknown to Patrick – in visiting the Solar, described seeing a man clothed in a full length green garment probably made of wool, finely finished with gold thread on the collar and sleeves, girth around the waist with a cord from which was hanging a small crucifix. She saw him walking towards her as she entered the room and did not see how his hair appeared.

A ‘ Kings Charles Cocker Spaniel’ was in the room by the door and Janet could detect ‘ectoplasm’, as could Charlotte. Charlotte and Janet described seeing, “blue spots,” or “ blue dots”

Medieval Solar: Six hundred years ago, this would have been the private apartment of the Master and Mistress of the ‘Hospital of St John the Baptist’. He would have had the almost unheard of luxury of an internal fireplace and would have said daily prayers before a statue of St John the Baptist (?), in the Niche with the roman lady inside it.

Second Bedroom; Janet felt slight resistance when she was guided to move her hands through a spot indicated by Patrick. She felt ‘cold’, felt,’ gelatinous substance’, which he stated was ‘ectoplasm’ on the floor area in front of the window.

Patrick detected a certain Philip Prendergast, attached to a ‘Yeoman Regiment’. “He is wearing a red coat”.

“A strongbox was once in here with important stuff in it. It contained a Kings Commission, money and papers. There is some connection with the17th Yeomanry, raising troops, levying troops. Some connection with a Captain Philip Prendergast.”

“A man was nursing another here, who had some sort of mortal wound inflicted in his back, not by gunshot, this left much sadness in the room.”

 According to Patrick there are,” Animals present everywhere throughout the house”.

Loft: Patrick detected a small wiry man, 5 foot 2 inches tall, named ‘Ginger’. He said that, “Ginger Robinson, lived in the 1820s.” Also, Patrick felt the presence of an elderly man, who was very deaf, had a distinctive ear trumpet, and that this man was connected possibly with the name, ‘Carlson’. “A housemaid in appropriate uniform is present, seemingly dating from the early c20th”.

Also, in the Loft Room, Patrick detected the presence of an Edwardian Lady, wearing a brooch, very haughty in her bearing. She had her, “Nose in the air”. She is associated with the smell of Rose Water. “She would have used it a lot”.” There is a smell of Pot Puree”.
He said that there were some nine spirits present. Janet reported that, “she felt tingly” and Patrick stated that this, “is because the spirits are drawing energy.”

Living Room, (subsequent to above): We seated ourselves and after conversation about the evening and my learning from Patrick, “that I have a Nun associated with me” transfiguration was tried by him, to the approbation of those present, with many ‘faces’ observed to form in rapid succession by Charlotte, Karl, Tracey, Nick and Janet.

Transfiguration: Patrick seated himself on a chair, in semi-darkness, framed in effect, by the kitchen door. Janet, sitting no more than five feet from him, witnessed the following:

“Several faces appeared in rapid succession. This is not a complete record of all that I saw. I saw a gentleman, aged in his 50s, possessed of a thin chiselled face, beard and moustache, neatly trimmed,’cavalier style’, high cheek bones, fair, grey hair. Then a face appeared, ‘almost like a bald Ralph C Nesbitt’, very round face, eyes closed, like a death mask. Then it changed to one alike to that of ‘Dicky Attenborough’, wearing round gold-rimmed spectacles. Following this, a,’John Merrick character’, became apparent, with ‘1930s style facial hair’. Several of the other witnesses thought it was Adolph Hitler. Finally, I remember a man’s face became visible, featuring a roman nose, full faced, fat and without facial hair. There were many more but these are all that I can recall with any certainty. It was as if Patrick’s face was subject to the effects of a projector. Just prior to these visions, he brought our attention to a cloud of ectoplasm around his shoulders and neck. This was visible to me.”

As a postscript to the above, I was sitting next to her throughout the session and I saw absolutely nothing. Indeed, so low was the light level that I could only just make out ‘a low level image’ of his face, hands and torso. However, enough was visible to ensure that no ‘trickery’ was possible. I knew where everyone was sitting and what equipment was being employed. Absolutely no lighting/projections/etc were used. Therefore Janet, (who is psychic it seems) and the other witnesses were ‘seeing’ something not visible to myself, but nonetheless real enough to them.

Undercroft: Now our kitchen, the cupboard in the centre of the picture was once a doorway and another medium, earlier this year, told us that she could see a serving girl, in mop cap and milking apron standing there. This girl could well have lived 200 years ago.

As an initial preparation, a, ‘cabinet’ was set up in the form of a black sheet draped over a small area of the living room, whilst lighting was limited to small red and blue lights. Charlotte, Janet and Tracey seemed to be able to see ‘clouds of ectoplasm’ form and several reported seeing lights in the form of blue spots, rods and orbs. I felt a sensation of ‘tingling’ when my hands were in proximity with those of Patrick and Janet, although they were definitely not in any contact. I thought too, that I could see a dome shaped light cloud of ectoplasm near the dower chest we were using as a coffee table but, upon the lighting being restored it was very apparent that my ‘dome shaped light cloud of ectoplasm’ was, in fact, a pair of knees attached to the person of Nick who was sitting opposite to me! This shows how great care must be exercised in recording ‘phenomena’. 

Patrick energetically demonstrated a most singular phenomenon whereby a ‘spirit entity’ appeared to be ‘attached’ to his back and he achieved this by the simple expedient of walking rapidly backwards and forwards in the kitchen.

All activities in this segment of the evening were recorded on digital film. Also, a cassette recorder was in operation for the duration of the tape using internal microphone.

These are my notes of the evening completed at 10.30pm. 1st March 2008

Postscript: On Sunday morning, 2nd March, as she came down the Aisle stairs, Janet saw,”lots of twinkles”, on the Landing, (‘twinkles’ are her name for ‘orbs’). That was in the morning. That afternoon, she saw “a black cat with white tipped paws”, stretched across my lap as I sat on the, ‘Dutch Chair’, that same chair that Patrick had purposefully examined. A ghost cat on my lap! She has subsequently seen a black and white phantom moggie around the house too, as well as that King Charles Spaniel and she, ‘saw him’ before his presence was found by Patrick. On 4th March, by chance I was talking on the phone to a Dutchman who confirmed that the script on the back rail is indeed Dutch and is an address of some sort, whether a dwelling, chapel, etc.
 

Mystery script: certainly Dutch, did Patrick ‘contact’ the owners of 200 years past?