You can’t write about Preston Manor without getting into its ghost stories that have made it a must-see stop on any ghost tour of Brighton, and we’d be doing you a disservice if we left it out.
Preston Manor has had a reputation for hauntings going back to at least the 1880s. At various times, the Stanford family reported inexplicable phenomena like silk dresses cut into diamond patterns and mysterious figures lurking on the staircases. The most famous apparition is the “Lady in White”, seen repeatedly over decades.
In November 1896, at the height of the spiritualism craze, the Stanfords invited two paranormal investigators to the house: Ada Goodrich Freer, a medium, and Douglas Murray, a member of the then-famous Ghost Club.
They held a séance in what’s now known as the Cleves Room, a space distinguished for its gilded, leather-lined walls that shimmer softly in the light, in a way that’s either atmospheric or unsettling, depending on your disposition.
Using what we’d now call a Ouija board, they supposedly communicated with the spirit of an excommunicated nun called Sister Agnes, who told them she was buried in unconsecrated ground outside the house. A transcript of the séance still exists, in case you ever need something light-hearted to relax before bed.
Just a few months later, in January 1897, workmen repairing the drains beneath the south terrace found the skeleton of a woman. A hasty examination by a doctor found the remains were 300-400 years old, though the cause of death was never determined.
A local vicar refused to allow the burial of the remains in his churchyard because they belonged to a Catholic, but the skeleton was secretly reburied at the edge of the churchyard nonetheless. After this, sightings of the Lady in White reportedly stopped, giving credence to the belief that the skeleton really had belonged to Sister Agnes.
