Derby Ghosts
Assembly Rooms
As in other towns, the Assembly Rooms in Derby was a popular meeting place in the 18th century, where young people danced and the elderly people played cards whilst keeping a watchful eye on their offspring. The aim of an assembly was to bring all sorts and classes of people together harmoniously, but in Derby this was not to be, certainly not around 1714 as there had evolved two very separate assemblies: one at the corner of the Market Place and Full Street for the gentry of the county and one for the lesser mortals of the town. This second assembly was situated at Moote Hall or meeting place, part of which still exists, although now incorporated into the modern facade of the Derbyshire Building Society on the corner of the Market Place and Iron Gate.
A bizarre incident happened there on the night of 5 December 1745. People had come from far and wide to a reception held there for Prince Charles Edward Stuart, who had arrived in Derby on his way to take the English crown. The crush of people was so great that a table bearing the Royal Standard was overturned and the standard was broken. This was considered a bad omen by many of the prince's army and, although the decision was taken on military grounds alone, following that fateful reception the order was given for the retreat of the Highland army back north. There eventually followed, of course, the Battle of Culloden, the slaughter and transportation of hundreds of Scots, the burning of their homes, the killing of their cattle and eventually, the Highland Clearances.
county assembly had been built in Derby in 1714, and an even larger building was erected on the Market Place in 1763. This was badly damaged by fire 200 years later and a much larger Assembly Rooms, opened in 1977, now occupies the old site on the Market Place, including the site of the Duke of Newcastle's house, where King Charles I stayed in 1637. The modern Assembly Rooms complex still provides entertainment for Derbyshire people as well as playing host to national exhibitions and sporting events.
According to many people, the present building is haunted. Mick Taylor, the house manager, was in the building at 3am one morning, standing in the concourse with his back to the Darwin Suite. Also present was another member of staff. Mr Taylor turned around - why, he did not know - and saw an elderly lady dressed in Victorian costume. She appeared to have no legs and seemed to be floating. He alerted his colleague, who also turned around, and both witnessed the figure gliding across the floor before disappearing.
On many other occasions, security guards have seen what appeared to be a ring of children dancing in the Darwin Suite and have often reported the eerie sounds of laughter when there is no one in the building.
The new Assembly Rooms were built between 1973 and 1977. As the footings and foundations were being installed a builder reported seeing what he believed, along with several work colleagues, to be the remains of an old Viking ship, and of course this is quite feasible as the site is close to the River Derwent. He reported the matter to his superiors but was told that because of a penalty clause in the contract, the work had to be finished on time and so hundreds of tons of concrete were poured over the remains of what might have proved to be one of Derby's most important links with the past.
Ye Olde Dolphin Inn
This is Derby's oldest public house, dating back to around 1530. Of course, due to its great antiquity, it has various ghosts associated with it including a blue lady who walks through the old lath and plaster walls. She has been seen by many customers in the pub and also in the tea rooms upstairs. The most intriguing part of the Dolphin is its 18th-century extension on the left-hand side of the building in Full Street. This was not always part of the Dolphin, being originally a doctor's house.
In the 18th century, it was customary for doctors to have bodies delivered to their homes for the furtherance of medical science. Part of the sentence of execution in those days was that afterwards, the body of the criminal would be delivered to 'ye surgeons' for dissection'. Many condemned prisoners were more in fear of the dissection then the death sentence.
Before the introduction of the new drop, around 1760, the victim was delivered to the hangman on a cart. The executioner then placed the halter around the victim's neck and the cart was driven away, leaving the condemned man swinging. it could take anything up to 20 minutes for the person to die of slow strangulation from the weight of their own body, unless, of course, the executioner happened to be feeling particularly generous, in which case he would climb to the top of the scaffold or tree and put both feet on the hanging person's shoulders and push down, or with his assistant, take a leg each - and this is where the saying 'pull the other leg' comes from - and pull down, thus tightening the rope around the neck and hastening the end.
Because of the length of time it sometimes took for the accused to die, some who were hanged and then delivered to the surgeons in the Shire Hall in St Mary's Gate, woke up on the dissecting slab.
