St
Helen's House
(Written
by Wayne Anthony & Richard Felix)
Known affectionately as Pickford's masterpiece and built in 1767, St Helen's
House is probably Derby's finest surviving Georgian town house. Built
for John Gisbourne of Yoxall Lodge, Staffordshire, in 1767, this fine
Palladian mansion once stood in 80 acres of parkland and was visited by
society's elite, who would have been almost certainly entertained in some
splendour. The house would have had all of the necessary accessories to
have impressed the most influential people of the day. Grand balls and
dinner parties would have been a regular occurrence at this grand house.
The first monastery in Derbyshire is believed to have existed on the site prior to the present building being erected. In 1137 a man called 'Ibvi gifted a parcel of land to be used as an oratory (chapel) which was dedicated to St Helen and served by a community of Augustinian canons.
St Helen's House has had several uses in its time including once being owned by William Strutt, eldest son of the industrialist Jedediah Strutt, who made many improvements to the interior. The building then became Derby School, during which time several new parts were added, including a red-brick chapel.
Today the building is the property of Derbyshire County Council, and houses an adult education centre. There are many who believe that the building would be better utilised as a museum to accommodate some of Derby's treasures including paintings by Joseph Wright, whose pictures quite possibly hung there in earlier days.
Needless to say, the building is said to be haunted by many ghosts. One is said to be that of a young lady, who comes sweeping down the stairs as if hurrying away from something, or someone, that is chasing her.
Another ghost is said to be that of a monk who has been seen on several occasions in different parts of the building. One previous lady worker at St Helen's House, who was employed there when it still functioned as a school, informed me that on several occasions whilst she was working late in the evening she had heard an eerie and chilling voice whisper her name. On further investigation this lady found no other person present. When questioning colleagues about her experience she was told that this type of strange occurrence had happened frequently to several people, and some members of staff were so used to this that they had nicknamed the ghost 'The Whisperer'.
Certain parts of the
building are also said to have cold spots, and one gentleman, a student
at the building in 1992, witnessed a grey smoky figure, seemingly almost
of human shape, descend as if from the ceiling and pass through a wall.
