The Mermaid Inn, Rye, East Sussex

The Mermaid Inn, at the top of a long hill
Glad we had a car.........

Reorganising our files recently provided us with the opportunity to review some of our earlier experiences and see how we have developed our methods and processes from when we first started our journey.

One of the first times that we worked together exclusively as a two person team was at a relatively well known location, especially for those in the UK, The historic Mermaid Inn, in Rye, East Sussex.

Readers of our previous articles will no doubt note that early on, our research took us on a more traditional approach, consisting of monitoring, observation and recording, although Laura would often supplement our research with any ‘information’ that she received, it was not the focus of our research.

As a result, this piece will probably read a lot different to what you have read previously, but we hope that you will find it interesting all the same.

Background

The ancient town of Rye, a member of the Cinque Ports, rises like a citadel out of the marshes as you approach and Rye, a sight that never fails to impress.

Here, amongst the maze of streets on the western side of the town, you will find the historic, timber framed Mermaid Inn, dating from the 12^th Century and in the 18^th Century, haunt of the infamous Hawkhurst Gang, a criminal organisation linked to smuggling operations along the southern coast of England.

Dr Syn's Chamber, you know you want to....

 It will come as no surprise to many, that a building with this history is reputed to be haunted by several ghosts, including a pair of duellers.

Whilst Laura was not familiar with the location, I was well versed in the history and had wanted to visit the Inn since a young age.

It’s with this background that we arranged a visit and see for ourselves the history, paranormal or otherwise, of this important building.

Arrival

We arrived at the Mermaid in the late afternoon, just as the sun was fading in the weak winter light.

I had arranged that we would base ourselves in Room 17, know in modern times as the ‘Kingsmill’ room, which has been named after Thomas Kingsmill, who, in 1747 was second in command to George Gray, the leader of the Hawkhurst Gang.

The room contained two secret passages, now sealed up, one to the south wing and the other through the oak panelling to the Royale Room.

Offending Exhibit No. 1 - The Rocking Horse

It was also the original location for a rocking chair and horse, now on display in a recess above one of the stairways elsewhere in the Inn, that were removed from the room because of their frequent rocking, as if by an invisible user, as well as depression forming in the cushion on the chair, as if someone was sitting down on it, that disturbed guests staying in the room.

Laura was unaware of the history or structure of the room, nor of the Inn itself, with just the passing knowledge that it was an old property and alleged to be haunted.

Offending Exhibit No. 2 - The Rocking Chair

We made our way from the reception area to the Kingsmill Room and immediately passed a series of photographs of past guests who had visited the Inn, including the likes of Johnny Depp, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Chaplin and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, we spotted a small staircase to our left, which led to Dr Syn’s Room, amongst others.

As we passed the stairs, Laura commented that she was drawn to them, but we left things at that as far as this area of the Inn was concerned.

Making our way up another set of stairs further along the corridor, we found ourselves up on a landing, which we walked along to a door that opened to the wing where, along the corridor the Kingsmill and Royal Rooms could be found.

The Kingsmill Room

Entering the Kingsmill Room, it felt like a different atmosphere to the rest of the building. This could simply be down to a difference in temperature or even expectation, but it felt difference nonetheless. As I closed the door, Laura turned to me and commented to me that she felt a headache come on at this point, which was usually a precursor, as we got to know over time, that it was possible that she would be able to ‘pick up’ some information .

Not wanting to waste any of the time that we had available to us, we got straight to the task in hand and set up our monitoring equipment at various points in the suite. Whilst not too heavy handed, these included a couple of audio recorders, camcorders and environmental monitors.

During this period, Laura drew my attention to a female figure, stood in the far corner of the room (which I could not see or even sense).

 The figure stood next to the window, next to a dressing cabinet. Laura described her as dressed in brown, possibly a uniform and then, the woman was gone.  Laura also advised that she’d got the impression of prostitution, but could not be sure of this was related to the woman that she had seen.

Finishing our task, we decided to take a break and left the room to get some food. Upon our return to Kingsmill, Laura immediately sensed a man, stood in a corner of the room, next to the door.