These poor wretches would be taken off and placed in a corner where a careful eye was kept upon them to see if they would later die or recover A particular incident of this kind apparently happened in the cellar under the doctor's house, which is now part of the Dolphin.
One morning, so we are led to believe, our doctor came eagerly down into the cellar after a body had been delivered. He pulled the body on to a table and ripped the shroud from it, only to find life still present. No one knows what happened - whether the doctor died from shock; whether the person died; or the doctor in fact plunged his scalpel into the body; or even if the person recovered - but many bodies were dissected in that cellar under the Dolphin, and to this day it is haunted by a poltergeist which turns the taps of the beer kegs off in that part of the cellar.
Because of the unearthly atmosphere, two members of staff normally go down together, as no one wishes to venture there alone.
St. Helen's House
Known affectionately as Pickford's masterpiece and built in 1767, St Helen's House is probably Derby's finest surviving Georgian town house. Built for John Gisbourne of Yoxall Lodge, Staffordshire, in 1767, this fine Palladian mansion once stood in 80 acres of parkland and was visited by society's elite, who would have been almost certainly entertained in some splendour. The house would have had all of the necessary accessories to have impressed the most influential people of the day. Grand balls and dinner parties would have been a regular occurrence at this grand house.
The first monastery in Derbyshire is believed to have existed on the site prior to the present building being erected. In 1137 a man called 'Ibvi gifted a parcel of land to be used as an oratory (chapel) which was dedicated to St Helen and served by a community of Augustinian canons.
St Helen's House has had several uses in its time including once being owned by William Strutt, eldest son of the industrialist Jedediah Strutt, who made many improvements to the interior. The building then became Derby School, during which time several new parts were added, including a red-brick chapel.
Today the building is the property of Derbyshire County Council, and houses an adult education centre. There are many who believe that the building would be better utilised as a museum to accommodate some of Derby's treasures including paintings by Joseph Wright, whose pictures quite possibly hung there in earlier days.
Needless to say, the building is said to be haunted by many ghosts. One is said to be that of a young lady, who comes sweeping down the stairs as if hurrying away from something, or someone, that is chasing her.
Another ghost is said to be that of a monk who has been seen on several occasions in different parts of the building. One previous lady worker at St Helen's House, who was employed there when it still functioned as a school, informed me that on several occasions whilst she was working late in the evening she had heard an eerie and chilling voice whisper her name. On further investigation this lady found no other person present. When questioning colleagues about her experience she was told that this type of strange occurrence had happened frequently to several people, and some members of staff were so used to this that they had nicknamed the ghost 'The Whisperer'.
Certain parts of the building are also said to have cold spots, and one gentleman, a student at the building in 1992, witnessed a grey smoky figure, seemingly almost of human shape, descend as if from the ceiling and pass through a wall.
Jacobean House
This was Derby's first brick building, built in 1611. It was once much larger, having five gables until in 1855 when the Victorians drove Becket Street right through the house.
Mrs Gisbourne, the wife of Derby's mayor, was the first lady within the town to have her own coach. When she left her home her servants and retainers accompanied her to the borders of Derbyshire, either to help her negotiate the foul, deep-rutted roads of the time, or perhaps to make sure that she was really gone!
No this day, a mysterious phantom coach and horses are sometimes seen parked outside the house and a headless coachman has been seen coming through the coach archway which may still be seen on the left-hand side of the building. Also, the dark, mysterious figure of a man is seen standing in the Wardwick entrance to the house. A solicitor who once had offices in the building, moved his premises elsewhere as he could no longer stand working in the building late at night, due to the strange things that happened there when he was alone.
