Chambercombe Manor

Chambercombe Manor with its parklands is hidden in a secluded valley. The property is unique and intriguing, steeped in mystery and with a history dating from the Saxon Era. Guided tours of the manor are available offering a distinctly different day out. New attractions to the manor's parklands are being developed to complement the existing arboretum.

Chambercombe Manor is reputedly one of the most haunted dwellings in the UK, visitors have witnessed a host of phenomena which cannot be accounted for: the swinging pendulum of a clock without its weights, the spinning of curtain poles, and the kitchen spit that does not have to be wound by a living hand.

Chambercombe Manor

With parts of the existing Manor dating as far back as 1066, it comes as no surprise that Chambercombe Manor has ghosts that are definitely still in residence and often let their presence be known. Visitors have reported a feeling of being watched, of being touched by ghosts, and being pushed out of chairs!

The Haunted Room adjoins that used by Lady Jane Grey. It is said that the tenant in 1865 was making some repairs to the roof when he discovered the outline of a window for which he could not find a room corresponding. Investigation led to the finding of a chamber between Lady Jane Grey’s room and the one adjoining, in which on the remains of a handsome bedstead lay the skeleton of a woman. She was supposed to be a titled lady visiting relatives at Chambercombe who was shipwrecked in a storm on the rocks at Hele. She was found and brought to the Manor and placed into the room where she later died. The jewellery she was wearing was taken by the occupants of the Manor and the room sealed off from the outside world. The room has no entrance to it now, but a section of the partition has been removed and one is able to see into the chamber.

Chambercombe Manor

The earliest record we have of it was in the possession of Sir Henry Champernon, who was Lord of the Manor of Ilfracombe in 1162, but there is mention of one Robert, soon after the Norman Conquest. The Manor remained in the possession of the Champernon family until the 15th century when this branch of the family became extinct, passing through the families of Polglass, Herles and Bonville to the Duke of Suffolk and by his attainder to the Crown.

It is not certain when the house fell from its high estate and became a farmhouse, but it was evidently so used for a long time. Nevertheless, it still retains much of its former grandeur, both in the fabric of the building and its decorations, particularly the plaster frieze and barrel ceiling in the Coat of Arms bedroom.

See also: www.chambercombemanor.org.uk

Contributed by: Helen Makepiece