Halloween Hauntings

So this week I thought I tell you all about my home city of Sheffield, and the past residents who are still living there.

Growing up I always heard the stories of ghosts related to the city as 2 haunted places were within a few miles of where I lived. The first was around Beauchief Abbey a former monastery and the hall just up the road. There is a white lady who is associated with the grounds of both locations has been seen on the road and also on the golf course which is now on the land the monastery once stood on. There are also sightings of the monks still going about their daily lives.

So let’s move up to Norton and the second location I knew about as a child, Bunting Nook. This is a small road by the church which has at least 3 ghosts. Firstly is another grey lady who has been seen but she may be part of the second haunting which is supposedly a couple who were eloping to the church to marry and fell from their horse and died (Norton Church was well known for not asking any question and marrying people even if she was pregnant). Then there is the demonic dog that has been seen as just eyes or even a black mist.

Fancy wandering around the area surrounding the Cathedral? Voices are heard and faces seen. Is it the dead whose graves were moved in the 1990’s protesting?

The former graveyard in front of Sheffield Cathedral

Off to Mosborough now and the old hall which is a hotel these days. The grey lady governess can be seen here and the argument between her and her employer can be heard as she threatens to tell his wife of their dalliance. It’s alleged he murdered her to keep her quite.

Now fancy a visit to a haunted pub, Sheffield has you covered. There are several pubs in the Darnall area where apparitions are seen. In the area of Sheffield I’m from the Woodseats hotel is haunted by a man who has attacked staff. Or how about the former Old Harrow where apparitions were seen and things went missing and then reappeared sometime late. You could always try the Queens Head Inn, possibly the oldest building in Sheffield. You may come across the dog who likes sit by people, the white lady who sits and watches people, the civil war era solider who sits by the fire or even hear the voice of a little girl. Fancy a coffee from a chain then I dare you to try Carbrook Hall near Meadowhall. It’s though Oliver Cromwell’s close ally Colonel Bright can be seen on the stairs as well as another roundhead soldier. Also a spirit likes to throw things around. It may be worse now as it’s well documented that spirits don’t like change and renovations of their space.

Now do you fancy visiting the National Emergency Services Museum in the city? I’ve been years ago, I got a plastic fireman’s helmet. Many groups have been to the venue and seen and heard many unexplained phenomena. Things are thrown when there is no one else around, voices are heard and many believe there is a negative entity who has taken up residence, is it Charlie Peace who was hung for murder?

So do you want to meet Mary Queen of Scots then you need to go to Sheffield Manor Lodge. This is where Mary was held on and off for years. She is seen in a flowing black gown and appears to walk through walls.

Sheffield Manor the once jail of Mary Queen of Scots

Now no discussion about hauntings in the city would be complete without a mention of the Stocksbridge bypass just outside the city. It’s not the road that’s haunted but the land. Even when the road was being built in the 1980’s things were seen. Children where heard playing at night when the site was closed. They were sometimes seen to disappear right in front of people’s eyes. A figure was seen on the bridge being constructed over the road that again just disappeared. 2 policemen witness the torso of a person against the side of their car which move extremely fast to the other side of the car and then vanished. As they drove away the car shook and things were thrown at it but there was no one around. Others have heard what sounds like someone on the roof of the car as they drive along. Finally how about seeing the torso of a monk crossing the road, no legs just a torso, as they walk along at the height the land was at during their lifetime.

So how about a visit to Sheffield?  I’ve never seen anything in city but I’m not visiting the locations at night. I’ve seen things in Derbyshire though.

So happy Halloween and goodnight out there whatever you are! (If you know where this quote came from then you had an awesome childhood).

Halloween

Before I start this is a reposted blog from last year. There should be a new Halloween post next week. 

As darkness falls across the land…… all the kids come out and bang on your door.

So it’s the end of October and Halloween comes around again. All the shops sell their wares and parties abound. There are loads of costumes in the shops to wear for the day, although some of the Goth dresses I’d wear every day and yes I do wear my dress with bats, pumpkins, ghosts and full moons on it in the summer. You can get foods from jelly eye balls to slime pie.

Halloween as a kid for me was scary. People would bang on the door demanding treats and if you didn’t answer or given them anything eggs would be thrown. Then there was the fact that all the ghosts and goolies, witches and vampires were roaming about ready to attack. To top it all of I was terrified of the glow in the dark skeleton my brother had. I was even scared of Professor Coldheart from my beloved Care Bears and don’t get me started on Skelator from He-Man, although I find him funny dancing in an old tv advert. How ironic now is it that I mainly read books with vampires and werewolves in them.

