Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Bad Manners. This is the podcast
that takes you inside Britain's stately homes and tells all
the tales the guy books don't. My name is Tom
Wharton and I'll be your host. As a comedian, I'm
not really bothered about the facts and figures. I just
want the juicy stuff. So i want a mission to
find out the frightening, filthy and downright jaw dropping stories
(00:22):
of these stately homes and the people in them. We're
walking across the lawns underneath these trees, the branches of
which stretch out to cover us. There's actually some really
nice flowers and the sort of the yellow daffodils really
(00:42):
offset the black and white of the building, like phil
gems poking up amongst the foliage. I can see up
these tiny stone stairway that there's a little out It's
a children's play area that again has been painted black
with these white crosses everywhere. Even the children don't escape
this religion thrust upon them. And I'm about to thrust
(01:06):
some religion on you, because this episode is full of
the stuff. We're back at Salisbury Hall with local experts Sharon,
and despite it being freezing cold inside. The conversation got
pretty hot between us. We're talking priest holes and horny ghosts.
But before all that, Sharon and I sat down in
the trustees room to get familiar with the familiar. We're
(01:28):
sat here doing this record in the trustees room and
already I can hear creaking and tiptoeing and footsteps, and
I'm not sure whether or not it's actually happening in
the building or in my own mind. There's a spooky
vibe already. So talk us through. The family has started
living there in thirteen twenty five. You say four generations
(01:48):
live there. Yeah, and what sort of stuff were they
getting up to in this house?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, then the house was very, very strong Catholic, and
then King James came in the Recusancy came in the Reformation,
at which Catholicism was banned.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
This is why you've got a priest hole.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We have two priest holes, another one hidden away.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yes, for those of you giggling like little school children
at the phrase priest hole, get your minds out the gutter.
It's not what you think. Being Catholic at the time
of Queen Elizabeth's reign was considered treason Back then, omitting
you a Catholic was the modern day equivalent of saying,
do you know what? I quite like this? Andrew Tait, guy,
he seems reasonable on a enroll in Hustler's University. During
(02:31):
the persecution of the Catholics, homes were often searched, and
to avoid detection, hideaways were built for priests inside walls,
under floors, in roofs, or in this case.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
There's one in the entrance hall fire. The first dream
you immediately come into there's a little priestle just at
the side of the fire. I think if you're hidden there, well,
you'd be a lot warmer. It might be a nice place,
absolute please. And then there's another one upstairs, actually in
the roof.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Have you ever been in these priest holes yourself?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I got in the one in the roof about fifteen
years ago. I'm not going back there.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
What did you do in it?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Did you sit there for scary? I sat there and
I thought, if this falls through, I've had it.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Did you tell anyone you were going there?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
No, no, just on your own.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah. I was on my own, and I thought, I'll
just see how difficult it is for a priest to
get in there, and it's very difficult and it's even
more difficult to get out once you're in.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Oh, how long were you in there? Do you reckon?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Twenty minutes? Too long?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
That twenty minutes is enough time to sort of reflect
and go I've done this now.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
No, no, no reflection whatsoever. It took me twenty minutes
to get out.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Why.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
It's really awkward. It's really really awkward. You've got to
clamber up this this thing and in the best possible way,
get your leg over a piece of wood there and
clamber into it. And once you're in the roof, space
quite high to.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Get out of. So there was a lot of So
your tips for anyone who's looking to go into a
priest hole, don't do it on your own. It's not
a singular activity. Do it with a friend now, Please,
don't do it at all. Don't at all.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I think health and safety might might just stop stop
that from happening to.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Any any listeners. Don't get any priest holes ever, unless
a charming blonde Headlinecastrian woman challenges you to, then definitely
get in one time for some good old fashioned innuendo.
This one looks actually squeeze, but I'm going to try.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
It's a tag squeeze, it's money.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Have you been in it?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I have? Okay, it's mucky and it used to lead underground,
so hang on, it's going to have a try. Yeah,
I used to lead underground and usually outside. How far
down it doesn't make it stops at the own level.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
The fine right to step over this, over this cold bucket,
and the lion and the nice little crouch. I say, okay,
actually nearly impaling myself when a spike in the I
thought you were getting lighter out there. What You're about
(05:06):
to set the thing on fire? This is how I die?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Is it you said?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I'm going to reverse in because I feel that's going
to be key to getting out. Although I think priests
might have smaller asses back in the day because I
can't quite get.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh yeah, oh well, it doesn't go very far far
back anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
This is what this agan?
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, I mean I think back in the day, if
this was as far as it went back, I think
your priest would probably be found pretty quickly. Anyone else
want to try? I'll take that as a no, then,
shall I? After climbing out of the spiky priest hole
with no help, from Sharon, I might add, she told
(05:59):
me a bit about the priest it was built for,
as well as clearly having a smaller ass than me.
