Nanteos Mansion was built in 1738 by William Powell and it remained in the family for 250 years.
Several stories of hauntings surround the place with tales often involving three particular ghosts - a grey lady, a phantom horse and a carriage that draws up to the front door in the middle of the night, and the so-called 'Jewel Lady'.
The 'Jewel Lady' is Elizabeth Powell who was married to William Powell. During her marriage, she had been given a fabulous collection of jewellery by her husband. She hid her gems before she died and it's said that her spirit still stalks the corridors looking for those lost treasures.
The Pink Room is allegedly haunted by a mysterious figure and a woman has been seen carrying a candlestick down the staircase - which was thought to be a forewarning of an imminent death in the Powell family who owned Nantoes for generations.
Another of the mansion's famous ghosts is Gruffydd Evans, a harpist who entertained the gentry at Nanteos for almost 70 years. People say that if you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of harp music playing in the grounds.
The most famous story of all perhaps is the legend of the Holy Grail or the Nanteos Cup.
Legend has it that the grail - a bowl made from olive wood which was used by Christ during the Last Supper - was brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimethea. He settled at a Glastonbury monastry.
During the dissolution of the monasteries, some of the monks fled to Strata Florida and took the cup with them. It then passed into the family who owned Nanteos and was passed on to the Powell family.
The cup had a reputation for healing and people would drink water from it in the hope of curing their ailments. The cup greatly deteriorated due to the fact that the sick insisted on nibbling it to acquire its healing properties. The cup is now believed to be in safe-keeping somewhere in Ceredigion.
The German compser Richard Wagner, who stayed at Nanteos, is said to have been intrigued by the legend which eventually inspired him to compose the Grail opera "Parcifal".
your comments
If you are under 16 please do not disclose your surname.
We try to publish as many comments as we can but unfortunately, due to the volume of comments we receive every day, we cannot guarantee that all comments submitted will be published
Allen M Wiltshire
When I was 17 in 1969, and a young runaway from a legal injustice, I stayed in Nanteos for several months, hiding out. I had been invited there by some students I had met who attended Aberystwyth University. The students rentad some rooms in the house.I spent my days punting on the lake and enjoying the grounds and the company of the students and their visitors. It was still kept as a stately home at that time with a music room,library and pheasantry.It seemed stuck in time, in a beautiful and mysterious way. I have often thought of returning. I think about the web of experiences that have embraced this special place and how my own story has woven into the history. I have long lost contact with the good students who sheltered and assisted me. I have always wanted to thank them. I wonder if any will read this and remember.
Wed Apr 8 18:32:57 2009
Paul Brooker, Nampa, ID
Fascinating to hear about the gypsy curse. I visited Nanteos in the UK when it was a Stately Home way back in the 70s I think, and I am sure the cup was on display then. The owner was a fascinating man and he must have been the Gypsy. He had a strange little girl following him around like a shadow and clinging to his coat, never saying a word, but she had a beautiful smile. There was an Irish guy working there also, who lived in the place, and he told me he had seen ghosts.. I could well believe it! I still have my photos of the place.
Sun Mar 8 17:28:07 2009
Carol R. Playfair-Brown, Ontario, Canada
I heard about the Nanteos Cuo yesterday on "Unsolved Mysteries". It's a pleasure to read this article & comments.I'm a lapsed Catholic, but still a Christian & believe this really could be the Holy Grail, despite carbon dating results to the contrary. As a scientist, I know carbon dating has been wrong many times before. Until someone comes up with an alternative test, we just have to go on faith!!The mystery rivals that of the Turin Shroud. I was fortunate enough to visit Turin Cathedral, where a copy is on display - the real shroud being sealed away hermetically.Back to Nanteos...the hauntings are interesting too! As someone very wise once said "There are more things on Heaven & Earth.......than man can dream of".
