In the shadow of the Minster, the ghostly Romans walk
There are normal spooky stories – and then there are goosebump-inducing, spine-tingling, change-of-underwear-requiring spooky stories. And the one that haunts Treasurer’s House in York is definitely in the latter category.
As a teenage apprentice plumber in 1953, Harry Martindale wasn’t expecting his work in the house’s cellar to be anything other than routine. But then he saw something extraordinary. First a single Roman soldier emerged from the wall in front of him, followed by a cart horse and 20 more soldiers. Even more bizarrely, they were only visible from the knees up. He took two weeks off with the shock, and only revealed what he had seen in the 1970s, for fear of ridicule. It then emerged that Treasurer’s House was built on the route of the old Roman road – which would have been about 40 centimetres below the cellar … Harry, who died in 2014, once said he didn’t know if he believed in ghosts: “I only believe in what I saw.”
Info
Address Minster Yard, York YO1 7JL, +44 (0)1904 624247, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/treasurers-house-york, treasurershouse@nationaltrust.org.uk | Public Transport Closest car park: Monk Bar. Closest bus stops: Lord Mayor’s Walk and Monk Bar | Hours Winter, Thu–Sun 11am–4pm; summer, daily 11am–4:30pm| Tip Watch for special exhibitions at Treasurer’s House: in 2015, it staged a fascinating celebration of the life of Hollywood star Vivien Leigh.
As its name suggests, Treasurer’s House was built for the controller of the Minster finances. Later it was home to successive archbishops. But perhaps its most colourful owner was wealthy industrialist Frank Green, who bought it in 1897 and set about renovating the medieval masterpiece so it could provide the perfect backdrop for his collection of antiques. Green was an eccentric and fastidious man. The precise position of each piece of furniture was marked by metal studs on the floor, which can still be seen today. He insisted that his French chef, M Viande, travel up from London for his stays in York, and sent all his laundry the other way.
Today the home and garden is in the hands of the National Trust, thanks to Green’s bequest. He told the new owner in 1930: “I am an old man. I may not have very long to live. But I warn you that, if ever you so much as move one chair leg again, I will haunt you till your dying day.” Joining those Roman soldiers, perhaps.
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