John Southworth was both a priest and a traitor. He
owned the house from fifteen forty six and was involved
in a plot to replace Queen Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Towards the end of the Reformation, King James's men caught
Saint John Southworth or John Southworth as it was then, ah,
yet to be a saint, yet to be a saint,
of course, and they hung drawn and quarted in and
sent four parts of his body to four of the
furthest parts of the country. And his followers followed them
(06:36):
and got the four parts back, oh they did, sawed
them together, and his body, well, his remains now lies
in Westminster Cathedral.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Hung drawn and quarters hung. Is honestly just hung like
just by a rope. Drawn is when you get stretched?
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yes? And no stretched and your in it's are drawn
out of you, right?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
So is that right?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Well?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, A nice little combo there. What
you're being stretched with machines or horses or just horses
And if you were to and then quartered got him
into four piece him into four pieces, and where were
the four places that his bits got taken?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Just as far as far as they could across the country,
really as far as they could get before they hit
the sea.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And so all of his followers then go right, John
Brea wanted this, let's try and go to all the
four corners. I mean, how do you do it?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I believe, I believe they followed the four parts. They
were taken across the country. Yeah, since then he has
been martyred a saint. Oh yeah, so that's quite a
thing to have a saint.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Very nice, good, a saint with his in and doubts.
So they're more than one weighs. Holy tough crowd. That
silence was so big he could fit a priest in it. God,
I don't know. I'm still try and carry on these
priest holes that are well, you've got two of them,
and is it John Southworth is the man who used
them the most. What was he doing around here?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
He used to travel around to other Catholic houses that
weren't known as Catholic houses because of King James. And
he was a priest, and he used to put priest
robes on that were made of floral materials, so they
looked like a lady's dress, and he hid these in
a pony skinned trunk that looked like a lady's traveling trunk.
(08:19):
So we used to travel to other Catholic houses to preach.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And so he would then travel from house to house
having secret little Catholic meetups. And then eventually was he
found in a hole?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
No, I don't know. It may have been. If you've
seen the priest le there are this moall you do
get stuck in them. So yeah, as you know.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Where was he actually found them? Where did they actually travel?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
He was found here in the building. We don't know
literally where, but he was found here in the building.
We do have a priest room where priests have been murdered,
other priests and other Catholic landowners. So the priest room
is obviously because Catholicism was banned, they all got to
go in search and houses, and Salisbury Hole remained Catholic
(09:04):
the way through. It didn't hop on either side of
the fence like Horton Tower did, so we remained storage
Catholics all the way through, and priests used to come here. Obviously,
when King James's men found out that this was happening.
They sent their soldiers and they slaughtered priests in the
(09:25):
priests room. If you go into the priests room, the
floor is extremely it feels really uneven. It is level.
We've leveled it. It is level, but it feels weirdly uneven.
And every time we cleaned the floor, marks and stains
actually come back through the floor. It's bloodstains.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
So we've gone stairs and we are now in the
long gallery.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, so we're heading towards the priests room.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now. Look, we've all had a few beers and blamed
it on uneven floors in our time, but this room
really does give a new meaning to the phrase getting slaughtered.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yes, I don't know about you guys, but a lot
of people so they get a feeling of that it's
not level. Yeah, goodness goodness knows.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Well you're saying, is this the floor where you say?
Lots of stains keep on coming.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You can see the marks. It looks like water marks.
But because we revarnish it, we re polish it, were
reset it, we checked that the walls are completely dry,
and it still comes back up through the floor.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Really, Yeah, that's spooking. It's never ending. Pools and blood
keep going out through them.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
This is where this is where they would beheaded.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Oh right, So in this very room, a lot of
death happened where we stood. So how many beheadings can
you imagine went on in this house?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I believe there are quite a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Lot.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because it was such a Catholic stronghold,
and when King James meant found out, they targeted it
and targeted it and targeted it.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So yeah, I'm gonna have to start there, Sharon, because
there is a piano playing somewhere above. There are other
people in this room. The piano hasn't just started playing
on its own, has it.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I have no idea who's upstairs at the moment.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Which room is that?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
The room directly upstairs is the schoolroom, which is where
Joseph Harrison lived when he was here.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
He hasn't got a ghost that plays piano? Does he?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Joseph Harrison shot himself in that room? Oh?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Did he?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Who is Joseph Harrison.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Jose Harrison lived at the hall. He was a huge
benefactor of the local area, particularly Backburn, and the story
goes that Joseph one day found himself to be in
a position where he was looking at bankruptcy. He received
a letter saying that he was bankrupt from the court,
(11:57):
and he shot himself. It was later discovered that that
letter wasn't meant for him.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So who was it meant for? Who was the letter
meant for?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Another Harrison, not off the hall.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So it's just a different Harrison who was having the
time of his life and he was actually bankrupt. Yeah,
I do you know what happened to him?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
But no, apparently Joseph Harrison was quite a depressed person.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Sure yeah, well, I think his ghost is still playing
the piano.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It certainly sounds like he's at.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Least grade six there. That sounds quite good. I'll tell
you who isn't grade six? This guy? I had to
go on that piano and it must have been out
of tune or haunted or something, because I am usually
much better than this. Can I play?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Surely? Yeah. Let's talk a bit about Dorothy and her story,
(13:04):
because she's the most famous ghost of the building.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I like to think that we invented Rome and Juliet.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
That is a big claim.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, in the fifteen hundreds was when Lady Dorothy of
Samsbury Hall fell in love with young de Horton, who
is not named from Horton Tower. Lady Dorothy was a
Catholic young De Horton was Protestant, and they used to
have secret meetings, and he once came to visit her
(13:35):
here with his two soldiers. He was a soldier and
Lady Dorothy's brothers caught wind of this and they were
waiting and they killed De Horton, and they killed the
two soldiers, and right at the back of where you are,
the skeletons were found in the grounds from the sixteenth century.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Just out this window here, yah, yeah, yeah, are.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Three three young men. So they then sent Dorothy to
France to a nunnery, where she died of a broken heart.
