Gisborough Priory
Visited 15 July 2006
The town of Guisborough is in Cleveland, a little further South than most of our investigations. However, I decided that a chance to spend some time investigating the well known, and very active, Gisborough Priory would be a fantastic location to signal a welcome return for the Ghosts of the North East team.
Tonight, Ghosts of the North East will visit the incredibly active ruin of Whorlton Castle.....or at least that was the plan. Seven months having passed since our investigation at Chillingham Castle, the happenings of which are still fresh in my mind, and to this very day I still can't find a plausible explanation for what the extraordinary events of that night. Tonight I decided that Whorlton Castle would be an amazing place to visit for our first foray into the paranormal for 2006. Dan joined me tonight and we headed South on the A19 for the long drive to the village of Swainby where we could find the castle. The castle is finding increasing fame amongst the North East paranormal community for having constant, mind blowing, happenings. It has the added appeal of being more than just a little bit mysterious, rumor of devil worship in the past to the point where things got so bad that the village of Whorlton actually relocated to get away from the castle. I visited the castle last summer for a recce visit with John and Andy, members of the original GOTNE team and it seemed a perfect location to visit.
Dan and I arrived at the castle at around 9pm as the sun was starting to set. We approached the huge door and just as I went to open it Dan stopped me by grabbing my arm, I looked at him, he was staring straight ahead, his eyes wide with fear. "Look" he whispered, and then I saw it. Tramps. There were a load of dirty sleeping bags on the castle ground and through the back of the castle were a small group of 'accommodationally challenged' people sitting around drinking cheap cider and hugging.
We'd came all this way and now we couldn't carry out our investigation, deflated we walked back to the car. As we walked back a rabbit ran by us, no doubt blissfully unaware that he'll probably end up on the hobo's bonfire for supper in an hour or two.
Dan and I arrived at the castle at around 9pm as the sun was starting to set. We approached the huge door and just as I went to open it Dan stopped me by grabbing my arm, I looked at him, he was staring straight ahead, his eyes wide with fear. "Look" he whispered, and then I saw it. Tramps. There were a load of dirty sleeping bags on the castle ground and through the back of the castle were a small group of 'accommodationally challenged' people sitting around drinking cheap cider and hugging.
We'd came all this way and now we couldn't carry out our investigation, deflated we walked back to the car. As we walked back a rabbit ran by us, no doubt blissfully unaware that he'll probably end up on the hobo's bonfire for supper in an hour or two.
Whorlton Castle, tonight wasn't to be
Anyway, back in the car we had to decide what we were going to do. There is Whorlton Old Church which is also meant to be very haunted but in an ideal world I wanted to do them both in one night. We decided to head home, our first investigation of the year over before it had even begun.
Ten minutes later, after taking a wrong turn, as if guided by the hand of fate we passed a sign for Guisborough. At that split second I made the decision for us without even consulting my companion. Tonight, Ghosts of the North East will visit the incredibly active ruin of Whorlt.......Gisborough Priory!
Ten minutes later, after taking a wrong turn, as if guided by the hand of fate we passed a sign for Guisborough. At that split second I made the decision for us without even consulting my companion. Tonight, Ghosts of the North East will visit the incredibly active ruin of Whorlt.......Gisborough Priory!
The historic market town of Guisborough featured in the Domesday Book. It was founded in 1129 by Robert Bruce, an ancestor of Robert the Bruce. The priory is spelt in the manner of the old town's name, without the first U, it dates back to the 12th century and very little of the priory still stands today. The stone from the ruined building was used to make the nearby St Nicholas' Anglican Church. The east wall that still stands today is preserved remarkably considering the fact that pretty much the rest of the building has vanished without a trace, it is an amazing sight on the landscape and it used locally as the unofficial symbol of the town.
The priory is said to be very active with lots of strange happenings reported. The famous ghost is a black monk who is said to roam the priory on the first new moon of each year. Little is known of the monk, legend and fact have merged into one over the years so we don't know for sure who this monk was, if in fact he ever existed.
In the early 1990s there were a series of investigations at the Priory, several mediums visited on different investigations and all but one came out with the name Edward, they all agreed independently that Edward was a monk who was killed in his sleep. Could this be the mysterious black monk or is this a different spirit?
