Graiseley Old Hall Wolverhampton
Reported as ‘The House That Cries’ - The oldest building in Wolverhampton. Graiseley Old Hall itself is believed to have been built in 1485, Known as Graiseley Old Cottage. During construction of local roads, the remains of an old moat were found surrounding the property. This is thought to have been dug as a precaution against cattle thieves. 16th Cent. records show that the first owner of Graiseley Old Hall was one Nicholas Rydley. The Hall remained with his descendants until the middle of the 17th Cent. The property was sold to William Normansell a Justices of the Peace in order to pay off gambling debts! Towards the end of the 19th Cent a friend of Alexander Graham Bell, Moses Ironmonger (a former Mayor of the Borough) was in residence. Ironmonger installed the first public telephone line installed in the district; a link between Graseley Old Hall and his factory on the corer of Salop and Cock Street. In 1930, the Hall was purchased by the Royal Wolverhampton School for use as an administration / storage site. It was discovered that the Hall was not an officially listed building in 1957 and Wolverhampton M.P. Enoch Powell brought the matter to the attention of the local Government. As a result, Graiseley Old Hall was given Grade II Star listed status.
From 8pm until 2am
£ 20
The House that cries; small pools of water have collected in the same spot in the Main Hall on four occasions. The first three times that this occurred, the residents neither saw nor heard the water appear, but merely discovered a pool of about the same size that might adequately fill a saucer. On one of these occasions, food had been laid out in the Hall and the contents of one of the plates was found to be soggy with liquid. The fourth time that the water appeared the owner happened to be in the room at the time. Graiseley Old Hall was thrown open to the public and the owner had been taking a couple of visitors round on a tour of the property. They were standing in the Main Hall, scrutinising an old Tithe Map situated on a long table, when they all became aware of a ‘splashing’ sound. Looking up, they were surprised to find water dripping rapidly from a point on one of the beams that ran across the Hall ceiling and onto the opposite end of the table to where they were situated. (The same spot in the room where the pools had previously been found).
The owner admits that her immediate reaction was to think that someone had spilled something on the floor of the room above and the liquid was now dripping through the ceiling. Some people had been staying with her at the time and one of the guests was using the bedroom directly above. Immediately checking on the situation, the owner found that the guest in question was in his room at the time and he certainly hadn’t spilled anything on the (uncarpeted) floor.
The guest actually accompanied the owner back to the Main Hall where they found that the water had now stopped dripping. Upon immediate investigation, the beam was found to be completely dry at the point where the liquid had originated. (And along the rest of it’s considerable length).
Around 40 years prior to this, the family then residing at Graseley Old Hall had seemingly suffered (what appeared to be) ‘Poltergeist’ activity. The family concerned was that of the Rev. Pearce, Chaplain of the Royal Wolverhampton School.
Whether or not this is the oldest building in Wolverhampton, other than St. Peter's, rather depends on how you define "building" and "Wolverhampton". It is very probably the oldest residential building within the current boundaries of the Wolverhampton City.
Graseley Old Hall is now a privately owned residence and is not normally open to the public. Join the 7th Sense Paranormal Crew in an investigation at this location. You will be part of our crew for the evening as we employ a variety of investigation techniques both old and new, you will also be invited to take part in experiments.
Join the 7th Sense Paranormal Crew as They Talk... We Listen... at Graseley Old Hall.