Since then, she has been seen wandering the roadside in
white because she's known as the White Lady searching for
her lover.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
There are lots of white white women in ghost stories.
The Karens of the supernatural world just won't leave the
place alone, always complaining why would she be walking around
on the street.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
The street didn't exist then, but she was outside. She
was heading for Halton Tower looking for her lover. And
she always stopped men in uniform.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So you're saying that there's still to this day a
horny ghost walking around outside looking for her bloke. Yes,
has anyone ever tried just parking up and flashing the
lights a couple of times? Here if she comes over.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
A policeman stopped and got Ice of his car, and
by the time he got Ice of his car.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
She'd gone, but the policeman was after it.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Apparently, is this also true?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Does she have a police record? I saw her video
of this in my research that apparently because lots of
people think they've run over a woman and then they
stop and phone it in.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, and it's actually just nothing there nothing. They see
something crossing the road and by the time they've actually
almost got into an accident, there's there's absolutely nothing there.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah. Well, this video claimed that she's got a police record.
That so she's sleeping down as a misdemeanor. Probably What
was she like as a woman, then?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Was she the hauntings that we have? She appears to
be quite a.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Nice person, and him to Houghton clearly very much as
all Haughton's are.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
But it was Protestant.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Sorry, you really don't like you really get anti processing.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
My loyalties lie with samsol so of course, so yeah,
she's There are certain places within the building that paranormal
experts say there is definitely something going on, and even
ones that come from for a few and don't talk
to each other however, say that there is a certain
part of the Great Hole where things happen. And my
feet is very much on the ground. But something did
(16:08):
happen to me in that part before I knew that
it happened. We have weddings that go on late into
the night with a massive fire in the Great Hole
to keep people warm, because it doesn't all of this.
It can be extremely warm, can.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
The whole No, No, if anyone is listening, this is
a beautiful hall and it's wonderful and for a wedding venue,
I would highly recommend it is stupendous. Please do and
who knows you might find a skeleton next to the
wedding cake quite right.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
So, so at the end of the night, I was
sat by the Great Whole Fire in a particular spot,
waiting for the fire to go out. I can't leave
the building when the fire is lit, for obviously.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Imagining you sort of party poppers streamers on you.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Very draggled, and there was a there was a waiter
and we were waiting to lock up and go home,
and I said, listen, let's have a glass of wine
and sit by this fire, just watch it go out.
And he was sat probably be about eight ft away
from me on the other side of the fire. That's
how big a fire it is, and that's how warm
it gets. And literally something hit the back of my
(17:08):
head and it was a lot bigger than a bat.
It was a definite hit on that no, absolutely no
idea what it was. And he saw me fall forwards.
Strangely enough, I wasn't scared, and I don't know why.
