The last in a series of spring guided tours of Longley Old Hall take place this weekend. Meet the couple who live - alongside the friendly ghosts - in this amazing piece of Huddersfield history

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By Jenny Parkin, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner (May 20 2003)

WHEN Robin and Christine Gallagher bought Longley Old Hall, they thought they were taking on a straightforward, 400-year-old home.

But once they began their 10-year plan to restore it, they found it was a whole two centuries older, in parts.

The timber-framed, grade two-star listed property - possibly haunted by more than one seemingly amicable presence - is structurally a mix of mediaeval, Tudor, Jacobean and Victorian.

Over the centuries, parts, have been demolished and rebuilt. Today, it stands as an awe-inspiring eight-up, eight-down mansion - tucked away inconspicuously in ordinary Longley.

Slowly but surely for the Gallaghers, it's now revealing its full history. But there's still a lot of renovation work to go.

Robin, assistant managing director of an industrial property company, and Christine - who works as a consultant de-cluttering people's homes and lives - bought the hall four-and-a-half years ago.

Turning it into a mini-museum for a steady stream of visitors was the last thing on their minds.

But, when its full importance began to emerge, they decided it would be unfair to the public not to throw open their heavy oak front door.

As soon as they moved in, experts in all sorts of architectural and historical fields descended. Some were on necessary business, others just came for a nosey - in some cases, helpfully shedding light on different aspects.

Organised tours began three years ago, to control numbers of callers. Now they have a streamlined system - and even sell high-grade mediaeval-style ceramics and pewter souvenirs.

Christine says: "The hall's been here for 700 years. And before we came here, it was never open to the public."

She continues: "We moved here from an ordinary farmhouse at Shibden, because we were interested in the 17th century.

"The previous owners who bought the hall from the Ramsdens had done a lot to return it to its mediaeval glory, but there was still a long way to go."

Over the centuries doors and passageways had been blocked up, walls moved, wonderful beams plastered over and original features hidden with once-fashionable additions such as modern bathroom panelling and fitted wardrobes!

The restoration process has been painstaking - especially as every step has to be approved not only by Kirklees Council and English Heritage but societies with special interests such as Georgian and Victorian architecture.

Strict rules for the listed building mean today's work must be completely in keeping. That means, for example, that ordinary plaster is outlawed in favour of the traditional lime, putty and goat hair mix.

Red tape was something the Gallaghers had to learn to live with - as well as the ghosts.

Robin says: "When people come to visit, the most frequently asked question is: "Have you got any ghosts?"

"We don't tell them there and then - but ask them to guess which rooms have a `presence'. More often than not, someone gets it right."

Two workmen have reported seeing the bottom half of a woman in a black, flowered gown, on separate occasions.

A third believes he's seen a boy in breeches and a ruffled shirt watching him work in the garden, many a time.

And Christine says: "I'm very sensitive to this kind of thing and there definitely are presences here.

"Sometimes I can feel them. They're all OK, I'm comfortable with it."

Longley Old Hall was owned by a family called Wood, the richest in the area, from as far back as the 1290s.

Later, it belonged to the Ramsdens, the lords of the manors of Almondbury and Huddersfield, from about 1540 until 1977.

In 1920 the Ramsdens sold their Huddersfield estate of 4,300 acres to the former Huddersfield Corporation.

The only property excluded from the sale were the hall and its adjoining cottage.

In 1977 Sir Geoffrey Pennington Ramsden, the seventh baronet, sold them - and broke the last connection between the family and the town.

During their guided tours, the couple explain all sorts of details from witchmarks in beams, once etched to ward away evil spirits, to a sitting room secret "hidey hole".

One of the three kitchens boasts one of the very oldest ceilings in West Yorkshire - though technically, it's what was the original floor to the room above.

Christine says: "We've done so much of the heavy work ourselves such as taking up concrete flooring, pulling down ceilings and rebuilding exterior walls.

"At one or two particularly low points, surrounded by black plaster dust, I've thought: "What have we got ourselves into?" But we've never regretted it."

By Jenny Parkin, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner (May 20 2003)

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