GHOST BOMBED OUT

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1940, Page 9

GHOST BOMBED OUT

HISTORIC BUILDING. . ' LONDON, November 1. A ghost-r-the Ghost of Holland House—has, been bombed out of his home. In a recent air raid, it was disclosed yesterday, extensive damage was caused to Holland House, historic seventeenth-century building in Kensington, now : the home of the Earl of Ilchester.

An oil bomb started a fire on one of the towers, and a “Molotov breadbasket” fell on the building. Firemen, working for more than 12 hours, saved the east wing from complete destruction, but the rest of the house is a shell. The steward and his family were in- a shelter in the grounds. The treasures of the mansion were taken to safety when war began, but a number of valuable books were lost. Holland House was built in 1605 for Sir Walter Cope, and was inherited by his only daughter, who married Henry Rich, afterwards the first Earl of Holland. He was executed by Cromwell’s men, and his ghost was said to haunt the house and walk through the gilt room with his head in his hand. This was the first house to be let in flats in Kensington—in the seventeenth century, when suites were rented to different tenants. Later it was the home of Charles James Fox and also of Addison, Statesmen, poets, painters and leaders of fashion met there, and the assemblies are said to have been “noted for the good humour that prevailed throughout,”