By Mars Omitoyin
What if you could see the very ghosts that haunt museums?
If you’ve ever wanted to experience your own “Night At The Museum”, Norton Priory is keeping its doors open after hours and dimming the lights down low with its Phantoms After Dark installation so you can come face to face with the figures that have shaped almost a millennia of Norton Priory history.
With origins dating back to 12th century England, Norton Priory is Europe’s most excavated monastery. In 1545, the grounds were bought by Sir Richard Brooke following the dissolution of monasteries and in 1966, 45 years after the Brooke family left the house, it was given to the public where excavation took place shortly after.
Commissioned by Unconventional Design, the team behind York’s popular “Ghosts In The Garden”, this installation features over 15 sculptures made from aluminium mesh and hard graft. The see-through mesh allows light to pass through, illuminating the sculpture from within. Some of these sculptures, for example The Canon, are completely enshrouded in darkness for most of the day until the right moment where they become almost iridescent as light bounces off them.
Next to each sculpture is a standing sign that contains information about the sculpture, the history and daily life of the people who used to live at Norton Priory. Some signs include further “easter eggs” – hidden clues encouraging you to look carefully for small details that would typically be overlooked yet provide much meaning to the people who once roamed the Priory’s walls. An example would be small mason marks scratched into the passageway walls originally used by stonemasons to determine how much work had been completed.
After exploring the undercroft and the rest of the ground floor museum, head upstairs to encounter the phantom of an elegant lady, dressed for a Brooke family social event in a beautifully crafted Victorian gown. This room offers many activities for children including a dress-up station where children are encouraged to try on Victorian-style costumes, an interactive map showing all notable locations from the time such as other priories, castles and villages, a doll’s house emulating the Brooke family home, and interactive wall displays where archivists go into detail about artefacts found at Norton Priory.
All this ghost hunting can work up an appetite and the Brooke cafe is right next to the reception serving a range of hot meals and baked sweet treats. Upon entry, you’ll see large hanging portraits of Lady Mary Brooke and her son Sir Richard Brooke, and you’ll see their phantoms again seated near the entrance to the undercroft deep in conversation where you’ll be transported back in time as a speaker plays a conversation from the past.
Beyond the museum walls, history continues as the surrounding landscape reveals the remains of the excavated monastery. With so much to explore and discover, Norton Priory makes a great day out for visitors of all ages – including dogs! Whether you’re a family with young children, a ghost hunter, someone with a passion for history or lover of nature walks, there’s something for everyone.
To see the phantoms in their ghostly glory after hours before they disappear, the next Phantoms After Dark at Norton Priory is on Tuesday 31st March from 4pm to 7.30pm.
If you can’t make the next Phantoms After Dark, Norton Priory also hosts a range of events throughout the year. Meditation mornings take place on select Sundays taking advantage of the vast woodland area surrounding the museum. On 18th April there’s a haunted book club where you’re told spooky tales believed to be inspired by the Priory itself.
A family friendly arts and craft club on May 9th offers visitors the chance to make clay sculptures and collect flowers.The outdoor theatre programme also returns with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Kipling’s The Jungle Book performed by Immersion Theatre Company on July 22nd and August 17th respectively, and Sullivan and Gilbert’s The Pirates of Penzance and Shakespeare’s As You Like It performed by Illyria on August 6th and 13th respectively.
For more information visit nortonpriory.org.