On a recent whistle-stop tour of North-East England, I happened to stay a few days in the North Hylton area of Sunderland, next to the banks of the River Wear. While I was there, I managed to take in a visit to the ruins of the reputedly haunted Hylton Castle.
If you are thinking of visiting the ruins, I would avoid Hylton during the evening. I would also suggest that if you were to visit, go in a group. I didn't particularly feel safe even during the day (and this isn't due to the threat of ghosts, more down to the living) so any Scooby Gang-style ghost hunting or vigils would be out of the question. Although it is close to a busy road and a vast housing estate, there are plenty of wooded enclosures towards the north of the ruins and a play area attracts numerous youths during the evening. The remaining 3-storey gatehouse is also kept securely locked although I was told that there are occasional open days during the year.
Now, to the haunting. There are various versions to the tale of the Cauld Lad who takes this name after 'he' was heard to cry "I'm cauld, I'm cauld...". Some say that it is the spirit of a stable lad by the name of Roger Skelton who was murdered by one of the Lords of Hylton, other versions just describe a brownie or house-spirit.
Skelton was said to have been asleep when the Lord called into the stable to collect a horse. He was angry that the steed had not been prepared and in a fit of temper, drew his sword and decapitated the stable lad. The headless corpse was then thrown in a pond and shortly after, the ghostly cries were heard around the castle. The Lord was eventually tried for murder when the skeletal remains were discovered, only to be acquitted. 'Cauld' is thought to be the dialectic version of 'cold' but it could also be the spelling of cowed which in the local area meant a hornless steer, but when referring to a human, means headless1.
A coroner's report from the 3rd of July, 1609 puts a different light on the situation. It seems a Robert Hylton, described as a Gentleman of Hylton, was supported by witness that he accidentally struck Roger Skelton on the right thigh with a scythe during mowing. This caused a fatal wound which was "one inch long and two inches broad from which the youth died within the hour."2 Hylton was eventually given a 'free pardon' by a Bishop, William Jameson, for the manslaughter of Skelton in the September of that year.
Another tale has it that the Cauld Lad could also travel a fair distance, down to the River Wear where he would impersonate the boatman on the Hylton ferry. After taking a passenger's money, he would disappear during the crossing and leave the poor unfortunate stranded in the middle of the river3.
It must be said that in each version, what we would now class as poltergeist-type activity was reported. Servants would hear items being moved around and find that the kitchen was rearranged, much to their annoyance. In one version of the tale, the ghost was also said to have bragged about its presence by singing:
"Wae's me! wae's me!
The acorn is not yet
Fallen from the tree,
That's to grow the wood,
That's to make the cradle,
That's to rock the bairn,
That's to grow to a man,
That's to lay me."4
Again, a similarity that is found in all versions is that a resourceful5 or sympathetic servant left out a cloak for the Cauld Lad. This seemed to have helped lay the restless spirit as when it found the clothing, it apparently cried out:
"Here's a cloak, and here's a hood!
The Cauld Lad of Hilton will do no more good;"6
The Cauld Lad stopped his nocturnal activities and although it appears that his cries would still echo about the castle, he never interfered with the kitchens again. It was also said that a room in the castle was left aside for the Cauld Lad and unless there were no other places to put up guests, it was never used by the castle's inhabitants.
Most of the fortifed buildings have long since been dismantled and the stones reused elsewhere within the city but the remains of a gatehouse and what appears to have once been a chapel still exist at the site. It lies on the edge of a housing estate appropriately named 'Hylton Castle' and the ghost even lends its name to the local pub, The Cauld Lad, where spirits of a different kind can be found.
http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndat ... astle.html
