Knighton Gorges

Newchurch
Isle of Wight

History

Just a pair of weathered stone gateposts are all that remain of this old Elizabethan manor house of Knighton Gorges in the parish of Newchurch built by the Dillington family from Dorset. 1721 saw tragedy struck this family when Sir Tristram Dillington’s whole family contracted fever and died. So grief stricken the man killed himself.

Paranormal Activity

Possibly one of the Isle of Wight’s most haunted places, locals tell of a story of a man who whilst out walking came across a big house and claimed he looked through a window and saw a crowded drawing room full of party goers in Georgian costume. However when he pointed out the house on a map he was informed that the manor had been demolished over 75 years ago. Every New Year’s Eve people gather to wait for this ghostly house to re-appear. Many other strange activities have been reported here from supernatural Georgian music on harpsichords being heard, the sound of dogs and carriages hurrying up the drive. In 1972 Mr. Edwin Perry inquired in the local press what had happened to the lion animal ornaments that adorned the gateway until a few weeks ago but photographs dating back to 1916 have only ever shown stone rounds adorning the gates.

Ventnor Botanic Gardens

Undercliff Drive Ventnor
Isle of Wight
PO38 1UL
Tel: 01983 855397
Fax: 01983 856154
www.botanic.co.uk

History

Once the site of a Royal National Hospital for diseases of the chest, demolished in 1969, Ventnor Botanic Gardens is now one of the youngest botanic gardens in Britain opened by Earl Mountbatten in 1972. With its warm climate and suitable soils a wide variety of plants considered too tender for normal mainland Britain grow here. Much of the garden has suffered from variants in climate and the infamous storm of October 1987 but much planning and redevelopment has taken place since the late 80s.

Paranormal Activity

The old hospital was long haunted before its demolition in 1969 with long dead patients still being seen and heard weeping and groaning. Strange smells, a consumptive looking ghost and spirits of old nurses in old-fashioned uniforms are said to haunt these gardens.

The Hare & Hounds

Downend Road
Newport
Isle of Wight
PO30 2NU
www.hareandhounds-newport.com

History

400 year old English roadside inn. Micah Morey was tried and hanged here in 1737 for killing his grandson. His corpse was left rotting on the gibbet at Gallows Hill near to the Hare and Hounds until it became ‘an offence to eye and nostril’. The gibbet crossbeam, complete with the notch cut into it can still be seen in the pub along with the date of his execution.

Paranormal Activity

A phantom has been seen roaming Gallows Hill carrying a large axe which is believed to be Morey’s restless spirit.