|
The Priest House Investigation
West Hoathly, Sussex
15th August 2009
Introduction
Photographs
Team Reports
Members Views
Introduction
We had waited a long time to come and investigate the home of our host Antony Smith the curator of The Priest House and received a warm and friendly welcome by him. Antony has lived in the Priest House for the past twenty one years but would not tell us anything at all about it.
The kitchen area we made as our hub and after depositing our equipment there Antony gave us all a guided tour with the lights on.
A short break followed before we started our investigation.
Priest House History
Standing in the beautiful surroundings of a traditional cottage garden on the edge of Ashdown Forest, the Priest House is an early 15th century timber-framed hall-house built as an estate office for the Priory of St. Pancras in Lewes to improve the administration of the Manor of the Rectory of West Hoathly.
In 1524 the Priory leased the Rectory Manor to John Browne, a “husbandman” of the parish & The Priest House became a family home.
When Henry VIII seized Lewes Priory’s property the Browne’s Manor was given to Thomas Cromwell. After his disgrace & execution the Manor formed part of the settlement of Anne of Cleves. Following her death, the Browne’s paid rent to Queen Mary & then to Elizabeth I. In 1560 the Queen sold the property that had once belonged to Lewes Priory. The Browne’s bought the Manor lands & The Priest House & set about modernising the building.
The house was originally an open hall, with a living room & upper chamber on the north end & a service end, with a buttery, pantry & solar, to the south. Large stone chimneys were built to replace the medieval open hearth, which enabled two new rooms to be created upstairs, each with their own fireplace. The original thatched roof was also replaced with Horsham stone.
The house remained in the hands of the Browne family for another hundred years but their fortunes were in decline & in 1695 the house & Manor had to be sold to pay off their debts. The new owner, Mrs. Anna Hooper of Barbados, split the building into two cottages for tenant farmers. For 200 years the house remained in the hands of absentee landlords who did little to maintain it.
In 1905 it was bought by John Godwin King, of Stonelands, West Hoathly. He carefully restored the building & in 1908 opened it to the public, to display his collection of locally gathered artefacts. In 1935 John Godwin King presented The Priest House & its contents to the Sussex Archaeological Society.
The House now contains a varied collection of 17th & 18th century country furniture, ironwork, embroidery & other domestic bygones, displayed in furnished rooms. It is complemented by a colourful cottage garden & small formal herb garden, which contain over 170 culinary, medicinal & household herbs.
Investigating Team Members
Val Butler
Ken Taylor
Steen Spencer
Louise Williams
Pat Rendell
Emma Macdonald
Jacqi Ephgrave
Becki Ephgrave
Mandy Firth
The Investigation
As the Priest House is over 600 years of age and on two floors all of course wooden we decided not to split into two teams as every little sound would be heard by the other team, even though one team would be on a different level.
Antony had retired to his living quarters of the house and so the investigation had begun with all lights now turned off.
Photographs
Team Reports
Vigil 1 Master Bedroom Upstairs
Temperature 19 degrees all around EMF reading 0
This bedroom made all of us feel quite comfortable, Val invited spirit to join with us with no response, Pat then said she had only taken two photos and her batteries were flat although they were new ones just put in. Val asks for spirit again and Jacqi heard a vibrating sound coming from the round table Val was writing the notes on. Steen heard a metal tinny sound. Val then thought she had been touched all being very gentle. Val then made a calling sound, and immediately a copy of the sound was heard by all. Becky said she thought a dog was present and we then heard a growl from the corner of the room. Pat has now replaced a second set of batteries.
Pat, Mandy, Louise and Jacqi were using the Ouija board and at first the glass moved slightly but then all went flat. Becki became very hot and had the feeling someone had their arm over hers. No other activity in this room, and a short break was very welcome.
Vigil 2 Upstairs Museum.
Temperature 18 degrees all around EMF reading 0
Val requests for spirit to come forward but there was no response. Becky has started the giggles for no apparent reason. All team feel comfortable and calm in this room. Then suddenly Val felt a strong cold rush of wind go past her side and then has the name of Henry to mind. Ken thought of a lady named Hannah was associated with this house. Going through the door to the staircase Val is given the name of Oliver. We all spread out up the staircase with Jacqi calling for spirit again there was no response. Jacqi said there was a little girl here named Rosalind, she was aged around 6 years. Val had a master builder coming to mind by the name of Thomas. Ken said he thought Hannah was born here. All felt quite comfortable with no occurrences here.
Vigil 3 Downstairs Parlour
Temperature 17 degrees EMF reading 0
This room was tastefully decorated with the centre table laid out in pewter dishes. I do not know why but this room seemed to affect everyone in a most peculiar way, we could not speak without the giggles, no matter how hard we tried to stop we just couldn’t. Val thought this room to be a bedroom and had the vision of a man chasing his lady around and falling onto a bed. At this moment a thud was heard but again no matter how much we tried to concentrate the giggles then went to full laughter and not one of us knew why.