We hadn’t even started our investigation, so hopefully this augured well for the rest of our time at the Inn.

The Investigation

With all the monitoring equipment switched on, we decided to commence the investigation with a scrying exercise, utilising a crystal ball, which was a continuation of a series of experiments that I had been undertaking privately, with Laura observing.

All the lights in the room were turned off, with the exception of a table lamp located on the chest of drawers next to the bed.

No matter however hard Mark stared into the Crystal Ball,
he just couldn't see that night's winning lottery numbers.

I commented that I still found the lamp distracting, but the room would simply be too dark to allow Laura to observe the experiment without its illumination.

At this point we both felt that the room had become very warm.

After a couple of minutes focusing on the crystal ball in front of me, I suddenly observed a dark shape, or shadow, in the shape of a human form, obscure the light from the lamp reflected in the crystal ball, as if someone had walked in front of the lamp.

Laura made no comment.

I continued with the exercise, but soon brought proceedings to a halt as I was finding it very difficult to focus on the ball.

Laura then commented that, just prior to the moment when I reported the shadow, that my breathing had changed, possibly causing the effect. I advised that I was unaware of my breathing changing at the time, although I could not rule it out.

We next decided to move to the adjoining timber framed bathroom, located at the far end of the room.

We left the recording equipment running and decided to take another audio recorder with us into the bathroom.

As we prepared to move to the bathroom, Laura advised that, whilst she was observing my experiment, she had picked up on the spirit of a cat walking around the room whilst she had been sitting.

She had also picked up a name, but she couldn’t tell if this was related to the man that she’d seen earlier standing next to the door.

Laura felt that the left side of the main room (the wall) shouldn’t be there and in a similar vein, she felt that the bathroom had been ‘added on’ at some point – this was a very strong feeling for her.

Upon hearing this, I closely examined the offending wall. I noticed that behind the large mirror attached to the wall above the chest of draws, bizarrely, there were a set of windows. I called Laura over, who confirmed that I was not seeing things.

The Kingsmill Room, to the rear, the fireplace, where the offending Rocking
Chair and Rocking Horse were originally to be found.

To the right, you can just make out the mirror, screwed to the wall, where Mark
discovered a row of windows.

Undertaking a similar investigation of the bathroom, it did appear to be of a different structure to the rest of the room and out on a limb. 

Had it indeed been added onto the main building at a later point after the Inn’s original construction?

The Bathroom

Upon entering the room we activated the audio recorder and tried to make ourselves comfortable on the floor.

Mark appeared really pleased to find himself sat on the cold
Bathroom floor.

After a couple of minutes had passed, Laura commented that she felt that we wouldn’t ‘get much’ from the bathroom, it just ‘felt’ different to the main Room, not so much atmosphere so to speak.

As it was considerably colder in the bathroom, who was I to argue? I agreed that relocating back to the main room was a great idea.

Back in Kingsmill

For our next stint in the Room, we decided to undertake a period of quiet observation. I sat on a small sofa located just outside the bathroom, whilst Laura sat on the small chair near the bed, where she had positioned herself when observing my scrying experiment.

 We both sat there for approximately 15 minutes, observing the room silently.

After about five minutes I broke the silence to report that I thought that I’d seen a small dark shadow move across the floor opposite me, near to where Laura was sitting.

The shadow was cat / dog like, complete with what appeared to be an upright tail as ‘it’ moved, but I confirmed that this could simply be auto-suggestion following Laura’s earlier comments about picking up the spirit of a cat walking around the room.

There was nothing of further interest to report from this session.

Next, Laura suggested that we should attempt a glass moving experiment, to pass the time more than anything else.

I retrieved a clear glass tumbler from the bathroom and we relocated to the mirrored dressing table, where the scrying experiment took place and commenced the exercise and both place our fingers lightly on the upturned glass.

Almost immediately, we both commented that the glass felt as if it was vibrating or trying to tip over, although we also acknowledged that there was no discernible movement from the glass.

Encouraged by this, we continued the experiment for a while, but nothing else of note occurred.

At this point, we were entering the early hours and were both feeling the effects of a long drive, so we decided to slow things down and spend our remaining time observing and writing up our notes.