Wayne Anthony in his book Derbyshire Ghosts, (J.H.Hall & Sons, 1992) describes how one lady, Mrs Hall, a former worker at the building experienced the following: "I was in the upstairs rooms of Jacobean House, looking for something or other, when I felt someone brush past me and immediately turning, I caught sight of a lady in a blue dress, who turned her head to look at me, smiled and walked down the stairs. I immediately followed her, and on reaching the bottom floor I asked colleagues if they had seen anyone pass them, to which they replied that no one had, as far as they were aware.
left it at that and did not tell them why I had asked such a strange question. Later on that week, I saw the lady again, this time going up the stairs, and still wearing the same blue dress, the only difference being that she had added a white shawl which hung loosely around her shoulders. "Again I followed her. on reaching the upper floors of the building, I could find no trace of the woman. Shortly after this event had taken place, work colleagues came rushing into the room where I was working and stated that they had just seen the ghost of a lady in blue walking up the stairs, who had vanished before their eyes.
It was at this point that others working in the room stated they too had experienced similar visitations. I saw her many times during my employment within the building, always in blue and always in the vicinity of the stairs, I was never frightened of meeting her and in many ways I looked forward to seeing her, for she always looked so gentle and kind and I don't think that she would ever hurt anyone. Whenever anything went missing - and things very often did - we always put it down to the 'Blue Lady' moving them. Some things were never found and some things would turn up days or weeks later, but never when they were needed."
here are a reported 14 ghosts in Jacobean House, making the building one of the most haunted within the city of Derby.
The Noah's Ark, haunted by counterfeiter.
One particularly industrious person who used the River Derwent in the 17th century was a gentleman by the name of Noah Bullock, who built an 'ark' and moored it on the Derwent near the Morledge. He lived on it with his wife, five daughters and four sons whom he named Shem, Ham, Japhet and Benjamin. His religious devotion ended there, however, as Bullock's occupation aboard his floating home was the coining of counterfeit money.
In 1676 his crime - a capital offence in those days - was discovered and Bullock appeared before the Recorder of Derby, Sir Simon Degge, whom Noah knew well. The forger promised to end his activities, broke up his ark and sank it in the River Derwent, thus escaping the hangman. Today there is a public house in the Morledge bearing the name of Noah's Ark, a link with a notorious Derby character from the 17th century, who is said to haunt the pub.
Close to the site where Noah Bullock may have built, moored and eventually sank his ark, several river ghosts and strange lights which erratically move and twist in a strange dance have been seen. There is no explanation for these lights, apart from one medium who claims that they are the lost souls of the dead seeking a pathway to the next life.
Georgian House Hotel
This building in Friar Gate is believed to have been built for a naval officer who served under Admiral Nelson. it was also the residence of a governor of the old Derbyshire County Gaol in Vernon Street and the ghostly figure of a man dressed in a blue suit has often been seen standing in the area of the hallway and also on the stairs.
Seymour's Wine Bar, in the shadow of St Werburgh's Church
Tucked away in St Werburgh's Churchyard, behind the former church off Cheapside, is Seymour's Wine Bar and Restaurant which is known to be haunted by the figure of an old lady, dressed in grey, who is said to frequent the upper regions of the property. Several stories have been related to me concerning the appearance of this ghost and many of the sightings are said to be 'pre- announced' by the smell of lavender, which pervades the room to the extent of 'stinging the nostrils' as one young lady described it.
Several strange incidents took place in the building when a former manager lived there. On several occasions he would find that cutlery had been moved around and placed in a different order. Other items would occasionally disappear, only to reappear at a later date, sometimes in the same place. often in a totally different location, days or weeks later.
The area known as the 'Bake House', in the upper regions of the building, was often reported by staff to have a 'watchful presence'. On several occasions staff felt themselves being touched by unseen hands, but never did anyone feel that they were meant any harm. in fact, all the employees were quite happy with their unseen guests.
The adjacent graveyard of St Werburgh's is also said to be haunted by several spirits and one former worker at Seymour's informed me that on several occasions he had seen the figure of a man appear to walk through the wall into the building.
Swarkestone Bridge, the longest stone bridge in England.
Swarkestone Bridge is almost a mile in length and crosses an area of low-lying marshy land as well as the River Trent. It was originally built in the early 13th century, on behalf of two beautiful sisters of the Bellamont family, in memory of their fiancés, as legend has it.