I still don't know to this day. Why.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So, what do you think it was that hit you on?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Not?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
He just said he saw me my head go forwards
and he said it was like you've been hit. And
I said, well, I felt as though i'd been hits
to the back of the head. Nothing there, absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Interesting and he hadn't seen anything looking at it.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
He said, there was nothing there, So.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
You think it might have been It could have been
a ghost just just giving you a whack.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I think I think she was having a bit of fun.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Way think it was her. Yeah, yeah, So even though
you described her as nice previously and now sort of
suggesting she's domestic violence was also in the nature little bit.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Was it a playful hit, Yes, it was much more mischief.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
She was probably looking at you with a nice, nice
waiter and going, oh that's what I want. If I
can't get any, you're not getting any, not suggesting you
were getting anything, of God. Sorry, that's that's not exactly
what I'm insinuating at all. I'm sure it was perfectly lovely,
but jealousy I think.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Very well could be.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, yeah, you must have felt quite hard done by
it as a woman to be subjected to Dorothy's wrath,
whereas normally it's the men who are accountable. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Well? Strangely enough, although I think the clip around the
back of the head was playful, I am the only
female that she's actually shown herself too, or not shown
herself too. I'm the only female that's got across.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Maybe she wasn't threatened by the other ones.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Maybe they're all that a good looking.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Towards the end of our visit, Sharon took me to
the Great Hall where she was definitely one hundred percent
hit by a ghost as she was sat by a
fire drinking multiple bottles of wine. It was this fireplace
to youse. This is a big fireplace. How big are
we saying this is? That's twelve ten meters.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah yeah, And we all were lighted up at weddings
and it's absolutely fantastic when it's lip, but it takes
a long time to go out, so we do have
to sit and wait for the thing to go out.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Oh, multiple glasses of wine, I imagine maybe I was
going to say, you've just pointed me at this authentic
blood stain on the table. How did you describe it?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Allah Malbeck, I think it is blood stain there. Yeah,
so yeah, I was sat here and the waiter was
sat right at the other side. So no shenanigans. Literally,
it was it was something hit me, not not viciously,
but something hit me on the back of the head
and knocked me forward.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And if Sharon's story hasn't creeped you out enough, as
we were leaving, we bumped into Beck's you remember her
from a previous episode. She was brave enough to be
painting in the air take on her own, and she
had a pretty chilling tale to tell.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
We were doing a show, not the last Christmas to
Christmas before and it was a show about Lady Dorothea,
and the actress that was playing Lady Dorothea was in
the chapel getting ready for the next group to come
in to do a performance. I was on the chapel
above her, and she went very quiet, and it was
my job to run around and check that everybody was
in set and in position. I shouted down, I was like,
(20:26):
are you all right ready for the you know, the
audience coming in, and she just said, I Nija, what's
the matter. And then she just freaked out and burst
into tears. So I ran downstairs and she was physically
shaking and real tears coming.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Out of her, and We're like, what's the matter?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Are you ill?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I'm thinking, right, well, I've got to get an understudying,
and she went, I've just seen something go past me
in the window. She said it was like she said,
it was a lady and it was like somebody was
on a harvarboard. She said, they weren't walking, it was
just she was that shaking up. But for the rest
the performance, because she was so emotional, she gave the
best performance of her entire life. She was.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Le mat I was going to say she goes on
back to the future to hoverboard discuss I.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Think because she was so light work so she's the
only way I can describe it is like they're on
a harvardboard.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Obviously we didn't see a board or anything.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
We said, just glad it because I think because we've
all played tricks on each other whilst we've been here.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
She was like, one.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Hundred No, it wasn't one of you guys, because of
the way it moved.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
You physically can't move like that.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Even though we did try and go out and replicate
once a guest.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
We tried.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
We did.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
We had to skateboarding across the window.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
And we just we just couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
That's it for this episode of Bad Manners. It's time
for me to Martin fly my way out of here,
but before I do, some final questions for Sharon. Sharon,
thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It
has been absolute delightful, genuinely fascinating and pretty damn spooky.
I'd like to know, though, if you could meet any
person from the history of this place, who would it be?
(22:13):
That is just a child screaming, I don't I think
are there still there are still guests.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Child, I would like to meet Lady Dathan, of course
it would have to be And.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
What do you think you would ask her?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I would ask her was it worth it?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And what would you what it's freaking and what do
you think her response would be? Yes, you think she
would sure she's still after it, isn't she? And finally,
why should people visit Sounds?
Speaker 2 (22:50):
People need to visit here because it's the best, the oldest,
the most fascinating, the most fun, the best food, not
just in Ansure in the Northwest, and I.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Can vouch for that. I've had an amazing day, an
impeccable sandwich, intriguing history, and it is genuinely one of
the most beautiful places I've ever been.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Thank you, thank you so much for having us welcome.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Thanks for listening to this episode. I'm off to go
track down Dorothy. So until next time, Mind your Manners.
Thanks for listening to Bad Manners. If you like the pod,
please share it with your friends, Rate it on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts,
Leave a review and make sure you spill the tea
on any of your favorite Bad Manners that we could
(23:34):
feature in future episodes. This podcast was produced by Atamei
Studios for iHeartRadio. It was hosted by me Tom Horton.
It was produced by Willie Lensky, Rebecca Rappaport, and Chris Ataway.
It was executive produced by Face Steur and Zad Rogers.
