Warwick Old Priory - Warwickshire Ghost Hunt

Let's start the evening at Warwick Old Priory, which now houses the Warwick record office. Our investigation will take us to some parts of the former mansion that date back to the 16th Century. Some factors still stand today and have a strange, uneasy feeling. The remains of the Old mansion can still be seen in the former Priory of Saint Sepulchre. This location is connected via a secret network of underground tunnels leading to Guys Cliffe, St. John's House, and The Old Shire Hall. After exploring the former monastery, we will proceed on foot through Warwick, stopping at different places before we reach St. John's House, where we will start the second part of our investigation. (Please note that those who do not wish to walk can take a car from the Old Priory to St. John's.)

 

During our visit to the former monastery, we found that only the outer walls remain intact, and the rest of the building is in ruins. The former house has two extended parts that will accommodate the 20 guests who will join us. The Cellar has a dark ambience and we felt a strong presence of small children who might have played and hidden there in the past. The lower level of the house might have been connected to the former convent. On the ground floor, we felt the presence of a religious male and heard sounds of chanting, perhaps from previous visitors. The upper floors of the former house were busy with activities such as nannies and sewists working. Fr Warwick's old monastery will lead us to St John Mansion, and we will stop at significant points along the way, including the old shire hall. St. John House is known for its paranormal activity, such as doors opening by themselves in the attic, loud bangs, and sounds of furniture being dragged from locked-off rooms. This is an intense investigation, and you are welcome to join us as we head over to Warwickshire.

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History Of Warwick Priory 

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For nearly 900 years, a succession of buildings has stood on the low sandstone hill to the north of Warwick, a site now occupied by the County Record Office. The Priory of Saint Sepulchre was founded here by Henry de Newburgh, the first Earl of Warwick, between 1114 and 1119. It belonged to the order of the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, who had the special duty of caring for pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the fall of Jerusalem in 1188, the house became indistinguishable from an ordinary Augustinian priory. The house was surrendered to the crown in 1536 by the then-prior, Robert Radford, and three canons.

In 1546, the Priory was granted to Thomas Hawkins (alias Fisher), a servant of John Dudley. Dudley was the father-in-law of Lady Jane Grey and was created Earl of Warwick in 1547. Fisher pulled down the old buildings and, on the site, built a mansion, finished in about 1566, which, according to Dugdale, he called “Hawkyns Nest”. After Fisher’s son had wasted his inheritance, he sold it to John Puckering in 1581. Puckering was a lawyer who became the Speaker of the House of Commons and was made Keeper of the Great Seal in 1592 and knighted. The house was remodelled, probably by Sir John or his widow, between 1581 and 1611. The west front made uniform, with the row of six reroofs headed gables rising above the parapet, familiar from photographs. Henry Wise later acquired Henry Wise, Royal Gardener The estate, royal gardener to King George I, Queen Anne and King William III. He purchased the property in 1709, along with Woodloes, Upper Woodcote and Lillington's manors, for £10,553 10s. His son added a massive square wing facing the terrace in about 1745. The Wise family retained ownership of the Priory until 1851, when Henry Christopher Wise, great, great-grandson of the royal gardener, sold the house and gardens to the Oxford Junction Railway Company. The now colossal mansion passed through various hands and restorations until A.W. Weddell bought it at a demolition sale in 1925. The Priory estate was acquired by Warwickshire County Council in 1940, but plans for its development had to be postponed because of the war. In 1953, Priory Park (which had been sold to Warwick Borough Council in 1951) was opened to the public. In 1972, excavations before the new County Record Office revealed that the 12th-century religious house had been built over three earlier limekilns. Traces of the monastery included burials, presumably under the church’s floor, and the outline of a small room with the base of a central column. Most of the foundations were, however, obliterated by the cellars of the Tudor mansion and its later additions.