The sisters were holding a party to celebrate their joint betrothal when the two young men were summoned to attend a meeting of barons on the other side of the Trent. They reached the meeting safely, but while they were there, the river became swollen by a rainstorm. Although it became a flood of rushing water, the men were eager to get back to their beautiful sweethearts and attempted to ford the river on horseback. Their horses swam valiantly against the torrent but their efforts were in vain. Both men were swept away and drowned.
The heartbroken Bellamont girls built the bridge over the Trent to prevent such a tragedy occurring again, and in memory of the drowned men. Neither girl ever married. In fact the legend states that they spent so much money on the bridge that they died not only unwed, but also in extreme poverty, being buried in one grave in Prestwold Church in Leicestershire. Their ghosts are said to be seen on stormy nights when the River Trent is swollen, looking for their lost loves who were so tragically drowned in the river's murky waters.
St Peter's Chuch, burial ground of plague victims.
There are probably more bodies in St Peter's Churchyard than in any other graveyard in Derby. St Peter's was once the most densely populated part of Derby and when the Black Death struck the town in 1349, more people died in St Peter's parish than in any other part of Derby. Of a population which then numbered 3,000, one-third died from the Black Death.
One of the symptoms of this plague was a coma or deep sleep. With so many people dying, so many red crosses painted on the doors and bells ringing as the carts loaded with corpses rolled through the streets with "Bring out your dead" the common cry, it is hardly surprising that some people, were pronounced dead who were really only in a coma. There are reports at St Peter's of people clawing their way out of shallow graves, or pushing up the lids of coffins and climbing out.
So many people died that the town resorted to burying corpses vertically instead of horizontally, but even so they still ran out of space, so many of the unfortunate victims of the Black Death were buried at the boundaries of the town, one of these places still being called Deadman's Lane, off London Road.
here is a reported sighting, at the bottom of Ascot Drive, of a vampire, always accompanied by the smell of rotting fruit. And there is one more vampire tale connected with Derby. The very first public showing, anywhere in the world, of Hamilton Deane's stage adaptation of Bram Stoker's book Count Dracula was performed in Derby at the Grand Theatre on 15 May 1924. So Derby theatre audiences were terrified by Dracula before any other in the world.
Little Chester's Roman Ghosts
There is much evidence to suggest that as early as 80AD, a Roman fort existed besides the River Derwent, at Little Chester, which the Romans called Derventio. Archaeological excavations of the site revealed that the defences of the fort were rectangular in shape, enclosing an estimated area of seven acres, being surrounded by two deep ditches placed l00 ft apart. A clay rampart was later added, and later still the site was reinforced with a thick stone wall some I0ft to I5ft high.
The playing field and car-park at the junction of City Road and old Chester Road is probably where the main headquarters building stood. it is also thought that several other buildings occupied the site, including an infirmary, an armoury and other smaller units making the whole site of Little Chester self-sufficient.
Although no inscriptions have yet been found at Little Chester, there are references from other ancient sources where the later name Derbentione, appears between Lutudarum and Salinac in a seventh-century town listings (the Ravenna Cosmography). The only indication as to how many soldiers were stationed on the site lies in the size of the fort, which covered seven acres and therefore had to have housed one of the bigger auxiliary forts. The largest cavalry units (Alla Milliaria), meaning a thousand horsemen, was believed to be stationed in Britain, at Stanwix, on Hadrian's Wall. The unit appearing to be most suitably placed at Little Chester would have been a Cohors Equitata Milliaria, which consisted of ten centuries of infantry, and in total five of these units were stationed in Britain.
Ye Olde Spa Inne, Abbey Street
Around 1773, a Dr Chauncey came across a mineral spring just off Abbey Street, Derby. Chauncey was an entrepreneur and seized the opportunity to rival places like Buxton and Bath. Simpson's History of Derby states: 'He put down a basin into the spring of it, to come out fresh: he built a cover over the spring which discharges itself by a grate and keeps the place always dry. About 20 yards below the spa he made a handsome cold bath and some rooms to it at considerable expense!