Nothing further of note occurred other than for one curious event that appeared to continue throughout the remainder of the evening.

Laura advised that she had continually felt that there was someone pacing up and down the corridor outside the Room, pausing outside our door ‘just standing there’, then eventually repeating the process.

The stairs, at the end of the corridor where Laura had
sensed a man pacing up and down all night

I suggested that this could have just been the night watchman doing his rounds, but Laura was adamant that this action was continuous throughout the night and probably not representative of a night watchman’s rounds.

We closed our investigation by returning to the other areas in the Inn that Laura had felt drawn to, taking photographs, but there was nothing further to report during our visit.

Reflections

Writing this summary of our visit, several years after the event, has brought it home to us how much our methods have changed since we first started working together.

Whilst we still possess all our equipment and, even adding to our inventory over the following years, we now find ourselves less reliant on our equipment, limiting ourselves to pen and paper, along with some high quality audio recorders and visual media recorders. We only use the other equipment as and when the ‘job’ requires.

What has also changed is Laura’s confidence in what she senses and the ‘information’ that she is given.

Laura, taking some final shots

Early on in our journey, this information was truly random. However, over the passing of time and with improvements in our research techniques, we have found that we have been able to validate a lot of the information, no matter how obscure and how long it takes and indeed which we have written about in previous articles.

This validation has allowed Laura to have faith in what she experiences, that is if faith is the right word, to the extent that she is now able to go along with what she perceives without question and concern herself with the validation in the cold light of day.

For myself, I guess that my role has become more of a recorder and researcher but, I still polish my large arsenal of recording equipment, just in case we every have need of it.....  

A visit to Waverley Abbey, Surrey - Britain's first Cistercian Monastry

It was that time of year again, the cool spring air was gradually turning into summer, allowing us to explore the local area, which was still relatively new to us at that time.

Whilst looking for some suitable locations to visit within an hour’s travelling distance, I stumbled across a reference to the ruins of Waverley Abbey. At first glance, this location had an interesting history, relatively remote and seemed suitable for a visit.

So what part in history had the Abbey played?

A brief history of Waverley Abbey

The ruins that we see today date mainly from the 13^th Century, as following severe flooding in 1201, the Abbey and its accompanying buildings were largely re-built and the layout relatively unchanged since.

However, the Abbey abruptly came to the end of its life in 1536 following Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, whereupon the buildings were subsequently robbed and its stones used in the construction of many nearby properties, including Waverley Abbey House and Looseley Park, just outside Guildford.

Significantly, it was notable for being the first monastery founded in Britain, by the Cistercian Religious Order, in 1128 and proved to be influential in medieval Christianity in Britain, to the extent that in a relatively short space of time, seven of the monks had been elected Abbots of their own house and four more went on to become heads of other religious establishments.

The Cisterians, also known as the ‘White Monks’ due to the colour of their robes that they wore over their habits, were founded in by Robert of Molesme, a Benedictine Abbot, in 1098, on a plot of marshland called Citeaux, to the south of Dijon, in Burgundy, France.

The Order hence took their name from Citeaux (Latin: Cistercium)

Decision taken

Whilst not being overly familiar with the location, other than I vaguely recalled that a scene from the movie 28 days Later had been filmed there a couple of years earlier.

So I really knew nothing about the Abbey other that it existed, whilst Laura had never heard of the place at all.

At the time, we were living nearby in the Surrey Hills and Farnham was just a short 40 minute or so drive westwards, so it didn't take long to set aside an afternoon to visit the ruins, setting aside a day to visit the following week, we just hoped for good weather.

The Abbey ruins, as we approached along the path alongside the lake at
Waverley Abbey House  

The Abbey

The drive took longer than perhaps it should have, but we soon found ourselves walking alongside the river path, snaking away towards the ruins of the Abbey, which we could see in the distance.

As we approached, we could see that the location was far larger than we imagined.

Whilst the ruins were fragmented, they were focused in several areas, spread across the entire site, which was now consisted of a large field of short grass.

