Case 1: Jabez Cliff and Co. Factory - Lower Foster Street, Walsall.
Our first indication that something 'strange' might be afoot in the immense Jabez Cliff factory came as a friend-of-a-friend reference from a former group member, many years ago. At that time, we were told that the factory had something of a reputation for being haunted, so-much-so that the owner of the property had actually sanctioned overnight 'ghost hunts' to be carried out by his eager staff......! Tentative enquiries at the time apparently fell on somewhat deaf ears and nothing ever came of the requests sent out to relevant quarters. Still - the site was duly noted down as a place of potential interest and a building to certainly 'keep our eye on' in the future.....
Some time later - around the beginning of 2008 - it was mentioned to the group, in passing, that the aforementioned factory had now closed down, though the property was, apparently, still in the keeping of the former management. On a whim, an email was sent to the owner, Cliff Kirby-Tibbits, who responded to the note most favourably and said that he'd be happy to show group members around the, now closed, factory and relate some of it's haunted history to us. The reason for the factory closure, it transpired, was a simple matter of downsizing the premises, necessitating a move to another, nearby area.
As mentioned previously, the property itself was of truly enormous proportions - the home of the prestigious leather and saddlery firm of Jabez Cliff and Co., since 1906. (Prior to this, the property was under the ownership of J. A. Barnsby and Sons, saddle making company). The business holds a 'Royal Warrant' - bestowed in 1990 - as supplier of Saddlery & Lorinery to H. M. Queen Elizabeth II. The Company manufactured saddles for the Kings Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, the Household Cavalry, the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police.
On arriving at the premises, we were immediately given a full tour of the property by Cliff and an employee of the company, Barry Lees. As we threaded in and out of the rabbit-warren-like maze of rooms and corridors, we were informed of all of the relevant, 'spooky' happenings that had taken place throughout the building.
During a previous investigation, the sound of footsteps - continuing for some 30 seconds or so - were heard near a ground floor office by someone who had been taking a toilet break. Without being indelicate, it was suggested that the person had been highly perturbed by the noise and had 'cut their loo break short' as a result! Laugh!! At the time, it was suggested that someone may have gained access to the factory illegally and had been walking around - but a through check of the site revealed no other people present. On that same night, a group of people who were staking out a 1st floor, factory room, claim to have heard footsteps above them, on an upper floor. A call was put through to the other group in the building that night, to ascertain their position, but they were situated on the other side of the site. The same group of people also claim to have heard the sound of music coming from somewhere inside the building, though no source could be found.
Apparently, video cameras - in a particular section of the factory - had been known to stop, seemingly of their own volition, and their on-board lights fail and so forth. However, Cliff said that he wouldn't reveal the exact location to us during our walk-round, as he wished to see whether we experienced the same problems during our subsequent recording sessions. The exact source was not disclosed, but a visiting psychic had mentioned that there was the presence of a small child and a woman in the same room. Interestingly, when attempting to set up a video recording session in part of the factory later on, it was found that the battery of the camera in question was almost dead. The group member whose camera it was had charged the unit fully before leaving the house that evening. (This, however, wasn't the 'anti-camera' room that Cliff had referred to previously). At a later point in the evening, another recording session with a different camera was found to have been stopped prematurely at 43 minutes and 34 seconds into the session. There was tape left on the end of the cassette involved - so the cam had not simply run to the end and switched itself off, as would have normally happened. There was also some charge left in the camera battery - though less than would have been anticipated for such a recording duration, it seemed. And yes, this - what was referred to as the 'Hard Ball Room' by staff - was indeed the area of the factory mentioned as detrimental to recording sessions by Cliff, earlier in the evening! Laugh!!! In this same area, on a previous occasion, some film-makers from Wolverhampton lost all power to their equipment, plunging the group into total darkness!
The Hard Ball Room wing of the factory has long been regarded to be the most active side of the site, where most of the peculiar activity has occurred. Some recordings made there previously had, for some reason, garbled footage on them, while the same cams later worked perfectly in other sections(?)
On one of the uppermost floors, there was a small room that was described as having a 'strange smell' to it. On a previous investigation, a group of people had been standing outside this room and all saw the door seemingly closing of it's own volition. A number of those present had placed their hands on the surface of the door and claimed to feel a 'force' pushing it closed. On entering the room, it was - of course - empty and it's windows closed. When the W.M.G.C. members came to enter, there appeared to be an all pervading smell, just like that created when a candle is blown out. While the smell seemed quite strong to us, Cliff mentioned that it was hardly noticeable that night and was frequently much stronger!! In other parts of the building, a variety of different smells can be detected at times, including pipe smoke, cigars and lavender.
