The Redditch Ghost Walk
In 1140, Cistercian monks were granted land in the Arrow Valley and built Bordesley Abbey. The name Redditch first appeared in the 13th century as a little village that grew around the abbey, then known as Red-Dyche after the stream that runs from the River Arrow that has an orange appearance due to the clay content in the local soil.
Parts of Redditch such as Ipsley and Beoley are much older Anglo Saxon settlements with Roman and Celtic archaeology and the Roman Road Icknield Street which runs through both Ipsley and Beoley. |
Redditch’s population grew in the middle ages after the town became a centre for needlemaking and the industry boomed, making 90% of the worlds needles.
Redditch was designated a New Town in 1964 with old buildings having major renovations and new housing estates built, extending the town to what we see today. The Walk We start on the edge of the Town Centre at the top of Easemore Road looking down Church Green East. The buildings along this road were once houses in Victorian times and they reflect on the wealth in this area of town in that era. Church Green East, Church Green West and Market Place form a triangle surrounding St Stephen’s Church and the Church Green. |
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These roads maybe Medieval in origin and could have been used as trading points. As you look down Church Green East, the buildings are on the left and the Church Green is on the right which includes a Victorian Bandstand and Water Fountain.
The third building along is number 5 Church Green East which was built around 1855 and was occupied by a family with servants. Over the years it has been an insurance brokers, photography studio, solicitors, a dentists and was even used as a brothel in the 1990 film ‘The Widowmaker’ starring David Morrissey from ‘The Walking Dead’ fame. In 2013 it opened up as a bistro and the top floor became a music school.
On the Sunday morning before the business opened, it had been snowing and two of the tutors were setting up the teaching equipment to test before letting students in the next day.
They were in their teaching rooms when they heard a young boy shouting. ‘Dad, dad’, it sounded like it was coming from downstairs. One of them went downstairs to see if someone had come into the building. He knew that he’d locked the door when they came in but looked around anyway only to find the place empty. He even checked outside for footprints in the snow and there was nothing, only there own from the car to the back door. Minutes after returning upstairs, they heard it again, ‘Dad, dad’. This time they both went to look around the whole building only to find it still empty but as they reached the door to the bistro it opened on its own and slammed quickly, hitting one of them!
Around a month after opening, the guitar teacher was sat in his teaching room checking the progress of his students when a young boy peered around the door, looking directly at him. The tutor said hello to the boy and he ran off. He could hear him running down the stairs so he followed him all the way down but with no sight of any children when he reached the bottom. He went into the bistro and asked the staff if any children had been in and they said that no children had been in all day. They checked the CCTV and found nothing.
One evening, a music student walked into the waiting room and saw a little boy playing with the toys that were left there for children awaiting a lesson. He went into the teaching room and asked who the little boy was, the tutor looked and it was empty, no one was there but the toys were on the floor. Over the three years that the business was open, many students and there parents witnessed the boy. When lessons were finished for he day, the tutors would tidy everything away including the toys but they would find them moved every morning as if they’d been played with.
For a reason unknown to them, the tutors nicknamed the ghost James. The mother of one of the students was a Spiritualist Medium and said that she could feel the presence of a few spirits throughout the whole building. They arranged a ghost hunt that included the bistro which involved 12 people. One of the experiments was to sit each person, alone in the teaching rooms and for them to write down whatever came into their minds, when they finished they had to place the paper into a box so that no one else could see what they’d written. The results were amazing, 9 out of 12 wrote down the words Peter, James and little boy. When they researched the census records for 1911, they found that a family with the surname James had lived in the house but there was no record of a child. Perhaps he was born and died in between the census years? The medium also said that she picked up on a WWII soldier on the first floor.
A few months later, one of the tutors was talking to an accountant who worked at the accountants next door at number 4. He was telling him that he had been walking past these buildings everyday since he was a child in the 1950s. He said that he remembered that a man who lived at number 5 and he was a sergeant major during WWII but still used to wear an army trenchcoat during the colder months.
A few evenings each week, the guitar tutors wife would work in the bistro and he would stay behind and wait for her after lessons. One night, around 9 o’clock, a couple in their 30s came in. They ordered a drink and the man asked where the toilets were, he was told to go up the stairs an take a left. Minutes later he came running down the stairs screaming in panic, he went into the bistro looking terrified. He said that as he was about to walk down the stairs, a man stood in the doorway of the function room which is on the first floor, he described him as tall with broad shoulders and looked like he was wearing a military uniform.
