In December we spent a pleasant few hours in the company of David Butler, once hotel owner here, circa 1966-74. He was an aircraft engineer from the Midlands who had worked for Lockeed and GEC. He said a chap called Barras (?) (Charles Athol Barath – Conveyance dated July 1966- Barath and Barros are different people) had set up the hotel and then sold and moved to the Cardiff area. David moved here with his wife and two young children. They were 6months and 18months old and David had a nanny to help with them. He described how the house was at that time. The bar was where we have the library and there was a corridor at the rear of the house and some back stairs. The vaulted cellar used to flood in the winter. He explained the layout of the now demolished west extension, with its lower dining room and bedrooms. The swimming pool in the front of the house was fed from the spring. He confirmed that a spring ran under the walled garden and into a well at the rear of the house (early OS maps do also show two wells in the walled garden).
The greenhouse was in use at this time and Mike, from Simpson Cross, lived in a caravan in the walled garden. He had never seen the bell but Richard Langston found it in the undergrowth. David had a Great Dane and a Bloodhound which were kept in the walled garden, which then had gates. He had rebuilt part of the south wall.
Mike Bennett, from Nolton, has been kind enough to supply his census records from 1841-1901 which gives us a full picture of the occupants in those years, and also the watercolour from mid nineteenth century, which now appears elsewhere on the website.
The Landlady of the Cross Inn at Hayscastle remembers visiting in the 1970's and once was at the bar when the barman dropped through the floor into the cellar. David from the Square and Compass garage said that 'Cuffern was the sort of place you came for a quick drink at 7.30 but left just in time for breakfast'. Bill Devonald came to service the oil boiler and said that his mother (a Collins, but no relation to the local Collins) came from Kent to be a Governess here in the 1920's and Bill's sister was born here. His parents went on to have six more children and moved to Ferry Glen Lodge.
An advert in the West Wales Guardian on 22nd May 1964 offers Cuffern Hall for sale where it consisted of 56 acres, a swimming pool 22 Bedrooms, 9 in the extension, three bathrooms and 5 Wc's.
Finally we have it on direct authority from David Butler that his wife saw the ghost. There was always a funny feeling about the place and his wife saw a women run across the lawn dressed in black with a hat. Andy Parr has confirmed that in the nursing home time an exorcism was carried out, whether because there were sightings or as a precaution we've yet to discover.
Curious note: During David's visit he explained that he often had staff from abroad and he mentioned two Spanish girls, one of whom was wont to disappear at night to the woodlands. A few days later this old message (1996?) was found in a search engine!
My name is Pilar Marco, I'm from Zaragoza, Spain. In summer 1969 I was a Spanish student that worked in the Cuffern Hotel (Haverfordwest).
I´m looking for ***** ******** , who worked that time at the Gulf Oil Refinery of Milford Haven. I would like to know about him.