A number of different poltergeist-like happenings have supposedly occurred over the years...... some quite jocular in nature and some decidedly less-so, perhaps? For some reason, the snacks and lunch-time fare of staff members seem to have been a favourite target on occasion, with sandwiches and even freshly made toast vanishing, seemingly without trace!!! In a front office - known for many years as Toms Room - heavy folders and files have regularly flown off their shelves in front of shocked workers!!
Unfortunately, as with many sites that have hosted ghost-related events, a lot of the information obtained during these visits had been obtained via professed mediumistic and / or psychic individuals. A lot of the data related to us during our stay seemed to come from such quarters and, as we are a purely, objective-minded concern, it is with considerable deliberation that we consider mentioning such information in this write-up......
As with all such observations, the data allegedly revealed is purely subjective and remarkably vague - there were a number of unidentified spirits detected during the stay; information connected purely to relatives of others attending the events related; wholly bizarre activities suggested as ways of 'appeasing the spirits' and - as with any good psychic commenting on an allegedly haunted site - no less than three suicides and two other tragic deaths on the premises! (None of which, it should be mentioned, can be found recorded in regional, historical records and such).
One psychic mentioned to the group exited a ground floor lavatory during her visit and was physically sick in front of onlookers..... The reason for this, she said, was because she'd just seen someone (she personally knew to be dead) sitting on the toilet inside!!!!
It was both amusing and interesting to hear - being a fan of the programme - that certain scenes from an episode of the TV police series 'Dalziel and Pascoe' had been recorded inside the Jabez Cliff Factory! During the filming, one of the crew members had asked Cliff if the site was supposed to be haunted.... but never went into exactly 'why' he had come to ask? Apparently, some other crew members had mentioning seeing two figures in an area of the building which had supposedly been cleared for the purpose of filming...... two people that could not be later located.
At the time of our visit, Cliff had expressed considerable interest in having other associations and clubs spend time at the premises, as he had a keen interest in collating as much information about the site as possible in the time remaining to him. Just prior to our investigation, a Birmingham and Solihull based group had also spent some time at the site and we had also passed a reference on to a sister group of ours, the Black Country Paranormal Society. A relative of Mr. Tibbits had also, it seemed, contacted the popular TV show, Most Haunted, about a programme based around the factory and it's history, but the latter mentioned was seemingly never pursued.......
Sadly - at the time of writing this piece (Aug. 17th 2011) - we have just been informed that the once impressive and palatial factory is now no more........ Queries as to it's eventual fate were already being bandied about at the time that the business moved, some years back, and a long-standing campaign to find potential buyers for the property launched in earnest.
Unfortunately, it transpires that - only yesterday afternoon - the long empty and semi-derelict building fell foul to a mysterious fire, which has completely gutted the property. Even as these words are typed, demolition work is being carried out on what remains of the empty shell - Lower Foster Street currently being closed to traffic - because of fears for public safety.
As we are sure everyone will agree - a sad end to a most historic and prominent building in Walsalls industrial heritage........
A Selection of Workplace Hauntings:
For the true paranormal researcher, the extended-family-like set-up of many workplaces provide us with a wonderful example of how an allegedly haunted situation effects a small, insular community; how the activity concerned, whatever it might comprise of, frequently takes hold of certain elements within the overall framework and becomes en-meshed in the day to day working of the concern in question. While frequently resembling little more than an overly-large 'haunted house' type scenario, the 'haunted workplace' generally provides many more sources - unrelated too - from which to draw our potential evidence........
It started off as something of a vexed task to begin leafing through W.M.G.C. files in an endeavour to work out exactly what stories to briefly use in this general write-up of ghostly, workplace shenanigans. Over the years, we have been informed of numerous haunted properties that might fit such a bill, from the dodgiest-looking public house, to the rather exclusive, financial office complex.... However, after some deliberation, it was deemed a good idea to blatantly omit certain types of cases from this segment and perhaps focus specifically on some of the more recent matters that the W.M.G.C. had been directly (in some capacity) involved with? Perhaps the biggest omission here is going to be the subject of the 'haunted pub'.... left out, basically, because such a topic has been surely 'done to death' within recent years and, if we were to tap out anything on the subject on local cases, it would probably merit a section all of it's own on the website?