During the 1980s and 90s, 5 Church Green East was a solicitors which expanded business and took on the building next door, number 6, known as Beech House. Beech House is one of the most noticeable properties in the town centre. It was built in 1854 and was owned by the Warrin family. Previous to living in this house they lived on Fish Hill, now known as Prospect Hill, about 50 metres away. Tragedy hit the household when the cook, Mary Evans gave birth and disposed of the infant in the furnace in the cellar. She had managed to keep the pregnancy hidden from the family in fear of losing her job.
Joseph Warrin, the head of the family founded the Eagle Works who manufactured needles whose premises may have been behind Beech House. Joseph died in 1879, leaving the company and the house to his family. The house was occupied by the family until Jospeh’s two unmarried daughters died in 1925 and 1931. Over the years, many people have witnessed a lady wearing a white dress looking out of various windows of the property. She has also been seen wondering around the bandstand and the water fountain, both on the Church Green, opposite the house.
When the property was a solicitors, many of the staff reported seeing a lady in a white dress standing or walking on the staircase. Locals say that the last of the Warrin sisters hung herself in one of the rooms upstairs as she couldn’t cope on her own after losing her sister. Staff had also said that they could hear crying coming from upstairs on regular occasions.
A solicitor who worked there reported many paranormal incidents. One night when she was locking up, she put the key into the door and something pulled the door back and shook it very violently, stopping her from locking it, she had to wait 20 minutes to gain the courage to try and lock it again. Another time she was carrying some heavy files up the stairs and the weight of them went, as if someone else was helping her. They kept the cellar as a strongroom, a place where important files and items of value would be kept safe. She would often find that files would be moved around and the lights would flicker, with a feeling that someone was in the room.
Moving along the road, we pass St Stephen’s Church to 21 Church Green East, known as Webb House which backs on to Peakman Street and faces Mercian Square that holds the memorial to John Bonham, the legendary drummer from Led Zeppelin, who was born and raised in Redditch.
Webb House dates from 1774 and was owned by a Mr Peakman who had a wire-drawing business for the manufacturing of needles. In the mid 19th century, maltster and corn dealer Ben Sarsons lived in the house for over 40 years with his wife and sister. When he died in 1887, another Redditch businessman, William Webb saw the potential in the house and premises and planned to move his bakery and confectionery business from another area of the town centre. He moved in with his wife and young family in midsummer of that year. Tragically he died soon afterwards and his brother Thomas took over the business.
Thomas, his wife Catherine and their family lived above the shop and backhouse until Thomas’s death in 1917 when the business passed to his sons. Members of the Webb family lived and worked there until the mid 1950’s but the business of Webb and Sons continued next door at 20 Church Green East until 1988, many of Redditch’s older residents still remember the smell of freshly baked bread, or buying seeds or pet food from the other branch of the business in Peakman Street.
Webb House is now the home of the local newspaper, The Redditch Standard.
A worker for the Redditch Standard said that they had an experience that they’ll never forget. They were working late in the office one evening when they could hear someone walking around the corridors, the floorboards were very creaky. They thought that it was just another member of staff who hadn’t gone home yet. When they went to look, the place was empty. They spent another hour or so working in the office, at this point it was very dark outside as it was winter. When they decided to leave, they locked the office door when suddenly a woman ran towards them at an extremely fast pace, she looked like she was in a foul mood, very angry. They described her as wearing along black dress, she had her hair in a bun and had a pale face and you could hear the loud footsteps as she ran towards them. Other members of staff have seen her and described the same woman.
Turning to the left of Church Green East, we go on to Peakman Street, the only building left on this now shortened road is a public house, The Sportsmans Arms. The pub had six different licencees from 1854 to 1940, one of them being Harry Harold Clements, who had the pub from 1934 to 1940. Many of the staff and customers have witnessed a ghost believed to be Harry Clements. He was known to wear the standard barman’s clothes of his time, being a white shirt, black trousers and a black waistcoat, exactly as witnesses of the ghost have described him.
A landlord who had the pub in the 1980s had a few experiences with the ghost. He was up early one morning preparing the bar, ready to open, when he looked through the bar towards the lounge and there was a man sat on one of the barstools. He asked him how he got in and explained that the pub wasn’t open yet, he just faded away. One night he had a ‘stop-back’, a few drinks with a few of the locals after the pub had shut. They were having a quiet drink when he noticed that someone was standing behind the bar hatch. He walked around the bar to see who was there and was a man in a black waistcoat walking towards him, he suddenly vanished. He saw the same man on another occasion walking down the stairs.
