Ghost Hunter Team UK

The Cooperage

Photo's from the night:

The Above image was caught by Steve Brownlee investigator in training we have looked into this photo and the report stated that a spiral of mist came down and formed a man hanging. Steve snapped the shot as it was dispersing.

The Above image was caught by Louise Mary Smith there was 2 hand prints that seam to show up on film but not in real life there on the wood posts to the left of the image.

Background:  The Cooperage is a large historical timber framed Newcastle pub dating to the 14th century. Previously it had been used as a Coopers workshop (hence the name) and supplied many of the barrels used in the cites other pubs in the 18th century.

This building has been variously a merchant's dwelling, a mayoral residence, a prison for pressgangs a warehouse, and of course a barrel factory (cooperage).

There is a cosy atmosphere in the pub with two small bars on either side of main entrance. The bar has a timber framed ceiling with wooden beams. Old pictures of Newcastle adorn the walls. The pub attracts students, locals and Quayside revellers and it can be busy at most times due to its reputation for excellent real ales, and especially at the weekend

The Cooperage is the only survivor of these timber framed houses and is one of the oldest houses in Newcastle, dating from the 15th century. It stands almost below the piers of the High Level Bridge. The building backs onto a steep slope and when the various owners wanted to extend they had to go ‘up’ instead of ‘out’. A storey was added around every century using bricks brought in as ships’ ballast. 

The building is rumoured that its wooden frame was recycled from a ship that sank in the Tyne.

It is thought there may have been a Cooper here earlier but John Arthur started up in in 1853 and it continued in the same family. They are still in business but not making wooden barrels. Business would have been brisk during the 18th and 19th centuries as barrels were the essential cargo container. Hailed as an ingenious invention they are far more complex than they appear.

Haunting Type: Apparition’s, Ghostly voices, unseen but herd foot steps, smashing glasses, violent attacks, ecto-mist, orbs and funnel vortex. This location was a grate for the Ouija board and for forms of divination as we had spirits coming from a time when the land was just land and there where no housing. There is an evil spirit by the name of Vincent as he called him self and confessed to been a kid killer and that he had murdered 2 kids in Goteshead, now known as Gateshead and was hung for this his body was displayed where the pub now stands. There is reports of a man in a tall hat standing next to the 2nd floor window smoking a pipe. We also had 2 little girls come throw that just wanted to talk about Christmas and that there dad was killed on the side steps and used one of the girls as a shield against an attack of a cooper that worked there in the location.Energy: cold spots, Hot spots moving around locations

Full Investigation undertaken and rated:

Findings: The location was an amazing place to ghost hunt although the place was quiet noisy and the floors had to have a member of staff in each location. The night was good with plenty of activity and sittings. The best thing that we had witnessed was throw a night vision camera that did not record this point and still cant figure out why. We witnessed team 2 undertaking an Ouija board experiment on the 2nd floor where we noticed an extra person sitting at the table. on contact vie the walki talki's they confirmed there was no one sitting next to them although the air tem, had dropped from 16c down to just 9c and the spirit that they had contacted was a small girl and this was what we could see a small girl sitting and moving. She would move and vanish then partly show her hair the face and then side then she was gone Egan. We also had the ladders from the attack fall down on us and nearly knock one team member down the steps.

EVP: There was no EVP recorder due to noise and for some reason the equipment kept messing up.

Walworth Castle

Location of the haunted place: Walworth, nr Darlington

Origin ofthe haunting: unknown

Background: The castle, built in 1189, became a privately-owned hotel in 1981. The east and west wings were rebuilt during the time of Elizabeth I and in 1759 the north wing was rebuilt. The castle was used by the Durham Light Infantry as an Officer's Mess and HQ during the war. It then became a school for girls before being refurbished and opened as a hotel. .

Haunting Type: Aparition's, Ghostly voices, unseen but herd foot steps.

Energy: cold spots, Hot spots

Full Investigation still to come.

Ghost Photos from Castle Keep:

The Image taken by Trevor Brown G.H.T.UK.

