Goths reign as dark kings of the castle

10:08am Friday 17th September 2004

Twickenham's Strawberry Hill House hopes to bring some original spook to the castle on Saturday with music from gothic rock band Crimson Altar.

The castle will be open to the public as part of London open house day, and all money raised will go towards the castle's restoration project.

Crimson Altar will be performing songs from their self-released debut album The Ghost Ship Sails, throughout the afternoon.

Guitarist Chris Poore, who has lived in Twickenham for 28 years, said: "Strawberry Hill was where the whole gothic literature and architectural movement began. It's only fitting that 21st century Goths try their best to help save the amazing architecture of Strawberry Hill from destruction."

The house will be open from 10am to 5pm for tours. The event is free but donations to the restoration fund are welcome.

The house lost out on the chance to win a £5.5million refurbishment after being beaten by a medieval palace in BBC's Restoration programme in July.

But the Friends of Strawberry Hill are continuing their mission to raise funds for major projects to restore parts of the historic castle.

For more information go to www. friendsofstrawberryhill.org, or try www.londonopenhouse.org.