We walk along Peakman Street and turn right onto the large car park and head towards The Queens Head pub on Queen Street.
The Queens Head was originally a hotel and freehouse. The first recorded landlord was a local needle manufacturer and grocer, Simeon Shrimpton in 1860. The building was demolished and rebuilt in 1935. Many workers and customers have seen and heard many strange things. Between 1997 to 1998, a young man was living and working in the pub and had many strange experiences. Quite often he would see a man in the cellar, that always smelt like cigars, the gas going to the beer would turn off when he was around. In one of the bedrooms he saw three children sat in the corner by the door playing a game, maybe marbles. An old lady wearing a long black dress opened the door, as if she was checking in on the children. The children disappeared and she turned to stare at him, before waking away and disappearing into the corridor. After hours one night he was sat in the kitchen with the assistant manager when they heard what sounded like a riot going on downstairs in te pub. They ran downstairs and found everything normal. A local legend tells of a huge fight that happened in the pub years ago, maybe it is this fight that is being played out
In 2005 a couple who had the pub had very similar experiences. One night the landlord was asleep, he was startled awake by his dog who was barking and growling aggressively. He tried to get up but as he tried to move, something unseen was holding him down to the bed. The door slammed shut, trapping the dog and himself in the room. After a little while he managed to prize the door open and he ran along the hallway in fear when suddenly the door in front of him slammed shut. He was so startled that he stayed outside in the garden until the morning. He would also see a man in the cellar who he nicknamed ‘George’. George was often seen standing at the top of the barrel ramp in the cellar, usually when changing a barrel. He is described as average height, thick set and tough looking. After a bit research he found that a previous landlord, George Henry Glover who was a heavyweight boxer had the pub from 1921 to 1928. He had also witnessed an old Victorian lady in a long black dress who would be seen in the kitchen on a regular basis.
In 2015, the pub was taken over by two friends. After locking up one night, they sat in the lounge area to relax for a while when something flew towards them as if someone had thrown it from behind the bar. After checking the CCTV footage, you could see the object fly across the room and hit a mirror. On another occasion, a member of staff stayed over one night in the living quarters. He was woken up in the middle of the night by loud banging and shouting coming from downstairs. He went to investigate and the noise carried on, as if a large fight was taking place. When he entered the pub area it was empty and silent. After walking around the pub to make sure there wasn’t a burglar, he returned back upstairs to have a door open and slam into his face.
Leaving the Queens Head, we head towards Grove Street and onto Alcester Street to the Palace Theatre. The Palace Theatre was built in 1913, originally as a theatre but it has also been a cinema, roller-skating rink, a bingo hall and a dance hall. It opened exclusively as a theatre in 1971 with an extension to the foyer. In 1976, a former needle factory at the rear of the theatre was converted into dressing rooms. Theatre staff and visitors have seen the ghost of a man with a dog usually standing on one of the balconies, sometimes when a show is on. In 2004, just before the theatre was refurbished, a paranormal investigation group held a vigil overnight. They found most activity happening around the dressing room area, the former needle factory. They reported loud banging coming from behind the fire exit door and when they approached the door, a little boy appeared and ran through it. They could see what appeared to be someone’s feet under the door, as if they were stood on the other side of it. When they opened the door they could hear footsteps running up the stairs. They later found out that a little boy was once found hanging in the former factory many years ago.
We follow the path past the church and along Market Place where we now turn left onto Evesham Walk. Years ago, before the Kingfisher Shopping Centre was built, this road went straight through the town and boasted many shops and pubs. One of those pubs was the Talbot Hotel. A man in a brown suit and wearing a brown trilby hat had been seen many times over the years, he is believed to be the ghost of a previous landlord.
We enter the main entrance to the Kingfisher Shopping Centre. The shopping centre was built in the 1970s, over the old roads of Redditch, some of the modern frontages of the shops still have the Victorian foundations and cellars.
We cross Worcester Square and carry on along Evesham Walk. One of the travel agents on the left was subject to paranormal activity that was experienced by two cleaners early one morning in 2001. The cleaners used to work separately, one cleaning the shop area and the other would clean downstairs in the staff area. The cupboard which contained the cleaning equipment was downstairs, when one of the cleaners entered the cupboard the door slammed and they were trapped inside like the door had been locked. She heard footsteps running away from the cupboard, she knew it wasn’t the other cleaner as she was upstairs. She shouted and banged the door to try and gain the other cleaners attention but with no avail. After an hour, the cleaner who was working upstairs went to the cleaning cupboard and finally let her out, the door had locked. After sitting down with a cup of tea to help clam down, she explained what had happened. As they were discussing it a man in a black suit walked past them and disappeared into the cupboard.