No ghost but somthing was moving around fast and would pass you at speed and this happens during the day in the Gallories.

This photo was shot on 20th June overnight By Ann Louise In the Museum during a food brake.Note the strange light snake. It was in one photo then not the next there is also some Orb action going on.

The Chapel, we have reports of heat spots and a small dark figure that wanders the chapel. On one investigation we had a voice of a man tell us "No black magick" when every one was sitting quite.

Background: The Castle of Newcastle Upon Tyne stands on a steep sided promontory overlooking the River Tyne. The site has been occupied for nearly 2000 years, with flint flakes and a stone axe head found in archaeological excavations testament to much earlier prehistoric activity.

From the mid 2nd century till the beginning of the 5th century the Roman fort of Pons Aelius stood on the present castle site guarding the river crossing. From the 8th century the site of the fort was used as a Christian cemetery.

The New Castle Upon Tyne was founded by Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William the Conqueror in 1080 and was a motte and bailey type. The castle was rebuilt in stone during the reign of Henry II, between 1168 and 1178. In this time the keep and the curtain wall, with a gatehouse (Bailey Gate) were added to the site.

During the reign of King John (1207 - 1216) an aisled hall was built in the bailey and during the reign of Henry III between 1247 and 1250 a barbican - the Black Gate - was added to the north gate. The town wall was completed in the mid 14th century and the castle became isolated within the new defenses. By 1589 it was described as old and ruinous.

Please read more about the castle and its grounds from this link

Ghost story: This Location has so many ghost stories. The main ghost stories are of a civil war soldier who wanders the castle museum and queens chamber There is often a dark figure seen in the chapel. A small boy with ginger hair is sited in the Garrison room and often talks to small children visiting the castle. There is also a very dark entity that haunts the garrison room making people feel sick and some times pass out as our team have witnessed this on more than one occasion.

There is two ghost men and woman that haunt the roof, one man was blown off the roof while firing a canon. The second man jumped off the roof in 1988. There has also been stories of a lady who was pushed from the room while the castle was in use. There is a story with NO evidence to back it up that there is a young girl labeled the poppy girl who haunts the castle. This location is one of the most haunted locations in Newcastle

Haunting type: Apparition, sounds, orbs, ectomist, stone tape theory moving objects, Electrical problems, violent attacks on members of staff.

Full Investigation undertaken and rated:

Findings: This place is always an amazing investigation with new stuff discovered all the time. some members of our team have investigated the castle over 40 times and things still happen that never happened before. Some of the best things witnessed in this location are a member of staff been physically been slapped across the back of the head and knocked the staff member to the floor.

The ghost image on the other side of this page taken by Castle Keep veteran Trevor Brown of what some people have described as two men fighting with swords and others have said it looks like a gauntlet glove with jailers keys

(Report from Trevor Brown)

At 3 am I was in the Kings chamber talking with the individuals who were
investigating that room when the other event marshal came in and
whispered to me that I had to “come and see this” I thought she was just
messing about but never the less I had my camera ready. When I turned
and faced the doorway out of the kings chamber there it was across the
hall and standing on top of the stairs leading up to another room. It was
a large mist like shape and it traveled down the stairs and across the
hall towards me and it was as if it was reaching out with its left arm.

I clicked my camera and took the photo. By this time all the hairs on my
body where standing on end and my eyes started to stream. It was all
over in a split second but I got the photo. The exact time of the photo
was 3.11 am. Being skeptical myself I had several sleepless nights
trying to figure out what I had actually witnessed, but to no avail. I
know it was not smoke as no one was allowed to smoke in the building and
I thought it could have been my own breath but how could my own breath
travel that far away from me to travel back towards me? I do not think
about it anymore because it does my head in but I am grateful for the
experience.

Background: The present castle was built, by Sir William Hilton, between 1374 and 1420. There is nothing left of the original castle built in 1072. Towards the end of the 18th Century the castle was abandoned and much of it was demolished in 1862.

