Two Herefordshire country houses had 'secret' lodgers. Flashback recalls what are, literally, two rattling good mysteries.

REPAIRS to a Herefordshire country house were brought to a sudden halt by a grisly discovery - two well-dressed skeletons!

And in another county mansion builders also hit upon a bizarre find in the form of the bones of a long-dead gambler.

It was in Wessington Court at Woolhope and Langstone Court at Llangarron where the cases of the concealed cadavers unfolded. When a curious reporter visited Woolhope in 1923 for an in-depth look at the village and its people he was told by older inhabitants about the local ghost. They related how, now and again, the 'click-clicking' of high-heeled shoes could be heard passing down the corridors at Wessington.

The old timers' view was that a clue to the haunting lay in building work carried out in a bygone age when the knocking down of a wall led to a spooky surprise. There, behind a partition, were two skeletons with powdered wigs, brocade and high-heeled shoes still clinging to the rattling bones. Just who the ladies were is still a mystery. There were no forensic 'miracles' in those distant times.

The reporter was told by the aged locals that the bones were laid to rest in 'a more suitable place' and some claimed that from that day forth the ghostly visitations ceased. Others contended that the shoes continued to make their macabre promenade. The centuries-old Langstone Court has the reputation of being the loveliest house of its date and style in Herefordshire.

It also has the dubious distinction that it once, literally, had a skeleton in the cupboard. And what a skeleton! If only the bones could have talked. The astonishing revelation occurred when a wall was taken down behind an old staircase. Exposed as dust settled was the skeleton of a man sitting at a table with a pack of Elizabethan playing cards in front of him - and an Elizabethan shilling. In his head was a bullet hole and by his hand lay a pistol. Did he take his own life because he had gambled away his inheritance or was he a cheat? Perhaps he had been too successful with the cards. One thing is certain. We will never know who bricked in the tragic Llangarron gambler.