Making our way through the entrance, onto the site, we decided to go straight across the field to the Refectory Undercroft, which we could see standing impressively, directly opposite from where we stood.

The Refectory looms ahead....

Walking across the grass, we very quickly found ourselves standing in from of the building. Entering the Undercroft, we looked up at what remained of the vaulted ceiling before splitting up and exploring the interior, where Laura spent some time examining the interior walls, whilst I took some photographs.

Taking a step back and looking on at what remained of the structure, you could only imagine how impressive the building was in its heyday - if that was the correct term that you could use for a monastic building of this nature.

 Contact – The Undercoft

Suddenly, my thoughts were broken by Laura, who alerted me that she had just picked up some information, unexpectedly.

At the end of the Undercroft, on the other side of the window to the left as we looked out, Laura had sensed a woman, peering into the Undercroft from the left side of the window.

The middle window, where Laura picked up a female, peering
in.

This seemed strange as it didn't really fit in with the location in its original context, as to where exactly did a female fit into such an exclusive and restrictive male domain as a monastery?

After taking some photographs of the window and discussing the situation, we decided to move on to another part of the site. Laura turned quickly and looked back towards the open grass area and was surprised to ‘see’ a brown horse standing on the grassed area in front of her.

Where's the horse?

Bizarrely, this coincided with myself 'seeing' a brief glimpse of a horse shape as I took pictures (nothing of the sort was captures in the photographs taken), which I just put down to a trick of the light.

Having heard Laura describe what she'd picked up, I made her aware of what I'd just experienced and we were able to verify that we'd both 'seen' the horse in the same spot.

Even as we discussed the sighting I was still trying to explain it away to myself.

The Abbey Grounds

As we walked from the Undercroft, across the open grass area towards the main part of the ruins, Laura reported that she felt that someone, perhaps a small child, was rubbing the top of her buttocks. She couldn't discern if this was being done as a playful act or something with a more sexual intent. Laura hoped that it was the former.

At this point we decided to separate to allow Laura to tour the location on her own, to see if she was able to focus and tap into the long history of the Abbey.

The execution?

After 30 minutes or so, which I spent taking more photographs, I spotted Laura across the field near the remains of the dormitory and made my way over to her.

As I drew near, Laura became aware of me and immediately reported that she had seen a man and been given what she thought could potentially be a name - something that I noted to research later.

Laura advised that she wasn't sure if the man was related to the Horse that we'd seen earlier. Although she attempted to establish this, she just couldn't tell.

However, the vision of the man that she had seen was far from pleasant

Laura took time to carefully describe the scene to me.

The man was strung up grotesquely, entrails hanging of his lifeless, bloody body, in the area that was just outside what was now the remains of the tunnel.

Laura said that it was a distressing scene and one that she didn't wish to dwell upon.

This area was formally the Abbey’s cloisters, a covered walk, rather than the inside of the Abbey itself, so from a practical basis it would make sense that someone could have been executed here, as opposed to an area that would have been inside the Abbey itself.

At this point, time was getting on, so we both felt that it was an opportune moment to leave the site and make our way home.

Reflection

The location left us a lot to think about. Yet again we'd really just planned on a normal day out, but Laura, without even trying, appeared to tap into the fabric of the Abbey.

In the cold light of day, after reviewing our notes and audio, we were left with four areas of research from a paranormal perspective -

1. The woman peering through the window into the Refectory.

2. The brown horse

3. The ‘touching’ ghost ; and

4. The male victim, executed and strung out in the courtyard.

Our search began.......

1. The Peering lady.

This was a strange one at first glance, from an historical context, other than an interloper, she just didn't appear to fit in with the exclusive male domain that the Abbey was originally at an operating level.

Perhaps she was from a later period following the destruction of the Abbey following the Dissolution? This appeared to be a more likely explanation.

Whilst our expectations were low on finding any references to such a lady or ghost, we got stuck into the task.

Not surprisingly, our research threw up no answers. Whilst this is never unexpected in the work we undertake, it was still frustrating.

Tantalisingly though, we did find a similar experience that was posted online in Marq English' Spiral Investigations / MEV Productions series, where the group's sensitive had picked up a lady at the same spot, at the window in the Refectory.