Apparently Chauncey was only exploiting something which was already well-known. In 1611, the burgesses of Derby were already receiving rent for 'a watering place at the nether edge of Abbie Barne', so it appears that the commercial properties of the spring had been realised for at least 120 years before he decided to capitalise on them. Unfortunately Dr Chauncey died in 1736, and his spa seems to have died with him.
double-gabled cottage was built on the site of the spa. It then became a farm and in the l9th century, a public house, which is what stands there today.
The buildings appear to be haunted, but whether by the ghost of Dr Chauncey, no one seems to know. On frequent occasions the landlord has sensed that he is not alone in the cellars, and on three occasions his name has been called by a strange voice when there is no one else there.
The Headless Cross, Friargate (14th Century)
The Headless Cross -
Derby suffered several times from the plague, perhaps being worst affected in 1592 when 464 people perished. Local farmers refused to trade with the townspeople and it is said that grass grew in the Market Place from lack of people and business. As the plague continued, it was feared that there would be a famine until, at last, farmers in the surrounding countryside agreed to trade with the people of the town under the condition that money for the payment of provisions was left in bowls of vinegar at the Headless Cross on Nun's Green. The farmers returned later to collect their money.
The 'Hedles Cros', or 'Broken Crosse', as it has been recorded, is thought to date from the 14th century and by the 15th it had been recorded as already having lost its top. At one time the cross was moved to the Derby Arboretum park, where it stood for many years, having a reputation even then of being haunted. Eventually the Headless Cross was moved back to the top of Friar Gate, probably quite close to where it originally stood.
Two ghosts have been seen near the Headless Cross, one of which is said to be that of a dog sitting. The other is alleged to be the figure of a lady in grey - although she is sometimes in white - 'coming out of the stone'. Some claim that the ghost of another lady which is often seen on the Arboretum is in some way connected with the cross, whilst others believe that the same ghost now haunts both Friar Gate and the Arboretum park.
St Mary's Church, Bridge Gate
St Mary's Church was built by Augustus Pugin, who also drew designs for the Houses of Parliament. Before 1840, Catholics in Derby were allowed to worship only in the Catholic Chapel in Chapel Street, but with the large influx of Irish immigrants to Derby with the building of the railways, land was purchased on Bridge Gate for a new Catholic church. It was, incidentally, Pugin's the first Catholic church and although he designed over 100 churches altogether, St Mary's has always been considered his masterpiece.
The ghost of a priest has been seen on the right-hand side of St Mary's Church. The story goes that a newly- installed priest was coming down the stairs with three other priests.
Arriving in the main church the new priest mentioned to the others that he had not realised that there would be four other priests there that day. The others looked confused and told him that he must be mistaken as they were only three and he now made four. The new priest looked shocked and told the others that they had not long been seated upstairs for their meeting when an older priest with grey hair had joined them.
The Guildhall
Beneath Derby's Guildhall is a labyrinth of tunnels and catacombs. One of the tunnels used to link the old police lock-up in Lock-Up Yard to the Assize Courts which were at that time in the Guildhall. Many prisoners have trudged along those dark, dank tunnels from the lock-up to the courts, where they were sentenced, and then trudged back into the lock-up to be then taken away to be executed, transported, or imprisoned.
One such person who made the mournful journey through those tunnels was Alice Wheeldon, from Peartree. In 1917 it was alleged that she had plotted to murder David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister. She was arrested in Peartree Road, Derby, taken to the lock-up and eventually tried at the Assize Courts.
People say that they still hear ghostly footsteps along those tunnels. Perhaps it is those of Alice Wheeldon, who although imprisoned, was later found to be innocent. The whole story was apparently fabricated by the British Government because Alice Wheeldon was hiding Conscientious Objectors - men who did not wish to fight as soldiers- in World War One.
She was later released from prison and lived as a recluse in Derby until she died and was then buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in the town.
Also within the Guildhall catacombs, the ghost of a little boy has been seen, dressed in rags. He often wanders through the tunnels and has been seen by workmen. They shout at him, thinking that he is trespassing, but then he disappears and although thorough searches are undertaken, no sign of the boy can be found.
