Photograph captures 'white woman' ghost in the ruins of Derbyshire Manor House

William Mitchell was in Derbyshire to attend his grandfather's funeral, when he captured the images.

He said: “My grandparents are residents of Shirland just outside of Aflreton. Myself, mum, dad, and brother are from Dorset. We go up to Derbyshire to see my grandparents a lot. It was my grandad’s funeral, that’s why we were up there this particular weekend.”

William has an interest in ghost sightings and knew that Hardwick was well-known for its spooky history.

He said: “I’ve never been there before. I’m sort of into ghosts and stuff, and I’ve read books on the Hardwick Old Hall and how it's quite haunted so I thought it would be really interesting to go and see.

“We had a nice walk around, went to the pub down there, and then went back up to the Old Hall. I decided to take some pictures of the Old Hall as well as some of the New Hall. Just out of curiosity, I zoomed in on the two I took to see if there was anything weird and that's when I saw it.”

Hardwick Old Hall is the impressive ruin of Bess of Hardwick's Manor House, administered by The English Heritage Trust.

Although Hardwick Old Hall is now a shell, it was one of the most innovative houses of the Tudor period.

It came into the care of English Heritage in 1959 and a team of specialists are working to stabilise its condition for the future.

William added: “At first, I couldn’t really work out the shape until I zoomed in properly, and to me, there was a white woman there and you can just make out her face.”

William isn’t the only one to be impressed by the ghostly capture. His family and friends agree the image shows a mysterious ‘white woman’.

He added: “I showed loads of my family and friends, half of them are not even ghost believers but they all definitely think that there was something there.”

What do you think? Is this evidence of something paranormal happening at Hardwick?