We had the pleasure of meeting Marq a couple of years earlier at an event and, I also had the contact details of the medium featured in the video, so it was a relatively simple matter to get in touch with them both.

Following some correspondence, it was established that neither could recall anything about the experience other than that shown in the video, due to the passing of time. However, they also both commented on the unexpected situation with regards to a female spirit.

Returning our focus to more traditional areas of research, I eventually source an old book, published in 1872, that gave a relatively detailed summary of events at the Abbey that had occurred since it was established, which, unexpectedly, made references to several visits from prominent ladies over time, including a couple that were actually laid at rest in the chapel.

Whilst Laura never picked up a name relating to the female, it was possible that the presence that Laura sensed could relate to the period that the Abbey was active, no matter how unexpected at first this seemed.

2. The brown horse and 3. The ‘Touching’ Ghost

A bit left field we admit, but not unexpectedly we drew a blank. We could find no reference to a horse at the location, ghostly or not, although we had no doubt that the hoof prints of several brown horses had graced the hallowed grounds of the Abbey over time..

Likewise, there was no trace of a ‘touching’ spirit, although I did find reference to a young boy, around the age of 12 years, who was recovered unconscious, after falling into the adjoining River Wey and, who unexpectedly survived and recovered from his ordeal, much to the surprise of his rescuers.

4. The executed man

This was probably the most interesting of Laura’s experiences at the Abbey.

Again, I could find no historical reference to this event and indeed, some of the sources that I referred to specifically commented that, although many priests, abbots and lay brothers, including those religious houses linked to Waverley, were indeed executed during the Reformation (particularly by being hanged, drawn and quartered), history was strangely silent with regards to the fate of those at Waverley.

The area outside the cloisters, where Laura 'witnessed' an execution

However, all was not lost, I did manage to uncover a local legend of a haunting at the Abbey, by the ghost of a monk who was hung, drawn and quartered during the reformation and walks the ruins of the Abbey on moonlit nights.

Was this the execution that Laura had been able to tap into?

Afterthoughts?

Despite a very interesting visit to a location that appeared to offer so much areas of research, once the dust had settled we were left with several areas of research that, after spending much time and effort, whilst able to get ‘close’, were ultimately unable to confirm anything of what Laura had picked up.

Whilst this was disappointing, in reality this represented what typically could be expected when researching.

It’s not like what you see on TV and social media, despite what many would have you believe.

Orford Castle Update - a further discovery?

It is probably fair to say that, since our visit to Orford Castle back in August 2015, the location has persisted in keeping us busy over the ensuing days, weeks and months.

Orford Castle Keep , from the car park

Unlike previous locations that have proved to be of interest to us,

Laura had genuinely appeared to connect with the Keep and has continued to pick up new pieces of information, relating to both the building itself and those connected to it, to the extent that we’ve now both reached the point, after several months, where we are exhausted and just wish that we’d simply experienced a straight forward trip to the Castle back in August.

One of the more interesting aspects of this case is that Laura is receiving information relating to the very structure of the Keep itself, not just the individual linked to it. This could be down to the occult symbolism employed in its build, or perhaps the atmosphere of the Castle itself.

So whilst we now have a multitude of leads and notes to follow up upon, we thought it was time that we provide another update to where we are at, especially in respect to the body of the young woman that Laura sensed in the Well Room and even a further discovery, possibly relating to the structure of the building.

As you may recall, Laura picked up on at least two females during our visit in August, who we suspect could actually be one and the same person – the frightened female in the passage from the chapel to the Chaplain’s Room and, the body of the young woman apparently concealed in one of the side chambers in the Well Room, in the basement of the Keep.

A Doorway and a death.......

A couple of weeks following our original visit, Laura started to get information relating to a doorway providing an exit / entrance to the basement level of the Keep.

Laura was receiving visualisations of standing in front of a doorway / exit to the outside whilst standing in the basement of the keep.

At the same time, Laura was also receiving information as to how the girl's body came to be concealed in the well room - she had been thrown by two males from the keep, above the entrance, then her body taken directly from the outside, into the Well Room, where her body was concealed in one of the side chambers.

