Romantic haunted manor hosts a ghost
This heritage-listed Yea manor has hosted performances by Dame Nellie Melba, has links to an Olympic gold-medallist and is also home to a friendly ghost.
A historic Yea manor with a romantic past and resident ghost has hosted performances by legendary Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba.
The four-bedroom home at 111-115 High St, named Beaufort Manor, is being privately sold with an asking price of $2.275m-$2.5m.
In 1876, James Sanders built the residence for his wife-to-be, Charlotte Emily Sandall, who originally lived in Beaufort Square, Bath, England.
Melbourne’s oldest pub owner has tapped into a few of its secrets
Heritage hotel the latest purchase for couple with 70-property portfolio
During the 1920s, Dame Nellie Melba frequently stayed at the house where she performed with the Yea Orchestral Society.
Robert and Ivy Morgan, who purchased Beaufort Manor in 1936, had a son named Lawrence (Laurie).
He was Australian Olympic equestrian team’s captain and won two gold medals at the Rome games in 1960.
Set on 2855 sq m, Beaufort Manor features two formal lounges, a six-car garage with hoist, chandeliers, leadlight windows and reception area with a bar.
The grand ballroom can seat 100 guests and has French doors leading into a garden area.
Stockdale & Leggo Lilydale office manager and property consultant Sharyn Manning said “you can feel the romance” of the manor, which has a heritage-listed facade.
“It’s the first thing you see on the way into Yea, it’s very eye-catching and very beautiful,” she said.
She said the building, which hosts weddings and functions, could also be used as an extended family home.
“You could make the grand ballroom into a three or four bedrooms,” she said.
The manor’s owners Lisa and Stewart Cornwall, who have restored and renovated the property, live upstairs.
Ms Cornwall said two psychics, who visited Beaufort separately, have both sensed a “very gentle” spiritual presence in the manor’s passageway.
She said the ghost was believed to be that of James Sanders and Charlotte Sandall’s daughter Minna, who died in a fire upstairs at the manor during the 1930s.
Ms Cornwall said that during World War II, Ivanhoe Grammar used Beaufort Manor as a boarding school.
At the time, the students dubbed the site “Mincemeat Manor” as the cook always used mincemeat in her recipes.
Ms Cornwall said that while renovating the manor she and her husband had discovered bricks stamped with “Paris 1898” in the roof, which they left in place.