Our production manager is Caitlin Paramore and our production coordinator
(23:55):
is Bellasolini
Speaker 4 (24:01):
From
Hello, and welcome to Bad Manners. This is the podcast
that takes you inside Britain's stately homes and tells all
the tales the guy books don't. My name is Tom
Wharton and I'll be your host. As a comedian, I'm
not really bothered about the facts and figures. I just
want the juicy stuff. So i want a mission to
find out the frightening, filthy and downright jaw dropping stories
(00:22):
of these stately homes and the people in them. We're
walking across the lawns underneath these trees, the branches of
which stretch out to cover us. There's actually some really
nice flowers and the sort of the yellow daffodils really
(00:42):
offset the black and white of the building, like phil
gems poking up amongst the foliage. I can see up
these tiny stone stairway that there's a little out It's
a children's play area that again has been painted black
with these white crosses everywhere. Even the children don't escape
this religion thrust upon them. And I'm about to thrust
(01:06):
some religion on you, because this episode is full of
the stuff. We're back at Salisbury Hall with local experts Sharon,
and despite it being freezing cold inside. The conversation got
pretty hot between us. We're talking priest holes and horny ghosts.
But before all that, Sharon and I sat down in
the trustees room to get familiar with the familiar. We're
(01:28):
sat here doing this record in the trustees room and
already I can hear creaking and tiptoeing and footsteps, and
I'm not sure whether or not it's actually happening in
the building or in my own mind. There's a spooky
vibe already. So talk us through. The family has started
living there in thirteen twenty five. You say four generations
(01:48):
live there. Yeah, and what sort of stuff were they
getting up to in this house?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, then the house was very, very strong Catholic, and
then King James came in the Recusancy came in the Reformation,
at which Catholicism was banned.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
This is why you've got a priest hole.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We have two priest holes, another one hidden away.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yes, for those of you giggling like little school children
at the phrase priest hole, get your minds out the gutter.
It's not what you think. Being Catholic at the time
of Queen Elizabeth's reign was considered treason Back then, omitting
you a Catholic was the modern day equivalent of saying,
do you know what? I quite like this? Andrew Tait, guy,
he seems reasonable on a enroll in Hustler's University. During
(02:31):
the persecution of the Catholics, homes were often searched, and
to avoid detection, hideaways were built for priests inside walls,
under floors, in roofs, or in this case.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
There's one in the entrance hall fire. The first dream
you immediately come into there's a little priestle just at
the side of the fire. I think if you're hidden there, well,
you'd be a lot warmer. It might be a nice place,
absolute please. And then there's another one upstairs, actually in
the roof.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Have you ever been in these priest holes yourself?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I got in the one in the roof about fifteen
years ago. I'm not going back there.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
What did you do in it?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Did you sit there for scary? I sat there and
I thought, if this falls through, I've had it.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Did you tell anyone you were going there?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
No, no, just on your own.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah. I was on my own, and I thought, I'll
just see how difficult it is for a priest to
get in there, and it's very difficult and it's even
more difficult to get out once you're in.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Oh, how long were you in there? Do you reckon?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Twenty minutes? Too long?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
That twenty minutes is enough time to sort of reflect
and go I've done this now.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
No, no, no reflection whatsoever. It took me twenty minutes
to get out.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Why.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
It's really awkward. It's really really awkward. You've got to
clamber up this this thing and in the best possible way,
get your leg over a piece of wood there and
clamber into it. And once you're in the roof, space
quite high to.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Get out of. So there was a lot of So
your tips for anyone who's looking to go into a
priest hole, don't do it on your own. It's not
a singular activity. Do it with a friend now, Please,
don't do it at all. Don't at all.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I think health and safety might might just stop stop
that from happening to.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Any any listeners. Don't get any priest holes ever, unless
a charming blonde Headlinecastrian woman challenges you to, then definitely
get in one time for some good old fashioned innuendo.
This one looks actually squeeze, but I'm going to try.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
It's a tag squeeze, it's money.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Have you been in it?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I have? Okay, it's mucky and it used to lead underground,
so hang on, it's going to have a try. Yeah,
I used to lead underground and usually outside. How far
down it doesn't make it stops at the own level.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
The fine right to step over this, over this cold bucket,
and the lion and the nice little crouch. I say, okay,
actually nearly impaling myself when a spike in the I
thought you were getting lighter out there. What You're about
(05:06):
to set the thing on fire? This is how I die?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Is it you said?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I'm going to reverse in because I feel that's going
to be key to getting out. Although I think priests
might have smaller asses back in the day because I
can't quite get.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh yeah, oh well, it doesn't go very far far
back anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
This is what this agan?
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, I mean I think back in the day, if
this was as far as it went back, I think
your priest would probably be found pretty quickly. Anyone else
want to try? I'll take that as a no, then,
shall I? After climbing out of the spiky priest hole
with no help, from Sharon, I might add, she told
(05:59):
me a bit about the priest it was built for,
as well as clearly having a smaller ass than me.
