Emmanuel College

History of Emmanuel College Cambridge

General information about Emmanuel College can be found on Wikipedia.

Emmanuel College 19th cent

The Wren Chapel at Emmanuel College was restored by Rattee and Kett circa 1980.

Emmanuel College

1861

William Castleham, 42, Fellow, b Cumberland

+ 2 fellows & approx 50 students

1860s

Part of Emmanuel College was a brewhouse completed in 1667 in the eastern corner of the college grounds. The north part of this became known as Emmanuel House and had been rented to outside tenants as it was considered unsuitable for the college. The building was demolished in 1893 and a new Emmanuel House built in 1894.

A Mrs Harris occupied Emmanuel house from 1867 until about 1875. On frequent occasions she heard loud unexplained noises in the the passage outside the drawing-room. A friend, Mrs Dunn, heard loud footsteps; these were recorded in a letter to the Society for Psychical Research’s investigator, Mrs Eleanor Sidgwick of Newnham College, in 1885. Mrs Harris’s daughter in law Emily also made a report to Mrs Sidgwick of an apparition. Others reported ghostly figures. After this there were other reports. They were not published in the Journal of Psychical Research as they were largely secondhand; however the reports were not the result of preconceived ideas but seemed to have been unexpected experiences. (Cambridge College Ghosts, Geoff Yeats)