Sun Jan 4 15:54:40 2009
Gerald Morgan, Aberystwyth
I am author/editor of Nanteos, a House and its Families, 2003, published by Gomer Press, Llandysul for £17.50. There are some interesting observations below. There are hardly any descendants of the Powells of Nanteos other than the New Zealand descendants of the children of W.E. Powell (d. 1854) by his mistress, and the Potter-Richardes descent mentioned above. No Nanteos Powell is known to have gone to America. George Powell (who had no title other than Mr.) did indeed marry a chambermaid, Dinah Harries, who married an American after George's death and went to the U.S. with him. The marriage was very bri! ef and Dinah is most unlikely to bear any responsibility for the Grail connection. George Powell did indeed know Wagner and attended performances of the Ring operas at Bayreuth. I'm afraid Mr Eddie Reynolds's entry above is largely nonsense. There was no slave trade in Nanteos; that trade was not abolished till the 1800s. The Nanteos cup is not made of olive wood; it is a medieval mazer bowl. All stories of its connection with Glastonbury only date back to 1905! The reference above to Bedd Taliesin is to a speculative writing referred to in the notes, and not a mistake in my book.
Mon Oct 6 09:24:09 2008
Ian Pegler from Aberystwyth
A recently published book, "Eternal Chalice" by Juliette Wood covers many aspects of the Holy Grail story and has an extensive section on the Nanteos Cup. It is published by I. B. Tauris. Certainly well worth reading.
Wed Aug 27 17:52:58 2008
Richard Genet from Australia
Like Lynette Joan's husband I am also decendant of William Edward Powell & Mary Selina Genet. Believe it was their oldest child Edward William GENET who migrated to NZ. Be interesting to know if Mary and her children lived at Nanteos?
Thu Jul 10 11:04:34 2008
Larry Wayne Powell
I am a direct descendant of the Powell family. And for those who think the templars have the Holy Grail you watch way too much T.V. Also the Powell family did not go to New York. I have researched some history, and I am of welsh decent.
Fri Apr 25 10:02:26 2008
Ron Stedman.Ballyhalbert, Northern Ireland
Can anyone enlighten me, regarding the connection between the Stedman family, Nanteos and the Holy Grail? Many Thanks
Tue Mar 4 09:19:38 2008
Lindsey Jeffs
A few years ago, in the 1990s, my brother, his girlfriend and a friend were looking around Nanteos. The house at that time was empty. They were looking around outside when my brother and his friend looked up at the windows on the top floor of the house. Two children were looking down at them. They were probably under ten and had basin style old fashoned haircuts. They were surprised because the house was obviously empty and locked. A man who was housekeeping came to talk to them, they told him about the children in the top room. He was concerned and wondered if any local children had managed to get into the house. He unlocked the front door, they all went in, he went to the room where the children had been looking out of the window. The room was empty, the window was high up as it was an attic room. Children would have to be standing on something to look out of the window. They searched the house but found nothing, everything was locked, nothing broken. It was a mystery, but two people saw them at the same time. Interesting.
Thu Jan 24 14:46:30 2008
Lynette Joan Genet
My husband is a descendant of the Powells. William Henry Powell had 5 children with a Mary Selena Genet (never married) who left with her children and came to New Zealand.
Mon Dec 24 14:53:56 2007
Gwydion
I'm married to a decendant of the original Powell family and unbeknown to me, when I was 18 I did some research into the "Grail" legend. Who would have thought that almost 20 years later I would marry into the family.
Thu Dec 13 09:52:05 2007
Laura Atwill nee Jenking - Rees
I stayed at Nanteos for 1 night whilst it was being renovated in 1997. I was visiting the Uni with my family and we needed to find a B & B and came across Nantoes completely by accident. The chef and his family were looking after the place and gave us the front door key so that we could let ourselves in after touring the uni because we were the only people staying there at the time. In fact when we got back to Nanteos he was still in place and talking to a group of students who were researching the mansion. My parents and I sat and chatted with the group who told us about the hauntings. Quite late into the night my parents and I were left completely alone in Nanteos and completely freaked out by the stories of the hauntings - so much so that I forced my Mother to stay with me in my twin room and we slept with the light on all night and a chair against the door. I didn't see or hear anything but my brother visited me whilst I was at Aber Uni and stayed at Nanteos he loved it so much he subsequently got married there.