Moving on from the travel agents and looking to the right is the public toilets area that has a shop either side. During the 1980s and 90s, a lot of paranormal happenings were documented, some even by the police. To help make way for the shopping centre, the local Congregational Church had to be demolished and its graveyard had to be relocated which was in this area of the town.
In the 80s, the shop on the left was a mother and baby shop. Staff reported seeing a dark hooded figure looking like a monk which would pass through the shop on a regular basis. Objects would be moved from one side of the shop to the other. The shop on the right as once an electrical hire store. They had very similar experiences and TVs and radios would turn on or off on there own.
Slightly further along Evesham Walk in Canon Newton House that is used as offices. One night a security guard was on the first floor when he had a feeling that someone was standing behind him. He turned to see a man with a hood up, looking like a monk. He couldn’t run down the stairs as they were shut off at night so he went into the elevator. A the elevator doors closed behind him, the monk walked through them into the elevator. Luckily for him the monk stayed on the first floor. The security guards would often hear the elevator going up and down throughout the night. As you walk along a little further into Evesham Square, the book shop on the right has had books flying off the shelves, sometimes hitting customers.
There is an escalator in Evesham Square that takes you to the first floor to access more shops. One night two security guards could hear a baby crying, they looked around but couldn’t see anything. When they were on the ground floor it sounded like it was coming from the first floor and when they were on the first floor it sounded like it was coming from the ground floor. They called the police who came out and conducted a thorough search but they found nothing but the heard the sound of the baby crying too. In the 1980s there was a circular seated area in Evesham Square. Two teenage girls were sitting down when a man approached them and gave them letter and asked if they could help him, the man then disappeared. They took the letter home to the father of one of the girls. He read the letter and it was from a prisoner from the local Hewell Grange Prison, he had written that he was depressed and was threatening to commit suicide. The girls dad phoned the prison to enquire about the prisoner but they wouldn’t give him any information. A week later when he was reading an article in the local newspaper, the headline on one page was about a prisoner in Hewell Grange who was found hanging in his cell. It was the same name as the man in the letter.
Looking back down to the right of Evesham Walk, was a supermarket in the 1990s, which had two floors. The window cleaner who worked every morning was on the first floor when he noticed an old lady shuffling along towards him. As he turned to say hello, she disappeared right in front of him.
More ghosts have been seen in this area including a man in a suit and monks.
Walking back down Evesham Walk, we’ll now turn left onto Kingfisher Walk and onto Kingfisher Square. There was once a pub here called the Limelight, a very popular town pub. The landlord, staff and customers had all experienced similar things. A little boy had been seen many times in various parts of the pub including the private accommodation. Objects would go missing all of the time and turn up in strange places. One customer witnessed a beer glass lift up and turn upside down on the table right in front of him. Staff have told about having their bums pinched when they’ve bent over without anyone being around.
Leaving the shopping centre we turn don Unicorn Hill. To the left stands a row of modern shops and a takeaway. There is an emblem of a Unicorn on the end of the first building, this is where the Unicorn pub once stood. Unicorn Hill was named after the Unicorn Inn which was one of the more notable public houses in the town during the 19th century. In the 1950s, a young boy was with his mother visiting the Unicorn to see her father who was working at the pub. He was sitting wit his mother in the front yard of the pub and asked his mother what the iron ring attached to the large slab was for, she told him to ask his grandfather. He asked his grandad and he told him it was to help with pulling barrells from the wagons and lowering them into the cellar. A few years later when extensive renovations were taking place, the slab was moved to reveal an old staircase and tunnel that lead towards St. Stephen’s Church.
A lady once working as a cleaner at the Unicorn, had to clean the front doorstep one morning. The front door was heavy and she had to put a lot of force into it to open and close it. After cleaning the step she shut the door but struggled to put the bolt across, she managed to do it by hitting it with the broom. When she returned to work the next day, the landlord was angry with her, saying that she hadn’t locked the door up after cleaning the step and that he had customers wondering in too early. This day she was sure to double check that the door was locked. Around 30 minutes later, a man and woman walked in asking if he pub was open.
Crossing the road brings you onto Bates Hill. In between Bates Hill and Adelaide Street once stood Apollo, an electrical goods shop. A man was once working in the warehouse and noticed someone in a blue uniform from a distance. He thought it was the gas fitter who worked for the company but later that day found that he wasn’t at work that day. Other people have seen the apparition too.
