Samlesbury Hall is easy to find its near the  A59 and A667.  It is the main road between  Preston and Blackburn. There are regular buses to this ancient English Manor House. 

I took the Preston bus from Blackburn bus station. It is an hourly service. The route is an attractive one along Preston New Road; out into the countryside before passing through  Mellor Brook.

I arrived at 1:50 and once at the entrance to the hall found that Saturday is not the day to visit to search for ghosts because the hall is closed!

Saturday is a good day to get married and the receptions are held here. Sadly Lady Dorothy 's courtship would not have this happy beginning. I thought of the story while I walked about the grounds as I waited for the return bus to Blackburn.

I returned on the Monday.

I walked down the drive way towards the entrance. I thought of the story connected with this hall. A story of forbidden love between two familes. One Roman Catholic and the other Protestant.

Lady Dorothy lived in the 17th Century. Her father  followed the Catholic faith. Dorothy  and her brother were also Cathoic. One day Dorothy met the son of a nobel prodestant family. They fell in love. They knew they must keep their friendship a secret because of their different religious backgrounds.

They decided that the future was with each other far away from Lancashire. They decided to elope. They planned a time and day.

Unfortunately Dorothy's broter found out about their plan. He laid in wait for Dorothy's lover. There was a sword fight and he killed him and his associate who was helping in the elopment.

That was the story I had been told and the scenario seemed to fit the scene.

Dorothy was sent away to a convent abroad. She was grief stricken and eventually became insane and died of a broken heart. 

Since that time many people have seen Dorothy walking about the hall and its grounds dressed in the white gartments she was wearing on the night of her elopment. It is believed that her walks are in search of her lover who never arrived. The local newspaper library has accounts of the many sitings of Lady Dorothy on her wonderings to find her lover.

I never saw anything of the White Lady phantom but I did have an interesting tour of the hall. I took many photographs and even found an ancient book I was looking for.