Ye Olde Black Cross - Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
Bromsgrove was first documented in an Anglo Saxon document as Bremesgraf and is mentioned in the Domesday book as Bremesgrave, meaning Bremi's Grove, the grove referring to a woodland economy.
The town was granted a market day in 1200 and in 1317 was given the right to hold a market every Tuesday, which still continues today. In the late Middle ages, Bromsgrove was a central part of the wool trade, perhaps because much land was used by the Cistercian monks of Bordesley Abbey in nearby Redditch, who were well known as wool traders. By the 18th century, the town became a well known place for nailmaking. The nailmakers lived in slum conditions in small cottages with there worksheds attached to them. |
Ye Olde Black Cross was originally a one up, one down cottage. Built in 1640 as a blacksmiths cottage. In the year 1651, the blacksmith of the cottage was visited by Jane Lane, sister of the Royalist Colonel John Lane of Bentley Hall, accompanied by a servant who’s horse had lost a shoe and needed to be shod before the journey carried on. They were travelling to Abbots Leigh in Somerset to see a friend who was pregnant. This was at a turbulent time in English history as it was during the end of the English Civil war. King Charles II and his 16,000 strong army went into battle and was extremely outnumbered by the 32,000 strong army led by Oliver Cromwell at the battle of Worcester. |
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Charles was defeated and fled the battle, trying to cross the country to make an escape to France. As he was being hunted by Cromwell and his men, Charles disguised himself as the servant of Jane Lane, who helped him travel unnoticed past Bristol where he could pay for a ship to take him to France. This perilous journey took 6 weeks.
At a late date when Charles retold the story to Samuel Pepys, who kept a diary for 10 years, documenting life in the 17th Century.
He wrote:
“As I was holding my horses foot, I asked the smith what news. He told me that there was no news of the beating of the rogues of the Scots. I asked him there was none of the English taken that joined with the Scots, He answered he had not hear if that rogue, Charles Stuart, were taken; but some of the others, he said were taken. I told him that if that rogue were taken, he deserved to be hanged more than all the rest, for bringing in the Scots. Upon which he said, I spoke like an honest man; and so we parted.”
Charles escaped to France and after Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658, regained the throne on 29 May 1660, Charles Stuart's 30th birthday.
It is not known when the cottage became an inn and the origin of its name is a mystery. Some people believe that it be something to do with an iron cross that may have been made by the blacksmith or it could be something to do with the building standing on a crossroads. It has also been speculated that the name originates from an origination such as the Knights Templar as they use a black cross as an emblem and they held and still hold much land across Worcestershire. Local people believe that it gained its name from the use of a gibbet that was used to display the bodies of criminals that had been hung before being buried in unconsecrated ground on the crossroads next to where the inn is built. It is believed that the inns cellar was used to hold criminals sentenced to death and they were hung at the back of the inn which is now the beer garden and lounge area. There is a well in the bar area which is now covered up. Paranormal researchers have claimed to have picked up much activity in this area.
Looking at the exterior of the inn, you can see that it was once more than one building. What is now the kitchen area of the inn, was once a Victorian house which was bought and added to the existing building. The house is reputed to have been the site of the murder of a young girl in the 19th century.
The bin lid in the kitchen is moved often and other poltergeist activity occurs such as objects being thrown around and things disappear for weeks, then turn up in unusual places. The young girl has mostly been sighted around the kitchen area.
One summer afternoon, a family visited the inn for a meal. After ordering and waiting for there meals, there young daughter went to the toilet. After a few minutes she came running back, crying, telling her parents that another little girl had pushed her over while in the toilet area. After the parents complained to the staff, they went to investigate and there was no one there, in fact there were no other children on the premises.
One afternoon, a member of staff came from the toilet area, as she entered the passageway that leads to the lounge, she ran out in fear. She said that she’d seen a ghost, she said that he was stood still and described him as a soldier from the past wearing a long cloak and a wide brimmed hat.
Another member of staff stayed over one night in one of the guest rooms. The next morning he told the landlord that he wouldn’t be staying there again. He said that a figure appeared and walked through the door. He described him as wearing the same clothes as what the other member of staff had described.
The Inn has two guest rooms and room number 2 has a reputation for people not wanting to stay in room again.
A guest stayed over for one night in room 2. Throughout the night he was disturbed many times with various tapping sounds and loud bangs that seemed to be coming from different parts of the room. He put it down to being in an old building and that it was just settling down due to temperature changes throughout the night. He finally settled and fell asleep when he was suddenly woken up again with a loud bang, he looked across the room to where the noise came from and witnessed a hooded figure that walked across the room and went straight through on of the other walls.
Residents of the inn have experienced many strange happenings in the flat above the bar, which is a part of the original blacksmiths cottage.
The landlords wife was ill in bed, he was working the bar when he heard a loud bang coming from the room she was in above the bar, he rushed up stairs thinking that his wife had fallen out of bed. He arrived to the room and she was sat up in bed reading a book, when he asked her if she was ok, she told him that she’d been in bed all evening and hadn’t moved at all but she did hear footsteps a few times in the corridor, no one had been up stairs at all that evening.