Under the circumstances, we have simply thrown together a few instances of disturbances at business premises that the W.M.G.C. Have been made aware of - and sometimes investigated - well within the last 10 years of operation.
The lavish foyer of the Midlands-based, financial company, investigated overnight by members of the West Midlands Ghost Club
Some people claimed that a shower room in the complex had a most uneasy and oppressive feeling to it, while others had experienced the sound of womens footsteps - in high-heels - in the basement of the building when they were totally alone. The inexplicable sound of classical music was reported by some, while other sections of the huge building apparently housed poltergeist-like effects, in the form of objects being thrown around.....
Luckily - and especially so for such a prestigious company - the head management of the building were wholly sympathetic to our contacts interest in the site and actually sanctioned organised investigations, involving staff members. (One such was held for a charitable cause). Wishing to take the matter further, however, the manager involved asked if we might be interested in visiting the site for a guided tour of the property, with a view to carrying out an investigation at a later date. This, needless to mention, we were more than happy to carry out and did so as soon as matters could be arranged.
On the night of the investigation, 5 members of the W.M. Ghost Club attended, along with 5 members of staff from the complex itself. (Including one self-professed medium). Again, the group members were treated to more data involving peculiar happenings at the site. A dark figure had allegedly been seen by security staff, walking through the reception area, and a woman - attending the last staff investigation - supposedly had a cup of coffee 'slapped' out of her hand by something invisible!?! While conducting a walk-through of the multi-level, basement area, we were informed a delivery man had recently witnessed a group of large trolleys move, seemingly of their own volition, over a certain distance.... Group member Steve Chew was invited to experiment with the trolleys concerned, which proved very had to move indeed (let alone 'under their own steam').
As with a great many W.M.G.C. Investigations, it seems that the 'ghosts' failed to 'come out and play' during our visit, for whatever reason. It has to be said that this is never a let-down for group members - a lack of activity - and it is a situation that is most 'telling' when it comes to a comparison between 'objective' investigation and the more common (these days at least) 'biased' event. A biased approach - such as the use of psychics as investigative tools and pseudo-scientific 'kit' (the some purpose of which appears to be to baffle onlookers with flashing lights and anomalous readings) is clearly geared towards 'finding results of some nature', of course. This sort of effect can be, in a great many instances, already present within the site itself, especially so when there are a number of people present (in whatever capacity) with loaded, pro-paranormal belief systems. (*The W.M.G.C. Call this situation a 'paranormally charged community' - the end result of which is often pro-ghostly-charged atoms being agitated to such an extent by each other that they canon around, ever quicker, acerbating the overall effect, etc).
In the case cited above, it is interesting to note that - despite the company running in the premises concerned for a number of years with literally hundreds of staff members - it wasn't until the managers experience in 2008 that any suggestion of a 'haunting' came to light..... This may have been an example of 'once reported, then noticed in full', of course, but the initial experience could also possibly have simply 'led' to the overall 'ghost' situation developing, purely from there, a' la 'paranormally charged community' situation?
2006 saw the W.M. Ghost Club conducting an overnight vigil at a huge, 19th Century Tile Works in Shropshire. The site itself had, within recent years, been split into separate units - some residential and some industrial. A craft shop, situated on one of the upper floors of the property was said to be the site of considerable poltergeist activity, a previous owner having reported seeing stored musical instruments and furniture 'hovering in the air' and moving of their own volition. Later occupants reported the movement of other objects within that area too, including such things as washing-up liquid bottles....... After packing a number of items into a box one night, the owner returned the next morning to discover that the objects were now inexplicably 'unpacked'.... and positioned around the shop floor!!!
In a carpentry workshop, housed in the building, the sound of movement and 'dragging noises' have been detected. In a corridor outside the woodwork room, a dark figure has frequently been seen making it's way from a staircase - at one end of the passage - and vanishing before reaching the other end. This is invariably seen through the frosty glass windows that make up the one corridor / workroom wall, by people situated inside the carpentry area. On one occasion, a visiting social worker had seen two mysterious figures leaving the workroom, while others present at that precise time saw nothing at all.....??
Sarah and Steve Chew - situated in the Craft Shop at the former tile factory in Shropshire
After some short scrutiny, the pair moved away from the door / window briefly and returned again a brief while later. As they stopped, they heard a pattern of knocking noises seemingly coming from the same window as before...... This incident drew to an abrupt end on the appearance of another group member, Kev Wallace, from a completely different section of the building where the rest of the group were then currently positioned......
