History
The hall is very old and at night the towers are floodlight and the stone an is orangey red sandstone - more mellow than the deep red of Penrith sandstone. Rows of trees guard its winding driveway. Records describing the building of Dalston Hall refer to the times when the first John Dalston dedicated the Pele Tower to his wife Elizabeth whom he married in 1507, and it is thought that the oldest part of the existing building is the Baronial Hall which dates from about 1500. It is believed that when Cumberland was ceded to Scotland, David King of Scots gave the manor of Little Dalston to his brother. The Dalston family began with Robert De Vallibus, who changed his name to Dalston in approximately 1300. For the next 200 years the Dalston family were small landowners who fought the Scots in border raids and undertook garrison duties at Carlisle Castle. John Dalston's son Thomas increased his family's land by buying from the Crown 6 manors and various monastic lands after the dissolution of the monastries. With this increased wealth they enlarged Dalston Hall with buildings first to the East and then to the West of the Pele Tower.
Thomas' son, another John, was Sheriff in 1568 and 1578 and Knight of the Shire in 1556. His son, yet another Sir John Dalston was knighted by James 1. During the Civil War General David Leslie made his headquarters at Dalston Hall and it was a stronghold for one of the leading Royalists during the Civil War. In1897 the Hall was bought by Edmund Wright Stead who carried out lots of restoration work. More recently the Hall was used as a private house, farmhouse and youth training centre. It was finally converted into a hotel in 1971.
Paranormal Activity
A lot of spectral activity his isolated in the Baronial Hall, the oldest part of the building. The bottom half of a female ghost has been seen walking up the stairs. Another ghostly figure has been often spotted lurking by the vast iron gate door.
An 'entity' that looks like black fog has been seen rising up from the floor. He is rather spookily known as 'Mr Fingernails'! In the Minstrel Gallery that overlooks the Baronial Hall a figure has been seen walking in between the two windows on the far side. The spirit of a lady in Tudor dress has also been witnessed gliding through the Gallery. The apparition of a lady has been seen sitting by the fireplace in Room 4. A girl being dragged by the hair has been spotted in the corridor outside Rooms 4,5 and 6. In Room 6 a smiling woman with dark hair has been seen. Guests have reported seeing the woman coming out of the wardrobe and either sitting on the bed or actually getting into bed with them! The same is said to happen in Room 13.
Guests have seen a man in a smoking jacket in Room 7. Below the Hall in the cellars a man has been seen and has been known to hand workers their tools! An elegant and austere woman in Victorian clothes is often seen in the garden.
The most supernatural experiences take place in Room 4 with guests often have disturbed sleep while staying in this room and feel as though they are being watched. Cold spots are frequently reported. They have experienced their clothes being tugged and pulled at. Windows and drawers have been seen to open on their own.
It is common for guests to feel as if they are being lifted out of the bed, almost as if they are levitating. In both the Baronial Hall and the Minstrel Gallery candles have been known to light by themselves. Music, laughter and the sounds of dogs running across the floor have been heard in the empty Baronial Hall. In the bar there has been alleged poltergeist activity - glasses thrown across the room by an unseen force. In Room 5 people have woken up to find their bed covers have been removed and folded up neatly at the end of the bed. Sweet cigar smoke has been smelled in Room 7. In Room 9 violent banging on the walls has been heard, to the extent that it makes the mirror move. Light bulbs frequently blow in this room. The disembodied giggling of forgotten children are heard in Room 12. Orbs have been seen in both the cellars and in Room 13, the latter of which has also experienced objects moving and on one occasion there was a bizarre manifestation of flies out of the blue! Orbs have actually been caught on camera in the John Dalston Study, in which a distinct presence has been felt. In the garden people have been either touched or scratched by unknown forces.