Ghost story: The Cauld Lad, Robert Skelton was a bit of a lazy boy. He was a stable boy and one of his jobs was to get the master's horse ready. One day he fell asleep and when the master came to get his horse it wasn't ready. He flew into a terrible rage and wiped the boy with his horse cane. He threw a pitchfork at him and killed The Cauld Lad, Robert Skelton.He threw the naked body into the pond after abusing it. he was seen wandering round the grounds shivering. Eventually the bones were found in the pond and he was given a proper burial. Nobody has seen him since.

My mum told me of a story when i was kid. She sed she used to stay at a friends house that was on a farm over from the castle during 1970s and the youngest chiled was always reporting she was seeing monkes at the bottom of her bed. The story was that the farther had found under grownd tunles to the castle that the monkes would use to escape the kings men when thay came for there tax money or to aradicate there religion from England. The monkes where courght in the tunles and slaughterd all the way to the farm house. The tunels where seaild up in the 1980 and the farm knocked down and housing built on this site.

There is also stories about the police been caled out in the 1980s to come to the castle as there was screams so loud that the whole serounding area could here what sounded like some one been kiled. When the police got there they to could here this horid cry of death. But upon 20 or more police searching the castle and grounds found nothing and this os still unexplaned.

Haunting type: Apparition, sounds, wriath.

Robin Hood of Barnsdale Forest !

The legend of Robin Hood has been questioned and debated  for many years by historians  and Robin Hood experts. The fallacy that the haunts of Robin Hood are all in Nottinghamshire has been constantly debated  to the detriment of Robin's Yorkshire connections. Most Robin Hood historians now recognise  that Robin may well have been a Yorkshireman who was born in Wakefield,lived in Barnsdale Forest and died at Kirklees Priory where his grave  is  in a derelict and completely  overgrown condition. The ruined priory gatehouse, where he was gruesomely murdered by the wicked prioress,is still in existence also, but unfortunately both sites are on private land and access almost impossible,other than by trespassing ,while any proposals regarding restoration of these unique monuments have come to nothing. 

The earliest reference to Robin Hood is in the Vision of Piers Plowman (1377) in which the rhymester says "I do not know my paternoster perfectly but I know rhymes of Robin Hood and Randolph Earl of Chester".

Background: Robin Hood's death is recorded in the ballad ROBIN HOOD, HIS DEATH AND BURIAL and briefly in the GESTE. According to the literature Robin is taken ill and decides to go to Kirklees Priory to be nursed by the prioress, who was "nye of his kin" and reputedly skilled in healing. On the way to the nunnery Robin is cursed by a witch - for reasons unknown, as the ballad is unfortunately incomplete. When Robin arrives at the nunnery, Little John, who has accompanied him, is sent away and the prioress proceeds to bleed Robin by opening a vein in his arm - standard medieval medicine, though unlikely to do anyone much good !

"Shee laid the blood irons to Robin Hood's vaine
Alacke the more pitye!
And perct the vaine, and let out the bloode,
That full red was to see. At first it bled,the thicke,thicke blood,
And afterwards the thinne,
And well then wist good Robin Hoode,
Treason there was within."
DEATH, V 16-17

According to the legend, Robin summons Little John with three blasts of his trusty hunting horn and the giant rushes to his comrade' s assistance, but alas,he is too late and Robin is already dying. With his last ounce of strength Robin fires his last arrow from the priory gatehouse window, requesting that where it falls he should be buried. Little John is beside himself with rage and grief and threatens to raze the nunnery and all its inhabitants to the ground.

Haunting Type: On another occasion one chap was on his way home from the Three Nuns pub. As he was walking through the woods something fell out of a tree and knocked him to the ground. When he got up he could see the old gatehouse. In the window he could clearly see a man with a bow. his family always said it was the drink, but it was Robin Hood's ghost".

