Lyme Park is managed by the National Trust and consists of a mansion house surrounded by formal gardens, in a deer park in the Peak District National Park. The house is the largest in Cheshire, and is a designated Grade I listed building.
The funeral cortege of Sir Piers Legh who died in Paris in 1422, and whose body had to be brought back for funeral service and burial, reputedly haunts the grounds approaching the house.
However, a more frequently reported apparition is that of the Lady in White, said to be the mistress of Sir Piers. Her name was Blanche, and she apparently died of grief after the loss of her lover. Her body was discovered in a meadow nearby called Lady’s Grave. Inside the house, a room that is known as the ‘Haunted Room’ was once discovered to be hiding a skeleton within a secret chamber.
In 1999, a young boy allegedly became hysterical at the sight of children playing in a room, yet adults could not see them. Temperature drops have been reported as has the smell of oranges.
Pictured left is the north front of the house seen through the gateway courtesy of Stephen G. Taylor.
Lyme Park,
Disley,
Stockport,
Cheshire, SK12 2NR.
For further information, please read The Ghosts of Cheshire by Muriel Armand, Haunted Britain by Antony D. Hippisley Coxe; Ghosts: Mysterious Tales from the National Trust by Sian Evans; Britain's Haunted Heritage by J A Brooks; Britain's Haunted Heritage by Keith B. Poole and Haunted Britain and Ireland by Richard Jones.