WHERE: Broad St, Presteigne LD8 2AD
WHEN: 1st November 2025
TIME: 8pm-2am
PRICE PER PERSON: £38
DEPOSIT PER PERSON: £20
👻Over 18s Only
👻Refreshments provided
👻Use of our kit
👻Small group sizes
👻Free time for you to investigate
The Judge’s Lodging in Presteigne (Radnorshire) is a captivating piece of Welsh legal heritage—a beautifully preserved 19th‑century Shire Hall that served as courthouse, prison, and judges’ residence.
In the 1530s, following the murder of a judge in Rhayader, the County Assizes moved to Presteigne. From 1542, it became Radnorshire’s legal centre. By the early 1800s the original Shire Hall and gaol were in disrepair—prisoners frequently escaped and magistrates often relied on shaky structures. In 1825 a new combined courthouse, gaol, and Judge’s Lodging was commissioned; it opened in 1829, designed by Edward Haycock. Though county administration moved to Llandrindod Wells in 1889, Presteigne remained the venue for Assizes until 1970 and Magistrates’ Courts until the 1990s. By the early 1990s, neglect risked demolition. A major restoration—reinstituting Victorian-era lighting, original furnishings, and authentic finishes—was completed with funding from Powys County Council. The museum officially reopened in 1997, inaugurated by actor Robert Hardy. The building is preserved almost exactly as it looked in the 1860s: gas‑lit courtrooms, authentic servant and judge’s quarters, damp cells, kitchens with working pumps, and period furnishings. Visitors can sit in the judge’s chair, pump water, explore below‑stairs areas, and follow audio tours narrated by actor Robert Hardy and Welsh presenter Tudur Owen.
REPORTED ACTIVITY
Visitors often report dark shadowy figures spotted in courtrooms and upstairs quarters—believed to be restless spirits of judges or convicts. Some have heard cries of a woman condemned to death, said to roam the premises in search of her lost baby. In the basement cells, the ambient quiet is frequently disrupted by growls, groans, slamming doors, and pounding on cell doors—despite no one physically present. Reports of footsteps, rattling noises, and sudden cold spots during séances in rooms like the kitchen and judge’s quarters.
You may also like the following events from Paranormal Presence Investigations:
- This Saturday, 26th July, 10:00 pm, The Falstaffs Experience in Stratford-upon-avon
- Next month, 30th August, 08:00 pm, Dead Street School Ghost Hunt in Hitchin
- This September, 13th September, 08:00 pm, Leap Castle Ghost Hunt. PRIVATE EVENT, INVITE ONLY in Offaly
Also check out other
Arts events in Leominster,
Theatre events in Leominster.