Another Shropshire related matter - which is clearly not an actual, 'haunting' situation, but, non-the-less, of passing interest - concerns a peculiar incident associated with a lock-up style workshop just outside Oswestry. The group was alerted to the event by a phone call, just after Christmas 2010.
The owner of the business concerned had been urged to give us a ring by a friend after the alarm for his premises had inexplicably gone off during the early hours of one morning. The 'mysterious' element to the situation arose when, as he was driving to the property in response to the alarm notification, he received a message, on his mobile phone answer service, from the business line inside the lock-up........!
Checking the message, the owner was both horrified and puzzled to hear what sounded (to him like an old man) heavy breathing and moaning........ He said that the vocal sounds almost formed words at times, but not quite legible as speech. It should go without saying that there shouldn't have been anyone inside the premises at that point in time to have made the call and a definite, physical effort had to be made to ring him from his works location.
Arriving at the property, there was no sign of a break in or intruder of any kind and certain security measures were all still in place and undisturbed. Unfortunately, with a such minor happening being reported, there was little for the W.M.G.C. to do under the circumstances, but keep a record of the puzzling matter for possible, future reference.
Could something as innocent in appearance as a carved, wooden 'weasel' carry a malign force, capable of influencing it's owners and bringing bad luck on them.....?
On first suspecting some form of supernatural reason for the negative events reported, the man had approached the local church, but found the related authorities to be rather unsympathetic about his concerns. While the W.M.G.C., on the other hand, were wholly sympathetic to the situation concerned, we would never claim to be able to influence events of a potentially paranormal nature and so, were unable to be of help in the matter.........
The following tale came, as many cases do, in the course of a completely different enquiry all-together. The gentleman relating his experience to us did so as a digression from the main point of our conversation - i.e. we were initially and mainly interviewing him, as a result of his living in an allegedly haunted house in the Cannock area of South Staffordshire in 2003.
As an asides to his main story, he mentioned that he had - some years before - been the part-owner of a factory property near Walsall town centre and had seen, what he had taken to be, a ghost there. Being his own boss suited him very well at that point in time, as he would frequently - and quite happily - set himself some work to occupy him throughout the night. On the one shift, however, he was toiling away at his usual machine when he suddenly became aware of a figure 'pop-up' to the left-hand side of him, down the far end of the shop floor. Thinking someone had probably broken into the premises, he picked up a hefty iron bar and, with some trepidation, went to look for the intruder. Some minutes later, having found nothing amiss, he returned to his work......
Starting work once again, he - again - became aware of a figure, in his peripheral vision, off to his left side. Once more, he went on patrol with his trusty, iron bar...... and, once more, returned to his machine without finding a sign of anyone being with him inside the building.
Beginning work again, it was not long before he noticed what he described as a 'mist' forming above his head. In desperation, he called out: "Please leave me alone.... I just want to finish my work!!" Sadly, after the experiences described, he just couldn't settle back down and - for the first time - left the building 'early' (for him) at around 3 am.
Perturbed, our witness decided to now ask his business partner (a strictly 'daytime' worker) if he had ever seen anything untoward at the factory...... He said that he hadn't, but another member of staff - who also worked some nights - had frequently reported seeing the figure of a 'face-less man in a trench coat' on the shop floor!!
Once again, the group were not in a position to be able to physically follow-up on this intriguing matter, but a record of the affair is recorded in our notes........ just in case!! Laugh!!!
Interestingly, the building concerned was situated in a smallish part of a town which had been of some fascination to us for a number of years. The corner of land concerned appeared to have a number of allegedly haunted properties and sites within it, tales which had come into the group separately over the space of a long period of time, from a variety of unrelated witnesses and sources. Some of the sites tied-in with the ghost-lore of this region were at least two shops, one ecclesiastical property (and another long demolished), a patch of open land, a private flat, an office complex and two public houses........ Most intriguingly, the main figure associated with a number of the sites involved (despite the distances between each) is described as a smoke-like, monk-like form, seemingly wearing a cowl, or some such garment, over it's head.
On our visit to the offices, we spoke with a young man who had witnessed a peculiar figure in one of the properties corridors some two or so years earlier. He described what he had seen as a shadowy-figure moving along the corridor wall, with it's hands held aloft in a menacing, claw-like position........