John Southworth was both a priest and a traitor. He
owned the house from fifteen forty six and was involved
in a plot to replace Queen Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Towards the end of the Reformation, King James's men caught
Saint John Southworth or John Southworth as it was then, ah,
yet to be a saint, yet to be a saint,
of course, and they hung drawn and quarted in and
sent four parts of his body to four of the
furthest parts of the country. And his followers followed them
(06:36):
and got the four parts back, oh they did, sawed
them together, and his body, well, his remains now lies
in Westminster Cathedral.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Hung drawn and quarters hung. Is honestly just hung like
just by a rope. Drawn is when you get stretched?
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yes? And no stretched and your in it's are drawn
out of you, right?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
So is that right?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Well?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, A nice little combo there. What
you're being stretched with machines or horses or just horses
And if you were to and then quartered got him
into four piece him into four pieces, and where were
the four places that his bits got taken?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Just as far as far as they could across the country,
really as far as they could get before they hit
the sea.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And so all of his followers then go right, John
Brea wanted this, let's try and go to all the
four corners. I mean, how do you do it?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I believe, I believe they followed the four parts. They
were taken across the country. Yeah, since then he has
been martyred a saint. Oh yeah, so that's quite a
thing to have a saint.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Very nice, good, a saint with his in and doubts.
So they're more than one weighs. Holy tough crowd. That
silence was so big he could fit a priest in it. God,
I don't know. I'm still try and carry on these
priest holes that are well, you've got two of them,
and is it John Southworth is the man who used
them the most. What was he doing around here?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
He used to travel around to other Catholic houses that
weren't known as Catholic houses because of King James. And
he was a priest, and he used to put priest
robes on that were made of floral materials, so they
looked like a lady's dress, and he hid these in
a pony skinned trunk that looked like a lady's traveling trunk.
(08:19):
So we used to travel to other Catholic houses to preach.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And so he would then travel from house to house
having secret little Catholic meetups. And then eventually was he
found in a hole?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
No, I don't know. It may have been. If you've
seen the priest le there are this moall you do
get stuck in them. So yeah, as you know.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Where was he actually found them? Where did they actually travel?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
He was found here in the building. We don't know
literally where, but he was found here in the building.
We do have a priest room where priests have been murdered,
other priests and other Catholic landowners. So the priest room
is obviously because Catholicism was banned, they all got to
go in search and houses, and Salisbury Hole remained Catholic
(09:04):
the way through. It didn't hop on either side of
the fence like Horton Tower did, so we remained storage
Catholics all the way through, and priests used to come here. Obviously,
when King James's men found out that this was happening.
They sent their soldiers and they slaughtered priests in the
(09:25):
priests room. If you go into the priests room, the
floor is extremely it feels really uneven. It is level.
We've leveled it. It is level, but it feels weirdly uneven.
And every time we cleaned the floor, marks and stains
actually come back through the floor. It's bloodstains.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
So we've gone stairs and we are now in the
long gallery.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, so we're heading towards the priests room.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now. Look, we've all had a few beers and blamed
it on uneven floors in our time, but this room
really does give a new meaning to the phrase getting slaughtered.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yes, I don't know about you guys, but a lot
of people so they get a feeling of that it's
not level. Yeah, goodness goodness knows.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Well you're saying, is this the floor where you say?
Lots of stains keep on coming.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You can see the marks. It looks like water marks.
But because we revarnish it, we re polish it, were
reset it, we checked that the walls are completely dry,
and it still comes back up through the floor.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Really, Yeah, that's spooking. It's never ending. Pools and blood
keep going out through them.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
This is where this is where they would beheaded.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Oh right, So in this very room, a lot of
death happened where we stood. So how many beheadings can
you imagine went on in this house?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I believe there are quite a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Lot.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because it was such a Catholic stronghold,
and when King James meant found out, they targeted it
and targeted it and targeted it.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So yeah, I'm gonna have to start there, Sharon, because
there is a piano playing somewhere above. There are other
people in this room. The piano hasn't just started playing
on its own, has it.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I have no idea who's upstairs at the moment.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Which room is that?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
The room directly upstairs is the schoolroom, which is where
Joseph Harrison lived when he was here.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
He hasn't got a ghost that plays piano? Does he?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Joseph Harrison shot himself in that room? Oh?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Did he?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Who is Joseph Harrison.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Jose Harrison lived at the hall. He was a huge
benefactor of the local area, particularly Backburn, and the story
goes that Joseph one day found himself to be in
a position where he was looking at bankruptcy. He received
a letter saying that he was bankrupt from the court,
(11:57):
and he shot himself. It was later discovered that that
letter wasn't meant for him.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So who was it meant for? Who was the letter
meant for?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Another Harrison, not off the hall.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So it's just a different Harrison who was having the
time of his life and he was actually bankrupt. Yeah,
I do you know what happened to him?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
But no, apparently Joseph Harrison was quite a depressed person.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Sure yeah, well, I think his ghost is still playing
the piano.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It certainly sounds like he's at.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Least grade six there. That sounds quite good. I'll tell
you who isn't grade six? This guy? I had to
go on that piano and it must have been out
of tune or haunted or something, because I am usually
much better than this. Can I play?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Surely? Yeah. Let's talk a bit about Dorothy and her story,
(13:04):
because she's the most famous ghost of the building.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I like to think that we invented Rome and Juliet.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
That is a big claim.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, in the fifteen hundreds was when Lady Dorothy of
Samsbury Hall fell in love with young de Horton, who
is not named from Horton Tower. Lady Dorothy was a
Catholic young De Horton was Protestant, and they used to
have secret meetings, and he once came to visit her
(13:35):
here with his two soldiers. He was a soldier and
Lady Dorothy's brothers caught wind of this and they were
waiting and they killed De Horton, and they killed the
two soldiers, and right at the back of where you are,
the skeletons were found in the grounds from the sixteenth century.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Just out this window here, yah, yeah, yeah, are.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Three three young men. So they then sent Dorothy to
France to a nunnery, where she died of a broken heart.