Wed Jul 4 13:23:35 2007
Ian Pegler
Regarding Neil Thomas's comments on Richard Wagner:George Powell (1842-1882) was certainly acquainted with Richard Wagner, and had a photograph of him, but this was more likely a souvenir of a visit by George Powell to see Wagner than the other way around.Wagner based his libretto for "Parsifal" on the book by Wolfram von Eschenbach. This is an adaptation of the Percival story. The earliest known Percival story to be written down was the one by Chretien de Troyes, about 1180 but before that it probably existed as several oral versions, transmitted by professional story-tellers called "conteurs", many of whom were Bretons. In the earliest written version (by Chretien), there is no Joseph of Arimathea, and the grail is not referred to as the "holy grail" at all. In the version by Chretien, the grail is a flat dish, not a cup. Joseph of Arimathea first enters the story in a work called "Joseph d'Arimathie" by Robert de Boron, but this was written up to 20 years after Chretien's Percival.It was George Powell's wife who hinted that the Nanteos cup was the Holy Grail. Given her husband's interest in the music of Wagner, is this so very surprising? The Nanteos Cup was shown on Sky 3 recently in a programme called "The Quest for the Holy Grail". It wasn't terribly accurate from a historical perspective.
Thu May 10 09:43:12 2007
Neil Thomas, Reader, Dept German, Uni Durham
I would be interested in more details about Wagner and Nanteos since I am writing a piece on Wagner's Parsifal to appear in a festschrift for a distinguished academic I can not reveal the name of yet, (a first version will be presented to the Int Arthurian Soc meeting at Gregynog Hall on Fri 14th September).I would also be interested in contacting the lady who kindly interviewed me about the legendary antecedents of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde in Oct '06 for BBC 3 Wales(later beamed countrywide to Radio 4). It is peculiar that Wagner was typically interested in GERMANIC legends rather than those pertaining to other countries, so I would be grateful if anybody (Bill McCain?) could elighten me further here. My wife and I will be staying at Nanteos in September 07 and will try to pick up on any tenuous clues then. But please--reply if you have ANY leads on this mysterious phenomenon.
Mon Apr 30 09:46:25 2007
Richard Bond from Welshpool
Can anyone confirm that the bowl is made from Olive wood, from the pictures I saw the grain looks too straight for olive wood, it would also be very difficult to chew a significant amount off if it was Olive!
Thu Apr 19 09:40:18 2007
Peter Davey, Hafod
Holy Grails and Led Zeppelin notwithstanding, I am interested in the human remains in the pets' graveyard. Does anyone know anything about 'Jack Coon and his wife Sarah'? I assume they were black servants, if not slaves, and deserve not to be excluded from the history of Nanteos...
Mon Apr 16 17:46:47 2007
Mel from Stamford
My aunt who lived in Penrhyncoch nr Abersytwyth worked in Nanteos in the 1920s and she told me about an American lady who was frightend out of the pink room saying i aint sleepin in that room. Also of a deaths head hawks moth caught by a staff member.when a gypsy came to the door she turned away after seein it saying the head of the house was going to pass away and unfotunately in the following weeks he made a scrap book on it which i believe is in aberystwyth library.she enjoyed working there.
Tue Feb 6 14:55:09 2007
Craig Rich, Aberystwyth
I've been up to Nanteos and was sitting there in car wif windows open lights off for ages but didnt hear a thing. I've heard stories of ppl seing and hearing a girl running thru the feild running from her dad who murdered her and also have herd the guy playing his harp, wel spooky place.
Mon Jan 15 10:13:09 2007
Charles Tyler from Sydney
To Alf Smith Jaywick - re your story about Jimmy Page and a chap named Charles - well that was me playing the guitar and singing - and I really didn't know I had played for Jimmy Page till the next day when my friend Tristram told me! I still write and sing by the way - my music is at: www.soundclick.com/charlestyler.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites
Thu Dec 7 14:43:59 2006
Charles Tyler, Sydney, Australia
I lived in Nanteos mansion for a year when I was a student at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. At that time (1970)it was owned by Geoff Bliss, a man of Gypsy ancestry. He used to rent out the unused rooms on the top floor and in the stables. There is a bit of spookiness to that fact because apparently the Powells once chased some Gypsies off the land and as a result the Gypsies laid a curse on them that one day a Gypsy would own it... It was certainly a pretty strange place to be at night. Lots of unexplained noises and things to make your hair stand on end. There is another ghost story you haven't mentioned which relates to the bricked up window in the breakfast room. Apparently one of the female Powell ancestors saw through that window her husband fall from his horse and break his neck and die - when he was coming down the drive towards the house on his way back from town. As a result she couldn't bear to see out of the window again so she had it bricked up. But it is said that on some nights a ghost rider on a ghost horse rides straight down the drive and into the breakfast room - right through the bricked up window!
