Littledean Hall

Although this property has recently been sold, and is no longer open to the public, we were lucky enough to make a visit in 2000. Back then, Littledean Hall was visibly suffering a lack of 'TLC', probably as a result of recent changes of ownership. However, concealed within its grim and rather daunting exterior, centuries of fascinating history could be discovered, together with detailed architectural evidence showing how the property had evolved from a Saxon Hall to a formal country house.

The first Lords of Dene had occupied an open hall, typically Saxon, which was then converted to a Norman hall, comprising first floor and undercroft. But prior to these early buildings being erected, there is now good reason to assume that a Roman settlement had occupied the site at Littledean, and fragments of Roman masonry can be found in the surviving part of the Saxon dwelling. Gradually extended over three centuries, the Norman hall had developed into a substantial medieval manor house by the time it was eventually replaced with a Jacobean house in 1612. Until the end of the 19th century Littledean Hall had remained in the Pyrke family, each generation carrying out extensive alterations, and the present house is largely a reflection of that period. Most of the décor and furniture date from the 17th and 18th centuries, with much memorabilia relating to the Civil War.

According to legend, Littledean Hall was no stranger to death, having witnessed several murders, and retaining the gruesome marks of one particular incident at the time of the Civil War. In the dining room, previously forming part of the great hall, a fearsome swordfight erupted between the King's garrison and a troop of Roundheads, and among those that fell were Colonel Congreve and Captain Wigmore, whose bloodstains remain visible today.

Perhaps more tragically, because the circumstances were emotionally charged, two of the Pyrke brothers shot each other across the dining table as they declared their love for the same woman. Another sad story surrounds Charles Pyrke and his black manservant, who are depicted in the drawing room. Growing up almost as brothers, Charles met a violent death at the hands of his West Indian servant, which undoubtedly was connected with the death of the black baby borne by the servant's sister and reputedly fathered by Charles.

Tucked away in this quiet little village in the Forest of Dean, and acclaimed to be one of the oldest inhabited houses in Britain as well as the most haunted, Littledean Hall could well qualify as one of England's 'lost treasures'.