Most Haunted Margam Castle, Port Talbot

Posted by admin as 8: Season Eight

Margam Castle, a Tudor Gothic mansion was, with it’s service buildings and courtyards, built between 1830 and 1840 and it is listed Grade I as a building of exceptional quality and with some spectacular features such as the staircase.

It was not until the 1820’s that Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803 – 1890) determined to build a new house at Margam.

The Margam estate had been in his family since 1536,however Thomas Mansel Talbot had demolished the original mansion house in 1787 to replace it with the magnificent Orangery that can be seen in the gardens today. Proud of this ancient family lineage Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot had always been attracted to romantic Margam. He wished to rebuild a suitable country residence which would compliment Margam’s illustrious history.

The site was deliberately chosen for its historic associations and picturesque position at the foot of a wooded historic hill, Mynydd-y-Castell, itself the site of Margam’s earliest habitation, with the ruins of the Cistercian Abbey and the eighteenth century Orangery visible to the West. The prospect of the house, rising above the Orangery and monastic remains to the west is unique in Wales.

Whilst the recognised and accredited architect is Thomas Hopper (1776 – 1856), it is rather interesting to find that another distinguished architect was closely involved with the project and almost certainly influenced the finished house with work on the interior and exterior, the stables, terraces and lodges, the Shrewsbury architect Edward Haycock (1790 – 1870). Thus we have two distinguished 19th Century architects involved with Margam.

However there is a third person who was to greatly influence the architectural style and finished design and this was C.R.M.Talbot who was greatly influenced by the architecture of two family homes borrowing elements from Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, ancestral home of the Talbots and residence of his cousin W.H.Fox Talbot ; and the idea of the octagonal tower from Melbury House in Dorset, the seat of his mother’s family, the Fox-Strangeways, Earls of Illchester.

Margam was really designed by three men Hopper, Haycock and Talbot and influenced by two earlier houses Laycock and Melbury whilst presenting an unique creation in sympathy with its sylvan surroundings, evocative of a rich and illustrious past – which is exactly what C.R.M.Talbot had in mind.

 First Broadcast : 18th July 2006

Most Haunted Gladstone Pottery Museum

Posted by admin as 8: Season Eight

The origin of the pottery known as the Gladstone Works dates right back to the birth of the pottery industry as we know it today. At the end of the 18th century Longton was the next largest pottery pottery town after Burslem, and the future growth of Longton was made possible by the sale of the Longton Manor estate in the 1780s, which allowed the Burslem potters, and others, to buy land at a time when there was a shortage of developable land in the Burslem area.

Among the purchasers of the Longton lands were the Shelleys, a local family who had become well known for their potting skills. By 1787 they had established a large and thriving manufacturing concern on a site to the south of Lane End, adjoining the recently turnpiked road to Uttoxeter. It is on part of this site that the Gladstone Pottery Museum now stands.

Here the Shelleys produced their own earthenware, and also decorated plates and dishes manufactured by Josiah Wedgwood at Etruria. Two of the family, Thomas and Michael, were to achieve considerable prestige as manufacturers; yet by 1789 their business had failed, and they were declared bankrupt and forced to sell their factory. The purchaser was William Ward and he paid £900 for the site.

William Ward had less grandiose ambitions and split up the site into two smaller potbanks. This division of the Shelleys’ property is still in evidence today, for the Gladstone Pottery is part of the Ward purchase; the Park Place Works (now the Roslyn Works) , which lies opposite Gladstone, forms the other part of the original Shelley property.

There is a map dated 1815 which shows the potbank split into several small lots. Many of these ranges of buildings were incorporated into later phases of building work in the 19th century, so visitors to the Gladstone Pottery Museum today will be, at least in part, surrounded by the fabric of 18th century buildings. It was in 1818 that Ward sold his potbank to John Hendley Sheridan for £1,222.

During the next 40 years the development of this potbank was remarkable, and at the same time very typical of the development of Longton and the industry in the Potteries.

Sheridan himself rose from a relatively obscure background to become a major civic official in the Borough of Stoke-on-Trent. He let out the potbank to tenants and seems to have chosen entrepreneurs who, with his help, enlarged and modernised the whole factory site.

In 1818 the premises were made up of two houses fronting the High Street, (Uttoxeter Road), with a range of simple workshops and a kiln to the rear. This arrangement, with the Master’s house at the front of the property and workshops and only one kiln at the back was typical of the more modest manufacturing concerns in the Potteries at this date. Sheridan seems to have erected extra kilns and workshops for his tenants, completing a form of courtyard development which is clearly visible in a plan of 1840.

The most daring of Sheridan’s tenants was one Thomas Cooper. It is to him that we owe the present appearance of the potbank. Evidently under Cooper the business thrived; by the 1850s he was employing 41 adults and 26 children to produce china and parian figures. In 1853 he bought the master’s house in Chadwick Street. In 1856 he demolished the old houses fronting the High Street; rebuilding followed at once. A Deed of Second Mortgage between Thomas Cooper and John Hendley Sheridan dated 7 February 1857 refers to the two newly built houses and workshops against the High Street…. at present unfinished and unoccupied…

Evidently the period of successful expansion was relatively short-lived, for by 1876 the site had passed into the hands of Hobson and Co. It must have been at this period that the Works were called after the famous politician W.E. Gladstone. He came to Burslem in 1863 to lay the foundation stone of the Wedgwood Memorial Institute, and this works has been called the Gladstone Works ever since.