Tue Nov 28 13:44:26 2006
Alf Smith Jaywick
On the 5th of November 1970 I was in a cafe in Aberystwyth and sitting at the next table were several people, all male.We got talking and they asked about local stuff, i told them that i had heard that the holy grail was in a house nearby at nanteos. We went there in a rented avis van they had.there was a dog called strider with them.we knocked at the door and were greeted by mr and mrs bliss, they invited us in and gave us teas.During the tea mrs bliss asked what we all did, they said they were in a band and she said is it called avis and said yes thats right avis.We talked about the grail. It turns out the people I had met were Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zepplin with there road crew a guy named bob.The blisses were having a party and invited us to stay. There were fireworks and booze a live band playing and a jolly time was had by all. During the evening a chap called Charles played a beatiful song accompanying himself on the guitar, After, he turned to Jimmy Page and said do you play guitar? Jimmy page said no,not really.
Mon Nov 27 09:48:39 2006
Jenifer Powell
I'm a direct descendant of the Powells of Nanteos. They came to America (New York City) and became Quakers. Did tremendous work on prison reform. William Marcy Powell, Sr was on the original board of the NAACP and became President of NY hospital. History didn't stop in the UK.
See: www.powellhouse.org.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.
Sun Jul 23 20:17:18 2006
Jochen Foeller from Germany
I visited Nanteos many years ago (1985) and took a very interesting, amazing tour through the house.
Mon Jul 17 10:16:16 2006
Gayle Richardes-Potter, Perth, Western Australia
Hannah Corbetta Maria Powell married into the Richardes family of Plas Penglais. I am descended from both families.
Mon Jul 3 12:36:13 2006
Richard Roberts
Hi there all! My name is richard roberts. i work for the National Museum of Wales. I will soon be working to make a film with a group of young people on the "ghosts" of nanteos. I was wondering if anyone has any knowledge of the ghosts of nanteos would be willing to be interviewed as part of the video?
If you can help, email us at wales.mid@bbc.co.uk and we'll pass the message on - Mid Wales Web Team
Thu May 25 10:56:06 2006
Bob Stedman Thomas
I have been to Strata Florida three times as a desendent of the Stedman family can anyone tell me about the strange painting on the wall of the house built by the Stedmans out of the stones of the abbey I found that I had a felling of evil when I saw the painting
Fri Nov 11 17:57:38 2005
Ian Pegler from Aberystwyth
Historians dismiss the legend of the cup being brought from Glastonbury. They also say that the cup was a mediaeval mazer-bowl. There is no evidence to support the myth of Wagner having stayed at Nanteos. To find out about the rediscovery of the cup in an Aberystwyth bank vault read "The Bank Manager and the Holy Grail" by Byron Rogers. Another good book is "Nanteos - A Welsh House and its Families", editited by the historian Gerald Morgan. This has a whole section on the Nanteos cup, which mentions Arthur Machen and A. E. Waite. Apparently even the "nibbling pilgrims" may also be a myth. There are errors in the book however. For example on page 224 it suggests "Bedd Taliesin as a shelter for pilgrims". This should probably say Ysbyty Cynfyn.
Mon Jun 20 08:01:28 2005
Don Whildin: Murrieta, California, USA
My father's grandmother was married to George Ernest John Powell during the year of 1881, there in Nanteos in Wales. Her title became Duchess of Sunbonnet Land. His title was Lord Powell.
Mon Feb 21 23:53:23 2005
Eddie Reynolds, London
The grail legend's connection to Nanteos has some weight to it since strata florida is a cistercian monastry, created, like many, in northern europe after the first crusade went to southern France to destroy their culture on the way to the holy land. This was the only culture to rival catholisism in europe at the time. The crusaders wanted something the cistercians had, perhaps this was it. Although I believe that the Grail is knowledge, not an artefact.
I had two friends live at Nanteos a few years ago and it is certainly as eerie as anywhere I've been to. Various unexplainable things happened to them while they were there, made more believable by one of them being a total sceptic of all things supernatural. It was a centre of the illegal slave trade after abolition in the 1700s and, no doubt, terrible things happened there. Perhaps the hauntings are echoes of an awful past.
Thu Nov 11 14:39:12 2004
Add your stories or comments here:
