Penryth Hall and its chilling locations with Jess Armstrong

Submitted: 8th January 2025

Penryth Hall and its chilling locations

Author Jess Armstrong recently invited me to join her in the cursed Penryth Hall. Would I be brave enough she asked? Would I be indeed I asked myself. But readers, I was. Just as well the real locations which inspired the fictional hall were nice!

The Curse of Penryth Hall Jess Armstrong

So, what kind of places inspire a place like this? How did Jess create the novel from modern day Exeter and Devon?

Jess Armstrong (c) Allison and Busby

Ruby and Mr Owen’s Home and Owen & Sons bookshop

Cathedral Close – Exeter, Devon

Bookshop (c) Jess Armstrong

Locations in the novel

The Curse of Penryth Hall begins in Exeter at Ruby’s home and Owen & Sons bookshop. Ruby and her secretive and curmudgeonly employer, Mr Owen live in Exeter in a decaying home near the cathedral. They run a rare books shop that is located next door. Mr Owen has a penchant for unusual and occasionally illegal books. The house itself is fictious, but would have been found in the vicinity of Cathedral Close.

Lothlel Green (c) Jess Armstrong

Locations in the novel

Lothlel Green is a fictional community roughly in the vicinity of St. Teath, Cornwall.

Lothlel Green is a sleepy hamlet located in North Cornwall equidistant between Tintagel and the edges of Bodmin Moor. It is a small, tight-knit mining community comprised of a couple hundred people within a rough two-mile radius. Ruby is initially sent to the village to deliver a box of books to the local Pellar, a folkloric figure in the community and purported practitioner of magic, named Ruan Kivell. Most of the book takes place in locations around the village, either at the manor house, Penryth Hall, which sits on the outskirts of town on one side, or the Ruan’s cottage on the other side.

Penryth Hall (c) Jess Armstrong

Locations in the novel

Penryth Hall

Penryth Hall lies at the edge of Lothlel Green towards Bodmin Moor. This is where Sir Edward Chenowyth lives with his wife Tamsyn. Ruby and Tamsyn had a complicated history together and have not spoken to one another since Tamsyn’s impulsive marriage to Sir Edward several years before. Ruby decides since she is in Lothlel Green that she should stop by to visit. It is a forbidding manor house, located on a hill outside Lothlel Green. When Ruby arrives she sees Tamsyn for the first time in several years along with Tamsyn’s young son. Tamsyn invites Ruby to stay for supper before returning to Exeter. Ruby reluctantly agrees, but is so shaken by the encounter, she goes to Tintagel to clear her head. Penryth Hall is also a fictitious site, built from an amalgamation of country houses that I’ve visited during my travels.

Tintagel (c) Jess Armstrong

Locations in the novel

Tintagel Castle – Tintagel, Cornwall

Ruby, shaken after seeing Tamsyn again after so many years, goes to Tintagel for a quick swim before returning to Penryth for dinner. This is where Ruby meets her future counterpart in mystery-solving, Ruan Kivell, the Pellar of Lothlel Green. This scene takes place on the beach below Tintagel Castle, not far from Merlin’s Cave. It’s such an evocative and powerfully beautiful place to visit. I highly recommend it if you have not been there.

Locations in the novel

The Pellar’s Cottage

Ruan Kivell’s cottage is located on the opposite side of town from Penryth Hall, closer to Tintagel. It is a small white cottage surrounded by an enormous garden on a windswept bluff overlooking the countryside below. He is referred to by the villagers as the Pellar of Lothlel Green, a revered folkloric figure reputed to possess the power to heal the sick, find stolen things, and break curses. Ruby is skeptical of Ruan and his abilities at first, unsure what to make of him. He lives an isolated life, despite being central to the lives of the people who live in Lothlel Green.

Bodmin Moor (c) Jess Armstrong

Locations in the novel

Bodmin Moor

Bodmin Moor comes into play twice in the book. A windswept, ruggedly beautiful landscape. I cannot share much about what occurs here without risking spoilers—but again, worth a visit if you’ve not been!

Thanks Jess. Thanks for the invitation to places a lot less chilling than Penryth Hall!