Our involvement in another, local factory and office haunting made headlines in the local press for a number of weeks running. The group had been alerted to the matter in question by a phone call from one of the firm managers, following a series of (then) recent, strange happenings at the site.
We were informed that, only a matter of weeks earlier, a staff member had heard a female voice calling out 'Hello?' in the office area, when there was only herself and a male colleague on the premises. A short while later, another female member - helping lock up the business for the night - also heard a female voice seemingly say: 'Don't go - you're okay!' to her. She is reported to have screamed at the sound and was quite disturbed by the experience.
Intriguingly, it was suggested by a number of staff that the activity concerned had only begun after the arrival of one, particular, female member to the company? Needless to say, depending on your beliefs re. The general subject of ghosts and hauntings, this is not an unfamiliar motif in many cases throughout the history of ghost-lore(?) It was also suggested that there had been at least two deaths in the general area in years-gone-by - a hanging and an accidental drowning, both involving women(?) Unfortunately, a search of the local archives for the region concerned turned up nothing of interest on this particular subject......
A matter of considerable interest re. The above mentioned case is the fact that the story later appeared in a book on local ghosts..... though the details related were somewhat inconsistent with what we had been told on the matter. Of course, the story is 'completely in the telling' in these matters, but any discrepancies in the tale did not lie in the lap of the responding W.M.G.C. members, as all interviews with staff were recorded and transcribed into 'hard-copy' immediately afterwards(?)
Interestingly, the witness had worked at the firm concerned for some 13 or so years and had never experienced anything untoward until she moved departments. Within a matter of 2 or 3 days, she had her first encounter with 'her ghost' and continued to do so, semi-regularly, afterwards.
She describes her 'visitor', thus: A young man, some 17 to 20 years old, perhaps, with dark hair cut in a short-back-and-sides style. He is always dressed in brown-coloured dungarees - like a carpenter or painter would wear - with round necked, white t-shirt and, sometimes, a short coat. He is only ever seen in her peripheral vision, to begin with, and when looking at him head-on, he is only ever viewable in profile, or from behind. Sometimes, she has seen him with a small, yellow pencil, which is occasionally tucked behind his ear, or seemingly being played with in some way - and sometimes he is carrying a coke bottle. (Not a plastic bottle, but glass). Sometimes, he has even appeared sitting on an office chair - though not one of those in the current office - and 'sliding around' the room on it, as if on castors!! While slightly old-fashioned in appearance, it is stressed that the young man is very much a figure from the 20th Century.
She had the distinct impression that the lad doesn't know she is there and he seems to be simply 'going about his own business'. She has waited for other present to say something about the figure to her, but no one ever seems to notice him. On one occasion a workmate walked straight past the young man, but he clearly did not see the figure. Strangely, he is reported as never seeming to appear or move around under a certain distance away from her and has only ever been experienced before 8 am, never afterwards.
While the possibility of calling in the W.M.G.C. Was being discussed, there was a certain level of apprehension about such a plan, as the witness didn't like the idea of actually disturbing the lad in any way. She stressed that she has never been afraid of what she has witnessed, as there is nothing at all scary about her experiences . She says that she gets the impression that she is intruding on his existence, more than anything else. She has always shied away from any thoughts of trying to speak to the figure, as she doesn't want to disturb him in any way.......
A matter of interest in this case is the fact that there are a number of ghost-related stories associated with the area in question - but all known accounts, so far, concern 'female' apparitions......?
Was an apparition from a previous time given to 'visiting' this new office complex and 'manifesting' solely to a female member of staff?
The business had been in the premises for some 11 years and many reports of strange happenings had been made by staff and customers alike in that time period. A lot of the incidents catalogued seemed to fall into the general poltergeist-happening bracket, such as files and folders being thrown out of cabinets; doors opening and closing by themselves and objects being moved around when there was no one on the premises. As well as the aforementioned, more disturbing things had occurred at times.... the sound of a young girl crying from one particular corner of a specific office; shadowy figures seen moving around the complex on security cameras and female staff members being touched on the shoulder by invisible hands.
During our visit, we were told that the site was apparently built on an area once occupied by an old burial ground. This, needless to say, is a motif that crops up quite a lot when dealing with allegedly haunted buildings.... and, it has to be stressed, a dramatic details which is seldom found to be true. It was mentioned that, in this case however, a company had planned to build on the site some while earlier, but had suddenly cancelled any notion of occupying the area after finding high levels of calcium in the soil thereabouts...... Needless to say, calcium filled earth can be indicative of the presence of bodies. However, a brief look at some of O.S. Maps of the region quickly revealed a much less 'grisly' reason for the calcium deposit..... there had been allotments on the site decades before and fish bone (calcium) was a commonly used fertiliser. No record of a graveyard anywhere in the region! Laugh!!
