A supposedly haunted stately home up for sale in Swindon could still have a ghost in the cellar.

The Grade-II listed house in Highworth has recorded a number of spooky sightings over its 200-year-old history.

Westrop House was built in 1818 for a renowned local solicitor, William Crowdy, and is now up for £1,850,000 by agent Butler Sherborn.

According to Highworth Historical Society, one ghost, Squire Crowdy, could still be bricked up underground.

In life, ‘troubled’ Crowdy used to punish himself by walking the streets of Highworth with a halter around his neck.

Once dead, he returned to walk the streets of the town noisily, dragging the metal halter up and down the yard of the house from his neck.

The ghost would only go away if it was allowed to stay in a barrel of cider.

So the village mason bricked up the cellar with the ghost in a barrel, where he would remain to this day.

According to the floorplan the cellar has now been unblocked.

The rest of the 7,000 sq ft house on Cricklade Road includes eight bedrooms, four bathrooms, and an attached service wing behind a ‘fine’ classical exterior design.

The ‘high ceilings, pleasing proportions, original cornices and a splendid stone cantilevered staircase’ has played host to other scary sightings.

Highworth Historical Society says: “In the 1980s work was going on in the hallway of the property. 

“A decorator was pasting wallpaper when he looked up to see a lady in a long dress in the gallery. 

“The experience is said to have shaken him so much that he went home for the rest of the day.”

The listing says: “A further feature includes an imposing semi-circular Doric portico and entrance door onto the Cricklade Road that would have impressed both guests and clients.”

Some of these clients may have been less than human.

One story says a mother and her son who were living there at the time heard a knock on the door as they were preparing to go to bed.

When they opened it they saw the shape of a man, standing there as they watched him gradually fade away.

That ghost would surely have been enjoying the house’s ‘delightful and peaceful gardens’.

These amount to 1.47 acres, with an ornamental pond and ‘beautiful’ landscaping. 

The ghoul could easily have travelled from the town, as the listing states that the house ‘offers the convenience of being within walking distance of the town centre with the sense of quiet country living’.