On Adelaide Street stands St Stephens Surgery. A blue nun and a soldier have both been witnessed standing outside the surgery on separate occasions.
Adelaide Street joins onto William Street where in the 1950s two young boys saw a man dressed in medieval clothing walking along the road with a horse. The man lead the horse through an archway that lead to the back of the buildings. When they entered the archway there was no one there. A few years later, archaeologists discovered fragments of medieval pottery and other objects from that era in the same area.
The end of William Street brings you to Church Green East. Crossing the road and following the path to the left brings us full circle to Easemore Road.
The third building along is number 5 Church Green East which was built around 1855 and was occupied by a family with servants. Over the years it has been an insurance brokers, photography studio, solicitors, a dentists and was even used as a brothel in the 1990 film ‘The Widowmaker’ starring David Morrissey from ‘The Walking Dead’ fame. In 2013 it opened up as a bistro and the top floor became a music school.
On the Sunday morning before the business opened, it had been snowing and two of the tutors were setting up the teaching equipment to test before letting students in the next day.
They were in their teaching rooms when they heard a young boy shouting. ‘Dad, dad’, it sounded like it was coming from downstairs. One of them went downstairs to see if someone had come into the building. He knew that he’d locked the door when they came in but looked around anyway only to find the place empty. He even checked outside for footprints in the snow and there was nothing, only there own from the car to the back door. Minutes after returning upstairs, they heard it again, ‘Dad, dad’. This time they both went to look around the whole building only to find it still empty but as they reached the door to the bistro it opened on its own and slammed quickly, hitting one of them!
Around a month after opening, the guitar teacher was sat in his teaching room checking the progress of his students when a young boy peered around the door, looking directly at him. The tutor said hello to the boy and he ran off. He could hear him running down the stairs so he followed him all the way down but with no sight of any children when he reached the bottom. He went into the bistro and asked the staff if any children had been in and they said that no children had been in all day. They checked the CCTV and found nothing.
One evening, a music student walked into the waiting room and saw a little boy playing with the toys that were left there for children awaiting a lesson. He went into the teaching room and asked who the little boy was, the tutor looked and it was empty, no one was there but the toys were on the floor. Over the three years that the business was open, many students and there parents witnessed the boy. When lessons were finished for he day, the tutors would tidy everything away including the toys but they would find them moved every morning as if they’d been played with.
For a reason unknown to them, the tutors nicknamed the ghost James. The mother of one of the students was a Spiritualist Medium and said that she could feel the presence of a few spirits throughout the whole building. They arranged a ghost hunt that included the bistro which involved 12 people. One of the experiments was to sit each person, alone in the teaching rooms and for them to write down whatever came into their minds, when they finished they had to place the paper into a box so that no one else could see what they’d written. The results were amazing, 9 out of 12 wrote down the words Peter, James and little boy. When they researched the census records for 1911, they found that a family with the surname James had lived in the house but there was no record of a child. Perhaps he was born and died in between the census years? The medium also said that she picked up on a WWII soldier on the first floor.
A few months later, one of the tutors was talking to an accountant who worked at the accountants next door at number 4. He was telling him that he had been walking past these buildings everyday since he was a child in the 1950s. He said that he remembered that a man who lived at number 5 and he was a sergeant major during WWII but still used to wear an army trenchcoat during the colder months.
A few evenings each week, the guitar tutors wife would work in the bistro and he would stay behind and wait for her after lessons. One night, around 9 o’clock, a couple in their 30s came in. They ordered a drink and the man asked where the toilets were, he was told to go up the stairs an take a left. Minutes later he came running down the stairs screaming in panic, he went into the bistro looking terrified. He said that as he was about to walk down the stairs, a man stood in the doorway of the function room which is on the first floor, he described him as tall with broad shoulders and looked like he was wearing a military uniform.
During the 1980s and 90s, 5 Church Green East was a solicitors which expanded business and took on the building next door, number 6, known as Beech House. Beech House is one of the most noticeable properties in the town centre. It was built in 1854 and was owned by the Warrin family. Previous to living in this house they lived on Fish Hill, now known as Prospect Hill, about 50 metres away. Tragedy hit the household when the cook, Mary Evans gave birth and disposed of the infant in the furnace in the cellar. She had managed to keep the pregnancy hidden from the family in fear of losing her job.