In 1963 guitarist Roger Williams took an unofficial stroll up to Robin's grave with a friend. About twenty yards from the grave he saw a white robed woman who suddenly seemed to glide towards the two men. What made Roger's hair stand on end was how silently she moved over the twigs and bracken. Roger saw the same apparition again in 1972, in full daylight, and again she stopped a few yards from him and his companion. This time Roger remembered a few more details. The woman was wearing a long white dress with a square neck and long sleeves which accords with the habit of a Cistercian nun. The eerie sequel to this experience was that Roger's house then experienced a series of strange noises and bangings. After this. Roger swore that ''wild horses would not drag me up there again."

Shortly after this a reporter, Judith Broadbent, from the Dewsbury Reporter,and a photographer colleague, Sue Ellis were allowed to visit the gravesite by the owner. While wandering around she heard heavy footsteps behind her and she was pulled to the ground by invisible forces. She shouted "get away'' and her friend came rushing to help her. Her camera had jammed while trying to photograph the grave. A week later Sue was taken seriously ill and was paralysed from the neck downwards for two weeks.

A further sighting by another nocturnal visitor proved a terrifying experience when she saw two figures hovering in the trees surrounding the grave ,who she took to be the evil prioress and her paramour Red Roger of Doncaster." I felt, and saw, what I can only describe streams of evil pouring out of the trees towards me'' the witness stated.

The list of Fortean incidents that are related to the grave continues to include an exorcism by Rev Sean Manchester (Highgate Vampire), suggested ley line alignments with the grave and poltergeist activity.

Energy: cold spots, Hot spots, Lat lines

Full Investigation still to come.

Tintagel Castle and Merlin's Cave

Location of the haunted place: Tintagel Cornwall.

Photos of the cave and castle:

The door way at the top of the castle steps.

The cave on there left. Supposed ghost of the Mirlin haunts this place.

Origin of the haunting: Since time began, Myth, shipwrecks.

Foot Note: A grate place to visit and can be hard to fined if you dont know the local roads. I would recomend a map and a bottle of water as there climbe is hard to the top of the location as its at a top of a cliff but the view is amazing, only recomended in good weather as its all out doors and this location is manly ground rueins. The cave is accsesible only at low tide and you need to check the tide times. Very slipery and caution needed. as the cave fills with water. there is some nice small water falls on the beach and a grate place for a pitnick, but extreamly bussy in high summer. If you are in this earea you must go to the Witchcraft musium of Bostcastle a must for any pagan or wiccan.

Background: Tintagel is a veritable cornucopia of all things commercially Arthurian. But as you descend the steep earth path that strikes out toward the rocky headland the tourist trappings of the village fall away and a mystical aura envelopes you.

The medieval castle has been split in two by the unrelenting waves beneath that swallow more and more of the legendary site with each passing year. One section stands upon the rocky mainland the other on an Island reached over a rocky neck.

According to legend Tintagel Castle was the birthplace of King Arthur. Within its walls King Uther Pendragon, assisted by his wizard Merlin disguised himself as Gorlois, Earl of Cornwall and seduced his wife, Igerna who, as a result, later gave birth to Arthur

The castle, however, is of a much later date and was built around 1236 by Earl Richard of Cornwall, brother of King Henry 111. Following his death the castle was allowed to fall in to decay.

Archaeologists however have discovered that an important King certainly did live on this site. In 1998 the “Arthnou” stone a 1400 year old inscribed slate believed to have been the foundation stone for a much earlier fortress that stood on this wild, rugged and windswept cliff top. Incised with a knife in sixth century script is the Latin inscription “Pater coliavificit Artognov” which translates as “Artognou father of a descendant of Col has made this”. The find has provided an intriguing link since the similarity of the name to Arthur suggests the links between this place of windswept mystery and a possible real life King Arthur may well be more than mythical.

On the shingle beach beneath the castle is a sinister cave with dark, jagged rock walls known as Merlin's Cave said to be haunted by the ghost of the wizard who, as the wild waves crash about his former home, wanders its shadowy recesses.

Haunting Type: Dark shadows, Ghostly voices, Phantom ships.

Energy: cold spots "But This is out doors" !!

Full Investigation undertaken and found nothing.

