Haunted Village Pubs in Worcestershire Part 2

Hanbury is a village located in Worcestershire, England and has been an agricultural area for many years. The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times with evidence of Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman settlements but the name Hanbury is of Saxon origin meaning High Fortified Place or High Fort. On the hill top where the 12^th Century  St Mary the Virgin Church now stands, there is evidence of pre Christian burials and a Roman settlement where coins have been found. In the 4^th Century a church was built on the hill top which is when the Roman Empire converted to Christianity. There is no evidence that the 12^th century St Marys church is connected to the 4^th Century church.

Hanbury was once part of Feckenham Forest and Gallows Green, to the west of Hanbury was the site of executions for forest law offences.

In the middle ages, the manor of Hanbury belonged to the Bishop of Worcester. There were subsidiary manors, including an important one at Temple Broughton which belonged to the Knights Templar, and the area known as Holloway, later Hollowfields, in the south east of the parish, was granted to the monks of Bordesley Abbey in nearby Redditch. My great grandparents once owned Hollowfields Farm which is still on this land.

From 1631, Edward Vernon bought the manor of Hanbury whose descendant’s built Hanbury Hall in 1701, which I’ve covered in a previous episode.

The Country Girl pub in Hanbury was once in a row of cottages which were eventually converted into part of the pub in 1982.

In the 1970s, a young man was sitting in his car while he waited for his girlfriend who worked in the pub. There was a small pool at the back of the pub and he noticed a white mist rising out of the pond. He said that it took the form of a woman who just floated still. He ran into the pub in shock. Some believe that this is the ghost of Emma Vernon of Hanbury Hall but another local legend claims that it’s the ghost of a jilted bride who threw herself into the pool on the day she was supposed to get married but her husband to be had another lover who he chose over her.

During the 1980s, people flocked to visit the pub wanting a paranormal experience after hearing rumours of hauntings. The landlord claimed that he'd hear the sound of footsteps walking up the stairs towards his room every night. The pub cook claimed that she heard a creaking noise in the kitchen when suddenly four plates flew from a cabinet but didn’t smash.

A landlord who took over the pub in 2011 said that he was certain that the place was haunted after hearing footsteps walking around the pub, banging and other strange noises after they had closed. A few times he thought someone had broken in but after checking there was never anyone around.

He was told by locals that in the 1800s, a coach stopped at the inn and a man on the coach got involved in a fight and was killed. He's believed to haunt the pub. In 2016 the pub closed and has since been converted into flats, I wonder if the people who live there now have experienced anything strange?

There are many ghost stories and legends in and around Hanbury. St Mary’s Church and the local beech woods are well known as a paranormal hotspot. A ghost has been witnessed many times walking up the church tower.

Near the bottom of the hill is Woodrow Pool, once well used by fishermen. Two young men who spent the day fishing one day witnessed a tall figure who crouched down at the far end of the pool and drank water from the pool with his hands. They said that when he stood up they noticed that he was over six feet tall and had the appearance of a bear.

The ancient saltway that goes from Alcester to Droitwich, passes through Hanbury and Gallows Green, were people were executed for forest crimes. They would have been left on the gibbet for months, usually until their flesh had been eaten by birds or decomposed.

People have seen dark shadows walking across the roads and in hedgerows. A man was driving his wife home after a night out one night, and as they travelled along the Saltway, they saw a horse and cart travelling along around the Gallows Green area. He slowed down so that he didn’t startle the horse, after around a minute of following the horse and cart, they disappeared. He had to pull the car over and rest for a moment. He asked his wife if she’d seen it and she said yes, but she described it as a horse and coach, like what people would travel in.

A woman was driving in the same area one night with her son when she noticed a figure crouched in the bushes with a blue mist surrounding it. She decided to speed up, but her son told her to slow down in case she hit the horse and coach that was ahead of them. She couldn't see the horse and coach, only her son could.

Not too far from Hanbury, towards Redditch is Elcocks Brook where an old pub stands called The Brook, part of the building is 600 years old. The pub has also been known as The Elcock and The Elcoat. The ghost of a cavalier has been known to travel from the Brook and head towards Callow Hill, he then disappears when he reaches the crossroads.