Joseph Warrin, the head of the family founded the Eagle Works who manufactured needles whose premises may have been behind Beech House. Joseph died in 1879, leaving the company and the house to his family. The house was occupied by the family until Jospeh’s two unmarried daughters died in 1925 and 1931. Over the years, many people have witnessed a lady wearing a white dress looking out of various windows of the property. She has also been seen wondering around the bandstand and the water fountain, both on the Church Green, opposite the house.
When the property was a solicitors, many of the staff reported seeing a lady in a white dress standing or walking on the staircase. Locals say that the last of the Warrin sisters hung herself in one of the rooms upstairs as she couldn’t cope on her own after losing her sister. Staff had also said that they could hear crying coming from upstairs on regular occasions.
A solicitor who worked there reported many paranormal incidents. One night when she was locking up, she put the key into the door and something pulled the door back and shook it very violently, stopping her from locking it, she had to wait 20 minutes to gain the courage to try and lock it again. Another time she was carrying some heavy files up the stairs and the weight of them went, as if someone else was helping her. They kept the cellar as a strongroom, a place where important files and items of value would be kept safe. She would often find that files would be moved around and the lights would flicker, with a feeling that someone was in the room.
Moving along the road, we pass St Stephen’s Church to 21 Church Green East, known as Webb House which backs on to Peakman Street and faces Mercian Square that holds the memorial to John Bonham, the legendary drummer from Led Zeppelin, who was born and raised in Redditch.
Webb House dates from 1774 and was owned by a Mr Peakman who had a wire-drawing business for the manufacturing of needles. In the mid 19th century, maltster and corn dealer Ben Sarsons lived in the house for over 40 years with his wife and sister. When he died in 1887, another Redditch businessman, William Webb saw the potential in the house and premises and planned to move his bakery and confectionery business from another area of the town centre. He moved in with his wife and young family in midsummer of that year. Tragically he died soon afterwards and his brother Thomas took over the business.
Thomas, his wife Catherine and their family lived above the shop and backhouse until Thomas’s death in 1917 when the business passed to his sons. Members of the Webb family lived and worked there until the mid 1950’s but the business of Webb and Sons continued next door at 20 Church Green East until 1988, many of Redditch’s older residents still remember the smell of freshly baked bread, or buying seeds or pet food from the other branch of the business in Peakman Street.
Webb House is now the home of the local newspaper, The Redditch Standard.
A worker for the Redditch Standard said that they had an experience that they’ll never forget. They were working late in the office one evening when they could hear someone walking around the corridors, the floorboards were very creaky. They thought that it was just another member of staff who hadn’t gone home yet. When they went to look, the place was empty. They spent another hour or so working in the office, at this point it was very dark outside as it was winter. When they decided to leave, they locked the office door when suddenly a woman ran towards them at an extremely fast pace, she looked like she was in a foul mood, very angry. They described her as wearing along black dress, she had her hair in a bun and had a pale face and you could hear the loud footsteps as she ran towards them. Other members of staff have seen her and described the same woman.
Turning to the left of Church Green East, we go on to Peakman Street, the only building left on this now shortened road is a public house, The Sportsmans Arms. The pub had six different licencees from 1854 to 1940, one of them being Harry Harold Clements, who had the pub from 1934 to 1940. Many of the staff and customers have witnessed a ghost believed to be Harry Clements. He was known to wear the standard barman’s clothes of his time, being a white shirt, black trousers and a black waistcoat, exactly as witnesses of the ghost have described him.
A landlord who had the pub in the 1980s had a few experiences with the ghost. He was up early one morning preparing the bar, ready to open, when he looked through the bar towards the lounge and there was a man sat on one of the barstools. He asked him how he got in and explained that the pub wasn’t open yet, he just faded away. One night he had a ‘stop-back’, a few drinks with a few of the locals after the pub had shut. They were having a quiet drink when he noticed that someone was standing behind the bar hatch. He walked around the bar to see who was there and was a man in a black waistcoat walking towards him, he suddenly vanished. He saw the same man on another occasion walking down the stairs.
We walk along Peakman Street and turn right onto the large car park and head towards The Queens Head pub on Queen Street.