Derby Cathedral, All Saints Church.
The rapid increase in the population of England in the late 19th and early 20th century resulted in the creation of new bishoprics and several hitherto 'ordinary' churches becoming cathedrals. There was neither the time nor the money to build the sort of grand new cathedrals which had risen in Norman times, and new bishops were designated existing churches as their seats. Thus, in 1927 All Saints' Church in Derby became Derby Cathedral.
Thought to have been founded by King Edmund in 943AD, All Saints' has been altered considerably over the centuries. At the beginning of the 18th century, the only thing that could have been said to have been striking about this church was its tower, 212ft tall - the second highest parish church tower in England - and built in the time of Henry VIII.
In 1723 the church was deemed unsafe and it seems that no one was prepared to do anything about it until a particularly courageous churchman, Revd Dr Michael Hutchinson, ordered that the entire structure - except the tower - should be demolished.
The decision was unpopular with local people but shortly afterwards plans for the rebuilding were submitted by James Gibbs, who became famous for many of his churches including St Mary-le-Strand and perhaps his most famous work, St Martin-in-the Fields, in London. The designs for a new All Saints, were accepted and work soon began, resulting in the magnificent church which we know today as Derby Cathedral.
Working in association with Gibbs was Robert Bakewell, an ironsmith whose striking wrought-iron screen remains one of the most notable features of the Cathedral's interior. Other notable features include the remarkable baldachino; several memorial carvings, many to notable Derbyshire families, one of which is Bess of Hardwick's monument which was built and completed within her own lifetime.
Another interesting memorial is a tablet on the south wall near the steps to St Katherine's Chapel, which commemorates an historic visit from Prince Charles Edward Stuart, who visited All Saints' in December 1745. The Young Pretender had marched with his army virtually unchallenged from Carlisle. On reaching Derby his troops were stationed about the town and the prince is said to have ordered the bells of All Saints' to be rung and, with his officers accompanying him, he attended a service at the church.
Several ghosts are said to haunt the vicinity of Derby Cathedral including that of Charles Edward Stuart, seen by a lady who lived in a building, now a shop, across the road. She told me her story of how she often sees a man in Jacobite dress walk into the Cathedral: "On many occasions I had seen the vague ghostly shape of a man in Jacobite costume walking near the Cathedral. Being familiar with the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his visit to Derby I presumed that it was the prince recounting his footsteps, perhaps trying to understand how it had all gone wrong for him. My mother once saw this figure and she too was convinced that it had been the ghost of Bonnie Prince Charlie."
It is interesting to note that a ghostly figure in 'Cavalier' style dress has also been spotted not too far from this spot at the Silk Mill public house.
any other ghosts have been seen about Derby Cathedral including a 'white lady' seen walking down the steps at the back of the church, a young woman seen crying and a small boy.
Also said to wander the grounds is the unhappy ghost of John Crossland, a former executioner, originally himself a criminal, who was granted a pardon on the understanding that he become the executioner for the sentence of death passed on his father and brother. This he agreed to do and from then on became the busiest executioner in the county, frequently being used by several other shires. His ghost is said to be seen often wandering the grounds, at the side of the Cathedral, seeking to find peace for his tormented and guilty soul.
Shire Hall, St Mary's Gate (1659)
Sentence of Penance -
"That you be taken back to the prison whence you came to a low dungeon, into which no light can enter; that you be laid on your back on the bare floor with a cloth around your loins but elsewhere naked; that there be set upon your body a weight of iron as great as you can bear and greater; that you have no sustenance except on the first day a morsel of coarse bread and on the second day three draughts of stagnant water from the pool nearest the prison door and on the third another morsel of coarse bread as before.
If after three days you are still alive the weight will be taken from your body and a large sharp stone placed beneath your back and the weight replaced."
The deaf mute woman was thus sentenced in the Shire Hall, St Mary's Gate, and pressed to death in 1665.
Accused persons who remained in the witness box in court were given three chances to plead guilty or not guilty. After the third time of asking, followed by time for reconsideration, 'judgement of penance' was passed - the above blood curdling sentence.
