Yesterday afternoon, our Preston Manor ghost expert Paula Wrightson gave a question and answer session on twitter. In the run up to Halloween and the spooky events taking place at the Manor, we wanted her take on the ghostly tales … Continued
On Thursday 27 October we’ll be holding a Twitter Q&A with Paula Wrightson, Learning Officer, from 1-2pm. In the run up to Halloween, the subject of this discussion will be ghosts. As she described in an earlier blog post, Paula … Continued
…Paula Wrightson, Museum Learning Officer (Adult event programme) I have been working with the ghosts at Preston Manor for five years although I’ve yet to actually meet one. In this time I’ve become fascinated not only by our famous Preston … Continued
Ada Brown worked as a housemaid at Preston Manor appearing on the 1901 census with six other servants. She then disappeared from history and ordinarily her life would be forgotten. However, the opening of the 1921 census in 2022 began … Continued
The release to the public of the 1921 census on 6 January 2022 has opened the door to a day in the life of Preston Manor when it was a private house. The Manor would not become a museum until 1933. … Continued
At Preston Manor in the summer of 2015 we lifted the lid on the dark-side of the Victorian kitchen with an event in planning for a long time but which needed a strong stomach to create. The finished product turned … Continued
The infamous playwright and poet, Oscar Wilde visited the Royal Pavilion and presented two of his popular art & life lectures on 17 and 18 November 1884. To mark the anniversary of the occasion we recreated Wilde’s visit on Saturday … Continued
In 1912 Mr Henry Roberts, Director of the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery visited Norway to source paintings for the 1913 Exhibition of Norwegian Art shown at Brighton Museum. As well as this, his intended purpose, Mr Roberts inadvertently supplied … Continued
In 1909 Ellen Thomas-Stanford of Preston Manor took her camera equipment outside and created photographs of the beautiful romantic gardens surrounding her home including this view looking into the walled flower garden, a scene that can be enjoyed today. Over … Continued
This is a page from a letter written by Mrs Diana Magniac (nèe Macdonald) in 1936 to Mr Henry Roberts, curator of the Thomas-Stanford Museum, as Preston Manor was then called. When undertaking research using hand-written letters I am frequently … Continued
Marguerite Patten’s distinctive signature with the bold looping ‘M’ was both familiar and remote in my 1970s childhood seen on the spine and cover of household cookery books. Familiar because Marguerite Patten was the cookery writer of the day, and … Continued
In a previous blog I looked at the difficulties in deciphering a 1936 hand-written letter. This page from a 1953 letter is both typed and hand-written and is from Lady Evelyn Izme Mottistone to Preston Manor’s Honorary Curator, Margery Roberts … Continued
There are five oil painting portraits of the family pet dogs at Preston Manor, pictures that are much-loved by people visiting the house. One day in 2017 a visitor exclaimed on seeing the portrait of Peter, ‘that’s our Alfie!’ and … Continued
This picture was taken at Preston Manor on 31 October 2007 and shows the arrival of a ghost tour guide ready to escort her group around the famously haunted house and scare the wits out of them in the process. … Continued
A highpoint of my time working as the Adult Learning Officer for Royal Pavilion & Museums Adult Event Programme came in 2014 when the centenary of the start of the First World War bought an opportunity to open the archives … Continued
In 2012 I was the Adult Learning Officer for the Adult Event Programme creating and running public events across Royal Pavilion & Museums. This was one of 46 events that were programmed in 2012. This picture shows the team of … Continued
This picture shows a 1928 Red Dennis Fire Engine parked outside Brighton Museum & Art Gallery with the Royal Pavilion seen behind. Photographed in July 2009 the highly-polished and beautifully preserved engine is decked with a banner and balloons celebrating … Continued
In 2009 I was the Adult Learning Officer for the Adult Event Programme creating and running public events across Royal Pavilion & Museums. This was one of 62 events programmed in 2009. This picture was taken in the foyer of … Continued
In 2009 I was the Adult Learning Officer for the Adult Event Programme creating and running public events across Royal Pavilion & Museums. This was one of 62 events that were programmed in 2009. This historical fencing demonstration took place … Continued
Preston Manor is reputed to be one of the most haunted houses in Britain. In this episode Sophie talks to Chris Drake (Development and Operations Manager at Preston Manor), Paula Wrightson (Venue Officer), Lavender Jones (long-standing volunteer) and David Beevers … Continued
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