Smithills Hall Bolton Lancashire Overnight Ghost Hunt

Smithills Hall Bolton Lancashire Overnight Ghost Hunt: Smithills hall is an impressive building dating back to 1200's with enough hauntings to fill a book. This hall really has got something for everyone.

History

Smithills Hall tells an 800 year story. Although there is evidence of people living in the area now covered by the Smithills estate for thousands of years, the first written records relating to the hall began when William

Radcliffe obtained the manor from the Hulton family in 1335. In 1485, when the last Radcliffe to own the estate died without a male heir, Smithills Hall was passed to the Bartons, a wealthy family of sheep owners. Smithills was home to the Bartons for almost 200 years, until in 1659 the hall and estate was passed by marriage to the Belasyse family. The Belasyses owned many other properties around England and did not really need to keep Smithills Hall. As a result, Smithills entered a period of neglect. In 1801, the hall and estate were sold to the Ainsworth family, who were successful Bolton bleachers. Under three generations of Ainsworths Smithills was extensively rebuilt and modernised. In 1870 Richard Henry Ainsworth, the nephew of Peter Ainsworth (Colonel Ainsworth's son) , inherited the house,

in around 1875. He employed the prominent Victorian architect George Devey in about 1875 to design the most significant improvements to Smithills Hall. The west wing was neglected for many years, but was

restored by Bolton Council in 1999. Old photographs were used to recreate the family's living quarters as they would have looked in around 1900.

However, changes in the British economy after the First World War had increased costs and reduced the amount of income the family could raise from the estate, and the financial burden of maintaining a large house eventually became too great. In 1938, Smithills was sold to Bolton Council for £70,600, and the Victorian parts of the hall became a council residential home and later a day centre until the late 1990s. There is evidence for a chapel on or near this site for centuries. In the 1950s, human bones were found under the floor of the withdrawing room, perhaps part of a cemetery attached to the chapel in the early medieval period. Conservation work on the older sections allowed part of the Grade 1 listed structure to be opened as a museum in 1963, and in the 1990s, the museum was extended into some of the Victorian parts of the house. On the floor at the entrance to the withdrawing room is a mark on the stone floor (now protected by a metal shutter). Legend has it that this is the footprint of Bolton farmer George Marsh, a victim of the persecution of Protestants during the reign of Queen Mary. He was later burned at the stake on 24th April of 1555.

Paranormal Activity

The Green Room, an apparition of George Marsh has been claimed to have

been seen, when a visitor to the site was told to leave by the museum attendant as he was locking up for the day. The visitor said to the attendant that he was told to wait by the man upstairs in the green room. The attendant checked and the hall was completely empty. To this day the man is convinced he saw George Marsh. The Green Room where George Marsh was questioned is considered to be the most haunted room at Smithills.

There have also been some unexplained encounters in the chapel. A member of staff was taking some dead flowers out of the chapel; something pushed her from behind with such force that she fell onto the wall, so hard, she got grazes.

In the shop used to hang a Pugin mirror. A man with white bushy hair dressed in black watching her from the doorway when the manager noticed him in the mirror. She turned around and he wasn't there. Two weeks later the same thing happened again. The third time she saw the man he

was on the stairs. Could this have been one of the Ainsworth's, who inherited the house in 1870?

In Colonel Ainsworth's room, when museum staff open the hall in the mornings, they have to set the glasses on the table back in their right place as during the night they have been moved or turned upside down.

There are many other everyday happenings that staff, volunteers and visitors experience - the barrier ropes in the museum quite often swing of their own accord as if someone has just brushed passed them.

Audibles of cats meowing and children's laughter has also been heard, as well as the sound of horses passing outside with their hooves, plus footsteps.

Your event will include

* An overnight investigation with the Prestige Paranormal investigation team

* Vigils, Sances and experiments

* Brief demonstration on the use of the scientific equipment

* Use of the equipment during vigils throughout the night

* Refreshments and snacks all included

* A short session at the end to discuss any paranormal activity

Smithills Hall Bolton Lancashire Overnight Ghost Hunt at Smithills Hall in Bolton, Lancashire on Saturday, 18 February 2012.

For more information about Smithills Hall Bolton Lancashire Overnight Ghost Hunt, please contact 08432892392, or see event details on the left.

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