Since then, she has been seen wandering the roadside in
white because she's known as the White Lady searching for
her lover.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
There are lots of white white women in ghost stories.
The Karens of the supernatural world just won't leave the
place alone, always complaining why would she be walking around
on the street.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
The street didn't exist then, but she was outside. She
was heading for Halton Tower looking for her lover. And
she always stopped men in uniform.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So you're saying that there's still to this day a
horny ghost walking around outside looking for her bloke. Yes,
has anyone ever tried just parking up and flashing the
lights a couple of times? Here if she comes over.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
A policeman stopped and got Ice of his car, and
by the time he got Ice of his car.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
She'd gone, but the policeman was after it.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Apparently, is this also true?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Does she have a police record? I saw her video
of this in my research that apparently because lots of
people think they've run over a woman and then they
stop and phone it in.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, and it's actually just nothing there nothing. They see
something crossing the road and by the time they've actually
almost got into an accident, there's there's absolutely nothing there.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah. Well, this video claimed that she's got a police record.
That so she's sleeping down as a misdemeanor. Probably What
was she like as a woman, then?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Was she the hauntings that we have? She appears to
be quite a.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Nice person, and him to Houghton clearly very much as
all Haughton's are.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
But it was Protestant.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Sorry, you really don't like you really get anti processing.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
My loyalties lie with samsol so of course, so yeah,
she's There are certain places within the building that paranormal
experts say there is definitely something going on, and even
ones that come from for a few and don't talk
to each other however, say that there is a certain
part of the Great Hole where things happen. And my
feet is very much on the ground. But something did
(16:08):
happen to me in that part before I knew that
it happened. We have weddings that go on late into
the night with a massive fire in the Great Hole
to keep people warm, because it doesn't all of this.
It can be extremely warm, can.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
The whole No, No, if anyone is listening, this is
a beautiful hall and it's wonderful and for a wedding venue,
I would highly recommend it is stupendous. Please do and
who knows you might find a skeleton next to the
wedding cake quite right.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
So, so at the end of the night, I was
sat by the Great Whole Fire in a particular spot,
waiting for the fire to go out. I can't leave
the building when the fire is lit, for obviously.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Imagining you sort of party poppers streamers on you.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Very draggled, and there was a there was a waiter
and we were waiting to lock up and go home,
and I said, listen, let's have a glass of wine
and sit by this fire, just watch it go out.
And he was sat probably be about eight ft away
from me on the other side of the fire. That's
how big a fire it is, and that's how warm
it gets. And literally something hit the back of my
(17:08):
head and it was a lot bigger than a bat.
It was a definite hit on that no, absolutely no
idea what it was. And he saw me fall forwards.
Strangely enough, I wasn't scared, and I don't know why.