This was the last time in England that this horrible execution was carried out and her ghost is said to still wander in the cells which are preserved underneath Derby's Shire Hall, possibly the most ominous building remaining in Derby to this day. It was built in 1659 and was the scene of all the famous murder trials in Derbyshire. The Pentrich Martyrs were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered there in 1817. That was the last time such a sentence was passed in England.
Bell Hotel, Sadlergate (c1680)
The Bell Hotel - is one of the old coaching inns in Derby, and has managed to retain much of its original appearance, although its apparent Tudor timbering was not added until after World War One. It was built around 1680, for the Meynell family and is reputed to have various ghosts within.
A Victorian lady in blue stands in one of the downstairs bars and vaporises in front of staff and customers alike. A poltergeist in another downstairs room has been known to throw items around, one barmaid being hit on the back of her head by a wooden coat hanger, but close inspection of the room revealed no one else present.
Upstairs in the Bell, one of the rooms is haunted by the ghost of a serving girl who has been seen on frequent occasions, dressed in 18th century clothing with a white mob cap. The original story, that she was murdered by the Jacobites in 1745, has nothing to substantiate it, but she has been seen on two occasions in connection with children. In the 1930s, the landlord had an asthmatic son. One afternoon he heard him coughing and choking in his bedroom. The boy's father ran upstairs and burst into the bedroom, to find a lady dressed in 18th century costume bending his son over and patting him on the back. As the boy's father took over, the mysterious figure simply vanished before his eyes.
In the 1950s this same room was used as a nursery. One day the baby was being changed by the landlady and mother of the child. The mother moved away to get some nappy pins and cotton wool, and as she turned back, standing over the baby, stooping as if to pick the child up, was the same figure in the 18th century costume, complete with mob cap. The mother rushed to pick her child up and as she did, the ghostly figure completely faded away.
Perhaps the reason that this ghost lingers here is that she died trying to protect her child, or maybe even in childbirth. Perhaps she was not a servant at all, but a dedicated nursery maid.
The George Inn
The shrill sound of a post horn announced the arrival of the London to Manchester coach as the tired horses picked up and flew through the streets of Derby. The large wheels clattered on the cobbles of the tiny road leading from Bold Lane to the George Inn in Iron Gate.
As the coach pulled up in the George Yard, off Sadler Gate ostlers rushed out to hold the horses, and the coachman, wrapped in large overcoats, one on top of the other, put away his whip and climbed down from the box.
Passengers going further had a little time for a meal in the coffee room. The George Yard was now as busy as a railway station at rush hour, with ostlers, coachmen and passengers going about the business of changing horses and getting the coach back on the road again within a quarter of an hour.
The George Inn was one of the most famous coaching inns in Derby and was built around 1693. By this time there was a distinction between inns and taverns, as inns were not only coaching houses, but also a place where gentlemen could stay if they did not own a townhouse in Derby. Many gentlemen certainly did stay at the George. The Duke of Devonshire frequented it on many occasions and during the 1745 Jacobite uprising, used it as his headquarters, holding the inaugural meetings which led to the formation of the regiment of soldiers called the Derby Blues.
In December 1745, the Blues held their first drill on the Holmes in Derby. They were dispatched to their billets and the duke and his officers went back to the George. At 7.30 that evening the news came that the Pretender's troops were at Ashbourne. The Duke of Devonshire held a brief council of war in the George. Would the local troops attempt to prevent the Highlanders entering Derby? After all, wasn't that why they had been formed? But no, the duke marched out of the George, took his position in front of his troops on the Market Place and gave the order: "The Derby Blues will retire". Thus they marched away towards Nottingham and left Derby to its fate.
The following morning two Highland officers rode into Derby. They inquired after the mayor but he had also left the town, so they hammered on the doors of the George and demanded billets for thousands of troops.
any other gentlemen stayed at the George during its long history. In 1763, Prince Viktor Freidrich Von Halt-Benburg stayed there for two nights. The George also played host to the Duke of York and Louis IX of Hesse, Damstadt in 1771.