The following is an extract from Laura’s own notes from what she was picking up:

Man, dark suit type clothing. Female, mid brown hair, 20’s.

Arguing, upper floor, above main entrance hall.

She falls, 2 men take body well room.

When I questioned her further about the information that she was receiving, Laura advised that the men had taken the woman’s body to the Well Room in the basement, without going via the main entrance – they took the body in directly from the outside, from ground level.

Initially I dismissed this as, being familiar with the layout of the Castle, I knew that there were only two access points - the main stairs from the lower hall or via the trap door in the floor of the shop as you enter the Keep. 

Whilst I still had my doubts about the second access point to the Keep, the information regarding the concealment of the body was feasible - you were able to access the roof of the chapel (via the stairwell at the Upper Hall level), which was directly above the main entrance. 

However, the possibility of a direct exit to the basement level of the Keep seemed very remote, indeed, so we decided to keep an open mind and re-examine the structure of the building. 

The Basement Level

In addition to the two access points directly into this level, the Well Room itself also had three narrow windows, that had been widened slightly from their original construction at an unknown later date (1), with the light being directed down shafts into the basement to alleviate the gloom, but nothing else. 

The central window in the Well Room

Was it possible to get a body through one of these openings and drop it down to the basement below? We needed to find out. 

Using reference books and photographs that we'd taken previously, I attempted to establish the size of the openings. 

Whilst I accepted that it wasn't an exact science, after some careful consideration I came to the conclusion that it would indeed be possible, especially when taking into account the average size of people centuries ago and indeed young females. 

However, there was no way of being confident for sure without a visit 

As previously referred to above, Laura had also started to pick up information relating to a doorway or tunnel in the basement, to the outside, so how, if at all, did this fit into the scheme of things?

I discussed my theory as to how the young woman's body could have been placed in the basement, via the windows, but Laura wasn't entirely sure that this was correct. 

Unfortunately, she hadn't sensed how the body had entered the Well Room, simply just that it had and, what she had picked up relating to the doorway or tunnel in the basement could be entirely separate and not connected to the death of the young woman. 

Things were getting very complicated. The need for another visit had become even more pressing. 

Making plans

Around about this time, we were due to meet up with our friends, Aitch and Jason, who lived some distance away and, conveniently, Orford Castle involved the same drive for both parties. 

We therefore discussed the situation with Aitch and Jason and all decided that Orford would be a good location for us all to meet up. 

With the winter season approaching and opening times being reduced, we quickly agreed a date, in a couple of week’s time. 

The drive to the Castle proved uneventful. Thankfully, the weather was dry, unlike our previous visit, which would allow us to inspect the exterior of the building in less challenging conditions. 

Pulling into the car park, we found that we were the first to arrive.  

The search begins

Whilst we were waiting for Aitch and Jason, we decided to inspect the exterior of the Castle. This would allow us to also keep an eye out on the car park for our friend’s arrival. 

We walked around the outside of the Keep, trying to find any traces of a doorway. However, as I had suspected, there were none.

Disappointing, but it only reflected what was known about the Castle.  

However, we also inspected the windows, with their accompanying shafts that led down into the basement and found that it would indeed be possible to pass a body of a petite person through the openings and drop it down to the Well Room below. 

Window to Well Room - outside view

Had we found the evidence to support what Laura had picked up relating to the death and subsequent movement of the young woman's body to one of the side chambers in the Well Room? 

It definitely didn't rule it out. 

However, Laura was still adamant that the windows were not the doorway or tunnel that she had visualised, although it was possible that it was the method that the men had adopted to move the girl's body down into the basement. 

Hopefully our inspection of the inside would reveal something. 

It was at this point that Aitch and Jason pulled into the car park, which provided a suitable break to proceedings. 

We returned to the car to greet our friends and, after exchanging pleasantries, made our way back up the path to visit the Keep itself. 

With no planned agenda, we initially visited the location of Laura's previous discovery, the petroglyph, or hand print (EH verifies Petroglyph) and, at this point separated, allowing Laura some time to inspect the various areas of the Castle on her own, to see if she could pick anything else up. 

