The Ghosts of Pipe Hayes Hall and Park

Pype Hayes Hall is situated 2 miles north-east of Pype, a sub-manor of Erdington in Birmingham, West Midlands. It is believed that  the area was named after the 14^th century holders of the estate, Pype.

The second part of the name, Hayes, comes from the Old English word haeg or hay. This would mean that it was surrounded by a hedge, usually for agriculture but it may have been an ancient hunting park.

There is evidence of the medieval name of Pype Hayes as it was a settlement. The Earls of Warwick were the Lords of Sutton Manor from 1125 until 1480, Pype Hayes would have been in this area. Sutton Chase was well known to be a dangerous area, many people crossing would be robbed. In response to the crime in the area, one of the Earls of Warwick provided a stone cottage for two retainers to escort travellers across the Chase.

The manor of Erdington was split between 3 coheirs before 1218. One of these coheirs was Roger de Erdington, who’s 3^rd was passed  down to the Massy family from Cheshire through marriage in the 16^th century. Hugh Massy married Bridget Arden, in 1604, the daughter of William Arden of Park Hall in Castle Bromwich, a relative of William Shakespeare. Their son John sold the manor. It is unknown who bought the manor but it stayed within the family. Bridget Arden, John’s mother was the great aunt of the father in law of Hervey Bagot who built Pype Hayes Hall in 1630. Prior to building the hall, Hervey Bagot enclosed  much of the waste land which was part of Sutton Chase and after building the hall he laid out the surrounding park, Pype Hayes Park. He lived their for 15 years and was killed during the Battle of Naseby as a colonel for the Royalists during the English Civil War in 1645.

The house stayed within the Bagot family for over 250 years, and the house was extended and included a stable block which shows the date of 1762. The poet Robert Southey worked on his Biography of the poet William Cowper in 1833, who was a friend of the Bagot’s.

The manor was bought from the Bagot family by James Rollason, a very wealthy industrialist in 1906. Ten years later the manor was bought by Birmingham City Council who converted the hall into a convalescent home and the park was made open for the public to use. From 1949 until the 1970s, the Hall was used as a residential children’s home which was part of Social Services.

The hall has kept its Stuart appearance but has been extensively altered inside as over the years it has been used as offices for the City council and for the Social Services, many of the rooms were converted to bedrooms for children. The hall has stood derelict for the past few years but there are plans to convert it into a hotel.

 

GHOSTS

Pype Hayes Hall is believed to be haunted by many ghosts. Apparitions have been seen, poltergeist activity such as books, keys and other items have been thrown across rooms and doors have opened and closed by themselves. Servants bells would often ring from rooms that were empty and locked.

There is a legend of a haunting that happens on Friday the 13^th, if you remove the wooden panelling in the rooms upstairs, you’ll see a ghoul who roams around the entire property and the park. This was most likely made up when it was a children's home.

The oldest ghost story attributed to Pype Hayes Hall is that of Sir Henry de Pype who lived in the area in the 14^th century. After the death of his first wife who died in the Black Death along with all but one of his children, Henry remarried a woman called Maud. Maud fell pregnant and Henry was overjoyed when their son was born. It wasn’t long afterwards when Henry found out that the child wasn’t his, Maud had been having an affair with the footman, John Boote. Henry couldn’t take anymore sadness and on St Laurence’s day, Henry died of a broken heart. Maud’s son didn’t inherit anything from the Pype estate, instead he was sent off to become a monk at a Cistercian Monastery in Leicester. The ghosts of Henry, his first wife and their children are believed to be seen on occasions roaming the area.

 

The ghost of Lady Bagot is believed to roam the Hall. A story says that she fell in love with the butler and they had a secret affair. Once the affair was found out, they both made a suicide pact. Their bodies were found early one morning in the stables. Lady Bagot was found with a stab wound to the heart and the butlers body was found hanging above her from the rafters. Other claims are that Lady Bagot died in a horse riding accident or that she died from disease. The only thing known for certain is that she died young.

 

There were many ghost sightings when the Hall was a children’s home and it was thought that the most haunted part of the house was the former Jacobean Minstrels Gallery, this is where the children were sent when they’d been naughty.

Many of the council workers said that they felt uneasy as they walked through the park and most of the children would feel a sense of dread, they would often run back to the hall, returning out of breath telling a story about a man in a black cape who they said was chasing them.

One night, a woman was walking through the park, returning to her home in Erdington. As she hurried along the park, she saw a young woman dressed in an old fashioned yellow dress floating on the bowling green. She then faded into the darkness.

One winter evening, a night attendant who worked at Pype Hayes Hall was looking out of an office window when she saw a woman wearing an old fashioned yellow dress standing in another office adjacent to the room she was in. She claimed that the woman slowly turned to face her and then disappeared. The attendant rushed around to the adjacent office to find the door was locked. When she unlocked the door, she found the room completely empty. She was so scared that the next morning she left her job, vowing to never return to Pype Hayes Hall.

Many children asked who the lady wearing grey clothes was who would visit when any of them were ill. She would approach the children when they were in bed and stroke their hair, many of the children would thank the care workers for looking after them which would often confuse them as they weren’t there.

One of the teachers in the children’s home returned late on a Sunday night after a trip to Wales. He was unloading his equipment when he noticed the sound of footsteps after the cellar door suddenly shut. He looked around the area and found nothing suspicious and no One around. In the morning he told the manager, who laughed, telling him that it was just the ghost of Lady Bagot.

On another occasion, the same teacher returned late again on a Sunday night after another trip, when he decided to stay for the night as it was so late. He settled down for the night and he could hear footsteps walking towards him. They stopped outside of his room for a while before they started again walking towards a classroom which contained an ancient fireplace. He said that it sounded like the fireplace was being scraped out. He said that the footsteps were making the sound as if they were walking on a wooden floor but it had carpet.

On another Sunday evening after another trip in Wales, he noticed that some of the classroom windows were open which overlooked the back garden. He said that he then heard the sound of a cowbell being rung. When he investigated, he found that all of the windows had been closed and locked.

One of the social workers was working upstairs when she noticed that the light in the main office had been left on. She fetched the key to go and turn the light off and when she opened the door, the light went off. She returned back to where she was working and again noticed that the light was back on again. She believed that it was an old ghost that wasn’t harmful and just wanted to make its presence felt.