The Brown Lady
Caught on camera coming down the stairs in 1936.
Private, don't visit
- What's there
- Private 17th-century country house
- Legend from
- Family and house tradition; 1936 Country Life photograph
- Best time
- NOT FOUND
- Tone
- Eerie
Ghost · East Raynham · Famous
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Caught on camera coming down the stairs in 1936.
Private, don't visit
Private family home; occasional openings only. Check before you go.
In 1936 a camera on Raynham's staircase caught something coming down the stairs. They called her the Brown Lady.
The Brown Lady is said to be Dorothy Walpole, sister of the first Prime Minister and wife of Charles 'Turnip' Townshend. Rumour said that after an affair her husband locked her away in the house until she died in 1726. Her ghost, wearing a brown brocade dress, has been reported on the staircase for centuries. In 1936 two photographers from Country Life magazine captured a hazy hooded figure gliding down the main stairs. It became one of the most famous ghost photographs ever taken. Dutt says she also appeared at nearby Houghton.