Haunted Guy's Cliffe House In Warwick Damaged By Vandals

Guy's Cliff House in Warwick has been targeted by vandals, causing damage to the work carried out in the grounds by volunteers working to restore the historic building. The incident happened last night at the haunted house, which dates back to 1751.

'Bring Back Guy's Cliffe', a team of volunteers who are trying to restore the property to its former glory posted about the damage on their official Facebook page. They wrote, "at some time during the night, somebody thought it would be very clever to gain access to the grounds here at Guys Cliffe Warwick and smash down a sandstone wall and place it into the driveway, to stop anyone gaining access."

As well as this mindless damage to the stone wall, which will now have to be re-built, the vandals also ripped signs off the building's walls. This caused damage to the outer walls of the building and ruined the signs that had been hand carved by the group's volunteers.

The group added, "the volunteers, along with many other organisations, work so hard in order to try to preserve this location. So we are all feeling rather disheartened this morning."

The Facebook post ends with a plea for information from anyone who might know about the incident that occurred in the early hours of Tuesday 30th July. They wrote, "please keep an eye out folks, if you see or hear anything please get in touch."

The ghostly goings on at Guy's Cliffe include reports of encounters with the spirits of the building's past inhabitants, including children, and servants from the house, as well as the ghosts of Freemasons, who now hold meetings in St Mary's Chapel which adjoins the house. Most of the spirits are said to be male as historically the site is quite male dominated.

The building gets its name from the legendary Guy of Warwick, who's believed to have lived in a cave carved into the sandstone cliff that the house was built on.

The house itself was used as a hospital during World War I and was again put to use in the Second World War, this time as a school for evacuated children. After falling into disrepair in the 1950s, the house's fate continued to worsen. By the mid-1960s the roof had collapsed, then in 1992 a fire that got out of control during the filming of a television series caused even more damage.

The chapel was built on the site in the 15th century, but was passed into private hands after King Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in the UK. In the 1970s, the chapel was restored by the Freemasons. The two Freemason temples contained in the chapel are used for ceremonies to this day.

'Bring Back Guy's Cliffe' are working hard to restore the rest of the grounds and the house, starting at the foot of the buildings alongside the River Avon - an area known as The Lower Walks. They then hope to focus their attention on the upper cliff area that has lost its walkway. This is said to be where Felice the wife of Guy of Warwick strode back in the 10th Century, therefore this area is known as Fair Felice's Walk in her honour. 

The ambitious project is financially challenging and requires the work of volunteers, which is why it's such a shame to see the project knocked back by vandals. You can support the group's efforts by donating via their  Go Fund Me page.