We left this beautiful room and returned to the hub and astonishingly our fits of giggling stopped. We then took a short break and composed ourselves again.
Vigil 4 Return to the Master Bedroom.
Temperature 19 degrees EMF reading 0
The trigger object we had placed in here had not moved. Ken is given the name of Isaac Hayes who either lived here or born here. Val asks for spirit to join with us several attempts were made but nothing occurred. Sitting quietly for a while a sound was heard by the window. Steen asked spirit to slow or to stop the clock that was hung on the wall but had no response. He then asked for spirit to copy his knocking but again all was very quiet.
West Hoathly is an idyllic country village that you see on picture post cards and takes you back in time. The villagers were so friendly to us inviting us back again. The beautiful medieval Priest House we found to be a happy home to whoever had lived here through the centuries. A home of warmth and laughter set in magnificent floral gardens.
MPI would sincerely like to thank Antony for allowing us to investigate his lovely home with the freedom of wandering just everywhere. Keep up the good work Antony the Priest House is a credit to you.
Members Views
Val
Upon entering the village of West Hoathly that is situated on the western edge of Ashdown Forest it made me think of what England stood for. Quaint medieval cottages, a church of St. Margaret’s dating back to the 10th century, The Cat Inn country Public House, all so peaceful. The Priest House is a timber framed hall house next to the Manor House. Upon entering I felt I was in another era. I could have quite comfortably made this my home. The evening investigation was one that I found very quiet with little activity. I felt nothing sinister had ever happened here.
Thank you so much Antony for making us so welcome I will come to see you again when we are back in the village and buy some more of your herbs and country plants. A little bit of West Hoathly now lives in my garden.
Ken
The Priest House is a house everyone dreams of buying in idyllic surroundings. The night’s investigation I found to be very quiet with no activity. The atmosphere was very pleasant and inviting. I felt at ease the whole evening. The artefacts I found to be fascinating. My thanks to the curator Antony for all the information and making us so welcome.
Jacqi
We made good time arriving at the Priest House...what a lovely venue a very pretty picturesque house set in a small village. When entering the house I felt a sense of peace descend over me. We were introduced to our host for the evening and he took us round the house on our walk explaining the room layout.
Due to being a small number we decided to all go together on the vigils and not groups as the house was quite small and we would have easily heard each other while calling out. We heard some noises that could not quite be explained and members of the group were touched, whispered to or felt different degrees of nausea whilst we were carrying out the investigation.
There were numerous occasions when we all burst out laughing over the smallest things and ended up in belly busting fits of giggles. Can’t quite explain that one!!!
I personally enjoyed the evening very much even though we did not get much activity from the spirits.
Thanks to out host Anthony for an interesting evening.
Becky
This was a very beautiful location. This house felt happy and peaceful and full of joy. The evening was filled with fun and cheer. I did not find this to be as eventful as some other locations but I did experience a couple of things in the Master Bedroom including several rumbling/growling sounds like that of a dog or animal. While Val was conducting the talking board I was filming and felt as though someone had laid their arm on top of mine it was a very light but very cold sensation. Soon after that I felt very hot all over was suddenly very clammy, I felt like I was shaking, I backed away from the board and felt myself return to normal. When we stopped for a break and were walking down the stairs (I was at the bottom) I heard someone in my ear make a mock laughing sound in a deep voice, I looked around and the other group members were still at the top of the stairs??? Eeeeek Over all I think this was a lovely house and felt very happy while I was in there.
Pat
Well what a fantastic evening, the locals seemed very friendly and interested in what we were doing, as we popped into the local "for a quick coffee of course" before starting the investigation.
On approaching the house it looked like a picture postcard it was lovely, we had a warm welcome from our host for the night who made us all very welcome, (just sorry we had to keep interrupting him to go for a pee) to much coffee, the inside of the house was wonderful, on starting the investigation on the top floor of the master bedroom I had taken just one photo and my batteries went flat, strange as they were all freshly charged before I left, I went downstairs to get a new one and the same thing happened again, in that room I got through I believe three sets of batteries.. But at all times felt very comfortable in there.
Again in the next bedroom felt very comfortable, but camera worked ok, didn't pick up to much in there at all. On the start of the investigation downstairs, I really don't know what happened as nobody could stop laughing it was really quiet strange, that was the only time we started to pick up on what may have been some activity with knocking coming from upstairs and also sounded like furniture being moved.
All in all a very warm and happy house a thoroughly good evening and thank you to our host.
Emma
Had a fantastic evening at the priest house, due to work commitments I was a little late in joining the group.
Paranormal wise I found the house to be fairly quiet and personally I did not feel anything peculiar. However this is a very interesting property with a great deal of history behind it. I would have very much enjoyed it if we could have had access to the cellar but unfortunately it was not possible due to structural integrity.
Thanks to the host for allowing us to investigate this fascinating property.
Steen
The Priest House was a lovely venue with lots of history and really enjoyed the evening. I personally didn't feel any other presence than ourselves. I did get the sense of children running around, but that was more of a feeling, not a presence.
|