Halloween as we know it today mainly came from good marketing and the shops realised it was a great way to make you spend money, but where did the tradition of Halloween come from? Well it appears to be the merger of both pagan and Christian practices.

Let’s consider the pagan practices first. It was a celebration of the end of the harvest and the coming of the winter and in the Celtic countries was known as Samhain, the festival of the dead, but it also had other aspects to it. Many believe that at this time of year that the barrier between the living and the dead was at its thinnest and thus the dead could pass through. This meant the living had to protect themselves. They would do things such as lay out meals by a fire for the dead to welcome them so they would be peaceful and carve out turnips, as we do pumpkins today, to ward of the evil spirits as these were the ones they had to worry about. They also believed they had to protect themselves for the living evil spirits. Many homes would attempt to protect themselves by engraving witches marks into the fabric of the house. This was usually in the walls or the fireplace and was in the form of a pentagram. They can still be found today in old buildings. Another pagan practice which begun was the dressing up and playing tricks on people. This along with the carving of turnips is thought to have come from Ireland as many of the practices we still use today seem to have come from the Gaelic speaking regions of Europe. 

The Christian practices mainly revolved around the honouring of the dead. In the Christian calendar All Hallowes Eve is the day before All Hallows Day which is the celebration of saints, or the dead in general. It is believed this day was set as the 1^st November by Pope Gregory III in the 8^th century when this honoured the relics of the saints, martyrs and confessors of the church. From the 12^th century the ringing of church bells became common to honour the saints and departed souls. There was also the tradition from the mediaeval period of England of baking a soul cake. These were similar in appearance to the modern day hot cross buns. They were given out to children, the poor and the homeless who went from door to door saying prayers for the souls of the household. It’s believed this could also be the origin of trick or treat.

So if you combine both the pagan and Christian practices you get a good indication of where the modern day Halloween comes from. Maybe think upon your dead ancestors and celebrate them as you enjoy your pagan practices.

​I know my blog posts have been patchy lately but please bear with me as I've been ill and ended up in hospital, but I am determined to get back into blogs properly.

Counties of England part 4

Knowing where the archives for these counties were found can be really useful as when researching family history we sometimes need to visit an archive to find out some information that cannot be found online. So I thought I’d put together a list of the counties of the UK with the location of their main archives for the county. So I’ve looked at the counties of Wales and I’ve done parts 1, 2 and 3 of England so on to more of England.

Counties of England

1. Essex

Off to the south of East Anglia on the east coast. This is where you will find Essex. The county has an approximate population of 1.8 million and the county town is Chelmsford. This is also where the archives reside and you can visit the website at: https://www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk/

2. Bedfordshire

In central south England Bedfordshire has a population of around 660,000. The county town is Bedford and the archives are in the town. The archives website can be found at: http://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/ArchivesAndRecordOffice.aspx

3. Buckinghamshire

Also in central southern England Buckinghamshire has an approximate population of 800,000. The county town is Aylesbury and the archives are in the town and can be found at: https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/culture-and-leisure/centre-for-buckinghamshire-studies/

4. Surrey

Located to the south west of London Surrey has an approximate population of 1.2 million. The county town of Surrey is Guildford but the archives for the county are held in the town of Woking. The archives web address is: https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/culture-and-leisure/history-centre

5. Kent

In the east of England Kent has coast to 3 sides of the county. It has a population of around 1.8 million. The county town if Kent is Maidstone and this is where the archives are held. The website for the archives is: https://www.kent.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/history-and-heritage/kent-archives

6. East Sussex

On the south coast of England East Sussex has an approximate population of 840,000. The county town is Lewes. The archives or the Keep as it is known can be found in Brighton. You might find the fictional genealogist Morton Farrier in the reading room reading the latest novel by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. If you want the web address for the Keep it is: https://www.thekeep.info/esro/

7. West Sussex

Next to East Sussex on the south coast West Sussex has an approximate population of 850,000. The county town is Chichester and the archives are in the town. The archive website is: https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/leisure-recreation-and-community/history-and-heritage/west-sussex-record-office/

8. Hertfordshire

Back to central southern England Hertfordshire has a population of around 1.18 million. The county town is Hertford and it is here you will find the archive who’s web address is: https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/hertfordshire-archives-and-local-studies/hertfordshire-archives-and-local-studies.aspx

