Roos Hall is a red brick Tudor house set in medieval parkland, and is located just outside the small town of Beccles in the county of Suffolk. It is said to take its name from the family of de Roos, who were the Lords of the manor close to Beccles at the beginning of the 13th century. It is also reputed to be highly haunted indeed. And its restless spirits are often active around Christmas time.
For example, in 1906 the local newspaper reported the following -
“A good deal of interest has been aroused in Beccles by the statements of two labourers in the employ of Mr F.W.D. Robinson of Roos Hall, Beccles, that they have seen an apparition in the neighbourhood. Benjamin Benns says he has seen it four times since last November, while Robert Elvin, his next door neighbour, says he first saw it for the first time a week before Christmas, and again on Monday night, the 18th, about eight o’clock, when he was walking with Benns towards Beccles.“They both agree that the ‘ghost’ was of very shadowy appearance, that passed them very swiftly on the Low Road leading to Shipmeadow Lock [now Geldeston Lock) and mysteriously disappeared.“They described it as about 5ft 9in. in height, with nicely-cut features like a woman. On each occasion that Elvin saw the phantom it appeared to come from Ashman’s plantation and over the hill to Low Road.“Benn says it ‘brushed’ past him once as he was coming to Beccles, and another time when he met it the form disappeared over a five-barred gate into a ploughed field. Both maintain the suggestion that it was ‘flesh and blood,’ and maintain that what they saw was an ‘apparition’ and Benns added, ‘we don’t wish to see it anymore.’”
Who is this mystery lady? Possibly she has been seen before. In ages past, a gibbet stood in the house’s grounds, but was replaced many years ago by an oak tree, which has been dubbed “Nelson’s Tree”. However it is said the shade of a woman often walks around the tree six times, enacting an old folk charm to summon up the Devil himself.
However there is another female ghost. Every Christmas Eve, the house prepares for a special visitor. And no, we aren’t talking about Father Christmas here! For on Christmas Eve, a ghostly coach pulled by four spectral horses, and driven by a headless spectre clatters up the driveway to the house. And when the carriage reaches the door, it stops and a beautiful woman steps out and walks towards the house before all vanish into the frosty night air. However be warned, for it said that if you look into this woman’s eyes you risk being driven mad or even dying soon after!
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