From the 1990s, a couple who owned the pub for over 25 years experienced many paranormal happenings.

When they moved into the pub, they would sit with a few of the locals at night and they would tell them about the strange things that people have experienced. They would often see the shape if a person from the corner of their eye, the landlady believed it was a woman and the landlord believed it was a man. Many times they would be lying in bed when they’d hear someone walk into the bedroom and then they’d feel someone sitting on the bed but they’d never see anyone.

Objects would go missing, including a very expensive pair of sunglasses that were missing for over 6 months and were one day found in a drawer on top of everything. Coffee cups that were stored behind the bar would often be knocked off the shelf and smash on the floor when no one was near them and kitchen utensils would go missing or be knocked on the floor.

They used to have live music every Friday night and one night after helping the band out with their equipment, 2 of the musicians stayed back for a drink. There was a bell at the end of the bar that they’d ring to call last orders and it could be heard all over the pub. As they were chatting, the bell was hit extremely hard, when they looked over at it, the strap that’s used to ring the bell was still moving yet there was no one near it.

The oldest part of the pub is used as the cellar, one night when the landlord was tapping a beer, he could see someone standing next to him, he noticed that he was wearing old shoes, when he managed to turn around, they’d gone.

On a Monday night, a local well known musician used to perform at the Brook and he’d invite different musicians to play with him, I was one of those musicians and used to perform most Mondays. One night after we’d packed everything away, we stayed behind for a little while for a pint and a chat. As I was leaving, I stepped out of the front door and saw a little girl standing by a tree in the garden. I wasn’t afraid and just stood still watching her until she disappeared. She wore a long white dress and had long brown hair. When I told the pub owners they said that they hadn’t seen or heard of a little girl that had been seen before. A few weeks later, a couple were leaving the pub when they witnessed a the girl too, standing in the same place.

Feckenham was once a village in the centre of the Feckenham Forest and there was a Royal Hunting Lodge which would have been frequented by many of the old Kings of England. During the reign of Henry II, the forest was enlarged to cover a third of Worcestershire, and his laws were so strict that many people left the area. They couldn’t hunt, they could only collect fallen timber, they couldn’t graze pigs or cattle and they were not allowed to build houses. Anyone caught breaking the forest law was placed in a prison that would have been on the opposite side of the road to where The Rose and Crown pub stands today.

The Rose and Crown was first mentioned in a document from 1483 when James James was the licensee. It was called The Old Rose and Crown back then and may have been the churches alehouse.

Over the years many people have seen the shadow of a man in the old shed area of the Rose and Crown which was used for storage and as an office. One night, a well known radio presenter visited the pub as he was told about the ghost story and that it made its presence felt in the daytime as well as at night. The ghost would move office equipment and hide things. The presenter was accompanied by a medium and another man who worked for the radio station and they were asking people in the pub if they'd experienced anything paranormal. He asked out loud, “Come on ghostie, where are you?”, when suddenly a loud bang came from the other side of the door as if someone had kicked it really hard from the other side. They double checked that no one was around and once realising that they were on their own, the presenters colleague ran off into the car park and went home.

Many others have witnessed a shadowy phantom walking through the corridor that leads to the pub garden too, most saying that it was a man.

Feckenham’s Pre Christian past still shows up, there are two fields either side of the mount known as Upper and Lower Puck Close. Pucks were friendly but mischievous fairies in folklore. There was once a field known as ‘Sperrity Pit’ which contained a huge hole and was surrounded by oak trees. On the 21^st of December 1889, the Birmingham Weekly Post published a report on Sperrity Pit:

The pit has been filled up but the trees remain in a small circle to mark its site. There are some traditions of a supernatural character associated with this old pit. Whether it was, in superstitious times, the resort of “spirits from the vasty deep" seen from time to time as they “revisited the glimpses of the moon", or whether the ancient ceremony of “laying departed spirits" which had become troublesome ever occurred at this pit, Nash... does not inform us.”

There other places too named Puck around the area, Upper and Lower Puck Hill in Acton Beauchamp, Puck Hallow in Hallow, Puck Hall Field and Far Puck Hall Piece in Hartlebury, Puck Croft in Stock and Bradley, Puck Hill Corner in Himbleton and many more.