Haunted Wandsworth

It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark…

Okay, not literally, but Halloween is fast approaching and we didn’t want to let spooky season slip by without a look at some of Wandsworth’s most haunted locations.

Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.

Le Gothique

Today Le Gothique is celebrated for its French dining but the building has a very interesting history.

The gothic structure was built by architect Major Rohde Hawkins on Wandsworth Common in 1859 and opened as the Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum. for girls orphaned by the Crimean War. The girls were made to wash outside with cold water and work from dusk till dawn. Further scandal erupted at the facility when one of the rectors was found to be abusing the girls.

During the First World War the building was requisitioned by the War Office to be used as a general hospital, and in the Second World War it was converted into a spy school.

After the war, the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building was used in education until the 1970s when it was abandoned and fell into serious disrepair.

Thanks to the Wandsworth Society and the Victorian Society the historic building became Grade II listed and was acquired in 1980 for just £1.

Following a major refurbishment the site now incorporates small businesses, luxury flats, and Le Gothique restaurant. Oh, and a ghost.

It’s thought the spirit of young Charlotte Jane Bennett can be seen on the property. Little Charlotte Bennett was orphaned when her father John Bennett died of his wounds during the Crimean War. One day, after talking back to the laundress, Charlotte was locked in the bathroom to keep her separated from the other girls, and given only a box of matches to use for light. The following day, poor little Charlotte was found dead on the bathroom floor. The flame from a match had caught her dress and she had burned to death.

Wandsworth Prison

It’s said a Grey Lady stalks the halls of Wandsworth Prison.

Wandsworth Annie has supposedly been haunting the prison since she passed away in the 1870s. Although there’s no official account of who Wandsworth Annie was, it’s thought she was either an inmate at the time when the prison was a ‘house of correction’, or she worked as prison cook.

In his book, Haunted Wandsworth, James Clark met with former prison guard James Bonser, who had a very spooky encounter with the Grey Lady in the early eighties:

“It was wintertime and I was working late one night in a separate part of the prison. All the numbers were in and all the doors were locked. Some nights the inmates were noisy, shouting messages to one another via their cell windows, but on this particular night it was completely still.