Advertisements in the Pottery Gazette show a rather fanciful view of the Gladstone Works when it belonged to R Hodson & Co (1879-1885). From this time on there was a family link between successive owners of the site, and all seem to have made bone china.

Procter, Mayer, and Wooley were the owners between 1885 and 1892 and George Procter and Co from 1892 to 1939. George Procter died in 1910 and a detailed inventory of the site was made for his daughter and grandson, also called George Procter.

From 1939 the company was called Gladstone China (Longton ) Ltd, under the same management. During the Second World War, Gladstone China closed temporarily and the business was ‘nucleated’ with the firm of Thomas Poole who had been granted a government licence to continue production (George Procter was married to Thomas Poole’s daughter). The two companies merged in 1952 to be called Thomas Poole and Gladstone China. Thomas Poole and Gladstone China bought up the land around the works including the White House and the Vulcan Public House and obviously intended to expand. It may have been the Clean Air Acts of the late 1950s which forbade the use of the coal firing bottle ovens which required them to concentrate their investment on the core factory of Thomas Poole – the Cobden Works.

It was in March 1960 that the ovens last fired; but decorating and then only despatch departments were active until May 1970 when Thomas Poole and Gladstone China put the works up for sale.

During the 1960s when the old pottery factories and bottle ovens were being demolished there was a group of local people centred on the Trustees of the Cheddleton Flint Mill who were interested in saving part of the traditional landscape of the Potteries. Many sites were considered but the Gladstone site was considered the best example of a medium sized typical potbank.

When the factory was due to be demolished to make the site more attractive to purchasers, a local businessman, Derek Johnson of H & R Johnson the tile manufacturers, bought the site and turned it over to the Staffordshire Pottery Industry Preservation Trust to be run as a museum. The museum was opened in 1974, officially opened by the Duke of Gloucester in 1975.

In May 1994 ownership of Gladstone Pottery Museum passed to Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

Yvette Fielding and guest medium Ian Lawman travel to Stoke On Trent, where they spend the night in Gladstone Pottery Museum, experiencing strange and sudden
changes in temperature and flying objects.

 First Broadcast : 11th July 2006

Most Haunted Warwick Castle

Posted by admin as 8: Season Eight

Warwick Castle stands in the City of Warwick overlooking the broad Avon River. Though there had been communities at Warwick for countless centuries, the castle began construction in the tenth century. The original architect was said to be Ethelfleda, the brilliant military daughter of Alfred the Great.

The castle was one of a network of fortifications built to defend against the Norman conquest. After the Norman Conquest Warwick Castle was handed to the first Earl of Warwickshire by William the Conqueror. In an act that would mirror the treacherous legacy of the castle, the Earl of Warwickshire was seized in his own castle and imprisoned until the crown paid a high ransom.

Warwick Castle passed to the ownership of the Beauchamp family and it was during this period that the castle began to grow into the dominating presence seen today. Warwick Castle passed through the possession of the social elite, witnessing many great figures and moments of English history. There had been 20 Earls of Warwickshire by the time the castle was passed over to the care of a heritage consortium in the 1970’s. The castle attracts many thousands of tourists a year and is clearly an impressive building, regardless of its age.

A building that was so central to the local community and so important to England during more troubled times in history, Warwick Castle is said to be home to spirits from throughout the ages. One such story tells of Sir Fulke Greville, owner of Warwick Castle, arguing with his most trusted servant. The servant turned upon his master and stabbed him, instantly mortified at his actions, the servant sliced his own throat leaving Sir Greville to die a lingering death due to infection, isolated in the South Tower. Moans of agony are frequently heard around the grounds and a vision of the dying man is said to emerge from his portrait.

A slavering black dog was said to haunt the grounds of Warwick Castle after a woman named Moll Bloxham was caught stealing from the Earl. The Earl was so outraged that he ordered her to be publicly punished, at whose hands she suffered brutal indignity and torture. An embittered Moll Bloxham announced a curse on the castle. Soon after the disappearance of Bloxham, a black, slavering dog with red eyes began stalking the castle grounds. Attempts to kill the beast were met in failure and hound continued to terrorise the community. The curse was finally broken when the beast was lured from the highest tower into the River below.

Yvette Fielding and the team conduct more chilling paranormal investigations. Karl and Stuart spend a terrifying night alone in the dungeons, then return 24 hours later for more terror, as the team attempts to discern whether or not the ghost of Sir Fulke Greville is haunting the tower.

With guest medium Ian Lawman.

First Broadcast: 4th July 2006

Most Haunted Michelham Priory – 100th Episode

Posted by admin as 8: Season Eight

Michelham Priory was originally a church built on a medieval island. In 1556 it was transformed into a house where many families have lived through tragedy. On their first visit this location proves to be one of the most thrilling locations the team ever visited. Ghostly legs spook the team and Yvette is petrified as Jason’s electromagnetic field meter picks up on a spiritual figure that Derek subsequently makes contact with.

Their second visit was equally eventfull with a chair moving by itself and caught on camera. Also the sound of a harpsicord playing by itself.

 First Broadcast : 27th June 2006