Roche Rock Chapel

Background: St. Conan, the first bishop of Cornwall, was said to have lived atop the rock as a hermit. In 1409, a brick chapel was built there and was dedicated to the archangel St. Michael. The leper took up residence there as a hermit, and was attended by his daughter, St. Gundred, until he died. The chapel has been in ruins for nearly three centuries.

The area around Roche Rock was the hunting grounds of King Arthur. Another hermit said to have lived there was Ogrin, who gave refuge to the legendary lovers Tristan and Iseult when they were trying to escape King Mark of Cornwall, Tristan's uncle who was betrothed to Iseult.

Ghost Story: Roche Rock is haunted by demonic spirits, mine spirits, a phantom monk the ghost of a leper hermit and black dogs. Its most famous ghostly resident is Jan Tregeagle, a thieving Cornishman who, according to legend, tried to outsmart the Devil and failed.

Tregeagle was a real person, a magistrate in the 17th century who was renowned for his cruelty and thievery. After he died, a legal dispute arose over land he had seized illegally by forging papers. His ghost appeared in court, summoned from hell. When the case was over and settled against Tregeagle, he was reluctant to return to hell. The judge sentenced him to emptying nearby Dozmary Pool with a limpet shell, a task he could never complete. But to keep him in his place, demons and hell hounds guarded him.

One night during a terrible storm, Tregeagle escaped his infernal guards and went tearing across Bodmin Moor with the demons and baying hell hounds on his tail. Tregeagle tried to hide in the Roche Rock chapel, but got his head stuck in the narrow east stained glass window. His head was inside the chapel and his body stuck outside. A priest heard his cries and rescued him.

Tregeagle was then set to weaving a rope from beach sand. He completed it by pouring freezing water on the rope, but was given other impossible tasks, which he still labors to complete. His restless ghost haunts Roche Rock, especially when winds howl around the moor.

Roche Rock has been fitted with ladders so that the brave can scale to chapel ruins and the very top of the rock. Not a task for a windy day or a dark night — unless you want to join the ghosts and spirits who call Roche Rock home

The rock is spooky enough in appearance but it is also unusual in composition, a factor that may contribute to its haunted nature. It was formed millions of years ago out of gray quartz and black tourmaline, distinctly different from other granite rocks in the area. Perhaps Roche Rock became a giant magnet for paranormal phenomena and supernatural lore.

For more info on Jan Tregeagle: 

www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/legends/jantreg.html 

Haunting Type: Aparition's, Ghostly voices, Fleeting shadows, Growling sounds, crying sounds, Violent atacks, and lots of myths.

Energy: cold spots, Hot spots, Ley lines

Full Investigation still to come.

Location of the haunted place: Newcastle Upon Tyne, The Sandhill Newcastle Quayside

Origin of the haunting: Murder's, life, tragedy 

Foot Note: Amazing food, good ales and wines, every Thursday there is an alternative night in Offshore 44, Bob Trollops is a vegetarian restaurant with best food in town. These pubs are all featured on the haunted pub tour of Newcastle. This is a very busy Newcastle bar and night club. It's well worth checking out the Newcastle Quayside Ghost walk if your in this location as they have some tails and reports from this location plus there is a  small investigation involved in the ghost walk. The Bessie Surtees exhibition illustrating the history of the houses is on the first floor. This site is maintained by English Heritage Open Monday-Friday 10am-4pm.

The Buildings Built in the 16^th Century and used as a sea merchant’s house, it’s also thought to have been used as a home for abandoned children in the  early 18^th Century; the place just opposite the location is a site of many hangings The building is a fine and rare example of Jacobean architecture still standing today. Next door to the building is the famous Bessie Surtees house with its romancing tail of Bessie’s elopement with John Scott to Scotland.