The Queens Head was originally a hotel and freehouse. The first recorded landlord was a local needle manufacturer and grocer, Simeon Shrimpton in 1860. The building was demolished and rebuilt in 1935. Many workers and customers have seen and heard many strange things. Between 1997 to 1998, a young man was living and working in the pub and had many strange experiences. Quite often he would see a man in the cellar, that always smelt like cigars, the gas going to the beer would turn off when he was around. In one of the bedrooms he saw three children sat in the corner by the door playing a game, maybe marbles. An old lady wearing a long black dress opened the door, as if she was checking in on the children. The children disappeared and she turned to stare at him, before waking away and disappearing into the corridor. After hours one night he was sat in the kitchen with the assistant manager when they heard what sounded like a riot going on downstairs in te pub. They ran downstairs and found everything normal. A local legend tells of a huge fight that happened in the pub years ago, maybe it is this fight that is being played out
In 2005 a couple who had the pub had very similar experiences. One night the landlord was asleep, he was startled awake by his dog who was barking and growling aggressively. He tried to get up but as he tried to move, something unseen was holding him down to the bed. The door slammed shut, trapping the dog and himself in the room. After a little while he managed to prize the door open and he ran along the hallway in fear when suddenly the door in front of him slammed shut. He was so startled that he stayed outside in the garden until the morning. He would also see a man in the cellar who he nicknamed ‘George’. George was often seen standing at the top of the barrel ramp in the cellar, usually when changing a barrel. He is described as average height, thick set and tough looking. After a bit research he found that a previous landlord, George Henry Glover who was a heavyweight boxer had the pub from 1921 to 1928. He had also witnessed an old Victorian lady in a long black dress who would be seen in the kitchen on a regular basis.
In 2015, the pub was taken over by two friends. After locking up one night, they sat in the lounge area to relax for a while when something flew towards them as if someone had thrown it from behind the bar. After checking the CCTV footage, you could see the object fly across the room and hit a mirror. On another occasion, a member of staff stayed over one night in the living quarters. He was woken up in the middle of the night by loud banging and shouting coming from downstairs. He went to investigate and the noise carried on, as if a large fight was taking place. When he entered the pub area it was empty and silent. After walking around the pub to make sure there wasn’t a burglar, he returned back upstairs to have a door open and slam into his face.
Leaving the Queens Head, we head towards Grove Street and onto Alcester Street to the Palace Theatre. The Palace Theatre was built in 1913, originally as a theatre but it has also been a cinema, roller-skating rink, a bingo hall and a dance hall. It opened exclusively as a theatre in 1971 with an extension to the foyer. In 1976, a former needle factory at the rear of the theatre was converted into dressing rooms. Theatre staff and visitors have seen the ghost of a man with a dog usually standing on one of the balconies, sometimes when a show is on. In 2004, just before the theatre was refurbished, a paranormal investigation group held a vigil overnight. They found most activity happening around the dressing room area, the former needle factory. They reported loud banging coming from behind the fire exit door and when they approached the door, a little boy appeared and ran through it. They could see what appeared to be someone’s feet under the door, as if they were stood on the other side of it. When they opened the door they could hear footsteps running up the stairs. They later found out that a little boy was once found hanging in the former factory many years ago.
We follow the path past the church and along Market Place where we now turn left onto Evesham Walk. Years ago, before the Kingfisher Shopping Centre was built, this road went straight through the town and boasted many shops and pubs. One of those pubs was the Talbot Hotel. A man in a brown suit and wearing a brown trilby hat had been seen many times over the years, he is believed to be the ghost of a previous landlord.
We enter the main entrance to the Kingfisher Shopping Centre. The shopping centre was built in the 1970s, over the old roads of Redditch, some of the modern frontages of the shops still have the Victorian foundations and cellars.
We cross Worcester Square and carry on along Evesham Walk. One of the travel agents on the left was subject to paranormal activity that was experienced by two cleaners early one morning in 2001. The cleaners used to work separately, one cleaning the shop area and the other would clean downstairs in the staff area. The cupboard which contained the cleaning equipment was downstairs, when one of the cleaners entered the cupboard the door slammed and they were trapped inside like the door had been locked. She heard footsteps running away from the cupboard, she knew it wasn’t the other cleaner as she was upstairs. She shouted and banged the door to try and gain the other cleaners attention but with no avail. After an hour, the cleaner who was working upstairs went to the cleaning cupboard and finally let her out, the door had locked. After sitting down with a cup of tea to help clam down, she explained what had happened. As they were discussing it a man in a black suit walked past them and disappeared into the cupboard.
Moving on from the travel agents and looking to the right is the public toilets area that has a shop either side. During the 1980s and 90s, a lot of paranormal happenings were documented, some even by the police. To help make way for the shopping centre, the local Congregational Church had to be demolished and its graveyard had to be relocated which was in this area of the town.
In the 80s, the shop on the left was a mother and baby shop. Staff reported seeing a dark hooded figure looking like a monk which would pass through the shop on a regular basis. Objects would be moved from one side of the shop to the other. The shop on the right as once an electrical hire store. They had very similar experiences and TVs and radios would turn on or off on there own.