There's a tale I came across in Alan Robson's book Grisly Trails and Ghostly Tales which tells of the dallying of the monks back in the 1100s. The monks used to regularly sneak out through a secret passage than ran from the crypt in Gisborough Priory to a field in a local parish named Tocketts. They would visit good-time girls for a bit of 'how's your father', everyone in the Priory including the Abbot was known to visit these ladies and the ladies would make a lot of money in the process, from time to time their silence was bought when the girl fell pregnant.
This continued for near to 40 years and the monks even kept a chest filled with gold in the tunnel to pay for their rumpy whenever the need arose, this chest was guarded by a huge black raven who would claw out the eyes of anyone trying to steal from the chest. One day one of the ladies who had been earning money from the monks told her husband what had been going on. The furious husband decided to go and confront the monks and entered the secret tunnel from the Tocketts end to walk to the Priory, halfway through he saw the chest of gold and forgot all about the fact he'd came here to contfront the monks and his thoughts turned to money. He was just about to scoop up enough to fill his pockets when the raven swooped down and landed on his chest, no bird would stop him getting rich so he swiped at the bird and the raven turned into the Devil himself. 'For the love of God, no!" screamed the husband, "I love no God" replied the Devil. At that moment he raised his hand and the walls, floor and ceiling began to come together. The husband ran for all he was worth back towards the entrance, scrambling over tree roots and running into the darkness in utter terror, he could just about make out daylight in front of him when the tunnel was almost completely closed, he almost reached the entrance as the tunnel completely consumed him apart from his hand reaching out of the tunnel entrance grasping at the fresh air as he suffocated underground, where his body remains to this very day.
The priory is said to be very active with lots of strange happenings reported. The famous ghost is a black monk who is said to roam the priory on the first new moon of each year. Little is known of the monk, legend and fact have merged into one over the years so we don't know for sure who this monk was, if in fact he ever existed.
In the early 1990s there were a series of investigations at the Priory, several mediums visited on different investigations and all but one came out with the name Edward, they all agreed independently that Edward was a monk who was killed in his sleep. Could this be the mysterious black monk or is this a different spirit?
There's a tale I came across in Alan Robson's book Grisly Trails and Ghostly Tales which tells of the dallying of the monks back in the 1100s. The monks used to regularly sneak out through a secret passage than ran from the crypt in Gisborough Priory to a field in a local parish named Tocketts. They would visit good-time girls for a bit of 'how's your father', everyone in the Priory including the Abbot was known to visit these ladies and the ladies would make a lot of money in the process, from time to time their silence was bought when the girl fell pregnant.
This continued for near to 40 years and the monks even kept a chest filled with gold in the tunnel to pay for their rumpy whenever the need arose, this chest was guarded by a huge black raven who would claw out the eyes of anyone trying to steal from the chest. One day one of the ladies who had been earning money from the monks told her husband what had been going on. The furious husband decided to go and confront the monks and entered the secret tunnel from the Tocketts end to walk to the Priory, halfway through he saw the chest of gold and forgot all about the fact he'd came here to contfront the monks and his thoughts turned to money. He was just about to scoop up enough to fill his pockets when the raven swooped down and landed on his chest, no bird would stop him getting rich so he swiped at the bird and the raven turned into the Devil himself. 'For the love of God, no!" screamed the husband, "I love no God" replied the Devil. At that moment he raised his hand and the walls, floor and ceiling began to come together. The husband ran for all he was worth back towards the entrance, scrambling over tree roots and running into the darkness in utter terror, he could just about make out daylight in front of him when the tunnel was almost completely closed, he almost reached the entrance as the tunnel completely consumed him apart from his hand reaching out of the tunnel entrance grasping at the fresh air as he suffocated underground, where his body remains to this very day.
We arrived at the Priory at around 9:30pm as daylight slowly faded away. We decided to take a walk around the town as it was the first time either of us had visited Guisborough. The Priory is almost on the high street which has a lot of pubs so there was a lot of people out drinking and it was surprisingly busy, the noise from the pubs may cause us problems when we came to investigate the Priory but we wouldn't let that put us off.