Bessie Surtees House Next door to the locations you will be investigating:

Bessie Surtees House is two merchants' houses on Newcastle's Quayside that were built in the 16th and 17th centuries. This house is famous for a romance. 18 yr old Bessie Surtees had fell deep in love with a no body named John Scott, her parents were unhappy about this as they had someone older and richer for her to wed, she wanted non of this as she was deep in love with John Scott and been of a young age she had no choice but to run away and leave all she new and loved. She made a plan that she and John (Picture bellow) would leave together for Scotland to be married so her family could not stop them, plan was that John would steel a horse and caught and head down to her home on the water front with a horse drawn caught left close to the town moor.  John waited in the darkness of night just watching his loves window., he seen her farther coming back from the Inn when john herd shouting and smashing, he tried to get through the door of the house but I was locked and her farther would kill him. The window flung open and out cam a sheet full of clothing and food, she climbed on to the window ledge and jumped into Johns arms they fled along the quayside to the Dogleap steps, to where they made there escape  Scotland to where they would marry.

The window where she jumped or used a ladder to get down and fled by horse with John Scott and galloped away into the sunset to be married in Scotland. After the Surtees family fell on hard times they begged there daughter back and excepted her husband as had became very successful eventually becoming Lord Eldon, the same one the Square is named after. The ghost of Bessie Surtees is still said to haunt the building and she is witnessed at the window she escaped from. Staring into the empty street

"The site which houses Offshore 44 and Bob Trollops has its place in a very dark history of Newcastle, it is site of Roman occupation and many executions"

Background: About The Haunted Buildings

Offshore 44: The Staff have witnessed footsteps behind them in the bar and smashing glass to find there is no one around or any broken glass. Strange smells can follow you around the location and a babies cries have been heard in the upper levels, the back wall is one of the original castle outer walls and has been used to display rotting corpses on and hanging body's. There is said to be a dead body under the floor of the pub. on a event held in the location in 2007 by Alone In The Dark Entertainment and G.H.T.UK they had a wooden box thrown at them, and one member witnessed the light bulb swing left to right with force then stop dead and stop working. down in the brig room a woman has been witnessed in a mirror and the smell of candles been extinguished has filled the empty room. A man in an old seaman’s outfit has been witnessed at the back of the bar.

Red House: there is said to be a small boy by the age of 7 years old that haunts the back room and a group of woman have been heard talking and  cackling in very thick Gordy accents but when checked on the sound just fades away. A man in rags for clothing has also been witnessed in the bar along with dogs and cats, cold spots and objects that like to move by them self. A black mist that will make you ice cold and follow you all the way out of the building, this pub is used in The haunted pub tour of old Newcastle upon Tyne and they have done experiments on people as they have been in there and one woman whilst in the experiment had her hair pulled and she got up to get out of there as she was alone, a ice cold hand grabbed her shoulder and she spun around falling to the floor, she then heard a laughter of a man

Haunting Type: Apparition’s, Ghostly voices, unseen but herd foot steps, smashing glasses, violent attacks, ecto-mist, orbs and funnel vortex. This location is amazing for the Ouija board and for forms of divination as we had spirits coming from a time when the land was just land and there where no housing. Stone Tape theory

Energy: cold spots, Hot spots moving around locations

Full Investigation: NOT yet undertaken

Findings: TBA

EVP: TBA

In search of Pirates Wreckers & Smugglers

In the North of England we very rarely here stories of slavery or pirates although we all know they where here. We have searched high and low in history to find a name related to piracy, but now we may have one. As we go on the search for Edward Robinson, a man born and raised in Newcastle in around 1690s, he became part of a Stede Bonnet’s "The Gentleman’s Pirate" crew and eventually ended up hung in Carolina USA  for his crimes in 1718, but within his life he sailed with Blackbeard and wrecked many ships and killed many men.

Now we are in search of Edward Robinson the Newcastle pirate and supposed ship wrecker, so we have arranged 2 paranormal investigations to search for this man, the first to be held in Red House, Offshore 44 and Bob Trollops where we believe he could of spent time on the site as a young man in what we believe to have been a house for abandoned children, then here at Marsden Grotto the well know location for smuggling and wrecking, pirates and murder!

