The long-disappeared Bilbrook property once dubbed the 'Haunted House'
To the older folk, it was Bilbrook Hall. But to Geoffrey Dobson and his young pals, it was The Haunted House.
And thank you to Mr Dobson, who is now 83, for getting in touch with his memories of the long-disappeared Bilbrook property which we featured the other day.
"I could write a book about Bilbrook," said Mr Dobson, who lives these days in Fordhouses.
Bilbrook Hall had been empty for years when demolition teams moved in on June 13, 1952, to destroy it with explosives. Young Geoffrey had by then moved from the village, but he remembers it being quite a childhood playground.
"We used to call it The Haunted House. We kids used to play there. There was so much to do in there – so many rooms we could play in. We had a great lot of fun for a few years," he said.
"The ceiling was ornate and the rooms had micro piping throughout the house with piano wires running through them to alert the domestic staff to the people's needs.