Another landlord at a later time was living in the flat with his partner. When they first moved in, there was no lock on the flat door. One morning when he was in the shower, and his partner was still in bed, when she heard footsteps that sounded like someone was walking up the stairs and towards the bedroom. The door latch lifted and the door opened, she waited and no one entered the room. Later that day they bought and fitted a lock on the door but the latch would still be lifted many more times.
A landlady experienced a lot of disturbances at various times. She was getting ready for work one night when a little boy walked into the flat, she spoke to him and he disappeared. One day only two customers were in, the loved music so she turned up the jukebox louder than usual, when they heard a voice shout out ‘turn it off’.
A woman and her young son would come in a few times a week for lunch. The boy would always ask if he could talk to the man in the corner but there was never anyone there.
At a late date when Charles retold the story to Samuel Pepys, who kept a diary for 10 years, documenting life in the 17th Century.
He wrote:
“As I was holding my horses foot, I asked the smith what news. He told me that there was no news of the beating of the rogues of the Scots. I asked him there was none of the English taken that joined with the Scots, He answered he had not hear if that rogue, Charles Stuart, were taken; but some of the others, he said were taken. I told him that if that rogue were taken, he deserved to be hanged more than all the rest, for bringing in the Scots. Upon which he said, I spoke like an honest man; and so we parted.”
Charles escaped to France and after Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658, regained the throne on 29 May 1660, Charles Stuart's 30th birthday.
It is not known when the cottage became an inn and the origin of its name is a mystery. Some people believe that it be something to do with an iron cross that may have been made by the blacksmith or it could be something to do with the building standing on a crossroads. It has also been speculated that the name originates from an origination such as the Knights Templar as they use a black cross as an emblem and they held and still hold much land across Worcestershire. Local people believe that it gained its name from the use of a gibbet that was used to display the bodies of criminals that had been hung before being buried in unconsecrated ground on the crossroads next to where the inn is built. It is believed that the inns cellar was used to hold criminals sentenced to death and they were hung at the back of the inn which is now the beer garden and lounge area. There is a well in the bar area which is now covered up. Paranormal researchers have claimed to have picked up much activity in this area.
Looking at the exterior of the inn, you can see that it was once more than one building. What is now the kitchen area of the inn, was once a Victorian house which was bought and added to the existing building. The house is reputed to have been the site of the murder of a young girl in the 19th century.
The bin lid in the kitchen is moved often and other poltergeist activity occurs such as objects being thrown around and things disappear for weeks, then turn up in unusual places. The young girl has mostly been sighted around the kitchen area.
One summer afternoon, a family visited the inn for a meal. After ordering and waiting for there meals, there young daughter went to the toilet. After a few minutes she came running back, crying, telling her parents that another little girl had pushed her over while in the toilet area. After the parents complained to the staff, they went to investigate and there was no one there, in fact there were no other children on the premises.
One afternoon, a member of staff came from the toilet area, as she entered the passageway that leads to the lounge, she ran out in fear. She said that she’d seen a ghost, she said that he was stood still and described him as a soldier from the past wearing a long cloak and a wide brimmed hat.
Another member of staff stayed over one night in one of the guest rooms. The next morning he told the landlord that he wouldn’t be staying there again. He said that a figure appeared and walked through the door. He described him as wearing the same clothes as what the other member of staff had described.
The Inn has two guest rooms and room number 2 has a reputation for people not wanting to stay in room again.
A guest stayed over for one night in room 2. Throughout the night he was disturbed many times with various tapping sounds and loud bangs that seemed to be coming from different parts of the room. He put it down to being in an old building and that it was just settling down due to temperature changes throughout the night. He finally settled and fell asleep when he was suddenly woken up again with a loud bang, he looked across the room to where the noise came from and witnessed a hooded figure that walked across the room and went straight through on of the other walls.
Residents of the inn have experienced many strange happenings in the flat above the bar, which is a part of the original blacksmiths cottage.
The landlords wife was ill in bed, he was working the bar when he heard a loud bang coming from the room she was in above the bar, he rushed up stairs thinking that his wife had fallen out of bed. He arrived to the room and she was sat up in bed reading a book, when he asked her if she was ok, she told him that she’d been in bed all evening and hadn’t moved at all but she did hear footsteps a few times in the corridor, no one had been up stairs at all that evening.
Another landlord at a later time was living in the flat with his partner. When they first moved in, there was no lock on the flat door. One morning when he was in the shower, and his partner was still in bed, when she heard footsteps that sounded like someone was walking up the stairs and towards the bedroom. The door latch lifted and the door opened, she waited and no one entered the room. Later that day they bought and fitted a lock on the door but the latch would still be lifted many more times.
A landlady experienced a lot of disturbances at various times. She was getting ready for work one night when a little boy walked into the flat, she spoke to him and he disappeared. One day only two customers were in, the loved music so she turned up the jukebox louder than usual, when they heard a voice shout out ‘turn it off’.
A woman and her young son would come in a few times a week for lunch. The boy would always ask if he could talk to the man in the corner but there was never anyone there.
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