Inns of the 18th and 19th century fulfilled many roles in the community, providing a place for courts, council meetings, recruiting offices, the buying and selling of animals. Doctors and dentists and vets held surgeries within the inns. In 1776, the George also took over as the post office while the one in Queen Street was being rebuilt. It also acted as a funeral parlour in 1773 when the body of Godfrey Heathcote, the Duke of Devonshire's comptroller, lay at the George en route for burial at Chesterfield.
The George, of course, has many ghosts and mysteries, none more bizarre than the 'George Skull'. This female human skull, with a damaged cranium, was found by workmen 4ft down in a pit beneath the cellar floor. With it were animal skulls and bones, old shoes and strips of leather. Work was stopped and the skull was taken to Nottingham for forensic testing which showed that it was very old.
How one's imagination can run riot. Perhaps this unfortunate female was murdered and thrown into a pit or 'midden' that would have been dug in earlier days. Animals would once have been killed on the premises to feed travellers and the unwanted parts thrown into a pit. Perhaps the woman was also thrown in there to conceal the murder.
Yet no other human remains were found, other than the skull. Perhaps she was not murdered. Perhaps those workmen digging in that cellar in 1992 came across something quite different as the George stands almost on the corner of Iron Gate and Sadler Gate, the heart of Viking Derby. 'Gate' is an old Danish word for 'street'. Iron Gate was where the blacksmiths traded and Sadler Gate was where the leather workers set up business.
Perhaps a Viking leather worker's shop on the site, of the George was uncovered, which would account for the shoes and the discarded leather strips. The animal bones and skulls could have come from the animals killed for the leather makers. The hides would have been stripped and tanned and the off-cuts thrown into the pit.
Maybe the damage to the side of the skull was simply done by a spade because in 1693, when the George was built, it was still customary to bury beneath the foundations of new buildings a human skull, a pair of shoes and a dead cat to ward off evil spirits and witches.
If that was the purpose for which this skull was buried, then it has not done its job very well as the George is decidedly haunted. On two occasions a long-haired man in a blue coat has been spotted walking along the landing in the middle of the night. He has been followed down the stairs into the bar where he disappeared, although there was apparently nowhere for him to go as the George was well secured. Crockery moves itself from the racks in the kitchen, but never breaks.
Since the refurbishment and extension of the cellar, bar staff have had strange experiences there: one found that stainless steel buckets were being thrown at him from a table; another who went down to change the beer barrels on a Friday night had to evade the plastic taps used on the beer kegs as they were hurled at him across the cellar floor.
A disembodied human groan has been heard in the cellar and on three occasions, in the presence of customers, thick pint pots have shattered, cutting the hands of barmaids and the landlady. There has been no explanation for any of the occurrences.
The Silk Mill
England's first factory was built here in 1717, on the banks of the River Derwent. John Lombe, who was possibly the world's first industrial spy travelled to Livorno in Italy to steal the patterns for making silk- throwing machines, spending his days working the machines and at night, when he should have been sleeping, copying down their plans. These he carefully placed in bales of silk destined for England. The plans were then intercepted by his father's agents and brought to Derby.
The silk-throwing machines were constructed in Derby's old Guildhall and eventually moved to what was the first purpose-built factory in England. Lombe escaped back home but three years later, so the story goes, he was poisoned by an Italian assassin from Livorno, sent over to this country to exact revenge.
The Silk Mill burnt down in 1910, and all that was saved was the bell tower. It is this tower which is known to be haunted by a little boy who was kicked down the stairs by one of the overseers for not working hard enough.
Children as young as seven were employed at the silk mill. They worked from 5am until 7pm. This little boy's cries can still be heard at the foot of the stairs where he bled to death. On many occasions staff of what is now Derby's Industrial Museum have gone into the tower, thinking that there is a child lost, but there is never anyone there. The lift operates by itself, often going up and down on its own. The Silk Mill staff check at night before leaving to make sure that no one is in the lift, as it operates so often in this manner.
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