The Upper Hall
Our first port of call was the Upper Hall, where Laura had stated that the man had the argument with the young woman had started.

If Laura was correct, I was looking for 'exit' where the woman was pushed, or fallen out of the Keep to the ground below, beneath the entrance to the Keep. The most obvious places to me were the windows, but these were not above the entrance.

However, just before you entered the Upper Hall, on the staircase, there were a set of french windows to an outside battlement. The windows were locked, so I could not inspect the battlement more closely, but I could see that the battlement was in fact the roof of the chapel, which was directly above the entrance to the Keep. Again, Laura's information appeared to be correct.


The Well Room

Laura examines the former entrance to
the garderobes, now blocked, where she'd
previously discovered the handprint

The rest of us, after touring the Keep, spent some time re-examining some of the side rooms, where eventually, more by accident than design, I finally found myself alone in the Well Room. 

I spent some time taking photographs of the basement and especially chamber where Laura had originally picked up upon on the body of the young woman.  

I found that the long shafts leading up to the windows were spread fairly evenly on the north side of the basement, two either side of the chambers and the third situated between the chambers, separating them.

It would have been a simple matter for one of the men to push the girl's body through one of the windows and down the shaft to his partner in crime below. 

Waiting down in the Well room, it would have been a relatively quick and easy task to drag the body a couple of feet to the rear of the adjacent chamber, to where Laura had sensed it had finally been concealed. 

A close up of the shaft leading up to a
window in the Well Room 

Satisfied, I now turned my attention to the small matter of the doorway that Laura had picked up previously. I spent some time carefully examining the exterior walls of the Well Room, but to no avail. 

No matter how hard I studied the walls of the circular basement, there was absolutely no trace of any former doorway to the outside world. 

Defeat?

Once again disappointed, but not entirely surprised by the lack of supporting evidence for a former doorway, I made my way back up the stone steps to the Lower Hall, where I rejoined the others who had been waiting for me. 

Spotting Laura, I went straight over to her and confirmed that my search for any traces of a former doorway or tunnel had drawn a blank. 

Laura acknowledged what I'd told her, but stubbornly insisted that there had been a doorway or tunnel to the outside in the basement level - it wasn't the windows, it was definitely an opening.  

She explained once again that she had visualised it, open in front of her, letting the bright sunlight into the dark interior of the Keep. 

By now, we had all completed our exploration of the Castle, so we decided to take our leave and find a suitable place locally to eat. 

Making our way out of the building and down the steps from the Keep, Laura decided to have a look in the gift shop in the reception area, so the rest of us assembled on the grassed area at the foot of the stairs and waited for Laura to exit, which she soon did. 

Looking back at Laura as she descended the stairs, I suddenly spotted something...... 

A Discovery?

Directly beneath the stairs I noticed a course of brickwork distinctly different to the surrounding stonework. Approximately five feet from the ground was a short row of bricks, horizontal, in the shape of an archway.

The mysterious course of brickwork beneath the entrance to the
Keep - did they indicate another entrance to the building, now
erased from history?

Was it possible that we finally had our doorway? I pointed the brickwork out to the others, who all confirmed that I wasn't seeing things. I wasn’t going mad. Not yet anyway. 

I took some pictures of the course work for further study and then we all made our way back to our cars. 

It was lunchtime. 

Clearly our visit had given us more than one type of food for thought. 

Further research

Over the following weeks, we put our efforts into researching the physical aspect of the Keep - both its build and subsequent modifications to its structure over the course of history. 

Had there been a direct, exterior entrance to the basement of the Keep? If there had, when was it built and when and why had it been bricked up? 

Despite our extensive search, we could find absolutely nothing, it seemed that there was no mention of the doorway documented in the reference works that we had relating to the Castle. 

Disappointingly, our research had drawn a blank. 

Deciding to take a different tack, we examined what we had established from our research. 

What did we know?

The staircase to the Keep entrance today is relatively modern in the context of the location as a whole, with most scholars suggesting a Napoleonic date, 1799 to 1815.