A 'missed opportunity' was had in 2005, when we were informed of another haunted factory in the region. Sadly, we were just a little too slow on the uptake with this particular matter, as the property concerned - a 100+ yr old site - was due to be demolished within a couple of days of our being told of the matter! Laugh!!! Still, we jumped as soon as we were able and, in an interview with the former owner, we learned of some of the sites peculiar history.....
Once again, mischievous forces seemed to be at work, in the form of a poltergeist-esque effect around the premises. Objects were frequently seen to fly around - timber, pots of paint and so on - seemingly of their own volition, and footsteps heard in empty rooms..... No one had been able to give any suggestions as to a root-cause for disturbances at the factory, but one suggestion was made by the owner, seemingly pointing towards it's close proximity to hallowed ground, perhaps? Who knows?
Despite having 'missed the boat' somewhat with regards to the prospects of carrying out some form of investigation into the matter, a group member was able to visit the site - literally hours prior to the demolition - and take a few shots for the club archives and posterity!!
As a slight digression to the story, it should be mentioned (if only in passing) that the group had been alerted to happenings at this site some years ago, during an interview with a fairly well-known figure in the local history circuit. The place was only mentioned in passing, however, as a building that they 'had heard' was haunted in some way.
It was an email from staff at the company that eventually introduced us to the case in a first-hand capacity, when we were asked to respond to activity that had allegedly been going on in their specific quarter of the overall concern. The offices involved were quite well known for strange happenings, it seems, which mainly comprised of the antics of a ghost known as 'George' who occupied an upper, abandoned floor of the block and was known to 'touch' the female staff!!
On visiting the premises, we were given a tour of the building (mentioned above) and then a wider view of the region in the presence of security staff who filled us in on their own experiences. On the main factory floor, one officer had heard someone walking across a surface in front of him, but, upon shining his torch in that direction, saw nothing to account for the sounds! On a later occasion, he saw what he described as a dark figure crossing the one end of the factory floor (where the sections of chapel are said to still stand).
Moving to this area, it has to be said that certain parts of the overall structure appeared quite alien and - to an, albeit, greatly uneducated eye, in that particular subject - of a totally different style and era to the rest of the structure. It could be seen that certain walls within the building were of totally different make-up to the rest..... some of which clearly contained bricked-in arched windows and doorways, very much similar to those possibly seen in some form of religious building..... The whole effect was very perplexing indeed and the group members present left the site with the promise (to staff) that we'd do our best to fathom out the higgledy-piggledy, physical appearance of the building!
As mentioned previously, a vain search had already been made of the history of the region on first mention of a chapel-like structure. Apart from the one reference in print, there was clearly no record of any such structure having stood there. Checks were made with an architectural expert who suggested that the 'building remains' were not ecclesiastical in nature, but potentially 'industrial' and made from poor-quality, Victorian-age brick.....?
Working on that basis, it didn't take long to get to the bottom of the chapel reference, when it was discovered that blast furnaces had stood on some of the land concerned, previously. This was a known fact, historically, but it wasn't until an etching of the furnace concerned was physically seen by a group member that the 'chapel' building was discovered to be nothing of the sort - actually comprising of a minor part of the furnace associated work-rooms!!! In checking with other examples of blast furnaces (from around the globe) it seems that many contained features such as arched windows and doors and a number could, if in a ruinous enough state, be perhaps romantically tied in with some form of ecclesiastical shell? Needless to say, the 'shell' of part of the old blast furnace had, thankfully, been preserved as part of the newer complex of buildings, for some reason. Given the overall, ramshackle structure, it is hard to imagine that this would have been because of some reason of 'heritage', but - probably - more a case of 'easier / cheaper to build round' rather than 'knock down'!? Laugh!!!
What ever the reason for it's current state and position, we are truly thankful for one of the more mysterious and enduring mysteries that have happened to come our way in many years! Laugh!! In a wonderful, if accidental, twist, it is remarkable to find how the sheer, physical appearance of a pile of bricks can add to the haunted history of a given region - even if in a totally erroneous and distorted fashion!? But, given the true, non-religious usage of the building concerned..... what of the long-presumed, ghostly 'pastor' now, we wonder?