9/10. London/Middlesex

A tricky place as part of London is in many counties but most of Middlesex is in London. So I’ve lumped them together. Middlesex has a population of around 2.7 million and London is the county town. The population of London is around 8.7 million which I assume includes the population of Middlesex. As for the archives you have several options. Archives for London’s web address is: https://archivesforlondon.org/ The City of London archives address is: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/Pages/search.aspx The London Metropolitan Archives site is: https://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll?logon&application=UNION_VIEW&language=144&file=[WWW_LMA]home.html and finally there is the National Archives at: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

11. Isle of Wight

This county is an Island off the south coast by Hampshire. At one time the Isle of Wight came under the jurisdiction of Hampshire. The population of the county is around 141,000 and the county town is Newport which is where the archives are located. The web address for the archives is: https://www.iow.gov.uk/Residents/libraries-cultural-and-heritage/Records-Office/

In all of these counties don’t forget the local family history societies as well as the local libraries. These are also excellent sources of information. Also within the counties each town or city may have their own archive or records office. So make sure you do your complete research into where you may find relevant documents for your genealogy. These places are vast repositories for so many different documents or collections. There more than just baptism, marriage and burial records. There are other parish records, town and village information and so much more. The websites will tell you what repositories each archive holds.

So hopefully this will help you in locating where the information you need may be held.

Part 1 can be found at: http://www.familyhistoryresearchengland.co.uk/blog/counties-of-england-part-1  

Part 2 can be found at: http://www.familyhistoryresearchengland.co.uk/blog/counties-of-england-part-2

Part 3 can be found at: http://www.familyhistoryresearchengland.co.uk/blog/counties-of-england-part-3

Wales can be found at: http://www.familyhistoryresearchengland.co.uk/blog/counties-of-wales

Counties of England part 3

Knowing where the archives for these counties were found can be really useful as when researching family history we sometimes need to visit an archive to find out some information that cannot be found online. So I thought I’d put together a list of the counties of the UK with the location of their main archives for the county. So I’ve looked at the counties of Wales and I’ve done parts 1 and 2 of England so on to more of England.

Counties of England

1. Oxfordshire

In the south of England Oxfordshire has a population of around 700,000 and the county town is Oxford. This is also where the county archive can be found. The website for the archive is: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/leisure-and-culture/history/oxfordshire-history-centre?utm_term=nil&utm_content=

2. Berkshire

Also in the south of the country Berkshire (pronounced Barkshire) has a population of around 900,000. The county town is Reading (pronounced Reding) and the archive is in the town. The web address for the archive is: https://www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk/

3. Hampshire

On the south coast of England the county town of Hampshire is Winchester (the old capital of England) and the county has a population of around 1.9 million. The archives for the county are housed in Winchester and can be found at: https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/archives

4. Gloucestershire

Located of the border with Wales Gloucestershire has a population of approximately 900,000. The county town is Gloucester and the archives are located in the city. The web address for the archives is: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/

5. Wiltshire

A land locked county, Wiltshire has a population of around 700,000. The county town is Trowbridge and the archives are held in the town of Chippenham and can be found at: http://www.wshc.eu/our-services/archives.html

6. Dorset

Situated on the south coast Dorset’s county town is Dorchester and the county has an approximate population of 770,000. If you want to visit the archives they are located in Dorchester and the website is: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/libraries-history-culture/dorset-history-centre/dorset-history-centre.aspx

7. Somerset

On the west coast of England the county of Somerset incorporates the defunct county of Avon. The county town is Taunton and the population of the county is around 950,000. If you want to go to the archive then you need to go to Taunton and the address for the archives is: http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ You may also need the archives in Bristol which can be found at: http://archives.bristol.gov.uk/

8. Devon

Down in the south west the coastal county of Devon has a population of around 1.2 million. The county town is Exeter and this is where the archives are found. To visit the archive website go to: https://swheritage.org.uk/devon-archives/

9. Cornwall

The most southerly and westerly of the English counties Cornwall has a population of approximately 560,000 and the county town is Truro. The archives live in Redruth and their address is: https://kresenkernow.org/

In all of these counties don’t forget the local family history societies as well as the local libraries. These are also excellent sources of information. Also within the counties each town or city may have their own archive or records office. So make sure you do your complete research into where you may find relevant documents for your genealogy. These places are vast repositories for so many different documents or collections. There more than just baptism, marriage and burial records. There are other parish records, town and village information and so much more. The websites will tell you what repositories each archive holds.

So hopefully this will help you in locating where the information you need may reside.

Part 1 can be found at: http://www.familyhistoryresearchengland.co.uk/blog/counties-of-england-part-1 

Part 2 can be found at: http://www.familyhistoryresearchengland.co.uk/blog/counties-of-england-part-2

Wales can be found at: http://www.familyhistoryresearchengland.co.uk/blog/counties-of-wales