It is thought that the original stairs followed a similar line to the same entrance we see today, albeit modified, but with a break between the staircase and doorway, where a drawbridge was installed to afford greater protection to the Keep’s inhabitants in times of danger (2).

If this was correct, this would mean that, as the possible doorway we found was directly below the entrance, that if it existed, it could have been concealed by the staircase and hidden from general view. 

Things were getting Interesting. 

Going with the possibility that the door had actually existed, where exactly was it in relation to the interior of the basement? 

As we've mentioned previously, the basement was and still is, split into two areas, the Well Room and the dungeon. 

The Well Room was on the opposite side of the Keep to where our possible door was, on the eastern side of the building, which explained why I couldn't find any trace of a doorway in that area, despite an extensive search. 

Looking at the general floor plans, the suggested doorway would appear to be linked to the dungeon area, but where to exactly? 

The position of the possible doorway, indicated by the 'X' in
the lower diagram

Pulling out our copy of Orford Castle (R. Allen Brown 1964), which helpfully included clear copies of the floor plan of the Keep and, comparing it with the photographs that we'd taken on site, we could see that the doorway would have been at the narrowest part of the basement walls, where the cistern to the dungeon was located - even more interesting. 

I have been privileged in the past to clamber down through the trapdoor and down the ladder to explore the dungeon area several years ago, but, unfortunately, I took no photographs and my memory of the Prison was sketchy as to the details. 

With only the plans to go by, we could see that the dungeon consisted of two parts - the main cell and a separate chamber for the toilet. This was where, in the 12^th Century, in the early days of the Castle, the Wild Man of Orford was held, until he made good his escape after several months of captivity (3). Allegedly.

Looking at the floor plan to the basement more closely, I could see that on the opposite side of the wall to where we calculated the door was, there was an indentation shown on the plan. Was this another indication of the former doorway?

Only time will tell,







Summing up....

Unfortunately, despite spending a considerable time searching, we have not, to date, been able to locate any photographs of this area that would reveal any evidence for the doorway from an internal perspective, so, after exhausting our research, we can only summarise as follows: 

• Laura received information relating to the death of a young woman and the concealment of her body. 

• By visiting the Castle we were able to validate that Laura's information relating to this was plausible, dispute our initial scepticism that the layout of the Keep allowed the event to happen as she described. 

• Laura received information via visualisation that there was a doorway or tunnel directly to the outside from the basement level. 

• We have been unable to find any documented evidence of such a doorway ever existing. 

• A site visit revealed the possible traces of a doorway, located directly beneath the main entrance to the Keep. 

• When the Castle was fully operation 900 years ago, this doorway could have been concealed by the tower that was originally used to access the Keep. 

• The doorway would have been located at the thinnest part of the basement walls, which was only a couple of feet thick at this point 

Where are we now?

Needless to say, we cannot progress on this lead any further at this point. We have made enquiries to English Heritage, but sadly, to date, they remain silent on the matter. 

Whilst we are not proposing that we have found a former unrecorded entrance to the Keep, our research once again has not revealed anything that would enable us to dismiss what Laura has sensed psychically. 

If we are eventually able to establish that Laura is indeed correct, then the discovery of a former entrance would again be a remarkable discovery, following on from Laura's rediscovery of the hand print back in August 2015. 

For now, our research continues, with Laura continuing to pick up information related to the Castle. Information relating to people that we've found had lived, as well as events that had occurred in the Keep. Perhaps one day, once we have made sense of it all, we will write further about our research connected to Orford Castle, but it will be a very long article. 

To close this chapter, all we can do is ask you to read what we've written about our experiences and hope that you have found it a worthwhile read. 

We would welcome any correspondence relating to Orford Castle Keep, especially that relating to the build and structure of the Keep itself and look forward to learning more about this historic Castle. 

Sources:
1. P.16 Orford Castle - R. Allen Brown, 1964
2. P.17 Orford Castle - R. Allen Brown, 1964
3. Chronicon Anglicanum - Ralph of Coggeshall, 1200


Laura and Mark


Part one of this feature can be viewed at: Orford Castle - Part One

Part two of this feature can be viewed at: Orford Castle - Part Two