Pensychnant, Sychnant Pass Road

Link to French translationPensychnant, Sychnant Pass Road

The original house at Pensychnant dates from about 1690. The main house was created in the Victorian era when it was the country home of mill architect Abraham Henthorn Stott.

With several patented designs for (supposedly) fireproof brick-arch ceilings, Stott & Sons were one of about six family businesses which dominated their industry. Stott & Sons built about a fifth of the cotton mills in Oldham at tPhoto of Pensychnant House in 1937he peak of the industry there – when Oldham boasted an eighth of all the world’s spindles.

The Victorian house (pictured right in 1937) was started in 1877. Many features were built in the newly fashionable Arts & Crafts style. The house had central heating from new, and in 1923 it received its own electricity supply from a diesel generator housed in ‘the Stott Folly’ at the bottom of the farmyard. The woodland on the estate was mostly planted in the 1870s.

In 1937, after the mill industry’s collapse, Pensychnant was sold, firstly to the Collins family, then to Conwy’s doctor, Dr Tattersall. Then, in a quirk of history, Brian Henthorn Stott, great grandson of  Abraham, bought his family's estate back in 1967. He lived here with his wife Phyllis and their family until 1987. He planted many more trees and erected over 100 bird nest boxes. The estate was run as a working farm, but Brian Stott regarded it also as a nature reserve.

In 1989 he established the Pensychnant Foundation to manage Pensychnant as a conservation centre and nature reserve. He died in 1997.

Today the Pensychnant Foundation is a small and somewhat struggling charity which provides guided walks and lectures throughout the year, but has always eschewed making the reserve into a bustling attraction or commercial centre. Its attractions are its peacefulness and homeliness, in a modern, clamouring world.  

Some people claim to have seen, prowling the first floor rooms, the ghost of a maid who was murdered by the gardener in the chauffeur’s room (with the oval window).

With thanks to Julian Thompson, of the Pensychnant Foundation

Where is this HiPoint?

Postcode: LL32 8BJ

Other HAUNTED HiPoints in this region:
Compton House, Conwy – psychics have warned against entering cellar room
The Anglesey Arms, Menai Bridge - coaching inn said to be haunted by ghost of small elderly man