Looks posh but where’s the gates?

Well I found the answer to that in Sibyl Hathaway, Dame of Sark’s autobiography...
Her great great grandfather Jean Allaire was an infamous privateer and pirate and was at one time owner of this House and this is the story she told...
As an example of her forebears wicked and callous behaviour she cited the case of an old woman who took herself to Jean Allaire’s residence (the property called Le Mont  Durand ( or The Mount); now Government House) to implore mercy for her son who had been accused of sheep-stealing. It appears that Allaire and his cronies were carousing in an upper room and seizing the beldame, they pushed her down the stairs and killed her by breaking her neck. Dame Sibyl alleged that as a consequence the house became haunted, with the sound of a body bumping from stair to stair disturbing the silent watches of the night. Furthermore, she asserted that her ancestor’s misdeeds had brought a curse on the premises as a result of which any closing of the driveway gates would occasion the death of the head of the household! Suffice it to say that during the occupancy of the dwelling while Lieutenant Governor between 1925 and 1929 Lord Sackville had the staircase demolished and the drive gates removed, secretly burying a bottle of wine on the spot to remove the spell! To this day drive gates remain conspicuous by their absence. One is driven to conclude that, as with John Brown, Jean Allaire’s soul - a black one - goes marching on!