Location of the haunted place: The Marsden Grotto Coast Road South Shields Tyne and Wear NE34 7BS

Origin of the haunting: Murder's, Smuggling, Piracy, Suicide, Tragedy, general life

Foot Note: This has to be one of the best locations in the North East, but its a hidden gem and not really supported by the local council. This place is a must for visitors, just to see the beach and the caves but if you visit, get a book on smuggling and Marsden sit with an ice cold drink and let your imagination run free. There is a ample size car park and its not far from the main beach at shields.

About Wrecking:

Wrecking was well known in Devon and Cornwall where the rocky coastline, and strong prevailing onshore winds helped wreck many merchant ships and warships, but it is rumored that ships were sometimes attracted by false lights on the shore around Marsden were lights have been said to be used sometimes to lead ships into disaster. Then, rather than helping shipwrecked sailors, the wreckers often murdered and stripped the unsuspecting crew of any valuables and possessions. A 12th century law had said that if no man or animal survived a wreck then the owners had no claim on it, so the coastal communities had no incentive to rescue seamen - in fact quite the opposite. In 1735 a law was passed to make it an offense to make false lights, but no one was prosecuted as a result. In 1769 William Pearse was hanged at Launceston in Cornwall for wrecking. It was not until after a case in the Court of Appeal in 1870 that rewards were made for rescuing people.

About Smuggling History:

Picture by G Morland

The history of smuggling, wrecking and piracy could not be written without reference to its illegal seafaring association in the Tyne and the Wear area. There are many legends of the activities of smugglers operating in the area, as Marsden was a key landing place to smuggle goods into the area. 18 miles to Newcastle and 8 miles Sunderland, the smugglers  had a finger in every pub, Inn and tavern in the North, there was whiskey coming in through border smuggling and ships dropping goods near Souter Light House.

Hovering:

Ships of all sizes, both foreign and english, sometimes hovered off the coast for several days while gangs were organized for an illegal landing, and until the first of several "hovering" acts was passed in 1719 there was nothing the customs men could do. If questioned by the skipper of a revenue vessel, the captains usually claimed they were bound for some place which was of no concern to the officers, such as the Channel Islands, France or Holland.

The act made hovering illegal within six miles of the coast and many smugglers now found it safer to bring their goods ashore immediately and, when necessary, hide them among rocks, in hedges and ditches and coastal cottages, or even bury them on the beach. A useful alternative in the case of smuggled wine and spirits was to dump them in the sea and collect them later - a method which was to become standard practice among later generations of smugglers and which became known as "sowing the crop".

 A Ghostly tail from the Grotto:

One day a smuggler walked into the Grotto Inn off the beach and ordered some ale . He was still drinking at the bar when a soldier entered. The smuggler , mistaking the soldier for a Customs Officer , flattened him , and took to his heels along the beach . Getting to his feet , the soldier raised his musket and discharged its load hitting the fleeing smuggler in the back of the neck . He fell to the sand - stone dead . The landlord drained the the mans tankard and nailed it directly onto the cavern rock around the bar saying "This tankard is cursed . Let no man drink from it otherwise evil will befall them too ! " . From that night on , the ghost of the smuggler visits the Grotto Inn . So often has it been seen that landlords have left a drink in the tankard at night and by morning it has been drunk !! .

Methods of smuggling in the second half of the 18th century

Customs records show that in 1764 ships of the East India Company smuggled tea into this country estimated at seven million pounds annually.

Smugglers had by now refined the art of hiding goods and of avoiding duties on their imported goods. Below are some of the methods used:

Tea cases were fitted between the vessel's timbers and were made to resemble the floors of the ship.

18 lbs. of tea could be hidden under the cape or petticoat trouser worn by the fishermen and pilots of the vessels.

Cotton bags made into the shape of the crown of a hat, a cotton waistcoat, and a cotton bustle and thigh pieces carried in all 30lbs. of tea.

Tobacco, another taxed commodity, was valuable contraband. Made into ropes of two strands, it was coiled with the real rope in the lugger, and was even put into a special compartment in casks of imported bones which were used for manufacturing glue.