By the time we began exploring the Priory it was starting to get dark and I'd returned to the car to get my camera and brand spanking new battery-free torch. After experiencing torch batteries being drained by unseen forces on investigations my brother had bought me a fantastic new torch for my birthday that is powered completely by kinetic energy. Walking around for a few minutes will keep it powered for upwards of thirty minutes, brilliant, but at the same time I'll always make sure the rest of the team have normal torches so we can detect batteries being drained.
As so little of the Priory remains there are a number of areas we would concentrate on; the remaining east wall, which is breathtaking; a small area of ruined wall, which is literally ankle height; a large, long hedgerow which is very creepy after dark, the ghost monk has been seen here regularly; and, last but not least, a room still standing complete with decorative ceiling.
As we entered the Priory grounds the busy pubs of Guisborough seemed a million miles away, although we were only a few metres away and separated only by a high wall. We decided to walk the grounds while we still had the slightest bit of daylight remaining.
By the time we began exploring the Priory it was starting to get dark and I'd returned to the car to get my camera and brand spanking new battery-free torch. After experiencing torch batteries being drained by unseen forces on investigations my brother had bought me a fantastic new torch for my birthday that is powered completely by kinetic energy. Walking around for a few minutes will keep it powered for upwards of thirty minutes, brilliant, but at the same time I'll always make sure the rest of the team have normal torches so we can detect batteries being drained.
As so little of the Priory remains there are a number of areas we would concentrate on; the remaining east wall, which is breathtaking; a small area of ruined wall, which is literally ankle height; a large, long hedgerow which is very creepy after dark, the ghost monk has been seen here regularly; and, last but not least, a room still standing complete with decorative ceiling.
As we entered the Priory grounds the busy pubs of Guisborough seemed a million miles away, although we were only a few metres away and separated only by a high wall. We decided to walk the grounds while we still had the slightest bit of daylight remaining.
After exploring the East wall and the two small rooms that you can enter we walked past the large hedgerow staying silent as this is where the monk has been seen on numerous occasions, we heard a lot of rustling in the bushes but it could have been animals or birds so we didn't think too much of it.
Our next port of call was the room which is still standing and had a wonderful decorative ceiling, the first thing that struck us about this room was how warm it was, it was quite a cool evening by now and walking into this room was like walking into an oven, there was a huge difference in temperature. I was taking some photos when a bat flew down from the ceiling and started flapping around our heads. "Bat" I calmly said to Dan, he ran away. I ran after him in one of those moments when you're fine but suddenly the person your with runs off in panic so you panic too for no particular reason. 'The Bat Cave' as we'd now named this room was a very strange place, we walked through again and it was incredibly warm yet again with no immediate reason why.
Our next port of call was the room which is still standing and had a wonderful decorative ceiling, the first thing that struck us about this room was how warm it was, it was quite a cool evening by now and walking into this room was like walking into an oven, there was a huge difference in temperature. I was taking some photos when a bat flew down from the ceiling and started flapping around our heads. "Bat" I calmly said to Dan, he ran away. I ran after him in one of those moments when you're fine but suddenly the person your with runs off in panic so you panic too for no particular reason. 'The Bat Cave' as we'd now named this room was a very strange place, we walked through again and it was incredibly warm yet again with no immediate reason why.
We headed back to the East wall after this as I felt drawn back to it, I was taking some photos and Dan had walked off elsewhere, I heard him say something just outside of the small room I was in, he said something again so I walked out to see what he wanted but he wasn't there. He was quite a distance away and hadn't said anything. Was it my imagination? I don't think so but I don't know what it was, it definitely wasn't noise from the pubs.
We spent another hour at the Priory and left not long after midnight.
Conclusion
I had massively high hopes for Whorlton Castle but due to our unforeseen circumstances (i.e the homeless) we had to have a rethink and Gisborough Priory was a local alternative. It was a really good night but unfortunately very little paranormal happened. The Bat Cave was incredibly warm for no apparent reason and I heard voices near the East wall but neither of these happenings were proof enough to Dan and I that there is something paranormal happening at Gisborough. There has been too many sightings and reports of strange goings on here for there not to be something going on, but tonight wasn't to be our night here.
Maybe next time.
Maybe next time.