I still don't know to this day. Why.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So, what do you think it was that hit you on?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Not?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
He just said he saw me my head go forwards
and he said it was like you've been hit. And
I said, well, I felt as though i'd been hits
to the back of the head. Nothing there, absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Interesting and he hadn't seen anything looking at it.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
He said, there was nothing there, So.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
You think it might have been It could have been
a ghost just just giving you a whack.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I think I think she was having a bit of fun.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Way think it was her. Yeah, yeah, So even though
you described her as nice previously and now sort of
suggesting she's domestic violence was also in the nature little bit.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Was it a playful hit, Yes, it was much more mischief.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
She was probably looking at you with a nice, nice
waiter and going, oh that's what I want. If I
can't get any, you're not getting any, not suggesting you
were getting anything, of God. Sorry, that's that's not exactly
what I'm insinuating at all. I'm sure it was perfectly lovely,
but jealousy I think.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Very well could be.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, yeah, you must have felt quite hard done by
it as a woman to be subjected to Dorothy's wrath,
whereas normally it's the men who are accountable. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Well? Strangely enough, although I think the clip around the
back of the head was playful, I am the only
female that she's actually shown herself too, or not shown
herself too. I'm the only female that's got across.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Maybe she wasn't threatened by the other ones.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Maybe they're all that a good looking.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Towards the end of our visit, Sharon took me to
the Great Hall where she was definitely one hundred percent
hit by a ghost as she was sat by a
fire drinking multiple bottles of wine. It was this fireplace
to youse. This is a big fireplace. How big are
we saying this is? That's twelve ten meters.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah yeah, And we all were lighted up at weddings
and it's absolutely fantastic when it's lip, but it takes
a long time to go out, so we do have
to sit and wait for the thing to go out.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Oh, multiple glasses of wine, I imagine maybe I was
going to say, you've just pointed me at this authentic
blood stain on the table. How did you describe it?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Allah Malbeck, I think it is blood stain there. Yeah,
so yeah, I was sat here and the waiter was
sat right at the other side. So no shenanigans. Literally,
it was it was something hit me, not not viciously,
but something hit me on the back of the head
and knocked me forward.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And if Sharon's story hasn't creeped you out enough, as
we were leaving, we bumped into Beck's you remember her
from a previous episode. She was brave enough to be
painting in the air take on her own, and she
had a pretty chilling tale to tell.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
We were doing a show, not the last Christmas to
Christmas before and it was a show about Lady Dorothea,
and the actress that was playing Lady Dorothea was in
the chapel getting ready for the next group to come
in to do a performance. I was on the chapel
above her, and she went very quiet, and it was
my job to run around and check that everybody was
in set and in position. I shouted down, I was like,
(20:26):
are you all right ready for the you know, the
audience coming in, and she just said, I Nija, what's
the matter. And then she just freaked out and burst
into tears. So I ran downstairs and she was physically
shaking and real tears coming.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Out of her, and We're like, what's the matter?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Are you ill?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I'm thinking, right, well, I've got to get an understudying,
and she went, I've just seen something go past me
in the window. She said it was like she said,
it was a lady and it was like somebody was
on a harvarboard. She said, they weren't walking, it was
just she was that shaking up. But for the rest
the performance, because she was so emotional, she gave the
best performance of her entire life. She was.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Le mat I was going to say she goes on
back to the future to hoverboard discuss I.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Think because she was so light work so she's the
only way I can describe it is like they're on
a harvardboard.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Obviously we didn't see a board or anything.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
We said, just glad it because I think because we've
all played tricks on each other whilst we've been here.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
She was like, one.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Hundred No, it wasn't one of you guys, because of
the way it moved.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
You physically can't move like that.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Even though we did try and go out and replicate
once a guest.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
We tried.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
We did.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
We had to skateboarding across the window.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
And we just we just couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
That's it for this episode of Bad Manners. It's time
for me to Martin fly my way out of here,
but before I do, some final questions for Sharon. Sharon,
thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It
has been absolute delightful, genuinely fascinating and pretty damn spooky.
I'd like to know, though, if you could meet any
person from the history of this place, who would it be?
(22:13):
That is just a child screaming, I don't I think
are there still there are still guests.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Child, I would like to meet Lady Dathan, of course
it would have to be And.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
What do you think you would ask her?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I would ask her was it worth it?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And what would you what it's freaking and what do
you think her response would be? Yes, you think she
would sure she's still after it, isn't she? And finally,
why should people visit Sounds?
Speaker 2 (22:50):
People need to visit here because it's the best, the oldest,
the most fascinating, the most fun, the best food, not
just in Ansure in the Northwest, and I.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Can vouch for that. I've had an amazing day, an
impeccable sandwich, intriguing history, and it is genuinely one of
the most beautiful places I've ever been.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Thank you, thank you so much for having us welcome.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Thanks for listening to this episode. I'm off to go
track down Dorothy. So until next time, Mind your Manners.
Thanks for listening to Bad Manners. If you like the pod,
please share it with your friends, Rate it on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts,
Leave a review and make sure you spill the tea
on any of your favorite Bad Manners that we could
(23:34):
feature in future episodes. This podcast was produced by Atamei
Studios for iHeartRadio. It was hosted by me Tom Horton.
It was produced by Willie Lensky, Rebecca Rappaport, and Chris Ataway.
It was executive produced by Face Steur and Zad Rogers.
Our production manager is Caitlin Paramore and our production coordinator
(23:55):
is Bellasolini
Speaker 4 (24:01):
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