The wooden fenders slung over the sides of a ship were hollowed out and filled with tobacco.

"Death was never far from Peters abode and even today lives are lost in the area of the Grotto . In 1836 workmen found a skeleton with a leaden bullet lodged within the ribcage proving beyond doubt that Marsden was indeed a violent place in days gone by . Visitor's have been cut off by the tide and many a life has been lost trying to scale the treacherous rock face"

Background:  The History of this unique cave bar, gastropub and restaurant is steeped in the colorful, bygone days of cruel seas, hard-bitten smugglers, rowdy wenches and cantankerous ghosts.

A man who became known to locals as ‘Jack the Blaster’ was the first to live in the caves. Originally an Allendale miner, he moved to Marsden in 1782 to work in the local quarry.

Out of a small cave, he blasted his way to a bigger one which he and his wife made into a home. It is thought he was already eighty years old when he moved into the cave. He and his wife made an unusual pair, known for their eccentric choice of habitation, and it didn’t take long for people to start visiting the curious pair in their strange new home.

The steep, zig-zagging stairs are thought to be his handy work and were often referred to as ‘Jack the Blaster’s stairs’. 

Obviously one to make the most of an occasion, Jack the Blaster began supplying food and drink to his visitors, for a profit of course.

It has been variously suggested that he was embroiled in many nefarious smuggling activities. Not difficult to understand since the coastline’s caves had long been a practical place for smugglers to hide their contraband cargo. Jack’s grotto must have been an ideal place for weary smugglers to shake off the cold, fill their stomachs and sink a tankard or two.

While Jack and his wife were certainly the two to found the grotto, it was its second resident, Peter Allan, who had the spirit and foresight to make a far more accessible and developed enterprise of it. He too had worked in the local limestone quarry and struck upon the notion of living in the cave while similarly providing refreshments to the many visitors who came to the beach. Winning a modest sum at the races, he set up his rudimentary enterprise and, in 1828, used the profits to set about a proper large scale excavation of the cave which Jack the Blaster had begun. 

His venture drew unfavorable interest from the HM Customs office, since his claim that his was to be an honest enterprise was somewhat questionable given the history of the coast and the Grotto.

Although under close scrutiny, he persisted and was grudgingly granted a license to carry and sell ale. His excavations took years, but he eventually succeeded creating a cave of two-story height which included a kitchen and a ballroom itself. Like Jack before him, he may well have participated in a few illicit dealings.

(Bellow The original Ballroom , later to become the Main Lounge)

He turned Jack’s original cave into an inn. During the excavations, some 18 skeletons were discovered. Their presence was quickly ascribed to the all too common end of those engaged in unlawful dealings.

In 1848 a dispute over land ownership resulted in Allan being charged rent for his home and inn. This caused him a great deal of misery, leading to a funk which endured until his death the following year. However, his family of eight children and a wife ran the business successfully until 1865 when a cliff face collapsed and did considerable damage. Although they saw to the reinforcement of the inn to safeguard against further damage, they eventually left the area in 1874.

Various companies set up business in the Grotto and did lots of refurbishment to the interior and to the outside building, cosmetically and structurally, but it was Vaux Breweries who finally installed the lift and used the Grotto for over a century.

No story of smugglers, skeletons and a character named Jack the Blaster would be complete without a ghost. Indeed, the place has more than one.

 The most popular local legend is that of a smuggler who betrayed his confederates to HM Customs. Upon being found out, his old friends hung him in nearby cave called Smuggler’s Hole to taunt him and pelt him with whatever was at hand.

It is said that his wails can still be heard. The Grotto’s reputation for being haunted aroused the curiosity of Paranormal Investigators who have claimed they found no less than seven separate tortured souls.

Haunting Type:

 Apparition’s, ghostly voices, wailing cry's, unseen but heard foot steps, men chanting, violent attacks, ecto-mist, orbs and black shadows.

Full Investigation NOT yet undertaken:

Findings:  tba

EVP: tba