This impressive Tudor Manor House is one of the prides of Little Gaddesden. It is also reputed to be the home of a lovesick ghost by the name of Jarman.

A planning inquiry last week heard all about Jarman when Berkhamsted Rural Council opposed a scheme to build a modern detached home alongside the ancient Manor House.

Clifford White, for the council, explained the Manor House was reputed to be haunted by a lovesick ghost. “That is the sort of place it is,” he claimed. “It would be wrong for it to be huddled and jostled by houses of a suburban type.”

Jarman, in the flesh, occupied the Manor House at the turn of the 19th Century. According to local legend he killed himself for the love of the heiress of Ashridge. And in the years that followed, so the local story goes, the ghost of Jarman would be seen watering his white horses at the village pond.

But present day residents of Little Gaddesden cannot recall seeing this unhappy-in-love ghost. At the Manor House, now occupied by Miss Dorothy Erhart, he is reputed to make his presence felt by switching off lights.

But it is some years since Miss Erhart can recall this happening.

[From the Watford Observer of February 8, 1963]

This story formed part of the Nostalgia column first published in the Watford Observer on February 14, 2014. The next Nostalgia column – with information on BBC man John Timpson's bird-charming pipe, among many other things – can be found in this week’s Watford Observer (dated February 21, 2014 and available in newsagents now, priced just 90p) or read online here from 4pm on Thursday.

If you have anything to add – or would like to tell us anything you think our readers may enjoy about Watford’s history – we are always pleased to hear from you. Contact Nostalgia, by clicking here watfordnostalgia@london.newsquest.co.uk