Slightly further along Evesham Walk in Canon Newton House that is used as offices. One night a security guard was on the first floor when he had a feeling that someone was standing behind him. He turned to see a man with a hood up, looking like a monk. He couldn’t run down the stairs as they were shut off at night so he went into the elevator. A the elevator doors closed behind him, the monk walked through them into the elevator. Luckily for him the monk stayed on the first floor. The security guards would often hear the elevator going up and down throughout the night. As you walk along a little further into Evesham Square, the book shop on the right has had books flying off the shelves, sometimes hitting customers.
There is an escalator in Evesham Square that takes you to the first floor to access more shops. One night two security guards could hear a baby crying, they looked around but couldn’t see anything. When they were on the ground floor it sounded like it was coming from the first floor and when they were on the first floor it sounded like it was coming from the ground floor. They called the police who came out and conducted a thorough search but they found nothing but the heard the sound of the baby crying too. In the 1980s there was a circular seated area in Evesham Square. Two teenage girls were sitting down when a man approached them and gave them letter and asked if they could help him, the man then disappeared. They took the letter home to the father of one of the girls. He read the letter and it was from a prisoner from the local Hewell Grange Prison, he had written that he was depressed and was threatening to commit suicide. The girls dad phoned the prison to enquire about the prisoner but they wouldn’t give him any information. A week later when he was reading an article in the local newspaper, the headline on one page was about a prisoner in Hewell Grange who was found hanging in his cell. It was the same name as the man in the letter.
Looking back down to the right of Evesham Walk, was a supermarket in the 1990s, which had two floors. The window cleaner who worked every morning was on the first floor when he noticed an old lady shuffling along towards him. As he turned to say hello, she disappeared right in front of him.
More ghosts have been seen in this area including a man in a suit and monks.
Walking back down Evesham Walk, we’ll now turn left onto Kingfisher Walk and onto Kingfisher Square. There was once a pub here called the Limelight, a very popular town pub. The landlord, staff and customers had all experienced similar things. A little boy had been seen many times in various parts of the pub including the private accommodation. Objects would go missing all of the time and turn up in strange places. One customer witnessed a beer glass lift up and turn upside down on the table right in front of him. Staff have told about having their bums pinched when they’ve bent over without anyone being around.
Leaving the shopping centre we turn don Unicorn Hill. To the left stands a row of modern shops and a takeaway. There is an emblem of a Unicorn on the end of the first building, this is where the Unicorn pub once stood. Unicorn Hill was named after the Unicorn Inn which was one of the more notable public houses in the town during the 19th century. In the 1950s, a young boy was with his mother visiting the Unicorn to see her father who was working at the pub. He was sitting wit his mother in the front yard of the pub and asked his mother what the iron ring attached to the large slab was for, she told him to ask his grandfather. He asked his grandad and he told him it was to help with pulling barrells from the wagons and lowering them into the cellar. A few years later when extensive renovations were taking place, the slab was moved to reveal an old staircase and tunnel that lead towards St. Stephen’s Church.
A lady once working as a cleaner at the Unicorn, had to clean the front doorstep one morning. The front door was heavy and she had to put a lot of force into it to open and close it. After cleaning the step she shut the door but struggled to put the bolt across, she managed to do it by hitting it with the broom. When she returned to work the next day, the landlord was angry with her, saying that she hadn’t locked the door up after cleaning the step and that he had customers wondering in too early. This day she was sure to double check that the door was locked. Around 30 minutes later, a man and woman walked in asking if he pub was open.
Crossing the road brings you onto Bates Hill. In between Bates Hill and Adelaide Street once stood Apollo, an electrical goods shop. A man was once working in the warehouse and noticed someone in a blue uniform from a distance. He thought it was the gas fitter who worked for the company but later that day found that he wasn’t at work that day. Other people have seen the apparition too.
On Adelaide Street stands St Stephens Surgery. A blue nun and a soldier have both been witnessed standing outside the surgery on separate occasions.
Adelaide Street joins onto William Street where in the 1950s two young boys saw a man dressed in medieval clothing walking along the road with a horse. The man lead the horse through an archway that lead to the back of the buildings. When they entered the archway there was no one there. A few years later, archaeologists discovered fragments of medieval pottery and other objects from that era in the same area.
The end of William Street brings you to Church Green East. Crossing the road and following the path to the left brings us full circle to Easemore Road.
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